Paddling rivers is a powerful and widely accepted way of experiencing National Parks, Wilderness Areas, and other federal lands across the country. Yosemite National Park is one of only two parks in the country that prohibits the public from exploring our rivers by kayak, canoe, and raft. This unusual and difficult to understand prohibition on paddling on the Park’s Wild and Scenic Tuolumne and Merced Rivers is upheld with little or no logical justification. For years we have tried to answer the question of why paddling should be allowed on these stretches, and ask the question in return – why should paddling in Yosemite be limited? American Whitewater has been a primary advocate for opening the park to paddling through meeting with National Park Service staff and taking them on the river, providing comment on Wild and Scenic River Management Plans, and suggesting guidelines and a framework for managing paddling in the park.

The Park Service’s reasoning behind the ban is difficult to defend. They state that woody debris, necessary to preserve the natural character of lakes, rivers, creeks and streams for public enjoyment would create in-water hazards for boaters, and would therefore need to be removed. Most whitewater boaters, however, recognize woody debris as part of rivers and do not have any expectation that it would be removed. The Park Service also says that there is a wilderness boundary at Hetch Hetchy, however paddling is fully in alignment with wilderness recreation and is not prohibited within wilderness areas.

Other forms of recreation are allowed within Yosemite National Park, including hiking, backpacking and rock-climbing. Paddling is consistent and congruous with all other modes of recreation currently allowed in the park - paddlers are essentially hikers with boats instead of backpacks, and practice the same Leave No Trace methods as any other visitor. Allowing paddling in Yosemite will not require additional river access or parking structures, nor would it require additional management activities – meaning there would be no new impacts to the park.

Should river capacity become a problem, there are models for managing use on other recreation opportunities that could easily be rolled into current recreation permitting procedures. Other parks do it, even on rivers that see high use in Wilderness Area or National Parks, including the Colorado River in the Grand Canyon, the Middle Fork of the Salmon in Idaho, and the Rogue River in Southern Oregon. Unlike these rivers, however, the Merced and the Tuolomne have narrow windows where flows, weather and access are suitable for boating, and would likely see less use.

Bans on human-powered boating is an uncommon practice within the National Park System and the Merced and Tuolumne Rivers in Yosemite National Park should join the other rivers in the Park System that are open to paddling. Paddling is human-powered, place-based, low-impact, quiet, non-consumptive, skill-based, and Wilderness-compliant. In short, it is exactly the kind of activity and experience that the Park system was created to foster.

As the Obama Administration’s America's Great Outdoors Initiative encourages Americans to reconnect with rivers and waterways, American Whitewater will continue to advocate for allowing boating in Yosemite until the ban is lifted. Check the news feed below for updates and opportunities to help. We hope to see you on the river soon!

Learn more about the Merced Wild and Scenic River Plan and Tuolumne Wild and Scenic River Plan.