Articles

Earlier this year public Wenatchee River access to the Dryden Weir (aka as the lowhead dam below Rock and Roll) was closed off by the Washington State Department of Transportation (WSDOT) due to issues with vandalism to equipment, litter, people driving on stockpiles, and complaints from neighbors about parties. WSDOT does not have the resources to manage the site and they chose their quickest and easiest option which was to close the area to public access. Unfortunately this has been

In 2003 a new whitewater opportunity was initiated on the Chippewa River at Jim Falls with new access sites and summer releases scheduled for the 2nd and 4th Saturdays of July and the 2nd Saturday and the 3rd Sunday in August. The use of these releases has increased since their inception with 18 boaters in 2003, 41 boaters in 2004, 77 boaters in 2005. At the first release this year 27 boaters came out and 3 more remain. The licensee

The U.S. Senate will vote this afternoon, July 18th on legislation giving the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers hundreds of new water projects to build.  This is the same agency whose poor planning caused the catastrophic levee failures in New Orleans following Hurricane Katrina.   Over the past decade, dozens of reports have documented systematic problems with Corps projects. It is time to reform the Corps — you can help by calling your Senators and urging them to vote YES on two key amendments

After a particularly wet spring in California, consultants for Pacific Gas & Electric recently revealed some alarming results regarding foothill yellow legged frogs on the North Fork Feather River.    The flows in the Feather, and most other rivers in the state, had elevated flows throughout most of this winter and spring.  Once spill flows came under control, dam operators abruptly reduced flows in the North Fork Feather River.   Sierra Rivers gradually drop.  The consultants found that many of the

The North Fork Feather Release schedule is finally fit to print. The releases will be the fourth weekend of the month, Cresta Saturday and Rock Creek Sunday.  The Dates are :•    June 25th (Rock Creek only)•    July 23rd (Rock Creek only)•    August 27th (Rock Creek only) New Release Information•    September 23rd/24th  (Rock Creek Only)•    October 28th/ 29th (Rock Creek Only) AW has been hard at work negotiating a long term plan for the Feather with PG&E  and our other Agency partners. 

On June 8th a new gauge was added to the USGS real-time network on the Cascade River in Washington State. The river is well known as a great class V run and a designated Wild and Scenic River but it has always been hard to catch at desired flows. The river does not correlate well with other gauged streams in the basin, and getting any information on flow required either a trip to the river or a phone call to

  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