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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:

** VPC Pool Sessions, 2010: next session is Saturday, March 6 (6 - 8 pm)
** VPC pool session (3/27) changed to April 3rd
** 2010 New Haven River Festival, and Reel Paddling Film Fest 2010
** Summer Internships @ NFCT - Deadline 3/31!!
** West River releases have been cancelled for 2010
** Strongest El Nino since the winter of 1997-98
** Upcoming Events and Trips...
** Ausable Chasm Rehearing
** Didymo found in Mad River in 2008
** Didymo infests 12 miles of Esopus Creek
** West River: "Whitewater enthusiasts protest dam release cutback"
** Lake Champlain, Seen from the Water: Friday 3/19/10
** An Easy Fix for Tennis Elbow?
** Kokatat Ronin Pro PFD released in the US
** Todd Wright story in Seven Days
** The Liquidlogic Speedloader throw bag
** Roll troubleshooting
** Added Incentive....
** 'Birthright' — a short film about a paddler's passion
** Found: black Pro-Tec helmet (large)
** 'Dream Result' starts its world tour
** Gear For Sale...
** Jackson Boats for Sale
** ADDITIONAL 'For Sale' Listings...
** Wanted to Buy...
** drysuit
** Wanted-Touring boat

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2010 New Haven River Festival, and Reel Paddling Film Fest 2010

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The UVM Kayak Club and Vermont Paddlers Club are proud to present the 2010 New Haven River Festival!

Friday, March 26th: Reel Paddling Film Festival, Burlington, VT
The VPC will present the 2010 Reel Paddling Film Festival at UVM's Billings Hall (Ira Allen Lecture Hall, aka CC Theater). Friday night's selection will feature the past year's best whitewater films.

Saturday, March 27th New Haven Creek Race: Lincoln, VT
Join us for this years premier creeking race featuring time trials, head to head, and some sweet prizes. The format will be as follows:

New Haven Ledges Race, Time Trials Qualifier
Time Trials: 9:00am - 12:00pm
River location: Eagle Park Put-In to Route116 Bridge
Pro's, Private Men’s, Women’s, and Junior Categories
Skills Required : solid Class IV+ Kayaking skills. Comfortable on hazardous class IV creeking and water falls.
Minimum River Level: 300 CFS
Maximum River Level: 850 CFS

All competitors will be allowed two Time Trial runs, with their best time being final. Racers with the top 16 times will be invited to participate in 4 person head-to-head heats, with the winner of each heat winning a prize. There will be Pro's, Women's, Junior's, & C-1 heats depending on turnout.

New Haven Ledges Race, Head-to-Head
The Race: 1:00pm -3:00pm
River location:Below Pinball Rapid to Pool below Toaster Falls
Pro's, Private Men’s, Women’s, and Junior Categories
Skills Required : Solid Class IV+ Kayaking skills. Comfortable on hazardous class IV creeking and water falls.
Minimum River Level: 300 CFS
Maximum River Level: 850 CFS

Saturday Evening, March 27th: Reel Paddling Film Festival
VPC presents the past year's best sea kayaking, flat water, and tripping films at UVM's Billings Hall (Ira Allen Lecture Hall, aka CC Theater).

Visit the New Haven Festival Website

Alternate water date: Saturday, April 10th

Please reply if you plan on attending.

Ben

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Summer Internships @ NFCT - Deadline 3/31!!

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The Northern Forest Canoe Trail (NFCT) is now accepting applications for its 2010 Internship Program. 7 interns will be hired this summer. Application deadline is Wednesday March 31. The season will run for 9 weeks, from June 14 to August 17.

5 Stewardship Interns will spend their summer in the field, completing trail projects alongside area land managers and community volunteers. Projects will include campsite maintenance, river access improvements, and signage development. Interns will play a key role in preparing for and leading a series of volunteer "waterway" work trips throughout the summer in New York, Vermont, Quebec, New Hampshire, and Maine.

2 Interns will stay closer to the Waitsfield HQ as Program and Youth Interns.

More information on the internships, stipends, and an application are available online at:
http://northernforestcanoetrail.org/GetInvolved-3/2010-Internships-54 or phone/email Walter Opuszynski, NFCT Trail Director
(802)496-2285 x2
walter@northernforestcanoetrail.org

Tony Shaw

Upcoming Events and Trips:

	DATE	DAY	PLANNED TRIP	CONTACT	PHONE	EXPECT	COMMENTS
*	Mar 14th	Sun	VPC Spring Meeting	Paul Carlile	802-658-6657	offwater	At Williston Federated Church, 6:00 PM.
	Mar 20th	Sat	UVM Pool Session	Chris Weed	863-2149	pool	6:00 PM - 8:00 PM
*	Mar 21st	Sun	Mad River / Martin's Brook	Ryan McCall	802-223-5986	int-adv WW
*	Mar 26th	Fri	Reel Paddling Film Festival 2010: Night 1	Chris Weed	802-264-3141	offwater	Doors at 6; show starts at 7:00 PM.
*	Mar 27th	Sat	Reel Paddling Film Festival 2010: Night 2	Chris Weed	802-264-3141	offwater	Doors at 6; show starts at 7:00 PM.
	Mar 27th	Sat	New Haven River Festival	Ben Guttridge	914-475-7810	adv WW	See VPC News and the event website.
*	Mar 27th	Sat	Huntington R.	Jamie Dolan	802-453-4658	nov-int WW
*	Mar 31st	Wed	Upper or Lower Mad	Gerard Ganey	802-324-9540	int-adv WW
*	Apr 2nd	Fri	N. Branch Winooski	Ryan McCall	802-223-5986	int-adv WW
*	Apr 3rd	Sat	Huntington R.	Paul Carlile	802-658-6657	nov-int WW
	Apr 3rd	Sat	UVM Pool Session	Chris Weed	863-2149	pool	6:00 PM - 7:30 PM Rescheduled from March 27, to avoid a conflict with the New Haven River Festival and the Reel Paddling Film Festival (at UVM). See VPC News.
*	Apr 4th	Sun	Stoney Brook	Ryan McCall	802-223-5986	int-adv WW
*	Apr 7th	Wed	Lower Mad	Gerard Ganey	802-324-9540	int-adv WW

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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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

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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

Gear For Sale:

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Jackson Boats for Sale

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Our NEW 2010 Jackson boats are on their way so we need to make some room! We're selling many of our gently used demo boats and some left over "new" 2008's. For questions or to purchase call David at 978-844-0965 or e-mail david@stillriveroutfitters.com. Boats may be located in MA or VT...

NEW Boats waiting for a new home!

2008 2Fun Classic $500

2008 Star $750

2008 Super-Star $750

Used DEMO boat - come with Jackson Flotation:

2008 2Fun $550

2007 2Fun $475

2008 4Fun $550

2007 Rocker $525

2008 Star $550

2008 Super-Star $550
David Cudmore

Wanted to Buy:

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Didymo found in Mad River

Green Mountain Club, Burlington

Lake Champlain, Seen from the Water