# Which river advocacy/conservation/non-profit do you support?



## Treswright3 (May 20, 2013)

With out getting political, I feel that we presently have many threats to our public lands and water. I have decided it is definitely time to start to finically contribute to some river/wilderness Non-profits and I am wondering which ones people support and why. I sure most people on here and in the country as a whole do not believe in the selling of public lands and do not want to see access cut off or have our public lands used and polluted by corporations. Again, I do not want this to be a political discussion I just want to know who you support and why. 

American Whitewater? American Rivers? Or any of the numerous other conservation groups?

I gave a $50 donation last year to the Sierra Club last year and now I get about $10 worth of useless junk mail a week that i have to throw away. I regret supporting them bc I know they spent that money on marketing and not action. Im not opposed to marketing for donations but this is ridiculous.

I use American whitewater's website all the time so I want to support them but I really want my money to go to a group that is going to make an impact on protecting the river I enjoy so much. 

Thanks for your input.


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## kayakfreakus (Mar 3, 2006)

AW for me is a no brainer - they seem to be the best mix of action/legal/protection across the nation. There has been lots of debate on American Rivers here, decide for yourself on that one.

If you have a local group they are awesome to help as well. Couple I found that look interesting but have not done any research on doing google searches:

Western Rivers Conservancy | River Conservation for Fish, Wildlife and People


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## 2tomcat2 (May 27, 2012)

American Whitewater, DRBA, GCPBA, NRDC...great information, AW and NRDC are
highly rated on Charity Navigator (more $ goes to causes vs. admin)


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## azpowell (Aug 14, 2014)

i would disagree on gcpba... they are less interested in advocacy for private boaters than they are for simply maintaining the status quo.... my 2 cents...


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## lmyers (Jun 10, 2008)

Treswright3 said:


> With out getting political, I feel that we presently have many threats to our public lands and water. I have decided it is definitely time to start to finically contribute to some river/wilderness Non-profits and I am wondering which ones people support and why. I sure most people on here and in the country as a whole do not believe in the selling of public lands and do not want to see access cut off or have our public lands used and polluted by corporations. Again, I do not want this to be a political discussion I just want to know who you support and why.
> 
> American Whitewater? American Rivers? Or any of the numerous other conservation groups?
> 
> ...


Of course, American Whitewater is the number one paddler advocacy and whitewater river conservation group in North America.

I personally don't contribute to the Sierra Club, although I do appreciate their efforts. They tend to concentrate on getting urban individuals out in the wild and helping those who live in the city learn to appreciate nature.

My top choices for land conservation are The Wilderness Society and Conservation Lands Foundation. These two groups are responsible for organizing the national campaigns to protect the most valuable of our public lands.

There are other organizations by state and drainage that have major impacts on their specific areas, but it depends on what, if any projects and goals you want to support and what river you are most interested in.

From the fact that your profile says you live in Denver I would suggest checking out the Coalition for the Upper South Platte.

http://www.uppersouthplatte.org/partlink.html


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## Electric-Mayhem (Jan 19, 2004)

azpowell said:


> i would disagree on gcpba... they are less interested in advocacy for private boaters than they are for simply maintaining the status quo.... my 2 cents...


I have to agree with your disagreement on that one. I've been overhearing a bunch of stuff where they essentially were the catalyst to failure of private boaters to advocate for increased responsible access to the canyon. Most notably, they blocked an effort by River Runners for Wilderness to have exceptions to the "once a year" rule on the GC similar to how Dinosaur National Monument does it (low use and high use season and short notice cancellation permits being available to people who already have been down or have a permit for later in the year).

AW and RRFW are probably the two I would choose over others. A lot of the other ones don't have the recreational whitewater user as their primary concern and care more about fisherman and hunters.


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## jgrebe (Jan 16, 2010)

Earth Justice, because sometimes the Earth needs a good lawyer. The courts are the best tool we have at the moment


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## lmyers (Jun 10, 2008)

I just searched all the non profits listed so far on Charity Navigator and all of them that have at least $1 million in revenues broke down like this: (score is out of 100)

Conservation Lands Foundation - 97.34
http://conservationlands.org

Natural Resource Defense Council - 96.35
https://www.nrdc.org

Sierra Club - 94.08
Sierra Club Home Page: Explore, Enjoy, and Protect the Planet

Earth Justice - 92.25
Earthjustice: Environmental Law: Because the Earth Needs a Good Lawyer | Earthjustice

American Whitewater - 91.3
https://www.americanwhitewater.org

Wilderness Society - 84.19
Wilderness.org

The others weren't big enough to be rated.


