California and Oregon Rafting

Local Film Provides First Hand Look at Unique Dam Removal and Restoration Project in the Wind River watershed in the Columbia River Gorge.

What: Portland Premiere of Trout on the Wind and 3 other short films: Ascending the Giants, (John Waller, Portland), An MBA Meets a
Fisherman, and SalmonsKin. (all films available for advance review)
When: May 13th, 2010, Doors 6:30 PM Hollywood Theatre, 4122 NE Sandy Blvd
Cost: Tickets are $7 and proceeds benefit the Crag Law Center
and Gifford Pinchot Task Force
Contact: Ralph Bloemers, (503) 525-2727 or Megan Hooker at 525-2724

On Thursday, May 13th Crag and Gifford Pinchot Task Force will host the Wild Rivers Movie Night at the Hollywood Theater. The evening will feature the Portland Premiere of Trout on the Wind, a locally produced documentary about the removal of the Hemlock Dam from Trout Creek in Washington. Trout Creek is a tributary of the Wind River in the Columbia River Gorge, and in the summer of 2009 salmon and steelhead made their way up the creek without the aid of a fish ladder for the first time in decades.

The Forest Service worked with local organizations, contractors and citizens to joined forces to remove Hemlock dam and restore over 20 miles of prime habitat for Columbia River Steelhead. This film provides a first hand look at how this successful restoration project was accomplished from start to finish.

Three additional selections from the Wild & Scenic Film Festival will be shown, including John Waller’s Ascending the Giants, the Good Life Parable: An MBA Meets a Fisherman and a short called SalmonsKin by Thomas Dunklin.

All proceeds from the showing will benefit the Crag Law Center and Gifford
Pinchot Task Force. Crag is a public interest environmental law center that supports
community efforts to protect and sustain the natural legacy of the Pacific Northwest.

Gifford Pinchot Task Force supports the biological diversity and communities of the
Northwest through conservation and restoration of forests, rivers, fish, and wildlife. The two organizations have worked together for many years on projects in Washington, played a role in the removal of Hemlock dam and restoration of Trout Creek.

The films will be shown at the Hollywood Theater in Portland (4122 NE Sandy
Blvd). Doors open at 6:30 pm, films start at 7:00 pm. Tickets are $7 and are available at
the door or in advance via the Hollywood Theatre website. For more information, visit
www.crag.org/support-us/crag-events and http://www.gptaskforce.org/getinvolved/
upcoming-events

Here’s a press release from the Forest Service about upcoming changes in the permit application process for the Selway, Snake, Middle Fork of the Salmon, or wild main Salmon Rivers.

If you want to obtain a permit to float the Selway, Snake, Middle Fork of the Salmon, or wild main Salmon Rivers in 2010, you need to know about changes coming in the Forest Service permit lottery and launch reservation system. The Four Rivers Lottery is going “green”, incorporating an entirely online system as part of our desire to go paperless.

From December 1, 2009, to January 31, 2010, the Forest Service will conduct its usual lottery for floating the four rivers, but with some changes and at a different website. Applicants will now apply online at www.recreation.gov. This will require each applicant to have their own email address to create a profile online.

In the past, you could enter applications for several people at one time. Because the new system will be used for processing cancellations (and payments on the Middle Fork and wild main Salmon Rivers), each applicant will need to be registered under a unique email address with a password to access their profile.

Officials feel this will save time, paper, and money, and make the lottery run faster.

There’s another plus: before, a potential river floater could file only one application with four possible launch dates spread across all four rivers. With the 2010 season, applicants can file as many as four applications, one for each river, and list four possible launch dates on each application. Each river will have a separate lottery to assign their launch reservations; they will no longer be combined into one drawing system.

Applications can be filed online any time of the day or night. And the price, $6 per application, is the same as previous years.

“This quadruples the number of launch dates you can ask for,” Dave Campbell, the Forest Service’s West Fork District Ranger in Montana, said. “That’s a real plus of putting the lottery online.”

“The Forest Service has used online applications now for several years”, Chris Grove, the Middle Fork District Ranger in Idaho, said. Grove noted a similar lottery has been run successfully online for Minnesota’s Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness.

