We will be showing slides featuring the rivers of India that are threatened by large scale hydroelectric projects in Lotus, CA on Saturday June 21st at The River Store.  www.theriverstore.com 

There will be free ice cream at 5:30 and slideshow at 7:00 PM

There will be equipment displays and many of the athletes involved in the project will be there to answer questions.

Be there.

It is good to see that the issues of this remote area are starting to make big news.  These are the rivers of Arunachal Pradesh that The Last Descent team descended in our kayaks in December and January.  Check out the video:


http://www.ibnlive.com/videos/64572/northeast-activists-quest-to-save-forests-in-danger.html

--Scott

This message was sent to us by a concerned Canadian boater named John Blyth, thanks for the heads up John.

Seems like many of the big name rivers are under threat. Including the one just behind my house, The Slave River (see kayak session issue#1).

http://jobs.albertatradesmen.com/alberta-business-economic-financial-news/transcanada-eyes-5-billion-alberta-hydro-project.htm


It's been touted as a green, environmentally sound "run of the river," project. Its not a dam, its a "weir like structure that could be up to 33m in height and stretch the length of the river."  After being to a couple of the community information sessions in town, ATCO and TransCanada (the two companies involved) have said that they are looking into developing a hydro project on the Rapids of the Slave River. They have said publicly that the dam would be located in the rapids, and would flood out one or more of the 4 sets (depending on the results they obtain from the feasibility study).  The feasibility study is set to begin this year and will take a couple of years with construction starting around 2015 ish.

here's a couple pictures of the 3rd set of rapids Mountain Portage. (the close up rapid photo is (Molly's Nipple) located in the top right of the of the aerial photo) This is one of a dozen  or more huge drops on the Slave, not to mention the hundreds or thousands of smaller feature.






--John Blyth

On Thursday April 24 at the Exploration Works Museum in Helena Montana, Katie gave her home town crowd a great show.



More than 100 people showed up for the event which was more than the venue has ever seen.  Katie did an excellent job of entertaining, explaining the trip and educating the audience about what the project is about.



More slideshows and talks about the project will happen throughout the summer.  Info about these events will be posted here.  Thanks for everybody that attended the event and to the Exploration Works Museum.  

Things are just starting to getting going here in California.  The days are warming up and the snow is beginning its journey out of the mountains into the rivers.  Scott and Katie finally made it back from their 6th month journey through Southeast Asia and Africa and are ready to get some Cali Whitewater. 


Scott Ligare getting ready for A good day of Creeking

Reunited in our home territory, Scott, Charlie, myself and joined by our good friend Chris Zawacki, we decided to head down South for some good old California Creeking where we would ultimately end up in Kernville for the 4th annual Brush Creek Race.

Our first drainage to hit was the upper South Tule, which is right in the middle of the Tule Indian Reservation.  This reservation is one of the largest in California and the locals take pride in it.  This was evident in how pristine and unlittered the whole area was.  It also became apparent that they are quite possessive of the area and that we were not really welcome to be paddling up there.  Apparently a permit is required (referred to as a “trespasser pass” by the local Tribal Council) and if you leave a car on the reservation while paddling it will quickly be broken into and all of your stuff thrown off the cliff. 


Scott on the South Fork Middle Tule

Learning all of this we opted to save this run for another day.  So we packed our stuff up and headed to the South Fork of the Middle Tule on the other side of the ridge and off the reservation.  Here we found the flow low, but boatable with some fun drops and interesting mineral deposits.


Chris Zawaki ducking some stalagtites

Next we headed to the East Fork Kaweah, where we were also joined by Phil Boyer. Some say this is arguably the best one day class V run in the State.  Looking down from the road, the run looks quite intimidating, as it is in a vertical walled gorge and is extremely steep.  The entire run has exciting slides, and small falls with numerous technical portages.  We found our flow to be just about perfect making the run much more exciting and clean than at lower flows. 


