Articles

Issue: Future management of roadless areas Goal: Establish roadless policy as cornerstone for national river protection initiative Current Status: In 2000, the U.S. Forest Service(USFS) initiated public comment for the future of 40 million acres of forest lands that remain wild and roadless. American Whitewater views the roadless policy as an opportunity to safeguard wilderness rivers, establish a Federal Paddling policy, and protect many headwater areas of the rivers we paddle which remain wild and roadless, but unprotected. The Forest

Issue: In June a landowner threatened boaters with a rifle; however the boaters acted quickly, turned the tables, and had the landowner arrested for third degree assault. American Whitewater also received unverified reports in March that someone had deliberately felled trees in the river to block navigation and force boaters to trespass while portaging around the obstruction. Another landowner was rumored to have posted a "No Floating and No Trespassing" notice in 1999. Additionally, there have been stories of conflicts

Issue: On July 6th, American Whitewater joined suit with the Grand Canyon Private Boaters Association against Grand Canyon National Park. The purpose of the suit is to force the Park Service to reopen the Colorado River Management and Wilderness Planning processes, and address inequities in permit allocation. The suit also accuses the park of failing to adhere to its management directives by allowing nonconforming issues such as helicopter transfers and motorboat access in the proposed wilderness section. Please check out

Issue: Relicensing Lake Chelan hydropower project Goal: Implement annual schedule of Whitewater releases. Current Status: American Whitewater volunteers participated in a Whitewater controlled flow study in July 2000 on the Chelan Gorge. The study was designed to identify optimum and minimum acceptable flows for whitewater boating. The results of the study will be used to develop an annual schedule of whitewater releases. Chelan Public Utility District is currently relicensing the Chelan Lake hydropower project. The current license expires in 2004.

Top 40 issue, 2000The New River Dries is an awesome but infrequently run piece of whitewater in West Virginia. It has huge western style waves and holes on eastern style bedrock. American Whitewater volunteers have already arranged for parking and gotten a bridge gauge installed, now they’re just waiting for regular damn releases-or better reprting for the releases. American Whitewater Goal: Obtain scheduled releases, and obtain timely flow information. Contact: Tim Daly, 304-757-8571 or Jason Robertson, Access Director

Issue: Though logging on the Blackwater has stopped temporarily, the lack of constructive communication between the logging company that owns most of the valley and does as it pleases, the Forest Service that manages regional forests, the State Park that borders property, the Governor that has agreed to purchase some of the property at exorbitant prices, the conservationists that have escalated the issue, and the recreationists and boaters that simply want to enjoy the river environment has resulted in a

ISSUE: The 1999 drought increased awareness of crowding on a handful of rivers on the East Coast, including the Upper and Lower Yough, and Ocoee. While some eastern boaters traveled to distant states in order to find water, many concentrated use on a tiny handful of popular rivers with regular dam releases. As the popularity of the sport continues to grow, and as whitewater revenues become an increasingly important part of local economies, this is clearly a great time to

ISSUE: In November 1998, American Whitewater submitted a groundbreaking proposal to Yellowstone National Park asking for reconsideration of the 1964 ban on boating, while simultaneously asking for boating use to be studied and carefully managed based on the primary goal of conserving the resource. American Whitewater suggested that limited opportunities for boating could be allowed under a cooperative conservation paradigm in which the welfare of the environment came first and opportunities for recreation came second. In our proposal, American Whitewater

ISSUE: Hydropower RelicensingGOAL: Restoration of Bear River and whitewater opportunities Current Status: The Bear River has been on American Whitewater’s Annual Top 40 Endangered Rivers List for three years running. The reason, the Bear River is undergoing a 5 year hydropower relicense process. PacifiCorp, the utility that owns and operates the three hydropower projects on the Bear has been uncooperative with all stakeholders in the proceeding. PacifiCorp is in effect attempting to get a new license with the same environmental

ISSUE: Like it or not, tourism is coming to Friendsville and boaters are riding on the front of the wave into town. Friendsville will soon have mountain bikers, hikers, and fishermen as well as boaters crowding the downtown area as new riverside hiking and biking trails are completed. The increased use will impact the town unless the community takes action now to plan responsibly for visitor parking, etiquette, dining, and housing. GOAL: Improve private boater parking and community relations. Obtain

ISSUE: Hydropower RelicensingGOAL: Improve river access, restore whitewater opportunities Current Status: The North Fork Feather River potentially has six separate Class III, IV and V whitewater runs encompassing 50 river miles. Surely a paddling mecca worth placing on any destination paddling vacation (See American Whitewater March/April 1997 issue). Unfortunately these runs rarely contain sufficient water for paddling due to Pacific Gas and Electric’s (PG&E) hydropower projects on the North Fork Feather River totaling 6 dams and 7 powerhouses. Years ago,