American Whitewater

River Permit Survey Results Preview

07/12/2023 - by Kelsey Phillips

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 a river of their choice. The lottery system with the lowest levels of dissatisfaction is a weighted one; 34% of those who have entered the Colorado River through the Grand Canyon’s cancellation lottery were somewhat or very dissatisfied with the lottery, versus the Middle Fork of the Salmon River in Idaho, where 69% of those who have entered were somewhat or very dissatisfied. When asked about their most preferred method for awarding permits, a weighted lottery by number of failed attempts was the favorite at 56%, in contrast to the alternatives: a lottery weighted by number of years not on a river (25%), a lottery with equal odds (10%), a first-come, first-served system (5%), and a waitlist (4%). While a full write-up of these results will be presented in an upcoming American Whitewater Journal, some of the topline results are presented in this article.

07/11/2023 - by Hattie Johnson

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 the lower Dolores. If you got out to experience the river and haven’t yet had a chance to complete the survey about your experience, please do so today! We will close the survey on July 31st.

Help Protect the Greater Grand Canyon Area!

07/10/2023 - by Kestrel Kunz

American Whitewater has joined a tribally led effort to protect 1.1 million acres surrounding the Grand Canyon as a National Monument. The Baaj Nwaavjo I’tah Kukveni Grand Canyon National Monument would protect important landscapes and sensitive tributaries on the north and south rims. Use your voice now to help protect the Grand Canyon by signing this petition! Please reach out to kestrel@americanwhitewater.org if you would like to volunteer as a local advocate for this effort in the greater Grand Canyon region. We need dedicated advocates to attend public meetings, author letters in local papers, and contact elected officials.

07/06/2023 - by Thomas O'Keefe

We are pleased to report that the access to the Wild and Scenic Crooked River at Hollywood Road on the Crooked River Ranch has been brought into public ownership! This access success was made possible through funding from the Land and Water Conservation Fund and leadership of Trust for Public Land.

07/05/2023 - by Theresa Lorejo-Simsiman

Southern California Edison has provided an updated forecast for 9 days of whitewater recreational flows on the San Joaquin River at Horseshoe Bend. July 29, 2023, is the target for the start of these flows between 3500 cfs and 3000 cfs. Recreational flows are forecasted to end on August 6, 2023, with flows between 2000 cfs and 1600 cfs. Keep in mind forecasted dates are subject to change depending on weather conditions.

Photo by Paul Martzen

07/05/2023 - by Kevin Colburn

American Whitewater recently filed a formal objection to the newly revised Ashley National Forest management plan. The objection challenges the Forest Service’s decision to permanently release 28 rivers and streams from protection as potential Wild and Scenic Rivers after previously finding them eligible for such protections. Only two eligible streams retained protected status in the plan. The Forest is the first to attempt this release of river protections under the 2012 planning rule, which requires protection of eligible streams. The Forest’s attempt at systematically foreclosing river protections could lead to a rapid erosion of our nation’s wildest public-land streams in Utah and beyond, at a time when cold and clean water is more important than ever.

06/27/2023 - by KM Collins

American Whitewater is all about open-source, river information sharing. This is the motivation and rationale behind American Whitewater’s recently released Open-source Signage Toolbox. The first of its kind in the river community, the Toolbox houses a database of templates for safety messaging regarding life jackets, caution messaging, river kiosk information, map content and river rapid classification info. American Whitewater has taken on the challenge of streamlining universal whitewater and river signage. Think of the Toolbox as conveniently usable excerpts and content from a universal river sign guidebook. In the same way ski resorts have cultivated unified symbols, signage and color coding standards for downhill difficulty ratings (i.e. black diamond, green and blue, etc.), American Whitewater has curated universal signage for relaying important river safety information in the form of the Open-source Signage Toolbox.

06/13/2023 - by Jeff Venturino

Southern California Edison (SCE) is in the process of conducting a questionnaire in support of relicensing KR3, the North Fork Kern River hydropower project that includes Fairview Dam and Kern #3 Powerhouse. American Whitewater has been actively engaged in the KR3 relicensing and working to make sure that the Whitewater Boating Study accurately reflects whitewater recreation use within the project-affected reach.

06/09/2023 - by Jeff Venturino

The Wild & Scenic Tuolumne River canyon has been closed by managing agencies since March of this year in the wake of several atmospheric river events that caused widespread infrastructure and road damage. Major slides damaged both Lumsden Road and Ward’s Ferry Road. American Whitewater has been working with the US Forest Service, Tuolumne County, Hetch Hetchy Water & Power, Don Pedro Recreation Agency, the Bureau Land Management, and local outfitters to find solutions to restore access. While the current situation is less than optimal, we are fortunate to announce that there are access alternatives and American Whitewater will continue to work to direct attention and resources towards improving them.

06/08/2023 - by Clinton Begley

The Membership & Operations Specialist is a new position that will primarily work with our Membership and Engagement Director Bethany Overfield and help support the necessary programmatic, administrative, and data management tasks associated with maintaining and growing the organization’s member and donor base. Visit our Employment Opportunities page for more information about the position and how to apply!

