The All-Outdoors Whitewater Rafting California River Blog

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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 The Auburn Dam saga I’ve been writing about recently is just one of many such controversies over dams, water rights, flood control, and conservation issues raging all over the West.  One particulary sticky one involving all the standard issues PLUS farmers, Native Americans, and an important Salmon fishery is the situation on the Upper Klamath River.  The really cool thing here is that groups that have traditionally battled one another have begun to try to collaborate instead.

AO guide Tessa reports:
This is a fascinating time for California’s rivers, and rivers all
over the Western United States, as the government and agencies are
relicensing and relooking at the hundreds of dams that were built over
the past century. The Klamath River, in the far northern reaches of
California, is an especially interesting story. For decades, the
various groups of people that depend on the river for their
livelihood, including the Native Americans, farmers, and commercial
fishermen, have battled over water rights to the Klamath. Recently,
however, with dwindling fish populations and a decreasing availability
of water, the groups have been collaborating to find a solution for
many of the river’s problems. One solution they have come up with is
to remove four major dams in the upper section of the river, restoring
the river to it’s natural state and hopefully reviving the Salmon
runs. This month’s National
Geographic Magazine has an excellent article outlining the
different issues and overviewing the ongoing debate.

I have been priviledged to enjoy rafting trips on the upper section of
the Klamath River, a beautiful Class IV stretch that runs throughout
the summer. I hope the powers that be come to a resolution that will
keep the Klamath flowing and healthy for generations to come.  For pictures and more info on this watershed visit http://www.klamathriver.org/ .

Here is another interesting article on the Klamath water situation from The Oregonian.

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Auburn Dam–the project with more lives than an alley cat–has been dealt a mighty blow: on December 2, the California Water board voted unanimounsly to revoke the water rights it granted over 30 years ago to the US Bureau of Reclamation.  This means that the federal governement would have a seriously uphill battle to sucessfully build the dam, a project richer in controversy than the American River used to be in gold.  With no rights to store water, a dam would be largely pointless so it looks like the project is doomed.  But before you peel that sticker for or against the dam off your bumper, remember that this is one fight that dates back to the Cold War era so I don’t know…..could be resurrected yet.  In the meantime–and I confess this might betray a bias here–I’m stoked that we know the Middle Fork of the American river will be echoing with the sounds of rafters, fishermen, and gold miners for summers to come.

To learn more about the Water Board’s decision and see some photographs, read the article in the Sacramento Bee:

http://www.sacbee.com/111/story/1444275.html

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This is one controversy that takes a lickin’ and keeps on tickin, I’ll tell you what.  After more than thirty years (!) the proposed Auburn Dam saga just got a whopping new chapter: the possibility that the State of California Water Board will revoke the water rights it granted to the Federal government back when Led Zepplin was playing to sold out concerts and Keith Richard still looked like he was made from flesh and bone, not lint, dust, and eyeliner shavings……

It’s a long and sordid tale–and provokes hard core emotions in people here in Nothern California–but the general deal is this:  The State of California gave the Feds the rights to the water that would be stored behind a dam built in the American river canyon.  After all these years, however, the dam’s supporters have failed to make any progress except for spending millions of taxpayer dollars on various studies.  Whether you like dams or not, the fact remains that the proposed dam site is located on a fault zone in a seismically unstable area.  And dams are proved to actually cause earthquakes because of the intense weight of all the water they store.  Major issues like that raise serious concerns not only for “conniving environmentalists,” as the dam’s uber-champion former US Representative John Doolittle likes to say, but for scientists, engineers, and everyday citizens as well.  When a 5.7 magnitude earthquake shook the proposed dam site back in 1975, new studies were undertaken (see millions of taxpayer dollars, above), but the issue has never been resolved.  In any case, for these and other reasons, the dam has been stalled for years, remaining a hotly contested issue–and the water rights granted to the Feds were never used.   If the Water Board revokes those rights, it means that even if the dam is built, water can’t be legally stored there.  I’m not a water specialist, but that seems like a major problem to me.

This latest development is certainly interesting, and it remains to be seen what the final verdict will be.  The water board is scheduled to make a ruling on the water rights issue on December 2nd–I’ll let you know what happens! 

PS: I took the Doolittle quote from an article I read in the LA Times. You can read it here: http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-dam16-2008nov16,0,934558.story

PPSS: If you’re feeling skeptical about the seismic activity thing check out the US Geological Survey website and read the report on how dams effect–or even create–earthquake activity.  The link I’ve given you is specific to the proposed Auburn dam.

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Friends of the River’s largest fundraising event of the year, the California River Awards is coming up in October.  We’re one of the event’s sponsors and are looking forward to an evening of tasty wine, food, good conversation and the opportunity to tell Patagonia founder Yvon Chouinard how much we love his fleece jackets.  He, along with California Treasurer Bill Lockyear, will be honored at this year’s event.  If you want to support FOR’s good works and have a fantastic evening to boot, get a ticket soon and set aside some money for the evening’s auction.  The event will be held in San Francisco on October 24th at the Presidio’s Officers club.  Tickets and event details available on the FOR website.

