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Effective today, the North Umpqua River between Hoseshoe Bend and Apple Creek is reopened to paddling. Please use caution in floating this stretch. While the closure has beenlifted, the log hazards resulting from treefall associated with the Apple Fire remain. Although all paddlers should exercise caution and judgement and recognize that the situation may change, one can currently navigate around most of the logs and portage routes are available around the rest–scout carefully. The wood could prove inconvenient for rafters

Ever wanted to see your run at Oceana? Thanks to American Whitewater, you will be able to see YOUR run down Oceana on BIG SCREEN this weekend at the Tallulah! AW’s team of river videographers will be taking video of ALL boaters running Oceana on Saturday from about 11 am – 1 pm, and then showing that footage at the Tallulah cookout Saturday night. PLUS, take it home with you! Receive your FREE copy of AW’s “Oceana 2002 VCD” by

American Whitewater wants YOU! AW needs new members and looks forward to seeing existing members again. We’re throwing a FREE cookout this Saturday night at Tallulah Gorge State Park “Boater Camping Area” (next to the State Park campground.) This is for members in commemoration of the five-year anniversary of releases on the Tallulah. Free burgers & dogs grilled to perfection. Free beverages*. Movies projected on big screen including fresh footage taken Saturday at Oceana. AW sweatshirts, shorts, rash guards, and

Due to post-fire conditions in the Umpqua National Forest, Forest Supervisor James Caplan announced that the North Umpqua River is now closed to boating and fishing between Horseshoe Bend and the Apple Creek Campground until further notice for reasons of public safety (order 175, issued 17 Oct 2002, closure map). The reason given for the river closure is the threat to safety posed by the presence of logs and other wood debris that have fallen into the river as a

This summer, the Forest Service authorized the abrupt transfer of recreation fees to fund fire fighting efforts. AW reported on this on June 27th. Following additional research and increasing concern that the funds would not be reimbursed to work on the river and trail projects for which the funds were collected from hikers and boaters, our group and other recreation-oriented conservation organziations wrote variations on the following letter to the recipients listed below. If this use of Fee Demo funds

Please be careful of strainers on all the rivers you paddle. Shane Hulsey reported on November 4th, 2002 that there were several hazards on the Tallulah this year: I happened to be in the right place at the right time yesterday and managed to pull a girl off of the log below Lynch’s Wrench, but I shudder to think what might have happened otherwise….There is a tree just below Bridal Veil, which is just above the Zoom Flume. At least

American Whitewater and a group of stakeholders hope to sign a settlement agreement in February that will have broad ranging effects across the Tuckaseegee and Nantahala Watersheds. Currently, there are numerous proposals on the table that could lead to different seasonal lake levels, more recerational flows, rec flows in new river reaches, higher minimum instream flows, land conservation, water quality enhancements, and one rather special proposal: the removal of Dillsboro Dam. Duke Power itself suggested in a Trial Balloon that

WORKING TOGETHER WORKS WONDERS! For Immediate Release Contact Jason Robertson, Access Director, American Whitewater, 866-262-8429 NOVEMBER 1, 2002 – Werner Paddles, American Whitewater, Washington Kayak Club, and organizers of the annual SkyFest have reached their initial goal and raised over $20,000 to secure public river access to the Skykomish River. Jason Robertson, Access Director for American Whitewater expressed the team’s enthusiasm. “Working together, our groups reached our ten-year goal in just 18 months. This is a testimony to the importance

Links to AW’s comments are provided below. Our comments were over 100 pages in length and were intentionally exhaustive. We wanted to cover as many of the points that our members have expressed to us as possible with the Park.If you have some thoughts or ideas that you’d like to share with us, our staff and volunteers would love to hear them. Please send them to Access@amwhitewater.org CRMP ProjectGrand Canyon National ParkP.O. Box 129Grand Canyon, Arizona 86023grca_crmp@nps.govDear Superintendent Joe Alston,Thank

Check out this recent announcement from the USGS! AGENCIES WORKING TOGETHER TO CONTINUE OPERATION OF STREAMGAGES Gauging operations at 18 stations throughout West Virginia will continue thanks to funding support by several interested State agencies. The West Virginia Office of Emergency Services hosted a meeting October 25, 2002, to build a coalition of agencies interested in continuing gauging operations at the 18 stations that were previously reported on this web site as threatened by funding reductions. No interruption of gage

American Whitewater’s Conservation Director, John Gangemi, has been nominated to serve on the River Recreation Advisory Council for Montana. The Advisory Council has met three times thus far. The goal of the Advisory Council is to develop a framework, principles, and policies that the Department, working with other agencies, can consistently use to manage river recreation statewide. John welcomes and encourages your input. Email your comments to jgangemi@digisys.net or call 406-837-3155. Please read the River Recreation Advisory Council Charter below.

Yesterday, October 24th, 2002, American Whitewater signed an agreement to remove Marmot Dam, Little Sandy Dam and Portland General Electric’s Bull Run power facility. The agreement was signed by PGE, Oregon Governor John Kitzhaber who has supported the dam removal from the beginning, 8 federal and state agencies and 13 NGOs. It was truly a happy day for everyone, and it is a great acheivement when so many organizations can reach an agreement for the common good. The agreement will

August 23rd, 2002 was a historic day for American Whitewater and for river access. In a meeting between the USFS Sumpter National Forest Plan Revision Team and American Whitewater, the USFS agreed to analyze lifting the ban on paddling the Headwaters of the Chattooga in an Environmental Impact Statement and in the new Forest Plan Revision Process. This marks the first time lifting the ban will be subject to formal public comment, and to official Agency consideration since 1985. This

The following is a transcript of the presentation to TVA’s Regional Resource Stewardship Council that AW Regional Coordinator Dale Robinson gave earlier this week. We would like to thank Dale for stepping up on short notice to make this presentation. Timothy Narron also spoke on behalf of paddlers. The RRSC is one of the key venues for public input to the TVA and we are proud to have a relationship with this group that goes back well over a year.

Boaters that care about the fate of the Blackwater Canyon should write a letter from the website linked below to help stop a large timber harvest and road constuction project in the Canyon. The newest threat to the wild and scenic Blackwater Canyon/River (Class 5 whitewater river) is the application by a logging company for an easement to build a logging road on what is now publicly-owned Forest Service Trail 115, running through the Blackwater Canyon, in order to log

The Pigeon River starts in North Carolina’s Pisgah National Forest in the form of several distinct and beautiful forks, all of which offer excellent paddling, and excellent water quality. The forks converge near Canton, North Carolina and there the good water quality ends. The paper mill in Canton has been polluting the river for nearly 100 years, alarming environmental groups and citizens for decades. As a result environmental regulations, and reports of unusually high cancer rates and toxic fish, water