American Whitewater

American Whitewater Sues Agencies Allowing Mining in Nolichucky River! In a clear case of a multibillion dollar railroad company taking advantage of a disaster struck region, the Southern Environmental Law Center, on behalf of American Whitewater and American Rivers, sued several federal agencies today, saying the agencies violated federal law by allowing the rail company to mine the Nolichucky River in East Tennessee. CSX Transportation has been directly mining the Nolichucky’s river bed for rock while repairing their rail line that was washed away during Hurricane Helene. This dangerous and unnecessary method does irreparable ecological harm to the waterway, hurts local businesses that rely on the river, and increases flooding risks for communities downstream. Trucking in rock from upland quarries is standard practice and much less destructive. Over 1300 of our members wrote letters to your representatives in Congress alerting them to this destruction and American Whitewater has worked tirelessly with local paddlers to halt this riverbed mining for several weeks. “We have been pleading with the federal agencies to step in and put protections in place, but they have not acted so far,” said Kevin Colburn, National Stewardship Director. “CSX’s reckless mining tactics put the remarkable characteristics of the Nolichucky Gorge, and the river itself, at risk. We cannot sit by and simply watch that happen.” The agencies authorized this rail rebuilding work without holding CSX to any limitations that would protect the river and downstream communities. These agencies’ refusal to hold CSX accountable is a violation of federal law. Our lawsuit was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of North Carolina and asks the court to revoke the work authorizations from the Army Corps of Engineers, Forest Service, and Fish and Wildlife Service. Our ability to respond when access and the ecological integrity of our public lands and waters like the Nolichucky are threatened is an example of your member contributions at work! Please consider joining American Whitewater, renewing your membership, or making an additional donation today, available at the link in the comments below. You can read all the details about this effort at our website: https://lnkd.in/gA4s8CU2

Founded in 1954, American Whitewater has been active through eighteen presidential elections and thirty-five sessions of Congress across our seventy-year history. Through each of those changes in national governance, American Whitewater’s priorities to protect and restore rivers, and defend bedrock legislation that supports those efforts have remained remarkably consistent. We’ve taken both Democratic and Republican administrations to task (and to court), and both won and lost in Congress no matter who held the gavel. You might say we are equal opportunity rabble rousers. Our history of keeping the pressure on our leaders and agencies to do the right thing for rivers has always depended upon our membership speaking on behalf of rivers with a collective voice. It was true in 1954, and it is still true today. ?If you have a sincere love for rivers and a commitment to protect and restore them for future generations, we’re here to represent you and we couldn’t be happier to have you on the team. Your voice and your passion are essential. In this month’s edition of the Beta, you’ll see both national and state examples of these unwavering priorities underway and that work will continue just as it has for the last seventy years. Thank you for being a part of this community that is bound so strongly by water, and for caring for your rivers each and every day. I hope to SYOTR soon. You can read more in this month’s issue of our online newsletter we call “the Beta,” at this link below. https://lnkd.in/gesRyQwx

Do you find access to rivers and public lands important? Celebrate ?? 70 Years of River Stewardship with us! ??Southern Rockies ?? Arkansas River Access (CO) => Please join or renew your membership today and be a part of the next 70 years of wins for our rivers by visiting https://lnkd.in/g6ZUrr5j! Consider celebrating our platinum anniversary by joining at the $250 platinum paddler level, and not only will your dollars go directly to protecting the rivers you love, you’ll also get a limited edition 70th anniversary hoodie and a year of the American Whitewater Journal delivered directly to you. In a controversial state for public access to rivers, American Whitewater has secured both physical and legal improvements for boaters. In 1997, alongside our affiliate club Colorado Whitewater, we helped secure the Number’s put-in, negotiating the land use and providing the seed money for site development. American Whitewater has found many other access solutions since then, including for Cheeseman Gorge, the Taylor River, and the put-in for Ruby Horsethief on the Colorado River. Top 5 other wins in the Southern Rockies you may have forgotten – only made possible through your member support. Will you join for the next 70 years of wins like this? Visit https://lnkd.in/g6ZUrr5j to donate or join today! 1. Upper Colorado River (CO): Gore Canyon Whitewater Park - first recreational water right on Colorado River 2. Green River (UT): Wild and Scenic designation in 2019 3. Yampa River (CO): Juniper Cross Mountain Dam stopped 4. Cache la Poudre River (CO): Wild and Scenic designation recreation protections 5. Colorado Water Plan (CO): Quantified recreational flow preferences ?? Numbers access team shot, Arkansas River (CO) | Courtesy Ken Ransford ?? Yampa River (CO) | Evan Stafford

