Articles

The Grand Canyon river concessionaires, through their trade association the Grand Canyon River Outfitters Association (GCROA), suggested draft Congressional legislation purportedly to “move forward” the National ParkService’s management planning process of the Colorado River within Grand Canyon National Park.The introduction of this proposed legislation came in spite of two ongoingcourt cases seeking to resolve access inequities between private riverrunners and commercial river concession operators. American Whitewater and the Grand Canyon Private Boaters Association (GCPBA) filed one of the refernced lawsuits.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: July 6, 2000 Contact: Byron Hayes, Grand Canyon Private Boaters Association, 1-888-443-0540 or 1-520-214-8676 Jason Robertson, American Whitewater, 1-301-589-9453 Randall Rasmussen, National Parks Conservation Association, 1-505-247-1221 RIVER RUNNERS AND CONSERVATION GROUPS SUE NATIONAL PARK SERVICE OVER WILDERNESS/RIVER PLAN TERMINATION Flagstaff, AZ—The Grand Canyon Private Boaters Association, American Whitewater, and National Parks Conservation Association, along with individual plaintiffs including Elizabeth Boussard and Kim Crumbo, filed suit today in federal court against Secretary of Interior Bruce Babbitt, National Park

Source: www.thecanyon.com/nps/ GRAND CANYON NATIONAL PARK MOVES IN DIFFERENT DIRECTION WITH PLANNING EFFORTS FOR RIVER AND BACKCOUNTRY Feb 24, 2000 Grand Canyon National Park Superintendent Robert Arnberger announced a decision to halt any further work to merge the planning process for the Colorado River Management Plan and draft Wilderness Management Plan into a single planning effort through an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS). Both planning efforts are identified in the park’s 1995 General Management Plan (GMP). Primarily focusing on the developed

Under the disguise of paperwork reduction, the White House has reduced protection of intermittent streams, such as the small whitewater creeks preferred by many kayakers and canoers. The decision simply lacks common sense from a water quality perspective as well as a recreation perspective.The New York Times reported on Jan 15th, 2002 that: “The Army Corps makes a new distinction between perennial and intermittent streams and relaxes rules on filling streams that do not flow year-round. It eliminates some restrictions

The Route 3 Wave on New York’s Black River is a popular after work park-n-play spot for locals who don’t have time to run the whole Black. The other great p-n-p is just below the put-in on the main Black, at Hole Brothers. January 16, 2002Mayor Joe ButlerOffice of the Mayor Dulles State Office Building 317 Washington Street Watertown, NY 13601 Dear Mayor Butler: It has come to my attention that the City of Watertown is considering modifications to the

Overview & Background of Lawsuit Following four years of planning and public meetings, American Whitewater and other river conservation and access advocates were sandbagged by an abrupt decision on February 24, 2000 by Grand Canyon Superintendent Arnberger to terminate river management planning. On this date Arnberger issued a press release announcing that the Park would cease planning efforts on the Colorado River Management Plan (CRMP). American Whitewater and many other organizations including affiliate club Grand Canyon Private Boaters Association (GCPBA)

Henry B HenryB. Lacey, Arizona Bar No. 013921 LAWOFFICE OF HENRY B. LACEY 120North San Francisco Street Flagstaff,Arizona 86001 (520)774-8830   RobertP. Lippman, Arizona Bar No. 006156 LAWOFFICE OF ROBERT P. LIPPMAN 103East Birch Street Flagstaff,Arizona 86001 (520)774-0130   Attorneysfor Plaintiffs   IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICTCOURT   FORTHE DISTRICT OF ARIZONA   GRANDCANYON PRIVATE BOATERS                 ) ASSOCIATION,an Arizona Non-Profit                      )           No. CIV 001277-PCT-PGR Corporation;AMERICAN WHITEWATER, a            ) MissouriNon-Profit Corporation; NATIONAL            ) PARKSCONSERVATION ASSOCIATION,           )           FIRST AMENDED COMPLAINT aDistrict

Letter from Park Service responding to initial contact between American Whitewater’s attorney and Grand Canyon’s Superintendent Arnberger.IN REPLY REFER TO N16(GRCA 8211) MAY 09 2000Henry B. Lacey Attorney at Law 120 N. San Francisco St. Flagstaff, Arizona 86001-5232 Dear Mr. Lacey: I have now reviewed your April 7, 2000 letter more carefully and have discussed it at some length with my legal counsel. I truly regret that your clients disagree so vehemently with certain management decisions at Grand Canyon National

Basic American Whitewater dues might be going up $10 per category, but look at all the new benefits of being a member! Increased Access/Conservation Power. During 2001 Kevin Colburn came on staff to bolster our hydro relicensing efforts and help out with Southeastern access issues. AMERICAN WHITEWATER JOURNAL Enhancements. Do we have a surprise for you beginning with the January/February issue! Keep your eye out for the mailman. Website Enhancements. Well, obviously you’re here. Gotta keep an eye on those

American Whitewater is pleased to announce the hiring of new Development Director, Carroll Thrift. Carroll brings to American Whitewater extensive experience as former development professional for the Levi Strauss Foundation and Child Welfare League of America, as well as a consultant to the Grantsmanship Center and Council on Foundations. He has also founded and served as CEO for Travel Market Inc. and CST Management Co. When we originally posted this opening we had no idea that the decision process might

