Articles

Jim Segerstrom, founder of Rescue III International and a renowned swiftwater rescue expert, died February 5, 2007 in San Francisco, CA after a massive stroke. He was 60 years old. A former river guide and climbing instructor, Jim was the originator of the Swiftwater Rescue Technician program that has been a huge influence on river paddlers and rescue professionals alike.  His work saved many lives.  He later became the Executive Director of Special Rescue Services Group and the Managing Director of

Yesterday, a group of river paddling organizations and individuals withdrew their appeal of a federal court decision involving canoeing and kayaking access on the Upper Chattooga Wild and Scenic River in North Carolina, South Carolina and Georgia.    The parties originally filed suit against the US Forest Service in 2006, based on a 2005 administrative appeal decision which found that a 30 year old ban on paddling the river was unjustified and violated laws including both the Wilderness Act and the

American Whitewater is pleased to announce that our awesome team of attorneys at the law firm of Alston & Bird are our Volunteers of the Month for February, 2007.  The Alston & Bird team is made up of Robert Mitchell,  Trent Hamilton, Ryan Van Meter, Natalie Whiteman, and Brendan Krasinski.  This team drafted numerous briefs and is leading us through a complex lawsuit in federal court – all on a volunteer basis.  Their contribution to American Whitewater is staggering.  Their contribution to the stewardship of the

2007 is going to be an awesome year for American Whitewater. We anticipate that big new agreements will be reached all across the West to modernize, and even remove a few dams; Southeastern rivers that have been off limits for years will be runnable; flow schedules all along the east coast will be improved; and AW will launch a new position in Colorado. Behind these great results we’re looking forward to is an organization that is up to the challenge.

Montana’s Senator Lane Larson (D-Billings) recently introduced Senate Bill 78, which if signed into law, will support the public’s right to access Montana’s rivers and streams from bridges throughout the state.  The public already has the clear right to paddle, fish, and swim in any river capable of supporting floating.  SB78, the Montana Bridge Access Bill, is sensitive to the needs of landowners, as well as river enthusiasts.  It allows landowners to construct fences adjacent to bridges but requires fences to not block public river

American Whitewater recently requested that the City of Boonton, NJ recognize and support paddling on the Class IV Boonton Gorge on the Rockaway River.  The request follows several incidences of paddlers being told by police that the river is illegal to paddle based on a city/county rule that prohibits swimming.  New Jersey has few whitewater runs, which makes each one all the more important.  We hope to work with local paddlers and the City of Boonton to reach a solution that

This past fall the Portland Whitewater Boating Community came together to celebrate exploration and adventure on the region’s rivers through a film festival sponsored by Next Adventure. Proceeds from the event that included a raffle resulted in a $1100 contribution to American Whitewater. We greatly appreciated this show of support from our friends at Next Adventure and members of the Portland Boating Community. We have several exciting projects underway in the region and this support is critical to our ongoing

In a letter sent today, American Whitewater, Merrimack Valley Paddlers, Mount Washington Valley Paddlers, and the New Hampshire Appalachian Mountain Club requested more information regarding a potential new fee for ownership of non-motorized boats in New Hampshire.  The letter was sent to Lee Perry, the Executive Director of the New Hampshire Fish and Game Department, and was cc’d to the members of New Hampshire’s Public Water Access Advisory Board. Paddlers were alerted to the possible fee system in a November news article.  The article

Arnold Schwarzenegger announced in his State of the State address that he plans on building more water storage in California. While the Governor did not outline any specific projects in his speech we can only assume that this is not good news for rivers in California. “While we would like to hope that these storage projects would not have a negative impact, to our knowledge the only way to put more water in reservoirs is to take more water out

January 5th and 6th of 2007 marked the first legal descent of the upper Wild and Scenic Chattooga River in over 30 years. A team of kayakers and canoeists took two days to explore the river, traversing countless rapids and small waterfalls as they traveled through a remote and beautiful valley. What they found echoed the findings of the very first exploratory paddling trips made over three decades ago, which inspired the US Congress to designate the Chattooga as a

AW is seeking 1-5 Vermont creek boaters to visit and assess the whitewater potential of several dam influenced river reaches near Rutland, VT.  These reaches are currently off limits to the public but we will likely be able to get a hiking tour in collaboration with the dam/land owner.  Photographs indicate bedrock and gradient but it is impossible to tell whether these reaches actually contain whitewater resources that are of interest to the paddling community without a site visit.   Interested paddlers must

Our volunteer of the month is Rob Smage, a key member of AW’s Stream Team who volunteers his time to maintain and enhance our National River Database. In recognizing Rob we acknowledge the contributions of all our volunteers who have made this project so successful. What started out over a decade ago as a database of whitewater resources on a set of floppy disks is now a truly interactive database that all our members can contribute to. The database provides

Water allocation has always been – and always will be – a major issue in the arid West. Colorado has long struggled with how to best use and share the wealth of water its mountains provide. Recent and ongoing efforts will chart the future of water diversions and could radically impact whitewater paddling as we know it in the state – unless whitewater paddlers step up and represent their interests. Perhaps the most crucial effort for paddlers to be involved

The California Department of Boating and Waterways (DBW) is conducting its first-ever study of non-motorized boating in California. DBW is a State agency whose mission is to provide safe and convenient access to California’s public waterways, and leadership in promoting the public’s right to safe, enjoyable, and environmentally sound recreational boating. A major focus for DBW is to provide grants and loans for boating facilities such as launch ramps and marinas. As non-motorized boating activities have become increasingly popular in

Proposed Powerline to Cross Lower Cheat Drainage Allegheny Energy has released preliminary plans for a 210 mile long 500kv power line from Western Pennsylvania to Northern Virginia. They are applying to designate this a National Interest Energy Transmission Corridor (NIETC), which is part of a much larger plan to increase the reliability of the grid. All three proposed alternatives cross either the Cheat or Big Sandy Rivers in Preston County. Alternative S-3 runs down the Laurel Run valley and crosses

This past fall the Federal Energy Reglatory Commission (FERC) released their Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS) on the Klamath River Hydroelectric Project owned by PacifCorp. The previous license for this project expired in February 2006 and FERC is in the process of determining if a new license to operate this project is in the public interest. The primary issue on this river is the state of declining salmon runs and the devastating impact of four dams operated by PacifiCorp that

On November 10, 2006, a group of committed Colorado boaters gathered in Buena Vista, Colorado with AW stewardship staff to discuss specific Colorado needs and the unique challenges rivers and recreational use of water face in the state. This working group included paddlers, tourism experts, local politicians, outfitters, magazine editors, and water rights advocates. The goal of our meeting was to open the dialog with individuals already active in Colorado river stewardship issues to develop a common vision for improving

Dear Friends,Most of the world views whitewater paddlers as somewhat of a different breed. In many cases they are right to view us as different. Anyone who would willingly get in a small boat and crash down a white frothy river must be a little crazy. Because of this perception, when American Whitewater started to actively participate in restoring dam-influenced rivers over two decades ago we were often made to sit at the back of the bus. Over time our

AW is collecting data on flow preferences for the Feather River, CA. For the next few weeks AW will be conducting a survey of boater experiences at different flows. Click here to take the survey. Please spread the word and fill out the survey after each run on the river. Later this spring we will follow up with a more detailed flow survey asking boaters to compare their experiences at different flows. Your participation now will help us develop this