70 Years of River Stewardship! If you love or work with Wild and Scenic rivers, this call to celebrate with us will interest you! ?? 70 Years of River Stewardship ?? Northern Rockies ?? Clearwater Wild and Scenic (ID) => Please join or renew your membership today and be a part of the next 70 years of wins for our rivers by visiting https://lnkd.in/g6ZUrr5j! Consider celebrating our platinum anniversary by joining at the $250 platinum paddler level, and not only will your dollars go directly to protecting the rivers you love, you’ll also get a limited edition 70th anniversary hoodie and a year of the American Whitewater Journal delivered directly to you. The Clearwater watershed: In the summers of 1959 and 1960, American Whitewater and the Sierra Club co-led paddling trips to the Clearwater, Lochsa, and Selway rivers in Idaho in an effort to document and promote their unique free-flowing values – and to push back on proposed dams. The trips inspired American Whitewater to draft a report to federal government officials calling for the protection of these rivers, outlining concepts that would become law eight years later when the Wild and Scenic Rivers Act was passed. It is no coincidence these rivers were among the eight original Wild and Scenic Rivers. Top 5 other wins in the Northern Rockies you may have forgotten – only made possible through your member support. Will you join for the next 70 years of wins like this? Visit https://lnkd.in/g6ZUrr5j to donate or join today! 1. Clark Fork River, Alberton Gorge (MT): Land Protected 2. Bear River, Swan River, and West Rosebud Creek (ID/MT): Releases Secured 3. Sullivan Creek (WA): Dam Removed 4. East Rosebud Creek (MT): Designated Wild and Scenic River 5. 85 Rivers and Streams(MT/ID/WY): Protections Won as Eligible for Wild and Scenic ?? November 1960 American Whitewater Journal

70 Years of American Whitewater ?? The Southeast ?? Tallulah Flow Restoration (GA) => We cannot do this work without you. Please join or renew your membership today and be a part of the next 70 years of wins for our rivers here => https://lnkd.in/g6ZUrr5j ? Consider celebrating our platinum anniversary by joining at the $250 Platinum Paddler level, and not only will your dollars go directly to protecting the rivers you love, you’ll also get a limited edition 70th anniversary hoodie and a year of the American Whitewater Journal delivered directly to you. The Tallulah: Several of today’s classic whitewater runs in the Southeast were dewatered for decades leading up to the 1990s, but American Whitewater saw an opportunity to change that and invested heavily in the region. Board members and volunteers negotiated the first dam releases in the Tallulah Gorge, which began in 1997, and partnered with affiliate clubs to negotiate releases on the Cheoah, Nantahala, West Fork Tuckasegee, Tuck, Hiwassee, and Catawba. These releases transformed paddling in the region in the early 2000s and remain core to boaters today. Top 5 other wins in the Southeast you may have forgotten => only made possible through your member support. Will you join for the next 70 years of wins like this? Visit https://lnkd.in/g6ZUrr5j to donate or join today! 1. Watauga River (TN): Access Purchased 2. South Fork Saluda (SC): Right to Paddle Defended 3. Upper Chattooga (NC/SC/GA): Right to Paddle Restored 4. Soak Creek (TN): Protected as State Scenic River 5. Upper Ocoee (TN): Dam Releases Saved ?? Tallulah River (GA) by Evan Stafford

Check out this month's digital newsletter, the "Beta" at: https://lnkd.in/guGYNizt

