Articles

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

We are tracking a few bills in the Washington State legislature that will directly impact the paddling community. These bills could move quickly and we encourage Washington State residents to review the bills and offer your thoughts. Click the link to Comment on this Bill to share your thoughts on these three bills. Mandatory PFD wear for all boaters. HB 2443 – 2019-20; Requiring the use of personal flotation devices on smaller vessels. Sponsors: Ryu, Davis Comment on this Bill: https://app.leg.wa.gov/pbc/bill/2443

American Whitewater’s primary goal on the South Fork American River below Slab Creek is to ensure the enjoyment of the entire whitewater reach from Slab Creek Dam to the White Rock Powerhouse. However, after exhausting all the proper consultation channels with Sacramento Municipal Utility District (SMUD) to bring to bear protections, mitigations and enhancements negotiated and conditioned in the 2007 Settlement Agreement and the 2014 Hydropower License order, AW and our colleagues have filed a Motion of Intervention with the

Just before the holidays this past December, the Forest Service released their Draft Forest Plan and accompanying analysis, which covers a whitewater and native-fish paradise in central Idaho. The Forest encompasses the Lochsa, Selway, Clearwater, and Potlatch watersheds, and also a portion of the Salmon River drainage. In the Draft Plan the Forest Service proposes to eliminate Wild and Scenic protections from most or all of the 89 streams they have found to be eligible for Wild and Scenic designation.

The Winter issue of the AW Journal is available in the “Library“. This issue includes ‘Top 10 River Stewardship Issues for 2020’ as well as:   An article about the protection of boating under the Clean Water Act The second part of a history of the East Tennessee Whitewater Club A harrowing recap of a mishap on the beautiful Russell Fork river A couple of great wilderness whitewater features by AW Members And much more!          Current members – Read the issue now!

Our stewardship team got it done for whitewater rivers in 2019 and we wanted to share our top three project highlights, nationally and for every region we work in. Check out this article to see the breadth of our work across the country and find your region to for an overview of some of our most important stewardship work local to you – Stewardship Highlights 2019: American Whitewater a Year in Review.