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Image for Idaho Boat Registration Stalled?

Idaho Boat Registration Stalled?

At this time, it appears that the unintroduced legislation that would require all boats on Idaho rivers to be registered has been stalled.   We feel that no further calls or emails are required at this point, and we’ll be watching to docket to assure that the bill is in fact not going to be brought to committee this week or in the future.  Thank you to all the paddlers that called and emailed legislators, and to the legislators that responded.    Remain vigilant,

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Stop I-3 Coalition continues to make progress

The Stop I-3 Coalition continues to make progress in keeping an interstate from being built through our magnificent Southern Appalachian Mountains and the Piedmont, but we need your help to affect further study of this ruinous highway. We are asking each of you on February 14 to send a postcard to J. Richard Capka, Acting Director Federal Highway Administration 400 Seventh Street, SW, Washington, DC 20590. If you can not send a postcard that day, then please send a faxed

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Idaho To Propose Boat Registration

Idaho Proposes Bad Boat Registration Tax (UPDATED)   It is anticipated that Idaho State Representative Bob Nonini will be proposing a canoe and kayak registration tax of $6.50 per boat per year sometime this week. Boaters would have to carry a registration paper while on the water, paint a registration number on both sides of their bows, and affix a registration sticker to their boats.  In addition, visitors to Idaho would have to pay the tax prior to paddling any

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Whitewater Deaths by State 1975-2005

AW Accident Database Whitewater Deaths By State 1975-2005 Alabama 8 Alaska 17 Arizona 9 Arkansas 5 California 79 Colorado 77 Connecticut 5 Delaware 0 DC 0 Florida 0 Georgia 18 Hawaii 0 Idaho 41 Illinois 6 Indiana 6 Iowa 1 Kansas 2 Kentucky 5 Louisiana 0 Maine 10 Maryland 10 Massachusetts 6 Michigan 7 Minnesota 3 Mississippi 0 Missouri 2 Montana 18 Nebraska 0 Nevada 2 New Hampshire 11 New Jersey 12 New Mexico 10 New York 32 North Carolina

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American Whitewater’s National Accident Study

American Whitewater Accident Study Covering Non-Motorized Human Powered Craft 1995-1998  By Jennifer L. Plyler, Ph.D. Prologue It’s a bright sunny day. Two friends load an old aluminum canoe and head for the pastoral retreat of a local pond. The fishing poles are along for the ride. The faded orange horse-collar lifejackets will make great backrests as they bask in the sun. In another part of the country, a group of kayakers set a car shuttle. They’ve paddled this Class II-III

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Table: Whitewater Fatalities 1975-2005

 WHITEWATER ACCIDENTS  THROUGH THE YEARS Reported to American Whitewater 1975-2005  Year Kayak & C-1 Open Canoe       Rafts (Com)(Priv)(I-K) Other Total 1975     1           1 1976              0 1977     1           1 1978     2           2 1979     1           1 1980     1           1 1981       1         1 1982     8    

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Accident Database Improved and Upgraded

The AW Accident Database has just been updated. It contains over 800 incidents occurring during the last 30 years. Accidents can be looked up by year, state, name, or date and are linked to the river where they occurred. The database also contains detailed accounts first published in the 1989-1999 editions of the River Safety Reports. These books, a joint project of American Whitewater and the American Canoe Association, are becoming difficult to find. Improvements to the American Whitewater Accident Database were

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Accident Database Updated

The AW Accident Database has just been updated. It contains over 800 incidents that occurred during the last 30 years. Accidents can be looked up by year and are linked to the river where they occurred. These database also features the detailed accounts that were first published in the 1989-1999 editions of the River Safety Reports. These books, a joint project of American Whitewater and the American Canoe Association, are becoming hard to find. Improvements to the American Whitewater Accident Database were

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Whitewater is Safer Than You Think

Laura Wittmann was the assistant to Jason Robertson, American Whitewater’s Access Director, from 1998 to 2000. Although whitewater boating fatalities have been getting increased attention in the last couple of years, the actual fatality rate for whitewater kayaking (2.9 in 1998 per 100,000 participants) is not as high as a few highly-publicized deaths would lead you to believe. In comparison with other sports, it is safer than scuba diving (3.5) and mountaineering (3.2). In fact, driving a car is arguably

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Image for Volunteers of the Month: Ian McIntosh and Ron Lodders!

Volunteers of the Month: Ian McIntosh and Ron Lodders!

February’s AW Volunteers of the Month are Ian McIntosh and Ron Lodders! photo of John Gangemi (blue) and Ian McIntosh (yellow) on West Rosebud For the past several years, Ian and Ron have been working as a team on the relicensing of the Mystic Lake Hydroelectric Project, located on West Rosebud Creek in Montana’s Beartooth Mountains.  The Mystic Lake relicensing has been especially challenging because it is among the first projects to use the new Integrated Licensing Process (as opposed to

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Taxes for American Whitewater

We Love Taxes! That’s the new motto around American Whitewater these days. AW has partnered with Frontier Tax Solutions and will again be offering their Taxes2Charity program to the AW community for the 2006 tax season.       Taxes2Charity works by allowing any individual to prepare and file their federal and state tax returns online for just $39.95. Fifteen dollars of each return filed will be donated back to AW.     The Details: $15 for every return filed is

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Taxes for American Whitewater

We Love Taxes! That’s the new motto around American Whitewater these days. AW has partnered with Frontier Tax Solutions and will again be offering their Taxes2Charity program to the AW community for the 2006 tax season.       Taxes2Charity works by allowing any individual to prepare and file their federal and state tax returns online for just $39.95. Fifteen dollars of each return filed will be donated back to AW.     The Details: $15 for every return filed is

