American Whitewater Proposal

State Wild & Scenic River Program Development

Project Leads:

Hattie Johnson, Southern Rockies Stewardship Director
Ian Stafford, Colorado Policy Strategist

Executive Summary:
American Whitewater is a national 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization that advocates to protect and restore America’s whitewater rivers and enhance opportunities to enjoy them safely. We serve over 6200 annual dues-paying members across the country, and have tens of thousands more supporters of our work. This project will take place within our Southern Rockies Program, which is essential to management of whitewater rivers in the four corners states.

The Federal Wild & Scenic River System provides the strongest multi-generational protections for rivers across the country. In Colorado, Wild and Scenic designations have not been successful because of concern about federal reserve water rights and perceived lack of local control on how outstandingly remarkable river values are protected and enhanced. This has hindered Colorado’s ability to protect more of it’s 107,000+ stream miles across the state. American Whitewater is hoping to find a state-level alternative that would provide protections while also gaining the support of other water users.

River protection and enhancement is central to American Whitewater’s mission. We are interested in developing a statewide wild & scenic rivers program that would be housed within the state government, and managed by the Colorado Department of Natural Resources. There are many other state wild & scenic river programs, as well as alternative programs at the federal level, that could be researched and emulated here in Colorado. We know this process will take time, but this is the perfect opportunity to begin those conversations with the state agencies, the governor’s office, stakeholders, and river enthusiasts across Colorado.

Key words:
Stakeholder engagement, policy, waterway protection

Links:
View full proposal
Watch partner video
Access networking event Zoom link