Charlie on Triple Drop (East Kaweah)

The next day we packed up again and following some beta from a friend of Phil’s, headed out to check out the South Fork of the Kaweah.  None of us knew much about the South Fork, except for the rumor of some sweet waterfalls.  After paddling a mile or so of steep, manky rapids, the river suddenly turned to bedrock and we were rewarded with some really quality slides and falls.  The highlight was a clean and fun twenty foot falls.


Erick Conklin firing off the 20 footer  (South Kaweah)

Probably the biggest reason this river is seldom run is the access.  The section we ran is along private property, and it was difficult to find anywhere to hike out where we weren’t trespassing.  So much of the State’s whitewater has access issues, either with private property or governmental restrictions.  The American Whitewater Affiliation along with other non-profit organizations, continually lobby to obtain access to California’s waterways. 


Charlie's new friend

The last stop on our trip was the Kern River Festival.  The festival happens every year in April and includes a plethora of fun paddling events including: slalom, downriver races and the steep creeking Brush Creek Race.  This year about 40 contestants tried their hand at the race.  The result was a lot of entertainment as the paddlers, slid and bumped their way down this steep, fun little creek.



Kicking back in some Cali sunshine



Phil Boyer on the South Kaweah

As we traveled through the central valley and into these Sierra drainages, evidence was everywhere of artificial alterations to the rivers and ecosystems.  From the numerous powerhouses and water diversions to the massive canals channeling water through the valley for irrigation.  Right now is a key time for the future of America’s river drainages.  As dams come up for relicensing, better water management policies can be implemented to restore flows and river ecosystems as well as provide better recreation opportunities for future generations.


The future of California's rivers?

-Erick Conklin-

This is an interesting article that relates the issues in India, Nepal and China over water and power.  This article was from the Kathmandu Post on March 26, 2008.





--Scott

This is one of the many rivers in Arunachal Pradesh, India that have plans for dams in the next few years.  It looks like from these images that the demonstration took place at the bridge where we put-in and started our descent down the Dibang.  It is good to see that the people are voicing their opinions.

--Scott

PRESS RELEASE

 

March 14^th: International Day of Action Against Dams and for Rivers, Water and Life

 

Local people boycott Dibang dam public hearing

AIMSU reiterates opposition to cosmetic consultations

 

New Anaya, March 14:  The public hearing for the proposed 3000 MW Dibang Multipurpose Project which was to be held in New Anaya (Dibang Valley district, Arunachal Pradesh) on March 12th could not be conducted due to strong opposition from the local affected people. Hundreds of protestors from various affected villages staged a road blockade along the Roing-Anini road blocking all the vehicular movement towards the venue of the public hearing. The vehicles carrying officials and staff of the Arunachal Pradesh State Pollution Control Board (APSPC, National Hydroelectric Power Corporation (NHPC) and the National Productivity Council (NHPC)   were prevented from reaching New Anaya.

 

The All Idu Mishmi Students Union (AIMSU) had earlier, on March 11^th, called for a boycott of what it called was a 'cosmetic' public hearing. It had accused the government of treating the Dibang project as a fait accompli  as the foundation stone of the project was laid by the Prime Minister, Manhoman Singh on January 31st, without the completion of public consultation and mandatory evaluation of the project for its social and environmental viability. It had also expressed concern about the poor quality of the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) report done by consultants NPC, stating that it was no point seeking citizens inputs based on such substandard studies.

 

On March 12^th villagers from New Anaya, Kano, Arzoo, Shuklanagar and other adjacent villages blocked a bridge on the Ithi river on the Roing – Anini road, 18 km. from New Anaya towards Roing, from 3 am in the morning.  The villagers along with AIMSU members staged a demonstration before the officials conveying a strong message with slogans of "Go back NHPC".  Witnessing the defiant protest, the APSPCB officials along with NHPC and NPC left for Roing without conducting the public hearing. The Deputy Commissioner of Anini and other government officials who had reached the venue for the conduct of public hearing also returned back to Anini after the APSPCB officials failed to reach the venue. The protestors lifted the road blockade and called off the peaceful protest at 12 pm after the APSPCB officials left.