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Image for Tellico River Cleanup - March 11th

Tellico River Cleanup – March 11th

United State Forest Service Cherokee National Forest Tellico River Clean-Up Day Spring is just around the corner and along with spring will come the 12th Annual Tellico River Clean Up on Saturday, March 11, 2006. Registration will begin at 8AM and lasts till 9:30AM at the Tellico Ranger Station as well as the Stateline Campground.  Last year’s clean up saw over 250 participants and nearly 2 tons of trash was collected along Tellico River, North River and in the Upper

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Image for Tellico River Cleanup - March 11th

Tellico River Cleanup – March 11th

United State Forest Service Cherokee National Forest Tellico River Clean-Up Day Spring is just around the corner and along with spring will come the 12th Annual Tellico River Clean Up on Saturday, March 11, 2006. Registration will begin at 8AM and lasts till 9:30AM at the Tellico Ranger Station as well as the Stateline Campground.  Last year’s clean up saw over 250 participants and nearly 2 tons of trash was collected along Tellico River, North River and in the Upper

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Lehigh River Flow Meeting Announced

Corps to hold Francis E. Walter Dam Flow Management Information Workshop and announce the 2006 plan PHILADELPHIA (Jan. 23, 2006) — The Corps of Engineers and its p artners the Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission, Department of Conservation and Natural Resources, and Delaware River Basin Commission, in their ongoing efforts to enhance recreation along the Lehigh River, will conduct a public information workshop to announce the 2006 Francis E. Walter Dam Flow Management Plan and discuss its implementation. The public

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Dam Operator Announces Lehigh River Flow Mangement Meeting

Corps to hold Francis E. Walter Dam Flow Management Information Workshop and announce the 2006 plan PHILADELPHIA (Jan. 23, 2006) — The Corps of Engineers and its partners, the Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission, Department of Conservation and Natural Resources, and Delaware River Basin Commission, in their ongoing efforts to enhance recreation along the Lehigh River, will conduct a public information workshop to announce the 2006 Francis E. Walter Dam Flow Management Plan and discuss its implementation. The public is

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Safety Database Upgrade Ongoing

Thanks to the ongoing efforts of our webmaster the AW Safety Database has a new look and feel. It is a lot easier to find information. Accidents can be looked up by name or year and each accident is linked to the river where it occurred. With help from AW Web Guru Matt Muir I am now"populating" the database with accident descriptions from the River Safety Reports. I have accident reports in digital form dating back to 1989 and hard copies dating back to 1974.

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Dam Operator Announces Lehigh River Flow Mangement Meeting

Corps to hold Francis E. Walter Dam Flow Management Information Workshop and announce the 2006 plan PHILADELPHIA (Jan. 23, 2006) — The Corps of Engineers and its partners, the Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission, Department of Conservation and Natural Resources, and Delaware River Basin Commission, in their ongoing efforts to enhance recreation along the Lehigh River, will conduct a public information workshop to announce the 2006 Francis E. Walter Dam Flow Management Plan and discuss its implementation. The public is

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Lehigh River Flow Meeting Announced

Corps to hold Francis E. Walter Dam Flow Management Information Workshop and announce the 2006 plan PHILADELPHIA (Jan. 23, 2006) — The Corps of Engineers and its p artners the Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission, Department of Conservation and Natural Resources, and Delaware River Basin Commission, in their ongoing efforts to enhance recreation along the Lehigh River, will conduct a public information workshop to announce the 2006 Francis E. Walter Dam Flow Management Plan and discuss its implementation. The public

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Help Plan the New River Gorge’s Future

The National Park Service is beginning the process of developing a new management plan for the New River Gorge.  New River paddlers are encouraged to participate in this process and share your concerns and interests regarding the management of the river and the gorge.  The open houses will begin with a brief presentation by the Park Superintendent, then followed by a short description of the GMP/Implementation planning process. Meeting attendees may then visit a series of information stations and be

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Winnipesaukee River flow management meeting

There will be a meeting in Belmont NH this week regarding the flowmanagement of the Winnipesaukee River. It is very important for thepaddling community to express our interest in this. Please try toattend if possible. Details below and at the NHDES website:http://www.des.state.nh.us/press/press011206.htm Meeting to Discuss Lake Level Management and River Flows inWinnipesaukee River and Silver LakeConcord, NH – The New Hampshire Department of Environmental Serviceswill hold a public informational meeting on January 18, relative tothe management of lake levels and

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Winnipesaukee River flow management meeting

There will be a meeting in Belmont NH this week regarding the flowmanagement of the Winnipesaukee River. It is very important for thepaddling community to express our interest in this. Please try toattend if possible. Details below and at the NHDES website:http://www.des.state.nh.us/press/press011206.htm Meeting to Discuss Lake Level Management and River Flows inWinnipesaukee River and Silver LakeConcord, NH – The New Hampshire Department of Environmental Serviceswill hold a public informational meeting on January 18, relative tothe management of lake levels and

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Celebrate the Cheoah River with AW

  In the fall of 2005 paddlers from around the southeast converged in a small North Carolina mountain town of Robbinsville to paddle the very first releases on the Cheoah River.  American Whitewater began it’s work on the Cheoah River in 2000 and now six years later 2006 will bring a full schedule of 18 release days for the river.  American Whitewater invites you to come and celebrate the rebirth of a future southeastern whitewater classic, the Cheoah River.  To

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