American Whitewater is an active participant in the implementation of the hydropower license for Sacramento Municipal Utilities District’s Upper American River Project. As part of the license, SMUD in cooperation with the U.S. Forest Service, State Water Resources Control Board, Bureau of Land Management, American Whitewater and members of the boating community will prepare a Whitewater Boating Recreation Plan for the South Fork American river below Slab Creek Reservoir. This plan must be completed by 2019 and will establish boating use triggers that will determine if additional recreational flows on Slab Creek become effective.
Currently, the license provides for six days of recreational flow on Slab Creek between March 1st and May 31st in Below Normal, Above Normal and Wet water year types. If the prescribed use triggers outlined in the recreation plan are met the boating community could get boating flow in all water years, recreational flow in October and increase the required recreational flow days up to 18 days depending on the water year type.
To help inform the process for the Whitewater Boating Recreation Plan, American Whitewater would like to gather any use information from paddlers who were fortunate enough to enjoy the opportunistic flows provided by SMUD during the construction of the new Slab Creek Powerhouse and Boating Flow Valve Release from October 2017 to January 2018. If you were one of these lucky paddlers please take the time to fill out the following poll.