Articles

The Sumter National Forest (SNF) told AW today to expect even more delays in the release of their Environmental Assessment (EA) regarding recreational use in the Wild and Scenic Upper Chattooga River corridor. The EA will include a user capacity analysis and proposed new management plan for the upper river, as ordered by the highest office of the US Forest Service. The pending release of the EA is already a year later than the final decision was required to be

The 4th Annual North Alabama Whitewater Festival, located on Locust Fork of the Warrior River in Blount County, will be held March 7-9, 2008.  The weekend will incorporate whitewater kayaking competitions, games, live music, raffles, arts and crafts, food, refreshments, camping, and good times.    Friday’s events including the Fluid Kayaks Huckfest and the Larabar Boater X are located at Short Creek Falls.  Saturday brings spectators the excitement of the Terrapin Beer Company Throwdown and Gaia Paddlesports Big Trick Contest

In Leadville, Colorado mine run-off laced with toxic levels of cadmium, zinc, and arsenic, is trapped in a blocked mine drainage tunnel, prompting the Regional Administrator of the US EPA to declare that an "uncontrolled, potentially catastrophic release of water to the Arkansas River is likely at some point."   The Leadville Mine Drainage Tunnel, built by the federal government and owned by the US Bureau of Reclamation, is believed to have collapsed, trapping over 1 billion gallons of water

Late yesterday FERC issued a letter rejecting the Preliminary Permit Application for the McKenzie River Hydro Project (FERC P-13099) by Principle Power Hydro (read letter). In the letter FERC stated that the application "patently fails to conform to the Commission’s regulations" and went on to cite several deficiencies with the application. We are pleased that FERC agrees with our assessment that this was an incredibly poorly thought out application and provided stakeholders with no meaningful information on what was being

Help Preserve Whitewater & Paddling Throughout the Deserts and Mountains of the West   Reforming the 1872 Mining Law will, finally, give recreation values a voice on how our federal public lands are managed   Perhaps no other human-powered outdoor recreation is so clearly affected by hardrock mining as our treasured whitewater. According to the EPA, over 40% of our Western headwaters are already contaminated by hardrock mining activity. Even without the additional threats of drought and population growth, our streams and rivers

Help Preserve Whitewater & Paddling Throughout the Deserts and Mountains of the West   Reforming the 1872 Mining Law will, finally, give recreation values a voice on how our federal public lands are managed   Perhaps no other human-powered outdoor recreation is so clearly affected by hardrock mining as our treasured whitewater. According to the EPA, over 40% of our Western headwaters are already contaminated by hardrock mining activity. Even without the additional threats of drought and population growth, our streams and rivers

AW has completed a study of instream flow needs for recreation on the Crooked River in Oregon. Our thanks go out to Evan Stafford who completed the data analysis and put this report together. The information will provide river managers with important information on how the river is used by whitewater paddlers. We are working on similar efforts throughout the West where we see increasing pressures on limited water resources for irrigation, municipal water supplies, fish and wildlife, and recreation.