Articles

  This year’s American Whitewater Deerfield River Festival is shaping up to be one of the best ever. This yearwillbring new activities both on and off the river to the weekend celebration. Check out what we have going on this year:   “Save Our Rivers” Membership Drive Each year American Whitewater gathers up all sorts of goodies to host the annual Deerfield American Whitewater membership drive.  Folks that join or renew their AW membership get hooked up with magazines, dvds,

The USDA Forest Service will hold a public meeting on July 27th in Highlands, NC to give an update on the Upper Chattooga River visitor use capacity analysis.  The meeting will be from 6 to 8 pm Thursday, July 27th at the Highlands Civic Center, 600 North 4th Street (US HW 64), Highlands, NC. According to Francis Marion and Sumter National Forest Supervisor Jerome Thomas, “The purpose of this meeting is to update the public on where we are in

 Join us at the only event that… 1) Directly Protects Your Back Yard Playground and 2) Celebrates this National Icon for Paddler Access 16th Annual Event to be Held July 15-16, 2006 by Festival Volunteers   This year, the Steering Committee made a clear choice and change in focus. While we all love introducing paddling on the Potomac to new people and potential paddlers, this event is for the thousands of paddlers in our community…the DC boaters with whom kinships

Sometimes it takes a village to make big things happen. And so it is with the Wenatchee River Festival Steering Committee – our July Volunteer of the Month.  This group of key volunteers organized and implemented the very successful 2nd Annual Wenatchee River Festival in Cashmere, WA.  For those who were lucky enough to catch the June 10 & 11 event, with flows of 10,000 cfs, you know how much fun was had.  For those that missed the event, there

High School or Junior High School Scholarship Contest! American Whitewater and New River Academy announce a $5,000 Academic Scholarship to the author of the best original composition describing a remarkable river experience or relation based on the school slogan, “…and that has made all the difference.” Have you ever considered attending a high school for kayakers? Want to go to and and paddle amazing rivers after school? Have you had a remarkable experience related to the river that you want

The Dead River Private Boater Survey, sponsored by a number of paddling clubs and organizations is now available online through the website of the Penobscot Paddle and Chowder Society at http://www.paddleandchowder.org. The purpose of this survey is to gather the opinions of as many private boaters as possible, so that the representatives who negotiate the annual release schedule with FPL and the commercial users can be confident that they are representing the wishes of the majority. If you would like

For the last five years American Whitewater has maintained the Sang Run Access on the Upper Yough for Maryland State Parks. This season Boy Scout Troop 53 from Grantsville, MD gave us a big boost! Boys, parents and several well-known local paddlers put in over 75 hours of work and gave the area a facelift. American Whitewater contributed $550.00 of your access dollars towards this effort. The work plan was developed and lead by Dustin Stough to fulfill the service

A new bill has been introduced in New York State that, if passed, will clarify paddlers’ right to paddle New York’s rivers and streams.  The bill, A.10048, was introduced by Assemblyman Alexander B Grannis (D-Manhattan), and will amend the Environmental Conservation Law with a new "Title 33: Public Right of Passage on Navigable Waterways".    The bill was actually first drafted over 15 years ago, and has been on hold awaiting the outcome of a court case.  The case is

Conservation Groups Appeal Fayette County’s Approval of Housing Development within New River Gorge   Washington, D.C. – The Plateau Action Network, National Parks Conservation Association, West Virginia Highlands Conservancy, and National Committee for the New River filed a legal appeal on May 11th, 2006 of Fayette County’s decision to approve the first phase of Land Resources Corporation’s (LRC) “Roaring River” housing development, proposed along approximately 9 miles next to the New River Gorge National River. The “Roaring River” development would

A coalition of paddlers has formed to address the proposed changes to the Holtwood Hydroelectric Project on Pennsylvania’s Susquehanna River.  The changes as originally proposed would destroy most or all of the popular play waves and holes downstream of the Holtwood Dam.  American Whitewater staff worked with local paddlers to draft a set of detailed comments outlining our interests, the anticipated project impacts, study needs, and potential mitigation measures which we shared with the power company.  Paddlers then attended several public

