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Subscribers to VPCNews enjoy receiving secure, spam-free email news on a ~weekly basis during the peak paddling season, and infrequently during the dry/cold months.

Subscribers also are free to post messages to VPCNews, including impromptu paddling plans, gear wanted, gear for sale, etc.. And of course, subscribers may unsubscribe if at any time they wish to do so.

A preview of subscribers' latest submissions appears below:

** June 27 & 28 -- Class II Clinic
** VPC Renewals, and Upcoming Trips!
** Warm water roll sessions?
** Phone issues
** Dead on the 4th of July
** July 4th paddling
** Upcoming Events and Trips...
** AW call for help on the West
** Northern Forest Canoe Trail -EVENT CALENDAR-
** Setting Safety
** ACA canoe certification courses
** Sea Kayaking Symposium -- June 20-22
** Richmond Bridge to be Closed March 9th
** Didymo found in Mad River in 2008
** Ausable Chasm Rehearing
** Didymo infests 12 miles of Esopus Creek
** found waterstick paddle
** Gear For Sale...
** For Sale: Wavesport EZ $400 OBO
** For Sale: Transformer T3 - $300 OBO
** For Sale: PFD and Sprayskirts
** For Sale: Tandem Canoe (Royalex)
** For Sale: Wave Sport XXX
** For Sale: Sea Kayak (composite [fiberglass] layup)
** For Sale: Wavesport Frankenstein whitewater kayak -- first dibs
** For Sale: Kayak - Storm GT by Current Designs
** For Sale: Wave Sport Godzilla
** ADDITIONAL 'For Sale' Listings...
** Wanted to Buy...

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June 27 & 28 -- Class II Clinic

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VPC Class II Clinic, 2009

The VPC Class II Clinic, the follow-up to the annual VPC Novice Clinic Weekend, is about 10 days away!

The course description and the online registration form are on the website.

[NOTE: Students are expected to make a reasonable effort to borrow (or rent) the equipment they will need.]

Lastly, VPC members interested in helping out with the clinic, please call or email CJ (Craig Carline), ASAP, craig.carline@gmail.com, (802) 236-7459. We could use assistance on the canoeing side!

Whether as students or as volunteers, please help make June 27-28 the best Class II Clinic Weekend ever!

Chris Weed

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VPC Renewals, and Upcoming Trips!

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VPC members enjoy access to members-only website content, receive the Bow and Stern newsletter when it's published, and (perhaps most importantly) get the satisfaction of supporting a club that runs great novice clinics, rescue clinics, pool sessions, film festivals, and whatever else we can rally around to promote paddlesport and help protect paddling resources in and around VT.

Your member privileges from the previous year are extended into the present year from January 1 through March 31, and expire April 1.

If you are a past-member of the VPC and have not renewed your membership for 2009, please do so TODAY by printing/mailing:
http://vtpaddlers.net/join/bymail.pdf

Joining for the first time? Then let me be the first to say "WELCOME!!" Just print and mail the same form, with your 2009 dues.

Thanks..........and SYOTR!!!

PS: There are several trips coming up this week and next week, requiring varying levels of paddling skill. See the Upcoming Events and Trips below. The Lower Lamoille trips are no more than 25 minutes from Burlington, with some potentially excellent wave/hole play near the end of the run at Five Chutes (4,800 - 6,200 cfs).

Tony Shaw (and Chris Weed)

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Dead on the 4th of July

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I'm leading a trip on the Dead river in Maine over the 4th of July weekend. The release will be on the low side, so it should be a fairly mellow class III run. We may try paddling something else in that range during the weekend as well. For example, the Mallowgaway has a release on Sunday and will be on the drive back to VT. Also, the Kennebec (class IV) is very nearby and might be a possibility for someone wanting a big water run.

Please let me know in advance if you are interested in this trip. I'll be looking into campgrounds where we can stay. There are also motels in the area for those that prefer not to camp.
Dan Beideck

Upcoming Events and Trips:

	DATE	DAY	PLANNED TRIP	CONTACT	PHONE	EXPECT	COMMENTS
*	Jul 3rd-Jul 5th	Fri-Sun	Maine - Dead River, etc.	Dan Beideck	655-3980	int WW
*	Jul 25th	Sat	Hudson Gorge	James Poulin	434-2708	int-adv WW	Moved from 7/18.

Organizing VPC trips is a great way to put paddling first in your busy schedule and to meet others who share your love for the sport!

Events with an asterisk (*) ARE NOT VPC/ACA sanctioned events. They appear only as a convenience to paddlers looking for compatible paddling partners.

If not a VPC member you can still post your trip plans on the message board. For the complete list of upcoming events/trips see the VPC Events Calendar online.

Event fee of $10 applies to non-ACA members who participate in sanctioned club trips. For information on becoming a VPC/ACA member, click here.

More Announcements:

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Didymo found in Mad River in 2008

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State of Vermont
Agency of Natural Resources
Office of the Secretary
[phone] 802-241-3600
[fax] 802-244-1102

103 South Main Street, Center Building
Waterbury, VT 05671-0301

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
July 10, 2008

Contact: Leslie Matthews, Ph.D.

802-241-3798 (office)
802-498-3051 (mobile)

Sabina Haskell
802-241-1562

Didymo found in Mad River

WATERBURY – Water quality scientists at the Agency of Natural Resources have confirmed the presence of “didymo” in the Mad River, the first time the invasive freshwater alga has been found within the Lake Champlain Basin.

