The All-Outdoors Whitewater Rafting California River Blog

I just learned about the Wild and Scenic Environmental Film Festival coming up in a few weeks and it sounds awesome.  The two day festival is an incredible hodge-podge of mini-films that range from five minutes long on plastic bags and growing asparagus, to half-hour presentations from the guys that made “King Corn,”  to full, feature-length giants like Food Inc.  The topics are wide ranging too, from sustainable seafood, to river conservation, to  families living off the grid and growing their own produce.  There are local issues and activists in the mix but the line-up is global in scope.  Wonder what people in Africa and the Pacific Islands are doing about environmental problems?  You’ll find answers in Nevada City this January!

When: Jan 15, 16 and 17

Where: various locations in Nevada City, Ca.

Tickets and more information:  visit the festival website at http://www.wildandscenicfilmfestival.org/

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Come celebrate the successes and grass-roots triumphs of Friends of the River’s 30-year quest to protect California Rivers this weekend in San Francisco on October 16th.

Hosted at the Presidio Officer’s Club (ooooh, sounds swanky!  Get out your fancy Chacos and wash your hair!), the event features a talk by Congressman Pete McClosky–who has been championing the environment since the 1970s.

Learn more about the event at the Friends of the River website.

PS:  Our very own Scott A will be attending so if you want to get the inside scoop on all things AO you can stalk him there…..yikes!

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Pacific Corp, the utility that owns the 4 controversial dams on the Klamath River in Northern California, agreed to decommission the dams by 2020. There was an article on Thursday in the Los Angeles Times that highlights the details of the agreement. Although things are moving in the right direction to remove the dams, the agreement still needs to be approved by the US government and there are some loopholes that Friends of the River is concerned about.

The negotiations have been going on for a while now and 29 agencies and organizations have been involved. A few benefits of removing the dams are improving the (drastically decreased) salmon run and the water quality. If it all goes through, this will be the largest dam removal in the United States.

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Rivers flow to the sea, right?  As long as people don’t divert them, or use up all the water before they get there, anyway.

For 60 years, the San Joaquin River hasn’t made it to the sea–but starting yesterday, that’s going to change.  This is a major development in river restoration and huge second chance for creatures of all kinds, including that tastiest and bravest of fish, the salmon.  From what I’ve heard it will take a long time for Salmon to re-establish themselves in the San Joaquin, but how amazing that they might have a chance now.  Biologists aren’t sure how the enviroment will respond to the river running again and there are many people who are skeptical–or outright angry about the project.  I for one think this will be a fascinating process to watch and hope that it is a great sucess for fish and people alike.

You can see a bunch of pictures and get more info about this very cool project at the Sacramento Bee website.

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With this cloudy weather we’re having here in El Dorado county today what sounds better than getting a cozy sweatshirt out of storage and curling up on the couch tonight with Ken Burn’s latest documentary? 

Ok Ok I know you aren’t all history nerds like me, but trust me, this one’s gonna fascinate you because it features our beloved Tuolumne River!  No, Ken didn’t call us up and go rafting with us (hello, what is he too busy?  Ken come join us!  You need a break from the archives and dusty old sepia-tone photographs!) but tonight’s segment of his new documentary on America’s National Parks features the T and the fight over Hetch Hetchy.  For rafters of course this is a fascinating and controversial tale because on the one hand, the reservoir gives us a long and reliable season on one of our favorite rivers.  But on the other hand, the dam drowned a magically beautiful canyon and will be difficult to maintain over the long term (a problem with all dams in California).  That’s what you call the horns of a dilema right there!

So grab that sweatshirt and the remote and learn something new tonight–it will make your rafting trip on the Tuolumne River next season all the more rewarding.

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Beer and river lovers unite!  The New Belgium brewing company is putting its money where its mouth and tastebuds are–it has launched a  campaign for water quality and conservation in the West!   They are also allowing people to vote for the recipiant of a $10,000 grant for a water advocacy group–voting ends on Sept 30th so git on over there pronto! You can learn more about what they’re doing at their website.

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We recently learned that there are interesting potential developments regarding the proposed expansion of the Pardee Dam on the Mokelumne River; if you’re reading this blog you’re probably a river lover–and a boater of some kind–so you might want to take note!

Friends of the River reports that there will be a public meeting on August 11, 2009 at the East Bay MUD headquarters in Oakland at 8:30 am.  That’s awful early in my world, but since the proposed dam expansion would drown a significant section of river beloved by kayakers and fishermen it might be worth setting the ol’ alarm clock.  Members of the public–that’s YOU–will be given the opportunity to speak at the meeting.  Go freedom of speech!  Bless them Founding Fathers!

Learn more at the the Friends of the River Website.

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Here we are in the height of the summer California River rafting season and you have lots o’ options choose from–great news, but also part of the mixed feelings we in the industry have about dams.  On the one hand we tend to be conservation minded and are well aware of dams’ many drawbacks ecologically.   On the other hand, dams dramatically extend our rafting season and make water flows much more reliable.  We’re able to organize trips and logisitics around scheduled flows and can give guests a pretty accurate idea of what to expect because we are so familiar with rafting the same flows summer after summer.

The mixed bag of dams aside, the end result is that we have three rivers that flow consistantly all summer–the South and Middle Forks of the American Rivers, and the Tuolumne River.  The Tuolumne is really a two-for-one deal because not only do we get the class IV section of the main T, but we also get the class V section of the Upper Tuolumne, or Cherry Creek, as it’s more commonly known.  We will offer consistant trips on all these rivers for the rest of summer!

(Above:  Summer is the perfect time to explore California Rivers with side-hikes and overnight trips!)

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Local kayakers, filmmakers, and activists, Scott Ligare, Katie Scott, and Charlie Center recently won the People’s Choice Award at the Wild and Scenic Environmental Film Festival in Nevada City, CA. Their film, The Last Descent, aims to “raise public awareness that some of the world’s most beautiful, culturally rich and ecologically significant rivers are threatened by large scale hydropower projects.” The Last Descent delves into the villages and cultures that exist in each river canyon and interviews those people who are being most affected by the dam construction. While the whitewater in The Last Descent is plenty impressive, this is not just another kayak film. The story these boaters tell is both devastating and inspiring and will make you want to get out and protect the rivers you love most.

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Anyone remotely connected to Pop Culture knows that “going green” has become the buzzword of the moment.  For us, relying on nature for our business like we do, being “green” is way more than a flavor-of-the-moment effort, easily co-opted and just as easily thrown away when the winds of marketing change.  Instead, we have an institutionalized attitude of conservation and responsibility, and an internalized commitment to making responsible decisions while also remaining a viable business. (more…)

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