American Whitewater x Outdoor Alliance: A Stream Of Victories For Public Lands & Waters

This article written in collaboration with American Whitewater

In 2002, American Whitewater’s Executive Director Risa Shimoda was sharing office space in Washington DC close to two other Executive Directors, Mary Margaret Sloan (then Executive Director of American Hiking Society) and Pam Dillon (then Executive Director at American Canoe Association). The three began talking about building a coalition of human-powered outdoor recreation groups that could work together–similar to how sportsmen and women had come together through the Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership–to advocate for conservation and outdoor recreation issues.

That partnership eventually became Outdoor Alliance, a national advocacy organization that brings together ten human-powered outdoor recreation advocacy groups working together to protect outdoor recreation experiences and conserve public lands and waters. American Whitewater was one of the founding organizations of Outdoor Alliance and it was through his involvement with American Whitewater that Outdoor Alliance’s founding Executive Director, Adam Cramer, became connected with the organization. This year marks ten years that Outdoor Alliance has been a 501c3. Over the past ten years, being a part of Outdoor Alliance has helped American Whitewater level up its national advocacy efforts, bringing the voices of many other organizations to back up our advocacy efforts to protect paddling, wild rivers, and our ability to enjoy them.

Here are some of the most important victories that American Whitewater and Outdoor Alliance have achieved together over the last ten years:

Advocating for the Land and Water Conservation Fund

From the inception of Outdoor Alliance, the Land and Water Conservation Fund (LWCF) was a huge focus for our member groups. In 2015, Outdoor Alliance advocated to save the program which included thousands of letters from the outdoor recreation community asking Congress to support the Fund. Continued advocacy also led to permanent reauthorization through the John D. Dingell Jr. Conservation, Management, and Recreation Act, which also permanently protected more than 600 miles of rivers through Wild & Scenic designations.

In 2020, American Whitewater and Outdoor Alliance groups then advocated to fully fund LWCF through the Great American Outdoors Act The passing of this bill was celebrated in the American Whitewater Journal on page 22, a publication that dates back to the origins of the organization, 70 years ago.

The outdoor community has been an enormously important voice in defending, advocating for, and permanently protecting the Land and Water Conservation Fund, which enables access and protections for rivers.

Protecting Wild & Scenic Rivers

Over the last ten years, our joint advocacy has helped designate more than 850 Wild & Scenic River miles. These include protections through the Alpine Lakes Wilderness, Missisquoi and Trout Rivers, Oregon Wildlands Act, Emery County Public Land Management Act, and California Desert Protection and Recreation Act.

Protecting Clean Water

Over the last ten years, American Whitewater has worked with other Outdoor Alliance partners to defend clean water. In the Obama administration, we gathered comments and testimony to strengthen the EPA’s Waters of the U.S. (WOTUS) definition. We robustly defended WOTUS during efforts to overturn it during the Trump administration, and submitted testimony and helped citizen advocates fight off congressional bills that would have undermined state’s authority under the Clean Water Act to protect rivers from the harmful impacts of federally-permitted energy projects such as hydropower dams.

Last year, the Supreme Court’s decision in Sackett v. The Environmental Protection Agency significantly narrowed the scope of the Clean Water Act’s ability to protect wetlands and ephemeral streams, and therefore watersheds. Now, we’re ramping up advocacy for a restored Clean Water Act that spells out these protections more definitively, working with states to craft and pass state level legislative solutions for protecting clean water, and joining the America the Beautiful Freshwater Challenge to protect and restore wetlands through administrative actions.

Forest Planning

American Whitewater has been an integral partner in Outdoor Alliance’s work on forest planning, which shapes the future management of the country’s national forests. Across six forests, American Whitewater and Outdoor Alliance have worked together to protect rivers and expand boating access, including in Montana’s Custer Gallatin National Forest and the Nantahala Pisgah National Forest in North Carolina.

“American Whitewater has long recognized the power of outdoor adventurers in shaping legislation and issues that affect our public lands and waters. We like to turn everything into a river metaphor at American Whitewater and the confluence of member organizations under Outdoor Alliance has exponentially increased the strength of our stream of voices advocating for the places we cherish the most. Cheers to an amazing ten years of work together!” – Evan Stafford, Communications Director at American Whitewater