Dr. Leslie Matthews said a citizen spotted the didymo and provided a sample for testing. Matthews said her investigation found didymo, or “rock snot” has spread in the Mad River in an area between Riverwatch Lane and just upstream of the bridge leading into Warren Village.

“Didymo is extensively coating the rocks with 75-100 percent coverage and up to 1-2 centimeters’ thickness,” Matthews said. “I have not yet investigated other sections of the river but would expect that additional areas of bloom are likely present in the river.”

Didymosphenia geminata, also known as didymo and rock snot, is a type of freshwater diatom or algae with the potential to form nuisance blooms, or mats, several inches thick that carpet a stream bottom.

Until 2006 it was unheard of in the northeastern U.S. It was discovered during the summers of 2006 and 2007 in the Batten Kill; in 2007 in the Connecticut River, the White River and the Delaware River system; and in 2008 in the Gunpowder River in Maryland.

“The discovery of didymo in the Mad River is great cause for concern. We are working hard to learn all we can about the extent of this, how to address it, and will continue to study this in the future,” said Caitrin Noel, watershed coordinator for Friends of the Mad River. “Our biggest focus right now is spread prevention and outreach. The more we can educate our community about this, the better chance we have in preventing further spread upstream and into the headwaters, or into other water bodies.”

Scientific studies conducted around the globe have yet to show conclusively that didymo has significant impacts to trout fisheries. However, it remains a priority of the Agency of Natural Resources to limit the alga’s spread throughout the region, as a precaution.

Spread prevention is the only effective management tool. There are no known methods of eradicating didymo once established.

Vermonters can do their part to minimize the spread of didymo by following best practices and disinfecting their gear when using Vermont waters. Disinfection and best practices not only help to reduce the spread of didymo, but other invasive species and pathogens such as VHS (viral hemorrhagic septicemia) and whirling disease as well.

More information on didymo and what Vermonters can do to help stop its spread is available online at: http://www.vtwaterquality.org/lakes/htm/ans/lp_didymo.htm

Department of Fish & Wildlife
Department of Forests, Parks & Recreation
Department of Environmental Conservation

Chris Weed

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Ausable Chasm Rehearing

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Today American Whitewater filed a formal challenge of a May 1, 2009 decision by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) to prohibit public boating access to New York’s Ausable River for 7 months of the year, while allowing it the other 5 months. The dam owner, New York State Electric and Gas has totally blocked access to the river for the past several decades. FERC’s decision follows a decade of analysis and public participation that culminated in a 2008 Environmental Assessment in which FERC staff found no reason to prohibit public river access, and ample cause to justify their recommendation to restore year round access to the river.

FERC’s decision to allow only 5 months of access annually instead of year round access, as they had originally recommended, was based on inappropriate new analysis of irrelevant climate data. This faulty analysis led FERC to the false conclusions that the river was too high to paddle in spring and that it was too cold to paddle in the winter. FERC then recommends a seasonal closure to “balance” paddling demand with unfounded safety concerns and inflated cost estimates for providing access.

FERC’s decision to allow the dam owner to block public access for 7 months annually contradicts relevant case law and clear FERC policies requiring the “ultimate development” of recreational resources at dams. The decision also is in violation of the Federal Power Act which guides FERC’s actions. American Whitewater is challenging this decision because the Ausable is a valuable year round paddling resource, and also to prevent a bad precedent from being set that could impact public access to other rivers throughout the United States.

Our Request For Rehearing can be downloaded from the AW website. The Request was prepared in collaboration with the superb legal team at the Natural Heritage Institute, and with support provided by the Hydropower Reform Coalition.

Kevin Colburn
National Stewardship Director
American Whitewater
1035 Van Buren St
Missoula, MT 59802
(O) 406-543-1802
(C) 828-712-4825
kevin@americanwhitewater.org

ps: Kevin tells me the AW legal team working on this consists of the best FERC attorneys in the country. He doubts the process will move along quickly enough to give boater access prior to 2010, which should bum everyone out. Then again, it's been off limits to boating for the past 40 years, so if it happens in 2010 then that's clearly a victory.
Tony Shaw

Gear For Sale:

Dagger G - Force 5.9
Type Playboat
Length 5' 11"
Width 23.50"
Volume 45.00 gallons
Weight 32.00 pounds
Cockpit Size 34" x 19"
Paddler Weight 80 - 160 lbs.

2002's shortest whitewater boat plays anywhere but doesn’t sacrifice comfort • custom fit for the midsized paddler • Precision seat and thigh braces • short length and blunted, low-volume ends make tricks like space godzillas and barrel rolls a reality • driving edges for control • a hoot on extremely low-flow creeks • an entirely new approach to hole play • volume end cuts for snappy but controlled cartwheels • Precision seat and thigh braces • Clutch Outfitting system

Dagger G - Force 5.9 Package (no paddle) includes

* 2 Rear air bags,
* Kokatat Neoprene spray skirt,
* 1 piece Neosport 2/3 neoprene suit size Men’s Medium (for 5’8” – 5’11” and 145 – 165 pounds)

$300.00 (everything cost over $1200 new) 802-476-6125

Steve

Wanted to Buy:

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