Articles

At the end of another year, we like to look back on all we’ve achieved together. Your support and engagement in American Whitewater’s mission is what makes the stewardship work we do possible. Thanks for fighting for rivers with us!    Protect: In June, we secured water quality protections for over 520 stream miles in Colorado. The Water Quality Control Commission’s 7-1 vote marked the largest successful community Outstanding Waters proposal in Colorado’s history. Newly protected streams include the Taylor

A large-scale gold-antimony mine in the headwaters of the South Fork Salmon (ID), a major tributary to the Wild and Scenic Salmon River has been proposed by Perpetua Resources. The company is moving forward with plans to construct the Stibnite Gold Project despite concerns from the EPA that it would significantly harm the protected water quality of these Native American tribal fishing grounds and the classic whitewater paddling in the drainage. The Forest Service recently released a Supplemental Draft Environmental

American Whitewater has an incredible, storied history of river stewardship success over the past nearly 70 years. Our shared victories have not only benefited the whitewater recreation community, but truly all those communities whose rivers run through them. In an effort to continue this success and to further recognize our organization as the primary advocate for the preservation and protection of whitewater rivers throughout the United States, we’d like to be the first to introduce you to our new visual

The Southern Appalachian Whitewater Hall of Fame and their parent organization, Southern Appalachian Paddlesports Museum, recently inducted American Whitewater into their Hall of Fame as an organization! From dam removals to securing whitewater release flows to developing and maintaining access areas, American Whitewater has had a lasting and positive impact on the rivers in the Southern Appalachians. It’s honor to be recognized by our community and we enjoyed the opportunity to have Mark Singleton, our former Executive Director and Kevin

Have a short story to tell? Maybe you’ve got some opinions about the latest in paddlesports? Advice for beginners? River poems? Thoughts on how to make the river a safer place? Our community wants to hear from you and the American Whitewater Journal is the perfect venue for your writing and photos! The Journal is a volunteer publication that relies on paddlers and river lovers to submit the content that fills it. Submit your content today!

American Whitewater has an incredible, storied history of river stewardship success over the past nearly 70 years. Our shared victories have not only benefited the whitewater recreation community, but truly all those communities whose rivers run through them. In an effort to continue this success and to further recognize our organization as the primary advocate for the preservation and protection of whitewater rivers throughout the United States, we’d like to be the first to introduce you to our new visual

Each year American Whitewater’s membership ratifies Board of Director members to serve three-year terms. These candidates volunteer to serve on the American Whitewater Board. Current American Whitewater members can cast their votes through Midnight Pacific Time, December 13th. Currently, American Whitewater has four Director Nominees to fill four open seats for election, you may vote for up to four candidates on the slate. The ballot for our Board of Directors election is placed online here. You must be a current

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Request for ProposalsAmerican Whitewater Safety Code Update and Outreach Materials With a recent grant from the United States Coast Guard, American Whitewater is launching a project to update our whitewater safety code. We are issuing this Request for Proposals for assistance in this effort from a graphic designer or graphic design team. 1. Background and Issue Project Seeks to Address Founded in 1954, American Whitewater is a national 501(c)(3) non-profit organization with amission “to protect and restore America’s whitewater rivers

The Lower McCloud is a stunning class IV overnight run on the cold, turquoise waters that emerge from springs on the south side Mt. Shasta. The Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E) captures these exceptional waters behind a dam and diverts a majority of the river’s flow to the adjacent Pit River watershed where it generates hydropower at the James B. Black Powerhouse. This leaves the McCloud River below the dam too low to paddle for most of the year,

Better information leads to safer paddling, that’s our theory here at American Whitewater. It started of course with the American Whitewater Journal in the mid-1950s, and then at the dawn of the public internet we began using our website for crowdsourcing information on whitewater rivers. The result is a site with information on over 6000 whitewater runs. Over the past three years, thanks to support from the US Coast Guard and our membership, we’ve upgraded our online platforms to be

On September 12, the Colorado Water Quality Control Commission reversed its previous decision and voted unanimously to increase protections for portions of Clear Creek and the South Platte River near Denver, Colorado. The decision was in response to a petition brought forward by a number of our conservation partners and was supported by public comment from American Whitewater staff and our members.  The river segments were upgraded from Use Protected to Reviewable, meaning that polluters must prove that the economical

As part of the hydro dam relicensings of the Moose and Beaver rivers in upstate New York, we need boaters to complete surveys for the Moose River from Agers through Crystal (Bottom Bottom Moose). We are also asking for your help completing surveys on the Beaver River describing your experience at Moshier, Eagle, and Taylorville sections. These surveys are being collected as part of the whitewater boating studies on the Moose and Beaver rivers for the FERC relicensing of the

The US Supreme Court heard oral arguments this morning on a case that will likely shift the balance of which wetlands and perhaps streams are covered under the Clean Water Act. A permit is required to dredge, fill, or discharge pollutants into waters that are covered under the Act. Waters not covered under the Act lack this federal review. Now, just days from the 50th anniversary of the Clean Water Act, the Supreme Court considered this request to significantly weaken

On September 21, Sen. Manchin (D-WV) released the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2022, long-anticipated legislation seeking to speed up environmental review and approval of energy projects under the National Environmental Policy Act and Clean Water Act. The new permitting legislation is the result of a narrow and closed-door deal with Senator Manchin to secure his vote in support for the Inflation Reduction Act that was enacted in August. The permitting bill has sparked strong opposition from scores of

The Colorado Water Conservation Board released the 2023 draft update to the Colorado Water Plan this summer. The plan is an important framework to ensure we have a vibrant future in Colorado. The original plan was finalized in 2015 and identified water based recreation as an important value. American Whitewater is working to ensure that the update builds on that plan by identifying the valuable socio-economic role recreation plays in our state and identifying actions to ensure it’s protected and