The Last Descent Project

The Last Descent World Premier!

Ebb and Flow Productions — Mon, 26 Jan 2009 20:31:30 GMT

We did it! The Last Descent is finally finished. The Last Descent premiered on January 10th at the Wild and Scenic Environmental Film Festival in Nevada City, CA. We had two screenings throughout the weekend and the theaters were packed for both events, as a matter of fact there was a line out the door both days!

The Wild and Scenic Film Festival, which is the largest environmental film festival in the country, was the perfect venue for us to premier the film because of all of the adventurers and environmentally conscious people in the audience.
http://www.wildandscenicfilmfestival.org/

The premier made headlines in Newspapers, Radio, TV and across the internet.

News 10 TV story
350.org article

Throughout the weekend we saw many amazing films that were inspirational, educational and entertaining and we were amazed when at the end of the weekend The Last Descent was honored with the People’s Choice Award. Out of 180 films, The Last Descent was voted as the favorite film of the festival by the viewers.

We are so glad that The Last Descent was so well received, and how inspiring it is that so many people do care about our rivers. Although The Last Descent film is finished the mission still continues. All sales from The Last Descent will be donated to organizations that are working hard to protect our wonderful rivers. We are finishing up the last minute touches on the box cover, and we should have DVD’s ready for sale within a month. We will be screening it at several different locations in the next 6 months. Check the blog for an updated schedule. Right now, all three of us our back in college and when it rains we head to the river for some more of California’s classic runs.

--Katie

Check out the article in AOL Sports.

Ebb and Flow Productions — Tue, 28 Oct 2008 18:06:00 GMT

Check out the interview article in AOL Sports on The Last Descent.

http://outdoors.fanhouse.com/2008/10/27/pro-paddlers-fight-dams-in-the-last-descent/

--Scott

Yuba River

Ebb and Flow Productions — Sat, 18 Oct 2008 05:09:00 GMT

Katie and I took some time away from editing last week to paddle a stretch of the Yuba River north of Sacramento that has not seen water in over 7 years. The Yuba River is one of California's most dammed rivers and in combination with the neighboring Bear River is called the "Yuba-Bear Project." The complex Yuba-Bear Project consists of nearly 50 dams, and many pipes, diversions and reservoirs. Most of the Yuba-Bear Project is up for a 50 year relicensing by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) in 2013.

The relicensing process involves many studies in order to evaluate the effects of these projects. The studies include effects on wildlife, environment, other water users and recreation. Because whitewater boating and recreation on these rivers was not that big 50 years ago when the projects were given the license many stretches of river very rarely see water for recreational purposes. But now through the relicensing process organizations of boaters such as American Whitewater (www.americanwhitewater.org) are fighting to assure recreational flow releases on some classic stretches of river.

The huge Bullards Bar dam on the North Yuba. Photo by Jared Noceti

The North Fork of the Yuba River below Bullards Bar Reservoir is diverted through a giant (you could drive a car through it) pipe for 8 miles or so down to Colgate Powerhouse where it is returned to the natural river bed. One mile or so below the powerhouse the river is again backed up by another dam, Englebright. Yuba County is the owner and operator of the Bullards Bar Dam and Colgate Power House. Currently the penstock returning the water to the river at Colgate is going through maintenance so until December the river is once again flowing in it's natural river bed for the first time in years.

Lizzy, Grant, Scott and Katie -- Photo by Jared Noceti

Yahoo for late fall kayaking! Jared Noceti, Grant Korgan, Lizzy English Katie Scott and Myself set out to re-explore what this canyon had in store. The run took us more than 7 hours of scouting, paddling and portaging.

Lizzy English making a tight move above a sieve. Photo by Jared Noceti

The run contained many classic steep bouldery rapids. Many sieves were also encountered keeping us on our toes and making us portage many times.

North Yuba River. Photo by Jared Noceti

As the light faded and the stars came out we considered spending the night out but pushed on to find the brightly lit powerhouse that marked our take out around a corner.

Katie Scott. Photo by Jared Noceti

We were amazed that such a great run exists just over an hour away from our home in Sacramento. This is one of many runs that we look forward to being able to paddle every fall once the relicensing happens. Thank you to Dave Stiendorf and all of the other people at American Whitewater for helping put water back in our rivers.

---Scott Ligare

Premier date set!!!

Ebb and Flow Productions — Fri, 03 Oct 2008 20:00:00 GMT

It probably seems like nothing has been going on with The Last Descent for a while because of the lack of blog updates. We are sorry for not keeping you all up to date out there but we have actually been quite busy. We moved the editing studio and home down to Sacramento where where we have been editing away. We have also been working closely with American Whitewater out here in California helping develop a plan for recreational releases in California. All profits from sales of the film will be donated to organizations such as American Whitewater.