What a year! We want to offer a huge and heartfelt, “thank you!” if you’ve already joined, renewed or made an extra-holiday donation to American Whitewater this year. Your engagement on important river stewardship issues, and your partnership and ongoing support have made 2023 an unquestionable success. Check out our 2023 Impact Graphic and see the river stewardship work your support has helped us to accomplish over the past 12-months. This kind of success just isn’t possible without the passion and commitment our community shows year after year for the stewardship of our nation’s rivers. Your support is truly a meaningful way of sharing your stoke for rivers! Your ongoing support allows us to pursue our goals of protecting, restoring, and preserving access to whitewater rivers for all to enjoy. If you haven’t already, please help us close out the year strong by joining or renewing your membership, or by making a final end-of-year tax-deductible contribution to American Whitewater. Your generosity will help us continue our important work and make a lasting impact on the health and enjoyment of your favorite waterways. Happy New Year from the entire team at American Whitewater! Give a generous year end gift to the rivers you love today at https://lnkd.in/gJ8UYgqm All gifts received or post marked by December 31st will help us double a generous $100,000 gift!

Thank you to Kayak Session Magazine for the honor of being 2023’s Nonprofit Organization of the Year! The competition was stiff as there are incredible organizations doing amazing work all over the world to protect rivers around the globe. RIOS TO RIVERS’s Paddle Tribal Waters Program, Save Our Rivers, Save the Zambezi, Free Rivers Fund, River Collective, and Wet Tirol were all finalists and deserve incredible recognition for their work. We are grateful for the honor from Kayak Session, and also the perennial honor of being part of a community of advocates fighting to protect rivers they care about. Thank you to our members and partners for your participation and support! Join or give today at: https://lnkd.in/ghj_6xgD and https://lnkd.in/gF2v-bAw

WOW! What an opportunity for the rivers you love! A generous donor, moved by our commitment to protecting and restoring river access, has committed $100,000 toward our work in the coming year. Can you help us double it? Click the link in the comments below??to give the gift of river access this season! Our work to defend and expand river access is almost entirely membership funded, and it is the most direct way American Whitewater makes a difference in the lives of members like you. Our access work includes advocating for fair and equitable river access laws, defending against threats to access areas and the right to float, establishing new access areas and restoring flows, working with public lands managers on river access issues. With member's financial support, we have recently: -Helped successfully defend the constitutional right to paddle rivers and streams in a New Mexico Supreme Court case -Reopened 220 miles of rivers in California and Oregon that had been unnecessarily closed to the public for years by the Forest Service in the wake of wildfires -Celebrated the opening of new river access areas and amenities that accompany flow restoration on the Great Falls of the Catawba River (SC) and Poe reach of the North Fork Feather River (CA) Led an effort to oppose a precedent-setting boating ban on Fish Creek in Montana -Secured a settlement agreement on the Connecticut River (MA), restoring flows and establishing access to 2.7 miles of river after a century of dewatering -Led an effort to plan and design river access points for a restored Klamath River (OR/CA) following dam removals Plus plenty more! But there is so much more to do. Can we count on your support to advance those projects and more? Please visit our website (link in comments) to help support our continued fight for you and the rivers you love in the year to come! Thank you for being a part of our American Whitewater family and all you give to your local rivers! ??????

Reflecting on the legacy of Justice Sandra Day O'Connor and what she wrote in the majority opinion in Jefferson County PUD v. Ecology Department of Washington, an important case that prevented hydropower development of the Dosewallips River on Washington's Olympic Peninsula and established critical precedent that water quantity, the amount of water in a river for fishery resources or recreation, is a fundamental element of water quality: "Petitioners also assert more generally that the Clean Water Act is only concerned with water 'quality,' and does not allow the regulation of water 'quantity.' This is an artificial distinction. In many cases, water quantity is closely related to water quality; a sufficient lowering of the water quantity in a body of water could destroy all of its designated uses, be it for drinking water, recreation, navigation or, as here, as a fishery. In any event, there is recognition in the Clean Water Act itself that reduced stream flow, i.e., diminishment of water quantity, can constitute water pollution." These words from Justice O'Connor continue to directly influence the work I do today to keep water in rivers for fish, whitewater boaters, and all who understand that the amount of water in a river is critical to protecting water quality.