Contents IssuesTrackingCalendarSourcesHistory American Whitewater is tracking several pieces of legislation before the second session of the 107th Congress in 2002. We will provide monthly updates and action items on this page throughout the year. Issues The legislative issues of greatest importance in 2002 to the boating community are: S.2535, the California Wild Heritage Act of 2002. The bill will significantly expand the National Wild & Scenic Rivers System and the National Wilderness Preservation System on federally managed public lands in

How Much Wood Does a Paddler Chuck? By Kevin ColburnOriginally published in the American Whitewater Journal 2001.Strainers, filters, sweepers, wood, log sieves, log jams, timber, do you have a chill running down your spine yet? At every blind corner or blind drop we shudder a little and worry about a hiding log. Logs give us nightmares. Logs are the predators of paddlers and we treat them how our ancestors in this country treated wolves and mountain lions. They are generally

OutdoorPrices.com and American Whitewater have partnered to offer a new boat donation program, from which the proceeds are going to AW. The program is simple: you donate your old boat to AW at one of the donation centers located around the country. Our representatives at the donation centers will give you a receipt you can use to value the donation for use as an itemized charitable deduction. American Whitewater Boat Donation Centers signed up so far include: Confluence Kayaks (CO)Lumber

Give the gift of whitewater – American Whitewater! When you give your friend an AW gift membership, they’ll become part of the ONLY organization working FULL TIME to protect our whitewater rivers. Plus, they’ll thank you for their one-year subscription to American Whitewater, the premier whitewater journal! So click here to give the gift of American Whitewater today – and have a happy, safe holiday!

There’s no evidence that this study examined drinking on whitewater; however, we thought that it was of general relevant interest to the whitewater community. Please paddle safely and exercise personal responsibly in all your decisions. Study on lake and flatwater recreation shows alcohol boosts death risk for boat passengers as well as operators By DAVID WILLIAMSONUNC News Services CHAPEL HILL – Recreational boat passengers are just as likely asoperators to die as a result of drinking alcohol, according to a

American Whitewater mailed the attached letter in December 2001 requesting that King County reopen the traditional access point on the Middle Fork Snoqualmie River. This site was used by recreational river users for many years until road reconstruction blocked access with a berm and ditch. Restoring access to the river requires only that the ditch be filled in and that an old roadbed is converted into a short trail to the river. If this issue is of personal interest to

Washington, DC – On December 14th, 2001 American Whitewater’s Access Director Jason Robertson joined Bill Meadows, President of The Wilderness Society, Rebecca Wodder, President of American Rivers, and others in a meeting with the Forest Service to advocate for the creation of a Director’s position for Wilderness and Wild and Scenic Rivers. The meeting supported the initial letter reprinted below from the heads of several national conservation organizations. We were well received and are optimistic about the future of our

By Mike Harvey (Originally posted on Mountainbuzz) I attended a State Parks Board Meeting on Friday in Ft. Collins with Rob White and Mike Walker from AHRA. The State Parks Board and Tom Kenyon from the State Parks in Denver decided to table Browns Permitting for one year. This means that AHRA will do more thorough counts next year on Browns to determine if private boaters have in fact met the triggers set forth in the management plan. This means

American Whitewater’s staff and board wish you a safe and happy holiday season! We are looking forward to working and playing with you on our nation’s rivers in 2002.This has been an exciting year for us. We have bid a sad farewell to three long-time staff. Rich Bowers, Jayne Abbott, and Nancy Galloway moved on to greener pastures. We have also witnessed the end of an era with the equally sad departure from our American Whitewater’s board of Chris Koll,

2001 NOWR Point Series Event: NOWR Point Series Date: 2001 final results Location: Right Here K-1 Men’s Pro K-1 Women’s Pro C-1 Men’s Pro   1 Kincaid, Jay 175 2 Jackson, Eric 150 3 Grubbs, Javid 138 4 Blakeney, Jimmy 115 5 Bedingfield, Andy 111 6 Harris, Billy 90 7 Craig, Billy 89 8 Shimrock, Jesse 83 9 Berman, Tao 79 10 Benedict, Shane 71 11 Gavere, Dan 67 11 Kirk, Bryan 67 13 Holcombe, Andrew 60 14 Burnham, Macy

Congratulations to American Whitewater’s friends Pete Bell and Katherine Evatt at the Foothill Conservancy for their big success on securing access to California’s Middle Bar section of the Mokelumne River!Stockton Record ArticleFoothill Conservancy Press Release EBMUD Takes Step Toward Building River Access Facilities at Middle BarDecember 3, 2001Contact: Katherine Evatt or Pete Bell, 209.296.5734“We’re delighted to see East Bay MUD moving to build facilities that will help people use the Middle Bar reach of the Mokelumne River,” said Pete Bell

On October 29 of this year American Whitewater posted a report on a temproary halt in plans to drill for gas in the environmentally sensitive Breaks Interstate Park. As mentioned in that report, this effort was brought to our attention by Lexington attorney and long time AW activist, Brent Austin who recently forwarded this letter (excerpted) from the Kentucky House of Representatives."Thank you for your inquiry pertaining to signatures received on our petition drive for Breaks Park. The last time