We have pushed the premier date forward in order to premier the film at the Wild and Scenic Film Festival in Nevada City, CA. We are very excited to be a part of the festival and it will be the perfect place and audience to premier the film. Check out their website at www.wildandscenicfilmfestival.org Get your tickets soon folks I look forward to seeing you all there.

---Scott and Katie

Check out the new website and new film trailer!

Ebb and Flow Productions — Mon, 04 Aug 2008 19:39:00 GMT

The new website is up! www.thelastdescent.com There is a lot more information on each of the regions that we visited with photos. There is also a new 5:30 min trailer for the film. Enjoy.

---Scott

India slideshow this weekend in Lotus, CA

Ebb and Flow Productions — Fri, 20 Jun 2008 01:01:00 GMT

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.

Video from CNN-IBN on India's Northeast

Ebb and Flow Productions — Tue, 06 May 2008 17:33:00 GMT

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

The Slave River in Northwest Territories is threatened

Ebb and Flow Productions — Thu, 01 May 2008 18:49:00 GMT

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

Slideshow in Helena, MT

Ebb and Flow Productions — Sun, 27 Apr 2008 06:51:00 GMT

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.

California Creeking

Ebb and Flow Productions — Thu, 24 Apr 2008 03:46:00 GMT

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-

Article from the Kathmandu Post

Ebb and Flow Productions — Mon, 14 Apr 2008 22:19:00 GMT

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

Protest on the Dibang River, Arunachal Pradesh, India

Ebb and Flow Productions — Fri, 21 Mar 2008 13:53:00 GMT

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...

An article from The Kathmandu Post

Ebb and Flow Productions — Wed, 19 Mar 2008 05:12:00 GMT

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.

Update from the Rio Baker, Chile

Ebb and Flow Productions — Mon, 17 Mar 2008 03:42:00 GMT

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

The Last Descent film trailer is up!

Ebb and Flow Productions — Thu, 06 Mar 2008 15:03:00 GMT

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.

Goodbye to paradise

Ebb and Flow Productions — Mon, 25 Feb 2008 05:28:00 GMT

We left the village of Bujagali saddened to know that we probably will never return. In as soon as August the silverback stretch will be closed to boating for the safety of the boaters. After the dam is completed and the reservior is full there will still be some good rapids (Itunda, Kalagala, Hypoxia, Dead Duchman, Overtime, and some more smaller ones) as well as an epic wave, but much will be lost. This place is one of the most enjoyable kayak destinations in the world and I am sure that it will continue to be a destination that boaters will come to but it will not be the same without the silverback run and the back channels.

Nile has some amazing bird life.

Chapati, the breakfast, lunch and dinner of champions.

Borris and I playing King of the Wave on the Cuban.

And the winner is....

Jake going big on Nile Special

Fine Bujagali dining

I snapped this shot off right as the sky turned black and it started to pour

After 3 weeks of being blown off by the dam company, I was finally granted an interview and tour of the dam site 2 days before we left. In the interview the project manager stated that the government of Uganda had already come to them about building two more large dams on the White Nile in the near future. Here are some more photos of the village of Bujagali and the White Nile.

This is where the Ugly Sisters used to join the Silverback channel.

Katie is now in India and I am back in Nepal.

---Scott

Nile River, Uganda - Update 3

Ebb and Flow Productions — Mon, 11 Feb 2008 11:24:00 GMT

We have spent the last week upriver on the White Nile near the town of Bujagali. Bujagali Falls is a spiritually significant place for the local Busoga tribe and marks the start of the "Silverback" run. We are still trying to get a tour of the dam site but in the mean time we have been making smaller "commando" missions into the construction site from the river. The dam itself is being constructed at the Silverback rapid where the river splits into 3 channels: The Ugly Sister, Silverback, and Headbanger. Construction started in August when they built a temporary coffer dam at the Ugly Sisters channel. The are constantly pumping the water out of this now dry channel and digging down to build the foundation of the dam. In combination with the digging they use explosives to blast through the bedrock. On the days in which they blast the river is closed to boating in the afternoon. We headed down during these times to check out the destruction.

Surveyors on river right at the construction site.

We were stopped at a small rock island by security guards above the blasting location and were told to wait. After 30 minutes or so without much of a warning a huge explosion ripped through the area sending rock and a cloud of dust hundreds of feet in the air. It was definitely the largest explosion that we had ever seen.

Locals watch as their childhood playground is blasted and moved away in trucks.

