Articles

The majority of American Whitewater’s project work depends on the contributions of our volunteers. With only 3 stewardship staff to cover the whole nation and over 5000 whitewater river reaches we have a lot of river miles to cover. We are lucky to have an engaged membership who takes local leadership on important projects. Bill is one of those volunteers. Over the past few years Bill demonstrated local leadership in highlighting the opportunities that could be available for improved paddling

American Whitewater is extending an open invitation to our membership and supporters for an update on Mid-Atlantic project work. Patagonia, one of our oldest industry partners, will provide space for our gathering in their Georgetown Store. We recognize that the DC paddling community and our incredible network of volunteers is important to our long history of success in the region. Now that our organization is no longer based in the DC area we find it important to come back to

American Whitewater’s first annual calendar is now available for sale. This full color calendar illustrates some of whitewater’s best imagery from today’s top photographers. This calendar is perfect for the office or home wall so you can at least look at a great river even if you can’t be on one. A big thanks to Leland Davis, Evan Joseph, Al Gregory, Boyd Ruppelt, Nikki Kelly, Willie Kern, Dave Steindorf, and Kevin Colburn for contributing photos to this year calendar. All

First three weekends in November: 4-5, 11-12, 18-19. Saturdays at 500 cfs and Sundays at 700 cfs That’s right, Tallulah season is right around the corner! Releases begin at 9:30 am and all boaters must start down the stairs by 3:00 pm to beat the flow down to the lake. You will need to sign a waiver at the top of the stairs to be permitted to paddle the river. Please continue to park across the road from the put-in

Jason Robertson, who lead American Whitewater’s river access program for seven years, was recently hired by the Bureau of Land Management to lead their Wild and Scenic Rivers program.  After leaving AW in 2005, Jason went to work for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration where he represented the Agency on congressional and legislative affairs for their research, climate, and education programs.  In his new position with the BLM, Jason will oversee many river management issues across the Agency’s 262

Last week NOAA Fisheries released their Biological Opinion on the Condit Dam removal (read full document). This document represents one of the critical final steps in the dam removal process. Fishery biologists have now confirmed the conclusion that removing the dam will represent a significant benefit for salmon populations that utilize this river. Salmon will be able to further expand their range with access to high quality habitat and the cold, clean water the White Salmon River provides. NOAA concluded

American Whitewater is offering a limited edition Wiliam Nealy print T-shirt to raise funds for AW’s efforts to remove the paddling ban on the Upper Chattooga.  Funds generated from the sale of these shirts will be placed in a dedicated fund to be used exclusively for the Chattooga River project. The t-shirts are available in Men’s sizes Small – XXL for $20 in the online store.  To purchase your shirt go to the online store.

The annual Rogue River Users meeting is scheduled for November 8, 2006 between 6:00-8:00 P.M. at the Grants Pass Interagency Office. This is an opportunity for river users to meet with river managers and other stakeholders who have an interest in future management of the Rogue River. The Rogue is one of the classic multiday wilderness runs in the West and was in the first group of rivers recognized for protection under the Wild and Scenic Rivers Act. Meeting Agenda:

On Friday, October 6th, 2006, Senior United States District Judge William C. O’Kelley dismissed a lawsuit against the US Forest Service regarding a ban on canoeing and kayaking down the upper Chattooga River.  The plaintiffs, a group noncommercial whitewater paddling groups and individuals led by American Whitewater, are surprised and disappointed by the decision and will appeal immediately. In the dismissal the judge found that paddlers will not have adequate standing to file a lawsuit until a new final decision

American Whitewater would like to thank the hundreds of folks who volunteered to the make the festival happen. A few folks deserve some extra recognition for their efforts in coordinating all of the event’s volunteers. AW’s Volunteer for the month of September are Stacey Johnson, Gary Mitchell, Glen Tspara, John Hammond, Neal Dana, and Chris Flerek, who put in a ton of extra effort to make the event a success. Stacey Johnson- Gauley Festival wouldn’t happen without Stacey. Stacey coordinated

The Bureau of Land Management recently announced the completion of the National BLM River Database.  The database is a product of a successful partnership between American Whitewater (AW), the Bureau of Land Management (BLM), and the River Management Society (RMS), and is now available online at http://rivers.river-management.org/. The web-enabled database contains the floatable/boatable sections of rivers and creeks for which the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) has management responsibilities.  The BLM has partnered with AW and RMS to create a cost-effective and

Wow, what a festival! With not much water elsewhere in the country, thousands of paddlers flocked to the mountains of West Virginia to enjoy the fall releases on the famed Gauley River.  Greeting these paddlers to the river were warm days full of rain and cool nights also full of rain, making the festival site a muddy mess that just added to the fun.  The highlight of the event is the American Whitewater membership drive where six kayaks were raffled

A bill is currently in the Senate that would designate 384 miles of Wild and Scenic Rivers, and 517,000 acres of Wilderness in southwestern Idaho.  The primary watersheds potentially receiving protection are the Owyhee, Bruneau, and Jarbridge – all classic whitewater rivers.  On September 21st, American Whitewater faxed a letter of support to Idaho Senators Mike Crapo and Larry Craig in support of the bill. How does such a landmark conservation effort happen in Idaho?:  years of hard work, vision,

On September 20th, Federal Judge Elizabeth Laporte of the U.S. District Court in San Francisco reinstated a ban on road construction in existing inventoried roadless areas. The decision overturned a Bush administration rule that eliminated mandatory federal protection of roadless areas and instead instituted a voluntary state petition process of protection.  This less protective rule, which had only a brief and underpublicized public comment period, virtually eliminated the protections instituted in 2001 as the Roadless Area Conservation Rule which had been based on the largest public comment

Trout Unlimited and Western Resource Advocates recently won a court victory overthrowing an agreement between the US Department of Interior and the state of Colorado.  The agreement would have allowed all flows over 300 cfs removed from the river for various out of channel uses.  The judge found the agreement to be arbitrary, capricious, nonsensical, an abuse of discretion, and illegal. TU effectively argued that rivers need a complex and variable flow regime in order to function naturally, and thus

The USFS upon the recommendation of their amphibian biologist has canceled the two remaining Saturday Cresta releases for September and October of the 2006 season. The Sunday releases on Rock Creek will occur as usual.  AW will continue to work with the USFS and the other members of the Rock Creek/ Cresta Ecological Resources Committee to develop better studies to determine what impacts, if any, are occurring to tadpoles during the recreational releases.  We will also be working to find