Working Hard to Safeguard Paddling Assets for All Canadians

All about Whitewater

All about Whitewater
A Blog about River Preservation and the need to protect our free flowing whitewater resources

Friday, April 18, 2008

Whitewater Ontario thanks MACKFEST ORGANIZERS

The first M.A.C.K. Fest was a huge success due to the great efforts and dedication of a few key people such as Cale and Stephanie Reeder, their families and other volunteers. Special recognition also needs to be given to Tammy Kirby, the M.A.C.K. Fest webmaster, who provided current information in a very user friendly manner. The festival was well organized and well attended by paddlers and their families. The tremendous cooperation and support by sponsors and the community needs to be commended, and it must be recognized that a vast amount of work goes into bringing the non-paddling community on board for such an event. The members and executive of WO would like to thank the M.A.C.K. Fest organizers for the great job of organizing the festival, and bringing greater awareness to the sport of whitewater paddling and the many rivers in the Marmora area.

Peter Karwacki apologizes for Blog concerning MACKFEST

I offer my apology to the M.A.C.K. fest organizers on this blog and the BOATWERKS boater board to clarify that WO and Peter Karwacki had no involvement in the organization of M.A.C.K. fest other then attending and enjoying the rivers. M.A.C.K. fest is still planning on donating a portion of the festivals proceeds to Whitewater Ontario as we discussed before the festival. That money is to be directly used for W.O. operating costs.

Wednesday, April 16, 2008

Elora Gorge Down River and Slalom Race

Elora Gorge Down river and Slalom Race

organizer: Jeff McColl
date: Saturday, May 10, 2008 to Sunday, May 11, 2008
type: other,scenic,race,learn
difficulty: novice
Novice and Intermediate
accommodation: other

You can camp at the conservation area or just come each day. We use a couple of the group camping spots over by the chute north of the high level bridge.
I help run the race and will be there to help coach those who want it.
Hoping it will be my first river trip of the year.
Complete novices do not run the chute for the slalom. or you can just come and run the river and we can socialize.
Rapids are grade 2 and 3 and if we get rain, Irvine creek is a good run.
Jeff

Monday, April 14, 2008

MACKFEST


The first annual MACKFEST was a huge success thanks to the tireless efforts of many especially Gary and Cammy George and Cale Reeder.

Weekend was a great success.

List of people, companies, and volunteers to thank as it would not be possible without them.

Sponsors; both prizes and money to help with the event.
Boatwerks / AO
Rapid
H2O Paddles
Esprit
Complete Paddler
Pyranha
Level Six
M.K.C.
Element Expeditions
Mountain Equipment Co-op (Toronto)
Kokatat
Aqua-bound
Esquif
Northwater
Redtail paddles
Wildrock Outfitters
Church Key
Occasions on the Bay
Black Diamond Golf

And many many more. Please check out our website www.mackfest.ca to see all sponsors involved

Volunteers;
Tammy & Rob Kirby
Shaun Moore
Jenn Paige
Stephanie, Tom, Shirley, & Keri Reeder
Bryce
Cathie Jones
Marc Forget
Billy Jo
Mike & Barb Irwin
Yves Blanchard
Todd & Tara
Andrew & Dawn
Rick
Rich
Matt
Mackenzie
And again many more that I am sure I have missed.

The Bands
Lazy John & The Ireland Brothers

The Town of Marmora
Ron Chittick, Cathie Jones, & all the B&B’s Motels etc.

And everyone who showed up to help make this event a success.

Please don’t forget about the Photo Contest. Prizes still available details on website.

Donation to Easter Seals and Whitewater Ontario will be put up later this month

The 1st Ever M.A.C.K.Fest was a great success!!!

Photo's, videos, stories and trip reports on the rivers ran at the festival will soon be up on the website. The website will stay online, so everyone can reference it for further information on all those great rivers.

A huge thank-you to all the volunteers, sponsor's and paddlers who made this new festival a great event.

To contribute a photo, story, video or trip report for publishing, please send to thepaddlingpaparazzi@hotmail.com

Congratulations!

Les Amis has a new Executive for 2008!!




Peter Karwacki was acclaimed as president at the AGM, and Les Amis de la riviere Kipawa have four new people on the executive.

There was a lot of energy in the room.