06/08/2023 - by Hattie Johnson

For the first time since 2019, boatable flows have been released from McPhee dam into the lower Dolores. A record setting snowpack in the basin has allowed for a long season with extended high flows. If you got a chance to experience this stunning river, or have a trip planned for the near future, we would love to hear more about your experience. Your responses to this survey are incredibly helpful in working with dam operators on structuring releases. Please complete and share with your boating friends.

06/08/2023 - by Hattie Johnson

The Colorado Supreme Court issued their decision on the Hill v. Warsewa case after hearing oral arguments just last month. The justices unanimously found that Roger Hill did not have standing to seek a legally protected interest to pursue his claim “that a river segment was navigable for title at statehood and belongs to the State.” This question in front of the state supreme court was a narrow one. The justice’s found that he did not, that “Hill has no legally protected right independent of the State’s alleged ownership of the riverbed onto which he can hook his declaratory judgment claim”. It is an unfortunate decision as it limits who can bring a case to determine the status of the public’s right to access the river and it is an issue that is not going away.

06/06/2023 - by Bethany Overfield

The newest edition of the American Whitewater Journal is now available online. If you're an American Whitewater member that receives the print version of our journal, it should have landed in your mailbox last week (if not, it'll be there soon!).

We have a wonderful team of talented folks that work on publishing this journal five times a year, but at its heart the American Whitewater Journal is a volunteer publication that relies on community members to submit their stories, photos, art and other contributions that make up its content. This is OUR journal!

If you're interested in submitting your work for publication, you can easily do so via our Journal Submission Form.

06/06/2023 - by Bethany Overfield

We’re excited to kick start 2023 Gauley Fest planning! Started in 1983 to celebrate the derailment of a hydro-electric project that would have disrupted the flows on the Gauley River, Gauley Fest has grown to become the largest paddling festival in the world. The Gauley Fest vendor marketplace is second to none for reaching the whitewater boating and outdoor community in the US.

The 2022 Festival will take place from September 13^th through September 17^th. We’ll be posting more details in the coming weeks, but Vendors can register for booth space now!

06/05/2023 - by Bethany Overfield

Four spots on our four-day float trip on the lovely Rogue River in southern Oregon just opened up. Trip dates are June 20^th – 23^rd. This is a wonderful opportunity to enjoy one of the country's first Wild and Scenic Rivers with American Whitewater staff and similar likeminded river lovers.

You will have the option of bringing your own boat, renting a boat, or joining as a passenger on one of the rafts. The price for the trip is $1395 with a portion of the trip proceeds going to American Whitewater to support our work, thanks to our friends and supporters at the Northwest Rafting Company.

For more information and to nab these open spots, head here.

06/01/2023 - by Kestrel Kunz

Put these events on your calendar this June because you won’t want to miss these fun river gatherings where you can meet up with American Whitewater staff! American Whitewater only has two Stewardship Program staff in Colorado and we love connecting with the river community whenever we can. Come find us at one of these river events to learn more about what we’re working on, become a member, and best of all have fun on the river with your friends. We have a packed schedule this month and we are excited to celebrate rivers with our partners across Colorado.

06/01/2023 - by Charlie Walbridge

Walt Harvest, a leading California kayaker in the ‘60s and ‘70’s died on May 10, 2023. He was 85. Walt built his first kayak with his father back in the 50’s when kayaks were a real novelty. He was one of the strongest kayakers in the country and a leader of the Sierra Club Bay Chapter River Touring Section on many of the early runs of now-classic rivers. Twice a national champion slalom kayaker (‘63 and ’65), he was mentioned often in AW Journals during the '60's.

06/01/2023 - by Kevin Colburn

We are pleased to report that North Chickamauga and Cain creeks became Tennessee’s most recent state Scenic Rivers on May 18th, 2023. This state designation follows several other designations over the past few years on streams like Soak Creek and the Piney River. The designation effort was led by the North Chickamauga Creek Conservancy and drew broad support from many groups, including American Whitewater. This state designation signals a bright future for these streams, which are home to classic whitewater runs.

05/31/2023 - by Bob Nasdor

Legislation raising the federal debt ceiling includes unrelated provisions weakening the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) by limiting environmental reviews of federally permitted activities. NEPA is a critically important safeguard that ensures that federal agencies consider the environmental impacts of hydropower dams, pipelines, mining projects, public access enhancements, and other activities when issuing permits. The deal between the White House and House leadership would limit the scope of environmental reviews and seeks to fast track energy projects that have the potential to harm rivers. The legislation also specifically directs federal agencies to approve the Mountain Valley Pipeline project that will cross more than a thousand streams, creeks, rivers, and wetlands, including numerous whitewater rivers like the Gauley and the Kanawha, to transport carbon-polluting natural gas from West Virginia through Virginia. The law would prevent any meaningful review of the effects of this project on rivers and climate change by either land management agencies or the courts.

05/30/2023 - by Kevin Colburn

This year marks the second year of recreational releases on the Scrambled Eggs section of the Weber River in Utah! American Whitewater negotiated these releases over the past few years and is excited to celebrate year two, and wow what a different year it is! Unlike last year when getting a minimum paddling flow on release days was a minor miracle, this year release days could be quite high, after a long season of high flows. This year’s releases will be June 10 & 17 and July 1 & 15, between 10 and 2 pm. Enjoy!