 

AIMSU General Secretary Tone Mickrow said, "When the government itself undermines the due process of law, the people have no choice but to resist the forceful imposition of the will of the government."

 For more information contact:

 

Raju Mimi :       +91 9436677416   rajumimi@gmail.com 

 

Tone Mickrow:  +91 943... 

 

The Marsyangdi is not the only river in Nepal that will be under water soon.  Unfortunately the Karnali, Arun, Kaligandaki and Bhote Kosi rivers are all threatened.  There is a big election happening in 22 days in Nepal that will determine the ruling political party and the fate of these great himilayan rivers. 

Most of the projects are funded, owned and constructed by foreign investors (mostly Indian) which do nothing to help the people of Nepal.  At least now they are realizing this and are trying to change.

Evan Garcia writes in from the epic journey into patagonia.


The Rio Baker is in southern Patagonia on the Chilean side of the border. From the Futaleufu we drove 2 days south on dirt roads crossing huge passes over looking massive glaciers and many un-run rivers en valleys below.  After passing through the main city in the south Coyihaque, we drove another 300km on mostly dirts roads until reaching the birth place of the Rio Baker.


This is the lake that feeds the Baker, it is beyond massive.

The Baker comes out of this lake with 50,000 cfs give or take 15,000? It travels only a short 200km to the ocean but gains more and more water from tributaries adding to its overall mass. About 15km from the lake the river pours over a massive series of ledges creating the first major drop of the river and marking the put in for the first canyon.


The group entering the biggest rapid.

Over all we ran the top canyon, which contains five massive rapids, three different times. Every time the whitewater seemed to be different. This is because the entire river is chocked down to 50 feet in places and reactionary holes and waves come and go with the changing currents. To break it down a little more here it goes:

The first drop is the sneak of the Salto de Baker. It is a little sluece box drop on the far left away from the pour-over from hell. Even though it is a sneak it is still a fun double boof.


Scouting the first canyon.


Evan in the 4th rapid.


After pasing through a short gorge you reach the takeout bridge and you are greated with one of the best surf waves I have personaly seen. It´s a huge wide, fluffy pile, smooth glass, great hight, and a short hike to get back to the top. Heaven!


Clean Blunt.

Here lies the problem. In 2009 there are 5 different dam sites that are going to be built on this beautiful river flooding every piece of this land and all of these canyons. There is a group project known as Patagonia sin Represas that is fighting the Endesa company from Spain, but it has already been approved for '09. They are also trying to keep other rivers in the area safe from future dams. It's a sad thing to see such a beautiful and untouched place and know that in less than a year everything will be gone.


"No inundation of Patagonia"

The Rio Baker is one of the best rivers and most wild places I have ever seen. I have been all over the world so this means it's pretty special. While I was kayaking and enjoying my time there I shot a film for The Last Descent brought to you by Scott Ligare and Katie Scott and Charlie Center. (thelastdescent.com) They are making a movie about endangered rivers and I agreed to help film a section on this river. So look for that film in 2009 and you will see a full version of this trip.

There is also a second gorge, but we didn't have the time to run it because we were so stoked on the top section. We only spent a short but sick three days running the river and had to return back north to The Futa then to Pucon. Now we are trying to find the right level for a rarely run section of the Fuy. The trip down south was very interesting for all of us. We saw so much new earth and so many unrun rivers. It was a great way to almost wrap up my 3 and a half months here in South America. Thanks to Rodrigo Tushner, Ema Passi, Lj Groth, Severin, and Juanito for making this trip so good and unforgetable.

--Evan Garcia  egcreekin.blogspot.com

Check out the project trailer.  Go to www.thelastdescent.com and follow the link to View Film Trailer.

Quiktime is needed to view it which is available for free.