Michael Simms is secretary
Leah Kindree is Membership Chair
Bill Weber is Rally coordinator
Wayne Donison is Vice President
Peter Karwacki is President
Francois Diebolt is the Treasurer
Doug is Director of River Preservation

There was one major decision made at the AGM, there will definitely be a 20th Kipawa River Rally in June 2008, with or without water.

At the end of the meeting, people were energized. Naturally it would have been great to have had Lucie Germaine and Christian Belisle there at the meeting but in the end, we had to go with those who could attend. Now we must move forward with new energy and spirit.

There is discussion afoot to morph Les Amis de la riviere Kipawa into a more national organization to speak for all rivers.

Canadian Rivers

Canadian Rivers
I speak for river users too!

The Queen is not amused!

The Queen is not amused!
http://www.ispeakforcanadianrivers.ca/

The Damned Dam - 2005 -

The Damned Dam - 2005 -
22nd Annual Kipaw Rally has modest turnout. - 23rd does better

The Ashlu river: it could happen to you

The Ashlu river: it could happen to you

Whitewater Ontario

Whitewater Ontario
Working Hard to Protect Canada's Paddling Resources

Whitewater Ontario - Mission Statement

It is Whitewater Ontario’s mission to support the whitewater paddling community through the promotion, development and growth of the sport in its various disciplines. We accomplish this through the development of events, resources, clubs, and programs for personal and athletic development, regardless of skill level or focus, to ensure a high standard of safety and competency; We advocate safe and environmentally responsible access and use of Ontario’s rivers. Whitewater Ontario is the sport governing body in the province, and represents provincial interests within the national body Whitewater Canada and the Canadian Canoe Association http://www.whitewaterontario.ca/page/mission.asp

Kipawa, Tabaret, and Opemican

Kipawa, Tabaret, and Opemican
If Hydro Quebec is not actively pursuing Tabaret what is that bite out of Opemican for?

Kipawa Dam: After

Kipawa Dam: After
Laniel Dam at 2006 Rally

Where is the Kipawa

Where is the Kipawa
Kipawa flows into lake Temiskamingue, running from Kipawa Lake, under hwy 101 in Quebec

Kipawa Dam

Kipawa Dam
laniel dam at 2004 River Rally

Tabaret is a Bad Idea

About the Kipawa



The best thing paddlers can do to help the cause of the Kipawa:

1. attend the rally and bring others including non paddlers to attend and buy beer and have fun

2. write your MP /MNA and raise the issue and post your objections -1 letter = 200 who didn't write

3. Write Thierry Vandal the CEO of Hydro Quebec strongly opposing the 132 MW standard decrying the use of "diversion" as the most environmentally inappropriate method of power production

4. Write Jean Charest, Premier of Quebec protesting that either the algonquin or the tabaret project will eliminate all other values on the Kipawa River by turning it into a dry gulch.

5. See if you can get other allied groups interested by showing your own interest, ie the Sierra Defense Fund, Earthwild, MEC, and so on.

6. Demand further consultation

7. Currently we are at the point where we need to sway public opinion and raise awareness.

However, if all else fails, don't get mad, simply disrupt, foment, and protest . The Monkey Wrench Gang.

Have you read Edward Abbey?

Important Addresses
CEO,Hydro Québec, 75 boul René Levesque, Montreal, P.Q., H2Z 1A4Caille.andre@hydro.qc.ca



Tabaret is a Bad Idea (Part Two)

Les Amis de la Riviere Kipawa is poised to use an application to the Federal Court to issue a Writ of Mandamus to ensure the Minster does what he is supposed to do, protect the public's right to navigate the water control structure at Laniel, Quebec using the Navigable Waters Protection Act. (see http://www.kipawariver.ca/)

In the now gutted Navigable Waters Protection Act lay the means by which the Minister of Transport could keep the public right of passage down our great Canadian Heritage, our rivers and streams which are threatened especially by resource corporations and power brokers such as Hydro Quebec.

These powerful entities continue to petition that 'this' river or 'that' stream is not navigable and therefore not protectable.
I don't say that dams and bridges should not be built, only that if they are, historical navigation rights should be considered and preserved by making reasonable accommodations for recreational boaters.

It is the Minister of Transport, in exercising the right to allow or disallow work on or over a navigable waterway is what keeps boats and recreational boaters plying our waterways.

