It's now time to start thinking about multi-day trips for this spring and there are several great opportunities on Western Rivers. Many of these rivers require you to fill out a lottery application and deadlines are coming up. Check out our database of permits and start planning that trip.

Yosemite National Park is currently seeking your input as they develop alternatives for the Merced Wild and Scenic River Management Plan. Boating is currently banned throughout most of the Park, and we are pleased to see that it is being considered on additional stretches of the river. Your comments can help support opening the entire length of the Wild and Scenic Merced River within the Park to canoes, kayaks and rafts! Comments are due December 14th, 2011.  

Legislation that threatens the integrity of the Wild and Scenic Rivers System has moved out of Committee Hearings and will soon be put to a vote on the House Floor. HR 2578 proposes to roll back the designated boundary of California's Wild and Scenic Merced River. The Wild and Scenic Rivers Act is one of the strongest tools that we have to protect the free-flowing rivers we value for future generations, and HR 2578 is a slippery slope for Wild and Scenic Rivers throughout the country. Please contact your Representatives today!

Whitewater boating flows will be coming to the Pit River in Northern California each October. On June 14, 2011, FERC issued an order approving four days of whitewater boating flows annually in the Pit 1 Bypass reach. These flows implement the 2003 license issued to PG&E by FERC for its operation of the Pit 1 Hydroelectric Project (FERC # 2687), and attempt to mitigate the loss of whitewater recreation on the Pit River due to the project. Fall 2011 releases have been scheduled for the weekends of October 1st/2nd and 15th/16th.

American Whitewater and the Plumas National Forest have developed alternative access points for the Bald Rock Canyon and Devil's Canyon runs on the Middle Fork Feather through the end of July. Read more for details on what you'll need and how to get there... (updated 7/5/2011)

The Merced Irrigation District wants to raise the dam at Lake McClure, which will illegally inundate portions of the Wild and Scenic Merced River in California.  In an effort to move forward, the Irrigation District's answer is to have Congress change the Wild and Scenic boundary.  If HR869 passes, it will be the first time a Wild and Scenic River boundary has been changed to allow for increased capacity of an existing reservoir.  Find out how you can stop this attack on the Merced River and Wild and Scenic Rivers everywhere.

We now have an updated map of all the Nation's Wild and Scenic Rivers available as a Google Earth layer that complements the data from our National Whitewater River Inventory that is also available in Google Earth.

The California Department of Water Resources (DWR) has released the whitewater park feasibility study on the Feather River in Oroville California. Download the report and attend the meeting on February 4^th in Oroville.