California's Inyo, Sequoia and Sierra National Forests are home to many rivers cherished by the whitewater community, including the Kern, Kings, and Merced Rivers and Dinkey Creek. Today, American Whitewater asked the Forest Service to recognize the importance of these and other rivers for whitewater recreation activities, and to update and expand protections for classic California rivers.

American Whitewater's comments come as the three forests sought scoping comments as they begin the NEPA process for updating their forest management plans for the first time in over 15 years. Known as "early adopter" forests, Inyo, Sequioa and Sierra are among the first National Forests to update their forest plans under the new 2012 Forest Planning Rule.

Our comments also request that the Forest Service update management plans for Wild and Scenic Rivers on the forests, such as the Wild and Scenic Merced, Wild and Scenic Kings and its North and South Forks, and the Wild and Scenic North Fork and South Fork of the Kern. Our comments also urge the Forest Service to expand the number of rivers considered to be eligible for inclusion in the Wild and Scenic System, and ask them to consider rivers like Dinkey Creek, the Middle Fork Tule and the Middle Fork of the San Joaquin. The full list can be viewed in our comments.

The forests anticipate releasing a Draft Environmental Impact Statement in April 2015. American Whitewater will continue to track and participate in the Forest Planning process…stay tuned for details!

You can learn more about the Forest Plan Revision process for Region 5 here.