Articles

An interesting article in Outside Magazine, based on a research paper done with information stored in the American Whitewater Accident Database. Certainly cold water plays a big role in a flush drowning death, especially when the swimmer has inadequate thermal protection. In addition to cold water shock, a few drops of cold water down the throat can cause laringospasm, which narrows the trachea and can make breathing very difficult. But in my opinion, the relentless, fast moving character of Western

On February 9th, 2020 kayaker Jamie Gray was killed on the Middle Fork of the Tygart river in West Virginia. The next day the state DNR closed the river while they searched a large undercut rock where she was last seen. When that effort was unsuccessful, DNR officer Chris Evans coordinated with local kayakers to do a thorough downstream search. They found her body on the Main Tygart a mile downstream, just above S-Turn Rapid. A full description of the

The Nez Perce and Clearwater National Forests are taking another big step toward eliminating protections from most or all of 89 outstanding whitewater streams in the Lochsa, Selway, and Clearwater watersheds. These rivers have been found eligible for Wild and Scenic designation and should be protected through the Forest Planning process. Instead, the Draft Forest Plan proposes to remove those protections for political reasons through a misapplied process they call “suitability.”   Stand up for Lochsa area rivers today! Use

The Kaweah River is one of the crown jewels of southern Sierra whitewater. Flowing out of Sequoia National Park, the river and its forks offer challenging, non-stop whitewater through golden granite canyons. But despite its grandeur and popularity, boaters have long been challenged by inadequate public river access and a lack of real-time flow information for the Middle Fork and East Fork Kaweah rivers.  American Whitewater is working to resolve these issues through the hydropower relicensing process for Southern California

Our friends at Outdoor Alliance recently released How to Get Outside (during a pandemic), a set of guidelines for recreating in the most responsible way possible. We borrowed their considerations and added some paddling specific ideas. This is an important time for paddlers to be a part of the solution to both help slow the spread of COVID19 and advance stewardship efforts for your favorite rivers. The first step is simple – stay in your zip code. A short abstinence

We know that many of you are struggling financially due to economic loss as a result of COVID-19. Our mission is to protect and restore America’s whitewater rivers and to enhance opportunities to enjoy them safely. Most of us are keeping it close to home; visiting favorite rivers that require additional travel will be limited for the foreseeable future. But American Whitewater will continue to protect and restore these rivers so that we can enjoy them in the future—rivers need

The much-anticipated Draft Forest Plan for the 1.1 million-acre Nantahala-Pisgah National Forest was released in February, but the public meetings and comment period are being delayed because of COVID-19. We are grateful for the pause in the process to allow the public time to give the new Forest Plan the attention it deserves. We’ll be taking the extra time to review the plan with our collaboration partners in great detail. We’ll let paddlers know when it’s time to attend a

A large part of our stewardship work at American Whitewater is following the science of healthy, clean rivers, and how to enjoy them safely, and that commitment continues to this day. The science of what’s happening with COVID-19 suggests that within our communities, including the paddling community, we need to take whatever precautions are necessary to slow the spread of this virus. Flattening the curve will keep us from overwhelming our healthcare systems and will reduce fatalities from the disease.

American Whitewater and its partners, including Outdoor Alliance and the Hydropower Reform Coalition, are filing comments today on the administration’s proposed rollback of the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) regulations. The proposed revisions would allow federal permitting without adequately considering climate change impacts, limit consideration of alternatives, and limit public participation in the permitting process. AW is committed to protecting our natural resources from degradation by assuring thorough environmental review before federal permitting to ensure the protection of environmental quality

It’s been a wild ride this past week for the Land and Water Conservation Fund and Restore Our Parks Act, and it all seems to have been initiated by a tweet from the President that began with these words: “I am calling on Congress to send me a Bill that fully and permanently funds the LWCF and restores our National Parks.” Earlier this Congress we were invited to testify before the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee and we highlighted

The Gila National Forest in southwest New Mexico is long overdue for a new forest-wide management plan. The current plan is 34 years old and since then there have been increasing threats to the Forest’s rivers and surrounding landscapes, from climate change to dam proposals to overgrazing of cattle. The Gila National Forest is home to the world’s first designated wilderness (Gila Wilderness, 1924) and is the birthplace of New Mexico’s last free-flowing rivers. The remoteness of the area provides

The Tonto National Forest is accepting public comments on their forest-wide management plan revision until March 12 – just 6 more days! On December 13, 2019 they officially released the Draft Plan and Draft Environmental Impact Assessment (DEIS) for a 90-day comment period. Forest Plans are vitally important as they are the blueprint for resource management and they provide an opportunity to secure better protections for rivers and their surrounding landscapes. As part of the plan revision process, the Forest

American Whitewater is proud to recognize Dr. Regina Hatfield Cunningham of Lexington, KY as our March Volunteer of the Month.  Regina is the mother of two teenagers, drives a minivan, works at the Veteran’s Administration as a maxillofacial prosthodontist. If you met her in a social setting, you might not picture her as an experienced outdoor adventurer, but you’d be dead wrong by a country mile. Descended from the Hatfield clan of the infamous Hatfield-McCoy feud, Gina isn’t intimidated by

The new issue of the AW Journal is available in the “Library“. This issue includes ‘Protect or Destroy? The San Joaquin River Gorge at a Crossroads’ as well as:   An update on Colorado Policy Whitewater Accident Summary covering July 2019 – December 2019. A great piece on packrafting Partnership Highlight: Katie Wallace with New Belgium Brewery Some raft carnage on the Lower Salmon Staff highlight of our California Stewardship Director Theresa Simsiman And much more!          Current members – Read the issue

This week the U.S. House of Representatives passed a package of public lands and waters legislation. This legislation, known as Protecting America’s Wilderness Act (H.R. 2546), amends the Colorado Wilderness Act of 2019 by combining several bills we have worked on and includes 1048 miles of Wild and Scenic Rivers in Washington and California. The primary bills of interest to the whitewater paddling community included in this legislation are Northwest California Wilderness, Recreation, and Working Forests Act (originally H.R. 2250);

The Colorado Department of Transportation (CDOT) is working on a project in Boulder Canyon to fix damages on Highway 119 that will also take measures to prevent future flooding. After the devastating 2013 storm, the highway was left vulnerable to deterioration and rock slides, as well as the potential for regular occurrences of flooding making it a dangerous route for travelers. The much-needed work includes rock blasting, riverbank armoring, rock scaling, and large boulder removal above the highway. The project