“We expect to be able to let people know the lottery results much faster with the new system,” Russ Bacon, the Forest Service’s North Fork District Ranger in Idaho, said. “We’ll be able to notify everybody by email.”

The online system can also be used to post safety alerts to inform people as their trips draw near about special situations or river conditions.

“Our staff will be posting that information to the reservation system and they’re already set up to help spread the word when people need to know,” Mary DeAguero, the Forest Service’s Hell’s Canyon NRA Area Ranger, said.

The online system will also be used to accept cancellations and reissue them as new reservations for the four rivers. This system will also be the place for boaters to make their reservations for pre/post season launches for the Middle Fork and wild main Salmon Rivers, as well as to pay their recreation fees for these two rivers.

The Forest Service lottery for 2010 permits opens December 1, 2009 at 8:00 am Mountain time at www.recreation.gov. Reservations for the pre/post season launches for the Middle Fork and wild main Salmon Rivers will also be accepted beginning December 1, for this year only. Once the system is up and running the pre/post season reservation start date will revert to the usual October 1 date.

For more information in the meantime, go to www.fs.fed.us/r4/sc/recreation/4rivers/index.shtml or call one of the Forest Service offices for the four rivers. To learn more about the reservation system and to create your unique profile visit www.recreation.gov.

March 21, 22 : Saturday, Sunday
Upper Wind River (Festival*) : Carson, WA
Coordinators : Oregon Rafting Team (ORT)
IV+, 3 mile downriver.
Paddle rafts, kayaks, catarafts, unlimited.
Western Whitewater Championships series points = 3,4 or 5

April 11 : Saturday
Canyon Creek Extreme Race : Southwestern Washington
Coordinators : Next Adventure
V, .5 mile waterfall sprint.
Kayaks, inflatable kayaks, paddle rafts, unlimited.
Western Whitewater Championships series points = 3,4 or 5

April 18, 19 : Saturday, Sunday
Upper Klamath River (Festival*) : Keno, OR
Coordinators : ORT, Northwest Rafter’s Association (NWRA)
IV+, 7 mile downriver.
Paddle rafts, kayaks, catarafts, unlimited.
Western Whitewater Championships series points = 3,4 or 5

April 25 : Saturday
North Fork American Coordinators : California Women’s Team
IV, 4 mile downriver.
Paddle rafts, kayaks, catarafts, unlimited.

May 1-3 : Saturday, Sunday
Cal-Salmon River : Orleans, CA
Coordinator : Paul Gamache, Caliproducts
IV+, 5 mile downriver.
Paddle rafts, kayaks, catarafts, unlimited.
Western Whitewater Championships series points = 3, 4 or 5

May 15-17 : Friday, Saturday, Sunday
Upper Clackamas River (Festival*)
Coordinators : NWRA, Next Adventure
III+, V : 1 mile downriver, slalom, boatercross.
Paddle rafts, kayaks, catarafts, oared rafts.
Western Whitewater Championships series points = 3, 4 or 5

May 30 : Saturday
(White Salmon Race*)
Coordinators : Sundance River Center
IV 4 mile downriver
Paddle rafts, inflatable kayaks, catarafts.
Western Whitewater Championships series points = 3, 4 or 5

June 5-7 : Friday, Saturday, Sunday
Payette, Boise (Festival*)
Coordinators : Sam Goff, Bill Driscoll, Payette Boise River Festival (PBR)
IV+ 4 mile downriver, slalom, sprint, boatercross, kayak rodeo.
Paddle rafts, kayaks, catarafts.
Western Whitewater Championships series points = 3, 4 or 5

June 13, 14 : Saturday, Sunday
Wenatchee River (Festival*) : Wenatchee, WA
Coordinator : Paul Gamache
III, 4 mile downriver, kayak rodeo.
Paddle rafts, kayaks.
Western Whitewater Championships series points = 3, 4 or 5

October 10, 11 : Saturday, Sunday
Burnt Ranch Gorge
Coordinator : Paul Gamache
IV+, 2 mile downriver.
Exhibition. Great event but currently outside of the racing season.

* Potential race dates: Coordinators needed! If your business or team would like manage these possible events please contact us.

** USRA Nationals – To be determined.

* Festival indicates that more activities will be included in addition to a downriver race. (Fun float, trainings, etc.)