The total project cost is $600 million dollars, of which only a portion has been secured. The dam itself is to be owned by Bujagali Energy Limited which is a subsidiary of Sithe Global, an international corporation that is mainly owned by US investors. An Italian construction firm, Salini, has been contracted to build the dam. The power generated will be sold to the Ugandan Government for distribution to the people of Uganda. There are already two dams at the very source of the Nile where it flows from Lake Victoria but they are not providing enough power for Uganda because of mismanagement (they run on 1-2 turbines of 4) and that much of it is exported to Kenya who funded these dams.

Cats at the construction site.

In our investigations and discussions with Ugandans we have learned that most of them are in favor of the dam in hope that they will get electricity to their villages and that the economy of the country will increase. Tourism is currently the number one industry in Uganda with whitewater rafting being the number one activity of tourists. The White Nile currently provides some of the biggest, friendly class 5 rafting in the world. After the dam is constructed there will still be a possible raft run below the dam but it will not be nearly as exiting. The raft companies are going to move their operations downstream and continue to operate, the effect of the dam on the raft industry is bound to be large however.

White trucks with the "Salini" logo on the side are a common site in Jinja and around the river.

Katie in Paradise

Katie surfing Malalu, downstream of the dam site

----Scott Ligare

Nile River Update Two

Ebb and Flow Productions — Tue, 05 Feb 2008 11:49:00 GMT

Jacob Scott lovin' life on Nile Special.

The White Nile is home to one of the worlds most epic play waves called Nile Special. We recently have been spending our days surfing the giant waves and running the rapids on the Day 2 stretch of the Nile which include Itunda and Kaligala.

Katie Scott hucking Kaligala in style

I once again find myself feeling overwhelmed by the beauty that exists along the Nile River. The sunsets are one in a million and paddling along side the lush green fields of healthy plants could not be more perfect. Every time I paddle the Nile river I am awestruck by the peacefulness of its environment but everyday I am brought back to the reality of the future of this dream land. The takeout of the Silverback run is where the majority of the dam
construction is going on, everyday more progress is made on the dam and yet another paradise begins to diminish.

Beautiful Sunset from NRE

It has been depressing to interview some of the locals who are not benefiting from the dam at all. They have been lied to in the past and are being lied to now. They were initially promised jobs working for the foreign dam company but they were not hired. Since the main source of income for most villagers is tourism many locals will soon be without jobs and will not be able to afford the power that will be generated from their homeland.

Scott Ligare Playing at Nile Special

The White Nile -- Part 1

Ebb and Flow Productions — Mon, 28 Jan 2008 13:07:00 GMT

I have never been a journaler. I have never kept a diary. This is not because I have a good memory, I cannot remember the names of people or places well. Three years ago I was a teacher and a coach for World Class Kayak Academy and we visited Uganda. On that trip, for a short time I had the idea that I wanted to start keeping a journal of my travels. When I returned there was only one entry in my journal from Africa. The entry was written in barely legible handwriting, written after a night hanging out with friends at the Nile River Explorers Bar. The entry read “Get your ass back here.” Since that trip, the White Nile has been a place that I knew that I needed to return to.

Katie having fun with some kids

We arrived to meet many friends including Jacob Scott, Katie’s older brother, a lot of rain and a river that has already been changed forever. This is dry season in Uganda but instead we have had rain everyday, sometimes torrential downpours that last for hours.

Sunset on the White Nile

The dam construction has already started and the progress that they have made is staggering. They have built a temporary coffer dam in the channel known as “the ugly sisters” which has backed up the water drowning one of the best rapids on the run “total gunga.” This dam has diverted the entire flow through the rapid known as “silverback,” this increased flow has made the waves much bigger and more difficult especially for rafts.

Some Bujagali kids

Due to increased releases from the dam upstream for years prior to 2005, the level of Lake Victoria (the world’s larges tropical lake), has dropped. This unnaturally low level of the lake has had a detrimental effect upon the ecology of the lake. In response to this the dam company released less water for 2 years but now it seems that again the releases have increased. The higher water makes for better whitewater and play-spots such as “Nile Special” have returned.

Scott running Bujagali Falls

It has been a struggle to get interviews with the officials from the dam company or a tour of the construction site but we have another appointment this afternoon. Hopefully we will meet the right person and get inside. Stay tuned!

---Scott

Varanassi

Ebb and Flow Productions — Mon, 28 Jan 2008 10:14:00 GMT

On our way west in India we made a short stop in the historic city of Varanassi. Varanassi is located along the Ganges River in the state of Uttar Pradesh in eastern-central India.

A man bathes in the Ganges

This city is known to be one of the oldest and most holy cities in the world. Many Hindus come from all over the world to bath in the river and to die. There are two "burning ghatts" where bodies are burned and then the remains are dumped into the river.

Burning Ghatt

Life in Varanassi revolves around the sacred River Ganga. Everyday thousands of people bathe, wash their clothes, drink, swim and fish in the Ganga river.

Scott riding the public transportation

-Katie and Scott