~~RapidPirate~~

For the past few years IdahoLocal has been putting together some footage from Memorial Day weekend at Lochsa Falls. Always great entertainment! Check it out HERE!

Check out Chris Wings reporting on FIBArk - Chris has been providing some excellent event coverage on WK!

I noticed that 11-year-old Alec from Boise took 1st in the Cadets. Great job Alec - but don’t slack off, your two brothers are going to be nipping at your heels

July 9th (6pm) and 10th - 13th (9am - 6pm) This course is designed for Class III (and up) whitewater kayakers interested in becoming an American Canoe Association certified instructor.
We’re finalizing the roster in the next 24 hours so if you know of folks have them contact us ASAP.

This certification is the standard for either volunteer club leaders or professional canoe/kayak instructors. These 4andraquo; days provide an intensive learning experience to advance your personal paddling skills and techniques, teaching progressions and group awareness.

In this workshop, the Instructor Trainer will demonstrate what to teach and how to teach it. Time is spent in the classroom discussing learning theory, safety, basic river maneuvers, water reading, trip planning, and the kayak roll. You will present at least two subjects, both in the classroom and on the water, as though you were teaching a beginning level course. Through these presentations, you will have the opportunity to demonstrate your technical knowledge, leadership skills and personal paddling technique. You will also improve your understanding of the art of paddling through discussions and presentations. Exposure to a wide variety of teaching techniques and approaches should enhance your instruction style.

The Instructor Workshop gives prospective instructors the opportunity to meet ACA requirements for Basic River or Whitewater Certification in a river kayak. Most participants hope to receive whitewater certification and our courses are targeted towards this audience. If you are interested in Basic River certification, you are welcome to take the course and can be certified, but be aware that much time is spent on Class II-III whitewater. Please note that our ACA Instructor Workshop is designed to improve the teaching and leadership skills of already competent paddlers and to determine whether ACA certification is justified.

The workshop involves long hours, both on and off the water. Midway through the course each participant will meet with the instructor trainer and receive an informal evaluation. This is intended to inform you of your progress and target weaknesses to help ensure that you can be certified. At the end of the course, participants who pass will receive certification in either Basic River or Whitewater, depending upon the studentand#39;s teaching and paddling skills. If you receive less than whitewater certification, you have the opportunity to upgrade within one yearand#39;s time by andquot;retestingandquot;. Depending upon the amount of time the retesting requires, a fee may or may not be charged.

See the Word Document HERE (2.5mb)

Go HERE for details

Hard to believe we are coming up on our 3rd Hometown Throwdown! Come join us next Thursday, June 19th - registration at 5:30pm, BUT BEST TO REGISTER ONLINE HERE. We meet at the Gutter near Horseshoe Bend. If you need directions or have any questions feel free to contact me at gary@worldkayak.com

This summer, the BLM is working on a Resource Management Plan (RMP) tagged the Four Rivers Land Management Plan.

Joe Carberry posted this on kayakidaho.com - you can see the original page HERE

The area includes around 783,000 acres of public land in the counties of Adams, Valley, Washington, Payette, Gem, Boise, Canyon, Ada, and Elmore and encompasses sections of the Snake, Weiser, Boise and Payette Rivers.

The first step in the RMP process is the identification of management issues which will be used as the foundation for the entire planning process.

The Four Rivers Field Office Specialists have identified a list of preliminary issues including:

1. Special Status Species Management-Areas that require special designations for protection
2. Land Tenure Adjustments-Lands identified as available for disposal or retention
3. Recreation management-Special recreation management areas
4. Special designation evaluations. i.e. Areas of Critical Environmental Concern (ACEC) and Wild and Scenic Rivers (WSR)
5. Access and Transportation-Areas open, closed, or limited to cross country travel.

To access more information about this plan, visit
http://www.blm.gov/id/st/en/fo/four_rivers/Planning/four_rivers_resource.html

Jonathan Beck is the project lead and can be reached at 208-384-3305 or jonathan_m_beck@blm.gov

Scoping comments can be emailed to Four_Rivers_RMP@blm.gov

Last year’s fires make many of the sites unavailable due to standing burned trees

U.S. Forest Service crews were scheduled to start checking out river camps along the Middle Fork of the Salmon River for hazards from last yearand#39;s forest fires.

A total of 15 camps were badly burned in 2007, leaving behind standing burned trees that are now at a high risk of falling into campsites during high winds or wet conditions.

Read the entire article HERE!

A meeting of the governor’s non-motorized work group is planned from 9:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. June 16 in Boise to look at charging non-motorized boaters a registration fee.

Go HERE for full article.

Image from KayakIdaho.com

Well, the River Kids have been hitting the river hard this spring and I’ve managed to get a little video. We’re going to have a stellar year - so come on up!

There’s plenty of water for a long whitewater season. Pete Zimowsky -  zimowsky at idahostatesman.com Edition Date: 06/05/08 Link HERE

A huge wave splashed over the front of the raft, but river-running newbies Lynda Lloyd and Tony Warren kept digging in with their paddles.

The raft plunged into Go Left Rapids on the Main Payette River near Banks and everyone on board got an icy wakeup call.

andquot;We did it,andquot; said Lloyd, who was visiting Idaho for a conference and decided to take a whitewater rafting trip on the Main Payette

For the full story go HERE!