Articles

The hydropower industry wants to go back to their good old days, where they could dam a river, take out all of the water and not give a second thought to the impact it might have on fish, wildlife or people. They're serious in their mission, and have released a draft bill in Congress that would gut environmental and public interest protections in the Federal Power Act. These are the very tools that American Whitewater and our partners have used

The Flathead National Forest has released the list of streams they propose to protect as “eligible” for Wild and Scenic designation in their forthcoming revised Forest Plan.  Paddlers with opinions on the list are encouraged to send the Forest an email or letter before the May 15, 2015 comment deadline.  A 2004 eligibility assessment found only 10 rivers eligible.  American Whitewater and our partners in Montanans for Healthy Rivers submitted a list of 49 river reaches for consideration last year. 

Late last month, U.S. Representative Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-WA) released a discussion draft of a bill that is, by far, the most dangerous piece of hydropower legislation for rivers that we've seen in over a decade. The proposed "Hydropower Regulatory Modernization Act of 2015" would take the hydropower industry back to the days that brought about massive hydropower development during the last century, where developers could dam a river, take out all of the flow and barely give a second

California boaters! Join American Whitewater on Monday, May 11th at the State Capitol in Sacramento for California Rivers Day–an education, outreach, and activism event focusing on rivers.    Our rivers need your voices more than ever, as the severe and persistent drought has unleashed an intense push to take us back to the era of big dam building and weaken protections for our waterways. We hope you'll come out to celebrate and advocate for our rivers!     California Rivers Day will

THIS WEEK ONLY! American Whitewater is thrilled to announce that we have partnered with FLOAT to bring you limited edition river stewardship T shirts available this week only! For every shirt sold FLOAT will donate $8 to American Whitewater to help us restore rivers. Head on over to www.float.org and SHOP today – lots of fun colors to choose from!

Vendor registration for the largest whitewater festival in the world, Gauley Fest, is now open! Make sure to register before prices automatically increase 15% on September 1st. If you have any questions, please take a look at our Frequently Asked Questions. If you don’t see your question answered there, please contact us at bookkeeper@americanwhitewater.org or 828-586-1930. See you there!

If you boat whitewater rivers in Oregon, American Whitewater wants to hear from you! We're doing a survey to better understand the importance of some of the state's best whitewater runs. The information you provide will be used to support our work to protect, restore and improve access to your favorite rivers in the state.  Take the survey here: https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/G9VWTVR   Your feedback is important to us, and could lead to new Wild and Scenic River designations or to fight

Vendor registration for the largest whitewater festival in the world, Gauley Fest, is now open! Make sure to register before prices automatically increase 15% on September 1st. If you have any questions, please take a look at our Frequently Asked Questions. If you don’t see your question answered there, please contact us at bookkeeper@americanwhitewater.org or 828-586-1930. See you there!

Extending from the Seattle waterfront to Ellensburg Washington, the Mountains to Sound Greenway is 1.5 million acre outdoor recreation paradise. It includes great whitewater runs like the Middle-Middle, Club Stretch, Ernie's Gorge, Fall in the Wall in the Snoqualmie River drainage; Cooper and Cle Elum in the Yakima River drainage; Cedar River Slalom Course; and many more great paddling destinations. The Greenway also has 1,600 miles of trails, the stunning Cascade Crest, backcountry skiing and snowshoeing, rock climbing routes and

As paddling season kicks into high gear, we hope that you'll consider making a contribution to American Whitewater on GiveBig Day–Tuesday, May 5th! GiveBIG is a one day event through the Seattle Foundation that makes your donation to American Whitewater go further! It's a great way to support our efforts to halt new dams proposed for the North Fork Snoqualmie and South Fork Skykomish Rivers, secure protections for iconic and pristine rivers on the Olympic Peninsula, and ensure that the public can

May 2nd will be the first Saturday Upper Yough release of the year, and hundreds of white water paddlers will converge on the small town of Friendsville, MD. After $25,000 in paddler-donated seed money and $160,000 in grants raised by the Town the new parking area is complete and awaiting final approval. We hope the parking will be open, but please park on the side of the road if it isn't. Other work to protect river access continues. Don Millard, a local