Roughly twenty-four paddlers attended this first release on the Swan.  Nineteen of these paddlers were not American Whitewater members.  After paddling this fantastic  whitewater resource eighteen of the nineteen paddlers recognized the importance of supporting American Whitewater's river conservation work and quickly joined up.  Burgers and beer were provided to all members in appreciation of their support.  Thank you!

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In early 1998 PacifiCorp started the relicense process for the Bigfork hydropower project. American Whitewater got involved at the outset in the relicense process.  American Whitewater recognized an opportunity to restore summer whitewater opportunities to the dewatered river channel, secure a permanent put-in and take-out, establish a conservation easement on 435 acres of non-project lands thereby protecting public access and open space as well as making additional recreation facility improvements throughout the project boundary.  American Whitewater staff worked through the five-year regulatory process to make each of these opportunities into a new license condition for the next 30 years of project operation.

Whitewater releases will occur each Wednesday from <?xml:namespace prefix = st1 ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" /> 5 PM to 9 PM  July 1^st to August 31^st.  Releases are contingent on project inflows equal to or greater than 800 cfs at noon the day of the release.  Boaters can check the flows using the real-time Swan River flow gage to see if sufficient inflow is available to trigger a release.  In years 1 through 3 PacifiCorp is counting the number of boaters and surveying paddlers on their preference for a releases, weekends or weekdays after work.  Please take the time to participate in the survey and be sure to thank PacifiCorp staff for their hard work and recognizing the important recreational amenities in the Swan River Corridor.  Be sure to tell your friends about the whitewater releases.  See you on the Swan where the water is warm and Class IV rapids and play await!