American Whitewater joins the Outdoor Alliance, Access Fund, The Conservation Alliance, and Outdoor Industry Association in support of the proposed Emery County Public Land Management Act of 2018. Legislators actively engaged the recreation community and AW has been working for several years to make sure the Act does as much as it can to protect whitewater recreation and rivers in Utah, including designating a section of the Green River as Wild and Scenic. We are happy to report that the bill is moving forward and that if passed will designate 63 miles of the Green River, including Labyrinth Canyon as a Wild and Scenic River. 

"In our view, this proposal as it is currently written effectively balances important conservation protections with recreation management designations that will promote high quality recreation opportunities while also protecting and enhancing the regional economy. We also understand that this proposal enjoys widespread support from a broad range of user groups, conservation organizations, local governments, and the outdoor business community. As such, we applaud your efforts to develop a widely supported public lands protection bill for Emery County, Utah. The Emery County Public Land Management Act of 2018 was developed by Emery County and a coalition of stakeholders, including conservation organizations, motorized recreation, humanpowered recreation, local officials and governments, the State of Utah, the Congressional delegation, and many more. As recreation advocacy organizations, we particularly support key provisions in this bill that establish a Recreation Area to highlight and permanently protect the recreational resources and conservation values of the San Rafael Swell region. This bill would also designate 63 miles of Wild and Scenic River, protect existing rock climbing resources, study future trail development opportunities, and establish wilderness areas throughout Emery County, amounting to several hundreds of thousands of acres of permanent conservation in all."

Read the entire Letter in Support of the Emery County Public Land Management Act of 2018