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As you float down the South Fork, you notice the whitewater, the rocks, the sunbathers on the beach…but hopefully you also notice the broader beauty of the canyon.  The families of wild ducks, tawny deer, soaring vultures, chattering chickadees.  The hillsides of the Coloma-Lotus Valley rise low and wide above the South Fork, dotted with majestic oak trees and carpeted in golden grass–the classic scenery of the Gold Rush, cattle drives, and rural Northern California.  The reason these hills still exist in their wild form–or at least a significant part of the reason–is due to the efforts of the American River Conservancy.  This local organiziation (they’re based in an historic building in Coloma) works hard all year long to preserve open space in this area, balancing the need for wilderness and nature, and human recreation. 

For instance, if you’ve rafted the Lower section of the South Fork American River, you might have eaten lunch at Cronan Ranch.  This property was a part of the original Bacchi family ranch holdings.  The Conservancy bought a 1414 acre parcel of it, which is now administered by the BLM.  Rafters like us aren’t the only beneficiaries–hikers, walkers, and horse-riders also get to use its 12 miles of trails for recreational use.

Another big-profile purchase was over 200 acres on Mt. Murphy.  Rising above the State Park in Coloma, and easily visable from many places in the valley and by rafters on the Upper section of the South Fork, Mt. Murphy is one of the major landmarks for our community.  The ARC’s purchase ensures that in the future we will all continue to enjoy the spectacular spring poppies on the Mt’s river-facing slopes without having to look past the glare of yet another housing or retail development.

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Once again the American River Conservancy’s annual fundraising event was a smashing sucess.  The day began with talks, seminars, and demonstrations for river guides and community members.  Highlights included a talk by Mark Dubois, the legendary conservationist who chained himself to a rock to try and save the Stanislaus River in the early 1970s.  The failure of that effort led to the creation of Friends of the River, an organization that works to protect and preserve river canyons and riparian environments.  All-Outdoors actually started out on the Stanislaus when we were just a baby company getting into the commercial side of whitewater rafting, so Mark’s efforts are particularly meaningful to us.  Our guides also really loved (more…)

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Has Arnold smoked too many of his famous cigars or does he have an inside scoop that we missed out on?  Because we’ve been telling ourselves–and you, Dear Reader–for months that this is really a very standard year, nothing to write home about, perfectly and wonderfully normal.  So now what?  Did we spend a little too much time in the sun and lost our minds for a moment? 

To unravel the mystery, we did some investigative reportage.  And by “we” of course I mean Gregg Armstrong, because he is In The Know.  After telling me to relax and get that look of panic off my face, here’s what he told me:

First of all, there isn’t an official definition of “drought” in California.  It’s sort of a “you know a drought when you see one” sort of thing, and for most people who decide these things, when water levels in California reservoirs begin to approach 70% of their capacity, it starts lookin’ “droughtish.”  Now you and I both know that we had close to 100% normal snowpack this year, so the obvious question is why our reservoirs are so low.  To find the answer we need to take a look backward to 2007.

In 2007, we had a pretty dry winter, leaving reservoirs fairly low, and the ground quite dry.  That meant that this year, the ground soaked up close to 20% of the run-off and the winter precipitation.  This is important for ground table levels, but it leaves less water to replenish depleted reservoir stocks. 

If 2008 had been a very wet year, we could have made up the difference and our water storage facilities would have a lot more water–but we needed the 2008 snowpack to have reached 130-140% of normal in order to do that.  Not only was the snowpack an average of 100%, but March and April of this year were the driest on record.  Ouch.  As it stands, water officials predict that by the end of the summer, our reservoirs will be at around 70% capacity–the magic “drought” number.

Before you panic, here’s the good news.  First of all, our dam-controlled rivers absolutely have the water they need for an excellent season.  You can count on American River Rafting, the Tuolumne, and Cherry Creek all summer long.  This means your summer whitewater plans can continue unimpeded.  It also means we should all work on conserving water where we can so that we leave our reservoirs in the best shape we can for next winter.   So let your car get dusty, plant native drought-resistant species in your yard this summer, and turn off the faucet when you brush!!

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Those who have been lucky enough to experience the solitude and scenic beauty of the Tuolumne realize the significance of the Wild and Scenic designation this river received twenty-four years ago in 1984. At times, you feel like the only people in the canyon while navigating its magnificent waters. Rafting the Tuolumne on a multi-day trip can present the opportunity to explore the Clavey river and to revel in its warm, granite pools.

One of three entirely free flowing rivers left in the Western Sierra, this tributary is home to spawning wild trout and has been recommended for Federal Wild and Scenic designation to ensure that it remains in its natural state. It boasts thousands of acres of mature forest and the largest stand of quaking aspen in the Southern Sierra. On top of all these precious features, this watershed also supports many at risk species of both plants and animals.

The Tuolumne River Trust is collecting letters to send to Senator Dianne Feinstein and Congressman George Radanovich to urge them to place the Clavey under this protected status. For more information or to share your experience on the Clavey follow this link to the Trust homepage.

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