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As the winter rains return to the Pacific Northwest, those passing through Washington’s Olympic Peninsula in search of paddling opportunities will have an opportunity to see the largest dam removal effort in the nation underway. Olympic National Park recently opened the Elwha Dam Overlook Trail where visitors can view dam removal progress in person. The Elwha Dam Overlook Trail can be reached by taking Highway 101 west from Port Angeles. At mile 242.5 turn onto Highway 112. Take this road

American Whitewater is pleased to announce the recipient of our October 2011 Volunteer of the Month award: Neal Dana! Neal is an instrumental volunteer helping AW put on Gauley Fest. Each year, Neal offers up his electrical expertise helping us safely wire the Gauley Fest site for power. Since the festival site only features power supply boxes, this is no small feat. Neal oversees 1,000s of feet of electrical wire and hundreds of light and power sockets all put up

Take part in the Great Willamette Clean Up, Saturday and Sunday, October 8th and 9th.  The 187-mile effort will clean up the Willamette River, which is essential to life in Oregon. Bring your family & friends!  Earn enough river-karma to last a year!  Meet other river-loving enthusiasts, have fun, and get an awesome, FREE event t-shirt! – The Great Willamette Clean Up takes place on the water (via kayak, canoe or SUP) and on land (by bicycle and foot). –

Several bills currently threaten Wild and Scenic Rivers throughout the country, including the St. Croix in Minnesota and Wisconsin (HR 850/S1134), California’s Merced River (HR 869 and 2578), and Oregon’s Crooked River (HR 2060). These bills will be moving out of committee this fall.     Congress established the Wild and Scenic Rivers Act to protect the outstanding values of the nation’s most cherished free flowing rivers for current and future generations. A Wild and Scenic designation protects the outstandingly

A public comment period is now open for the restoration of the Klamath River through November 21st. Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar announced in late September that the federal government has completed numerous peer-reviewed scientific and technical studies providing new and detailed information about the environmental and economic impacts of removing four Klamath River hydroelectric dams – fulfilling a major condition of the Klamath Hydroelectric Settlement Agreement (KHSA), which was negotiated among state, local, tribal and water provider leaders

A strong response from the whitewater community has gone a long way towards protecting summer whitewater on the Upper Youghiogheny River. The story starts when property owners on the back coves of Deep Creek Lake begin pressuring politicians to raise the minimum summer lake level. This would have eliminated many summer releases! A discussion between the editor of the Garrett County Republican and Friendsville Town Councilman Jess Whittemore resulted in an editorial that drew an unprecedented 160 supportive letters from

This Saturday October 1st and Sunday October 2nd, American Whitewater will be out on the Pit River in Northern California to celebrate and enjoy whitewater releases from Fall River Mills to Highway 299. On Saturday evening, AW staff and volunteers will be at the Pit River Recreation Area campground. Come on over after 6 p.m. to join us for a beverage and get caught up on what we’re doing in California and throughout the West!   The Pit River is

Maryland’s Upper Youghiogheny River is one of the finest expert whitewater runs in the country and one of the few with a predictable summer release schedule. Hundreds of private and commercial paddlers assemble in Friendsville every summer weekend to run the river. Several years ago American Whitewater supported local kayakers and outfitters as they worked with the Town of Friendsville, regional and local members of Trout Unlimited, and Brookfield Power  to develop the current permit. It allows Brookfield to profitably

As many folks know, Gauley Fest is American Whitewater’s biggest fundraising event. As such, we’re very proud to announce another excellent Gauley Fest for the record books. First, a huge thanks goes out to Subaru for being Gauley Fest’s title sponsor. Subaru has a long history in the whitewater community as a favored shuttle rig. We’re glad they’ve chosen to support American Whitewater’s river stewardship goals through their partnership with Gauley Fest. Thanks Subaru! We’d also like to thank the

 The “Best River Festival in the West” – the Feather River Festival (CA) will be held this weekend – September 23, 24, and 25, 2011. The Festival will coincide with the Rock Creek/Tobin scheduled releases on Saturday and Sunday, September 24 and 25, 2011. This fundraiser for American Whitewater is hosted by local paddling club, the Chico Paddleheads. The event will be held at “Indian Jim School” campground located two miles upstream from the small town of Tobin and one

If you’re coming out to Gauley Fest, make sure you check out the Ladies on the Lower G fundraiser put on by Anna Levesque and Girls at Play. It’s a fun paddle down, you guessed it, the Lower Gauley and all the funds raised goes to American Whitewater. It should be an awesome trip and we hope you’ll check it out. But, there is a catch, you have to sign up in advance! Check out the link above for full

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers announced a higher than normal whitewater release for World Kayak’s Canyon Doors Freestyle Festival on Tuesday, September 20, 2011. Summersville Dam will release to 4700 cfs from 5:30 – 11:00 am; afterwards, the release will gradually drop to 700 cfs over the next 8 hours. This is significantly more water than our regular weekend Gauley releases of 2800 cfs. The added water makes all sections, especially the Upper Gauley, more challenging. Paddlers utilizing the

American Whitewater is pleased to announce the recipient of our September Volunteer of the Month award: Shanti Savage! Jay Loschert, AW’s Dolores River Stewardship Assistant, had this to say about Shanti: I’d like to recognize volunteer extraordinaire, Shanti Savage. Shanti is a school teacher and river guide on the San Juan. She is very involved with our new group, Lower Dolores Boating Advocates. In May we had a chance to take members of the local media on a day trip

Gauley Fest, presented by Subaru, can’t happen without your help! Please sign up for 2 hours (or more) and become a part of the Gauley Fest Volunteer Team! It’s a fun and easy way for you to be a critical part of an amazing festival that’s also AW’s biggest fundraiser. All it takes is two hours of your time to help AW execute the most memorable Gauley Fest yet. Slots are on a first come, first serve basis so sign

South Feather plans to release 400 cfs for about 25 days. The release will start after the finish of repairs at the dam. They anticipate starting to ramp up the flows beginning September 26, reaching 400 cfs by end of day September 28. The releases would continue through October 23 and would start to ramp back down on October 24.

The September/October issue of the AW Journal features a Celebration of Wilderness Rivers . Our index now provides direct links to each article. this issue includes. . . A Night on the Michimahuida Detour on the Talkeetna Riding Out the Storm: Meadow Creek Updates on this fall’s Elwha and White Salmon Dam removals Feature article on what a restored Klalmath might look like . . .plus much more! Want to read the AW Journal online: You need a current membership