To many recent cases launched in the Federal Court concerning the Navigable Waters Protection Act, most recently the case of the Humber Environment Group of Cornerbrook Newfoundland versus the Cornerbrook Pulp and Paper Company indicates that the important oversight is not being faithfully performed. Have we really come to the point now where we must say "such and such a stream is one foot deep, possessing so many cubic feet per second flow and so on?" The answer to this is... YES!

The honourable Mr. Justice John A. O'Keefe, ruled that it had not been shown that the river was navigable. How convenient was that to the Minister? But either the Minister of Transport acts to protect our rivers and streams as a public right or he does not and that means rivers and streams currently enjoyed by kayakers and canoists.

Enough of the cheating, and double-talk. Canadians! our rivers and streams are our own, lets urge the Minister of Transport and the our government to protect them.

Peter Karwacki

Tabaret is a Bad Idea (Part Three)

10 Reasons WhyTabaret is a Bad Idea1) Tabaret is too big. The station is designed to useevery drop of water available in the Kipawawatershed, but will run at only 44 percent capacity.We believe the Tabaret station is designed to usewater diverted from the Dumoine River into theKipawa watershed in the future. 2) The Tabaret project will eliminate the aquaticecosystem of the Kipawa River.The Tabaret project plan involves the diversion of a16-km section of the Kipawa River from its naturalstreambed into a new man-made outflow from LakeKipawa. 3) Tabaret will leave a large industrial footprint on thelandscape that will impact existing tourismoperations and eliminate future tourism potential. 4) The Tabaret project is an aggressive single-purposedevelopment, designed to maximize powergeneration at the expense of all other uses. 5) River-diversion, such as the Tabaret project, takinglarge amounts of water out of a river’s naturalstreambed and moving it to another place, is verydestructive to the natural environment. 6) The Kipawa River has been designated a protectedgreenspace in the region with severe limitations ondevelopment. This designation recognizes theecological, historical and natural heritage value ofthe river and the importance of protecting it.Tabaret will eliminate that value. 7) If necessary, there are other, smarter and morereasonable options for producing hydro power onthe Kipawa watershed. It is possible to build a lowimpactgenerating station on the Kipawa river, andmanage it as a “run-of-the-river” station, makinguse of natural flows while maintaining other values,with minimal impact on the environment. 8) The Kipawa watershed is a rich natural resource forthe Temiscaming Region, resonably close to largeurban areas, with huge untapped potential fortourism and recreation development in the future.Tabaret will severely reduce this potential. 9) Tabaret provides zero long-term economic benefitfor the region through employment. The plan is forthe station to be completely automated andremotely operated. 10) The Kipawa River is 12,000 years old. The riverwas here thousands of years before any peoplecame to the region. The Tabaret project will change all that.

Problems on a local River?

  • There is more to do as well but you have to do your research and above all, don't give up.
  • IN the meantime prepared a document itemizing the history of navigation of this spot and its recreational value. Use the Kipawa river history of navigation as a guide: see www.kipawariver.ca
  • Under the Ministry of Environment guidelines you have a set period of time to petition the change under the environmental bill of rights, you may have limited time to take this action. But it involves going to court for a judicial review of the decision.
  • 4. contact the ministry of natural resources officials and do the same thing.
  • 3. contact the ministry of the environment and determine if they approved the project
  • 2. determine if the dam was a legal dam, approved under the navigable waters protection act.
  • 1. research the decision and timing of it to determine if an environmental assessment was done.

Minden Ontario

Minden Ontario
Gull River Water control at Horseshoe lake

A History of Navigation on the Kipawa River

Prior to the environmental assessment there was no signage at the Laniel Dam

T-Shirts Area: These are available now!

T-Shirts Area: These are available now!
Send $25 and a stamped self addressed envelop for the Tshirt, and for the bumper sticker, a stamped and self addressed envelope with $5.00 for the bumper sticker to Les Amis de la rivière Kipawa, 80 Ontario St., Ottawa, Ontario, K1K 1K9 or click the link To purchase a Les Amis "T" contact Doug with the following information: Number of shirts:Sizes: Ship to Address: Method of Payment: cash, cheque and paypal, Shipto address:

Bumper Stickers Now Available

Bumper Stickers Now Available
Get your bumper sticker and show your support for the Kipawa Legal Fund ! - send $5.00 in a Stamped, self addressed envelope to: Peter Karwacki Box 39111, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, K1H 7X0