Articles

American Whitewater filed a legal appeal of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission’s (FERC’s) decision to allow the owner of a failed hydropower project on the Salmon Falls RIver, which forms the Maine and New Hampshire border, to abandon its deadbeat dams. The appeal, filed in the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals, argues that dam removal is in the public interest because leaving the dams in the river blocks fish passage and recreation, and also violates the Clean Water Act.  American

American Whitewater is excited about the upcoming Crystal River Wild and Scenic and Alternatives Community Summit taking place October 26th, from 5:00 to 8:30 pm in Carbondale at the Roaring Fork High School Auditorium (2270 CO-133, Carbondale, CO 81623). We hope you will join us in learning about and providing feedback on all the potential options for protecting the upper Crystal River that the Steering Committee has identified. Food will be provided along with an interactive agenda. Save the date!

Dolores River Boating Advocates is hosting a virtual event on Wednesday, October 11th. This will be a great chance to hear about what  the 2023 Dolores River season looked like and a chance to provide feedback on your experience. We will listen to presentations from water managers and dam operators, fish biologists, and recreation advocates. This event will be hosted on Zoom, and will span from 6:00PM – 8:00PM with an opportunity to ask questions. For future boating seasons, we

More and more voices call for major renovation or complete removal at Glen Canyon Dam   In August, American Whitewater and many others submitted scoping comments on the complex planning process for Post-2026 Operations at Glen Canyon and Hoover Dams on the Colorado River. The outcome of the multi-year process led by the Bureau of Reclamation will guide reservoir operations at both Glen Canyon Dam (Lake Powell) and Hoover Dam (Lake Mead) and has the potential to affect river recreation

In August a D.C. Circuit Court vacated the Surface Transportation Board’s environmental review and directed further evaluation of the human and environmental impacts of a proposed segment of railway in the Uinta Basin in Utah. The new 88-mile track would provide for efficient export of waxy crude oil extracted from northeast Utah, along the Colorado River, to Gulf Coast refineries. Eagle County in Colorado sued the Transportation Board, indicating that both the up and downstream impacts – such as oil

American Whitewater is formally objecting to the Bureau of Land Management’s proposed Final Plan for the Eastern Colorado Field Office. The planning area includes the majority of the Arkansas River and its key tributaries like Grape Creek. As part of the planning process the BLM is required to conduct a thorough review of which river segments are free-flowing and possess at least one Outstandingly Remarkable Value. These river segments should then be protected by the agency as eligible Wild and

Every late summer and early fall, it’s time for boating on California’s Pit River when the hydropower boating flow releases that American Whitewater has secured come into play. Here’s how it looks this season for the Pit 5 and Pit 1 runs. Pit 5 Run With the August releases already behind us, the second and final scheduled release for the Pit 5 run will be on September 9th & 10th from 10 am to 4 pm each day at  a

Earlier this week the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) issued a new federal rule that eliminates protection for a majority of our nation’s wetlands and estimated totals of well over a million miles of streams. The rule aligns the law with a recent Supreme Court Case that limited the kinds of wetlands and streams that can be covered by the Clean Water Act, known as Waters of the United States, or WOTUS. American Whitewater joined an amicus brief in that pivotal

The North Fork of the French Broad, a class IV+ creeking destination in western North Carolina, is now eligible for National Wild and Scenic River designation! More work is needed to help this river gain its well-deserved Wild and Scenic status. Once designated, the North Fork of the French Broad will forever be protected from development projects like dams – a huge victory for a river that was almost lost to them twice in the last 60 years. Explore this

American Whitewater, Outdoor Alliance California, Tuolumne River Trust and the Tuolumne River Outfitters spearheaded a recreation roundtable to highlight recreation and access issues on the Wild and Scenic Tuolumne River with Congressman Tom McClintock and his senior staff. Our goal for the two-day event was to build appreciation for this iconic stretch of river among all the stakeholders who manage, recreate, and depend on it for the local economy. We also wanted to call attention to last winter’s atmospheric rivers

Gauley Fest 2023 is almost here! Our largest membership drive and biggest whitewater event of the year is just a few weeks away Nicholas County Veterans Memorial Park, Summersville, WV.   The festival grounds open up September 14th for weekend camping onsite, with our vendor market and live music running thru the weekend, plus our infamous silent auction and an 80s theme party Saturday, September 16th to celebrate the 40th anniversary of Gauley Fest! We will wrap up the festival

We are so pleased to announce that our regional program in the Southern Rockies is now going to be co-lead by Kestrel Kunz and Hattie Johnson. This shared leadership approach allows each of us to take on a more focused aspect of American Whitewater’s mission. Kestrel will now be the Director of Protection and lead our work on proactive management and policy that will protect the rivers in the Southern Rockies as they are now. Hattie will be the Director

On August 25-26, American Whitewater will be gathering our community on the Colorado River at Pumphouse Rec Area to celebrate our work in the southern Rockies. While we won’t be hosting an official race through Gore this year, we still will gather and enjoy river time together as another river season is closing out in Colorado. Join us to camp, renew your membership and have a chance to win some awesome prizes. And we won’t let you go without another

Washington State Department of Ecology has initiated a rulemaking process to establish the first Outstanding Resource Waters in the State. In 2022 American Whitewater joined other river conservation groups in the state in nominating the state’s first Outstanding Resource Waters: the Cascade (Skagit watershed), Green (Toutle watershed), and Napeequa (Wenatchee) rivers. The Washington State Department of Ecology has opened a 60-day public comment period to establish the level of public support for these designations and your voice is important. Outstanding

After a decade of advocacy to restore a section of the Connecticut River in Massachusetts and expand whitewater boating opportunities, American Whitewater signed a settlement agreement with FirstLight Power as part of the FERC relicensing of the Turners Falls and Northfield Mountain hydropower projects. American Whitewater was joined by affiliates Appalachian Mountain Club and New England FLOW along with supporting outfitters Zoar Outdoor and Crab Apple Whitewater in achieving this historic agreement. The Settlement Agreement will provide boatable flows in

Back in December of 2022, American Whitewater shared a survey to gather paddlers’ opinions on the permit systems that are used to manage use on multi-day river trips. This survey was designed to investigate both satisfaction with, and preference for various permitting systems in the U.S., as well as specific attitudes towards these systems. A huge number, 1,261 paddlers, were able to fully respond to the survey, answering both general questions regarding permitting systems as well as specific questions about

Boatable flows on the lower Dolores River petered out at the end of June as downstream releases from McPhee dam matched the inflows into the reservoir. Boaters were about to enjoy a total of 55 days of flows over 800 cfs and an extended high flow period (over 3,200 cfs) for 28 days – an entire month. These flows were thanks to an extremely healthy snowpack in the southwest, especially low elevation snow that provided early season high water in