American Whitewater is pleased to announce that Ohiopyle Falls State Park will allow experienced paddlers to run Ohiopyle Falls on three separate days this year.  In recent years the falls have been open to paddlers for only one weekend annually.  This decision comes as the result of several meetings and proposals set up by American Whitewater with Park and agency officials. On the days when paddling the falls is allowed, all paddlers must participate in a waterfall running clinic, which

Eric Petlock is a classic story of raft guide/kayaker who has decided to give back to the rivers that he cares about.  Eric has been a key volunteer for American Whitewater in Northern California and has helped organize the logistics for the Feather releases over the past five years.  Eric’s duties have ranged from organizing the shuttle service to parking cars at the takeout and trying to solicit other volunteers to help out at the releases.  Eric has learned first

There will be a series of releases on the Pit 1 reach this summer as required by PG&E’s FERC license. This run is rated as class IV and will be releasing in June, July and August. There will be a series of releases on the Pit 1 reach this summer as required by PG&E’s FERC license.  This run is rated as class IV and  received rave reviews from several boaters that were able to run the reach Over Memorial Day

American Whitewater has recently completed a report that summarizes the past decade of our river stewardship efforts in the Southeast.  The report shares the results of AW staff and volunteers tackling complex dam relicensing processes, networking with regional partners, and encouraging river based activism within the paddling community.  We encourage everyone that enjoys southeastern rivers to download the report and learn more about our incredible decade in the southeast.  The AW Southeastern River Stewardship Report can be downloaded by clicking the following link: http://www.americanwhitewater.org/resources/repository/2005_Southeastern%2520Report.pdf

Cal Hite, National Park Service (NPS) Superintendent of New River Gorge National River, is the recent recipient of two awards. At the recent NPS Northeast Regional Superintendent’s Conference, Hite was named the region’s Superintendent of the Year and received the region’s Natural Resource Stewardship Award. Both recognized his efforts to protect the park frompotential adverse effects of two proposed housing developments in Fayette County. NPS Northeast Regional Director Mary Bomar cited Hite’s commitment to the 1978 legislation which established New

DC Area Boaters Form Great Falls Kayak Coalition To Coordinate with Resource Managers and Public Safety Officials On River Safety and Falls Access A few miles upstream of the Capital Beltway, the bottom falls out of the Potomac River over a series of Class V+ drops known as Great Falls.  The “Falls” were first run in the mid 1970s and have maintained their status as an East Coast test piece for today’s expert boaters.  Thanks to the efforts of local

There’s still snow in the mountains and flows have been great all spring as boaters from across Washington state gear up to host the Wenatchee River Festival on one of the region’s premiere whitewater rivers. Boaters from across the Pacific Northwest will all converge on the town of Cashmere the weekend of June 10 and 11th for a great weekend of fun and activities on the water. The weekend will kick off with the Stewardship Roundtable sponsored by Keen Footwear

Are you an outfitter, rafting guide or boater on the White Salmon River? Are you passionate about the conservation of the White Salmon River? If so, please join us for the first White Salmon RiverFest this Wednesday (6/7)–a program of the Headwaters Institute hosted locally by Wet Planet. The goal of the event will be to bring the river community together to advance our collective knowledge of the White Salmon River watershed, its ecosysetm and the major issues facing the

On May 10, 2006, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (Commission) staff issued a Draft Environmental Assessment (DEA) for the relicensing of the Bryson, East Fork, and West Fork Hydroelectric Projects and for the surrender of the Dillsboro Hydroelectric Project.     Comments on the DEA are due June 9, 2006.  The DEA evaluates the environmental consequences of the operation and maintenance of the Tuckasegee Hydroelectric Projects in North Carolina.  The DEA also evaluates the environmental effects of implementing the applicant’s