July 2002
Volume XIV
Issue 2
Abridged Edition

Newsbriefs

First Student Completes Spring School

By Bruce Healey

April 25, 2002: I have received the first completed Ratings Card from a graduate of the 2002 Spring Whitewater School. He is John Gauch who paddles a K1 and who completed the Pemi in N Woodstock and the Bethel section of the White River. Congratulations to John and we’re glad to see him paddling with us.

Tammie Garcia running Sweet Tooth on the Sugar River as she helped instruct at the Spring Whitewater School. Click on the photo to enlarge.

Mike Cummings Awarded Class III Leadership Rating

By Bruce Healey

The necessary votes are in and the Ratings Committee has awarded Mike Cummings a Class III Leadership rating. Congratulations to Mike on getting this well respected and deserved leadership rating.

Be Considerate at the Piscataquog Dam

By Tom McIntire

I was talking to one of the dam operators tonight at the put-in to the Piscataquog in Goffstown, NH, and he told me that there has been a little grumbling in the office. Apparently some people have been parking their cars at the bottom of the hill next to the dam. Please do not. You are perfectly welcome to drive down to drop off boats and gear, but please park at the top of the hill. If people park at the bottom, it gets difficult to turn a vehicle around, etc.

This dam is a case where outside of the relicensing procedure we have managed to maintain a good working relationship with the dam owners and operators. They schedule drawdowns, etc., so that they benefit the paddling community, and even on occasion hold water back during the day and release it during prime paddling hours instead. They also allowed us to rebuild the put-in, and we now have a nice set of rock stairs as a result.

Bear in mind, under their current FERC license, they are probably under no obligation to even allow us on the site. The reality is, however, that they want to be good community members, and part of being a community member is working with the local paddlers instead of against them. So, if you can just be sure to take care of the site, move vehicles back to the top of the hill after unloading (and I have seen it work on a day when there were probably 100 people on the river), and just be nice if you see people working there. If you do, we all can continue to enjoy this resource. It is, after all, a nice after-work run in close proximity to Manchester. And remember, some of the operators are also paddlers!

Report Dam Portaging, Safety Issues and Incidents to NH DES

By Stephanie Lindloff <SLindloff -at- des.state.nh.us>

I'm interested in getting your feedback on a couple of issues related to dams.

1) Are you aware of any serious dam-related accidents involving paddlers, boaters, anglers, swimmers, etc. that have occurred in the last several years in New Hampshire, and

2) Have you, or anyone you know, experienced difficulty portaging dams in New Hampshire due to an inability to physically get around the dam, due to trespass issues (e.g., the land was signed, a landowner otherwise refused access to portage, etc.), or any other reason?

This information will be very helpful as the NH Dept. of Environmental Services Dam Bureau considers revisions to our administrative rules. Send your responses to Stephanie Lindloff, River Restoration Coordinator, NHDES-Dam Bureau at slindloff -at- des.state.nh.us. Please indicate "AMC Paddlers Feedback" in your subject line.

Thanks!

Help Protect the St. Croix River

By Don Borenstein

The New England Forestry Foundation www.neforestry.org (in partnership with the Woodie Wheaton Land Trust (www.chiplakenews.org/wwlt1-02NEWS.htm), the State of Maine, and the St. Croix Int'l Waterway Comm.) is attempting to purchase nearly all of the unprotected, private land along the American side of the Upper St. Croix River and its headwaters, Spednic Lake. The run between Vanceboro, Maine and Kelley Landing is one of the greatest wilderness paddling trips in Maine. Nearly the entire New Brunswick side of the waterway is already protected as conservation land. NEFF has bought an option to purchase a 500 foot wide area along nearly 50 miles of shoreline. The option expires on Dec. 30, 2002, and NEFF is in the process of raising $2.9M to exercise it. If successful, a total of nearly 70 miles of undeveloped waterway would be preserved. Donations and information requests can be directed to New England Forestry Foundation/St. Croix Project, Attn. Keith Ross, Director of Land Protection, PO Box 27, Orange, MA 01364.

Don is more that happy to give you more information. You can contact him at: donborenstein -at- hotmail.com