Articles

A hydropower dam owner in Maine has brought a case to the U.S. Supreme Court (S.D. Warren v. Maine Board of Environmental Protection) that could take away every State’s ability to use the Clean Water Act to protect rivers, fish, wildlife, water quality, and recreation at hydropower dams. Specifically, hydro power operators typically must obtain state water quality certification to operate a project on a public waterway. Acquiring this certification requires formal evaluation of flow needs for fish, wildlife, and

Right after the winter holidays, officials from 3 units of the Forest Service will be pondering how to best study public use on the Upper Chattooga River (NC/SC/GA).  The officials will be discussing a range of possible study options, some of which include allowing paddling to occur, and others which do not.  The Forest Service will eventually have to make a decision based on this study, and limitations in the study will directly limit the management options on the table.  In other words,

American Whitewater has joined a lawsuit aimed at scuttling retroactive use of the new Energy Bill.  Retroactive use of the new hydro rules in the energy bill would impact numerous rivers that American Whitewater is actively participating in, including projects in California, Washington, and New Hampshire.  At stake are a dam removal, fish passage, river flows, and water quality.  As our members are well aware, AW prides ourselves on using litigation as an absolute last resort.  In this case, AW and our partners

Last week, a provision in a federal budget bill that would have allowed mining companies to purchase millions of acres of publc lands for development was removed from the bill.  Americans rallied against this blatant attempt at privitizing our public lands, and sent calls and emails to House and Senate leaders in large numbers. We would like to thank all the paddlers out there that took a moment to call or write their political representatives.  Your time was well spent, and

Show us YOURS? The 2006 National Paddling Film Festival is looking for the best films and photo of the year. For 23 years, the volunteers of the NPFF have strived to make your film, photo presentation and viewing experience the very best possible. Thanks to the suggestions by you, filmmakers, photographers and sponsors the festival continues to be the best and most recognized film competition supporting river conservation in the world. The 2006 NPFF will showcase the best of the

Mountain Surf rings in the holidays with American Whitewater.  As a holiday gift to AW, Mountain Surf encourages AW members to upgrade their membership before December 31, 2005.  Those who do so will receive 10% off on any direct purchase from Mountain Surf before January 21, 2006.  You can find Mountain Surf at www.mountainsurf.com, or call them at 301-746-5389, or stop by their outlet in Friendsville, MD.

It’s now time to start thinking about multi-day trips for next year and there are several great opportunities on Western Rivers. Many of these rivers require you to fill out a lottery application and deadlines are coming up. Check our permit database for the information and links to agency sites with detailed instructions and applications you can download. .  River Agency Deadline Alsek/Tatshensnini (AK) Glacier Bay National Park Permit Info Send in application to get on waitlist for preferred dates

On November 10th, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) published their Final Environmental Impact Statement (FEIS) For The Upper North Fork Feather River Project. This project is located in California on the North Fork of the Feather River just up stream of the Rock Creek and Cresta Reaches where whitewater releases have occurred over the last four years. The Belden Reach is a class III+ nine-mile run with ample access. American Whitewater worked to negotiate releases on this project in

Length: 1000 – 2000 words Appearance: Each issue Concept: This column will highlight a section of river that may not have the fame of the well known paddling destinations. That’s it—very simple. For some writers, their favorite section will be a backyard creek, for others, a local play run—regardless, we want to know why you value this stretch of river. In most cases, we want to hear about runs that have a long season and are accessible to a majority of

American Whitewater has reviewed the new plan for managing the Grand Canyon of the Colorado River. We have pulled out relevant information from the National Park Service’s documents and will share that information below. In general, the new plan resolves many problems with the old plan, while making some changes that will negatively impact users. Shorter trips, and limiting users to one trip per year will certainly impact both commercial and noncommercial paddlers. With this being said, the new plan will phase out the

Congressmen Earl Blumenauer and Greg Walden have invited the public to help shape the future of two of Oregon’s most beloved icons–Mount Hood and the Columbia River Gorge–including some of the region’s finest wild rivers many of which are enjoyed by paddlers. The Congressmen are sponsoring a third Mount Hood Summit, and asking Oregonians to come tell them what they think about protecting the wild land and rivers surrounding the mountain and in the Columbia Gorge. More than 100 miles

The Snohomish PUD is planning a water release from Culmback Dam into the Upper Sultan River beginning Monday, December 12th and running for 2-4 days [as of 10/12 we know that releases will only occur on Monday and Tuesday due to low levels in the reservoir]. The release will be approximately 650 cfs. Although we do not have quantitative information on optimal flow ranges for this reach we believe this release will be somewhere between minimum and optimum flow level

American Whitewater is proud to announce that Clay Wright is the volunteer of the month for December of 2005.  Clay is being recognized for his efforts as a contributor to the American Whitewater Journal.  For years Clay has shared his wealth of whitewater knowledge with us through his bi-monthly column “Clay’s Corner”.  Clay’s infinite wisdom of safety, creeking, freestyle, and everything whitewater is why his column has become a favorite of many loyal journal readers. Clay has been a member

The next meeting regarding the User Capacity Analysis on the Upper Chattooga River will be held on Thursday, December 1, beginning at 5 p.m. at the First Baptist Church, 403 East Main Street, Walhalla, SC.  Paddlers are encouraged to attend.  Read the press release below for additional information regarding meeting format and goals. For more information: http://www.fs.fed.us/r8/fms/forest/projects/chatt.shtml To post to a USFS bulletin board: http://www.bulletinboards.com/v2.cfm?comcode=VCAUC The USFS Press release regarding the meetings can be read below.  FROM THE USFS: Reminder: Third

We have just made a number of upgrades to American Whitewater’s website. There are several new features designed to optimize performance and minimize staff time required to maintain the website. RSS support. AW joins a host of news organizations, community website, and personal web logs in offering this service. You no longer have to check the AW site each day for updated news but can set up a news feed with an RSS reader. Move to Standards-Based HTML. This change