“Run, Rogue, Run,” a short film which American Rivers helped produce, will be premiered at two film festivals next weekend in Medford and Portland. The film takes viewers on a journey down the Wild and Scenic section of the Rogue River in southwestern Oregon and explores the need for protecting the river and its salmon and steelhead streams.

The Rogue River is among the nation’s most iconic wild rivers. It was one of the originally designated rivers under the 1968 Wild and Scenic Rivers Act, and remains a world-class whitewater rafting destination. The river and its tributaries are also home to vibrant runs of salmon and steelhead, which are the cornerstone of the multi-million dollar commercial and sport fishing industries. Overall, tourism generated by the river provides over $14 million and 225 jobs in southern Oregon.

Despite these clear incentives to preserve the Rogue River, it is listed in America’s Most Endangered Rivers: 2008 Edition due to the threat of harmful logging in the river basin. This plan would remove current protections, such as streamside buffers that shade and maintain cool water tributaries, while relegating thousands of acres near the Rogue to clearcut logging. This would harm the health of the river, its fish and wildlife, and the vital income the river generates for the community.

The most effective way to prohibit logging and protect this river is to designate 40 tributaries as Wild and Scenic. This film will help Oregonians understand the need to take action now by contacting their congressional leaders and urging them to support legislation that will protect the river.

American Rivers partnered with the Klamath-Siskiyou Wildlands Center, the Siskiyou Project, Echo River Trips, and the Epicocity Project, a film-making enterprise of a few young adventure journalists, to create this film. It will premiere at the following two film festivals:

Medford Environmental Film Festival
Date: Friday, November 7th
Time: Show starts at 6:00 pm
Location: Medford Congregational United Church of Christ
1801 East Jackson St
Medford, OR 97504
Admission: Free!
Host: Klamath-Siskiyou Wildlands Center

Patagonia’s Wild and Scenic Environmental Film Festival
Date: Saturday, November 8th
Time: Doors open at 6:30 pm; Show starts at 7:00pm
Location: Hollywood Theater
4122 NE Sandy Blvd
Portland, OR 97212
Admission: $10
Host: The Native Fish Society

Here’s a slideshow of the rivers of California that I put together for an upcoming meeting with the Oregon Whitewater Association. Thanks to Kern River Outfitters, Bill Tuthill (CACreeks.com), ARTA River Trips, ECHO River Trips, and Momentum River Expeditions for help with photos.

Click here to view the full sized slideshow.

Burnt Ranch Gorge October 11-12th. Surf Comp on Friday the 10th.

Visit www.caliproduct.blogspot.com for more information.

The combination of laster year’s fires and this year’s thunderstorms has created a few new rapids on the Middle Fork of the Salmon River in Idaho. There are new small rapids just below Sheepeater Camp and at Greyhound Camp.

The largest new rapid was formed by a landslide near Tappan III that created a dam which covered Tappan II. The new rapid (pictured) has been called Tappan 2 1/2 or Cove Creek. There are varied reports on how this rapid new rapid is rated, but many people are portaging although it is still runnable in a sweep boat.

Click here to read a story about an accident at the new rapid.

As river guides, outfitters, and private boaters we all know that one of the most special things about river trips is the people it attracts. These are people who you wouldn’t mind spending all day with, preferably on the river, but also at the local pub or barbeque. Now there is a place for you to meet and “hang” with all your river friends: RiverGuides.ning.com (RiverGuides).

RiverGuides is a social network built specifically for river folk. It serves as an open forum to everyone (guides, private boaters, outfitters, and even those who simply “love” river guides) and provides users with their own blogs, discussion boards, photo galleries, and lots of other features.

As outfitters and guides, we all know that having the right people is a key to running great river trips; however, networking in the river business doesn’t just start and end with outfitters and guides. There are shuttle drivers, office staff, trip-prep employees, travel agents, food providers, airline providers, and many others who influence our river trips.

These reasons are precisely why a networking tool like RiverGuides is of value to everyone in the industry. The spread of knowledge, the sharing of ideas, and the connection of people – all under the umbrella of love for rivers – is what RiverGuides is about.

So let’s share and connect, but most importantly, let’s love our rivers. Join RiverGuides.