As part of the forest planning process the Forest Service is required to evaluate rivers for potential designation as Wild and Scenic Rivers. When the agency determines that a river is eligible for designation the identified Outstandingly Remarkable Values (ORVs) that led to the eligibility determination must be protected. Because eligible rivers are identified in Forest Plans that may not be available electronically and are often described using legal descriptions that are not always intuitive, we have worked with our colleagues at American Rivers and AW volunteer Alex Zendel to produce a Google Earth layer of eligible Wild and Scenic Rivers based on GIS data provided by the Forest Service. While we have found some inconsistencies between this map and individual Forest Plans, it represents a great starting point and we hope to work with Forest Service in improving this map over the course of the year when we celebrate the 40th Anniversary of the Wild and Scenic Rivers Act.

Even if a river has not been designated by Congress as Wild and Scenic and eligibility determination by the Forest Service does lead to management prescriptions that provide protection in the following ways:

1) Free-flowing Values. The free-flowing characteristics of eligible river segments cannot be modified to allow stream impoundments, diversions, channelization and/or rip-rapping to the extent authorized under law.

2) River-related Values. Each segment shall be managed to protect Outstandingly Remarkable Values (subject to valid existing rights) and, to the extent practicable, such values shall be enhanced.

3) Classification Impacts. Management and development of the eligible river and its corridor should not be modified, subject to valid existing rights, to the degree that its eligibility or tentative classification would be affected.

This map can be viewed with Google Earth and includes segments that are eligible and recommended as suitable for Wild and Scenic designation by the US Forest Service. Also included are the Outstanding Remarkable Values and classification for each river section. We encourage paddlers to use this map to learn more about the management of rivers we all enjoy and identify candidates for future protection as Wild and Scenic Rivers. This map can be used in conjunction with the map of rivers that are already designated as Wild and Scenic.

In the future we hope to integrate these map products with our whitewater maps on the AW website to provide river runners with a more robust understanding of the management guidelines for the rivers they enjoy.