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## restrac2000 (Mar 6, 2008)

I think if your goal is general river protection and whitewater access than its hard to beat American Whitewater. I have always appreciated their ability to advocate nationally while also maintaining local and regional contacts.

NRDC is widly respected for its overarching focus of public resources. Pretty broad but thoughtful, science based advocacy.

If you want a more regional focus I would take the time to read up on the organization. Each organization has different missions and therefore strategy which is worth knowing how they align with your priorities and styles. 

Best of luck. I can't donate much but I have funneled the little money I can into organizations the last 2 months. I can't afford most memberships but I can donate some. Everything helps right niw, especially for the costs of lawsuits.


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## mattman (Jan 30, 2015)

American White water does a LOT from everything I've seen.
Dolores River Boating Advocates is another group I make sure to support as best I can, I think they are putting a huge effort into bringing the Dolores back to being a living river again, and it's a place dear to my heart.


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## zcollier (Jan 1, 2004)

If you're a whitewater paddler then American Whitewater is your best bet. They are amazing people doing truly great work. On top of that they are very responsible with the money they receive.


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## TxRiverRat (Jan 22, 2017)

Just my 2 cents. I support Sierra simply to help with the fight in Texas against the oil industry. Without some resistance, land owner rights would be non-existence. That is just something that is important to me and to tackle that industry you need a big organization.


I also am a member of AW. I felt bad using their website to keep up with river levels and not supporting them. I know they do a lot for access.


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## John_in_Loveland (Jun 9, 2011)

Trout Unlimited because what is good for wild fish is good for the entire ecosystem. While they don't strictly focus on whitewater they are agressive in protecting free-flowing rivers, river access, and challenging dam re-permitting and advocating for dam removal. (See groups that worked on the Klamath river dams removal)

Sent from my SCH-I545 using Mountain Buzz mobile app


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## T.O.Mac (Jun 6, 2015)

I also support Trout Unlimited and Backcountry Hunters and Anglers. Here in Western Colorado, the fight is not just around access, but habitat...


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## twmartin (Apr 3, 2007)

While I don't think they are very active with access issues, let's not forget to support the American Canoe Association. As far as I am aware they are the leading organization promoting river instruction and racing.

Furthermore, I believe that countless clubs that are affiliated with the ACA receive their insurance for club activities through their association with the ACA.

If your kayak, canoe, sea kayak, SUP, they do something in your field to promote instruction, learning and safety. Membership is fairly inexpensive.


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## buckmanriver (Apr 2, 2008)

+1 for American Whitewater. 

They are not perfect, however, they accomplish so much that directly benefits the paddling community. Most, notably the negotiations that lead to recreational releases on rivers throughout out the United States.

California has a plethora of hydro projects. Most years it is dry and boaters are dependent on AW's work for paddling various rivers throughout the state. 

This is all done with a relatively small budget of about 1mill per year.


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## mattman (Jan 30, 2015)

Hmm. Interesting thoughts about the trout unlimited angle, I don't fish anymore, but typically, what is good for fish, IS what is good for the rest of the river( unless trout are killing off native species in a watershed where they don't belong).
I've butted heads with fishing in the past, but with some of the detrimental policy's showing up, it just might be time to put aside some smaller differences, in order to help protect something both groups care about, sounds like we need eachothers help.
Will have to look at it closer, but it does make a lot of sense. 
Thank You!!


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## mattman (Jan 30, 2015)

If you have not read it yet, look at" New Rapids on the Snake" thread,posted today, and act fast, we have a public comment period through the 7th, to try and get rid of 4 Deadbeat Dams on the Snake river.
Post your public comment, email everyone you know that cares about our rivers, send an email to the river conservation groups you support, so they can let other members know!!!! Lets give people that have been working on this project, the final push of help they need!


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## TxRiverRat (Jan 22, 2017)

OK, just as a general question. In my post above "Sierra" showed up underlined indicating it was a link. Since I did not link anything in my post I thought that was odd and I clicked it to see what it was. It took me to Brownell's. 
Is this something MountainBuzz does or what?


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## canoe it (Mar 8, 2006)

*threats*

It is ok to get political on this topic. It is almost always the republican party that wants to exploit resources, develop wild lands, supports big businesses and gladly puts it to the little guys.


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## ColoradoDave (Jun 3, 2010)

Non profit organizations are required to file IRS form 990 every year and most are publicly available on their websites.

Sierra Club : https://www.sierraclub.org/sites/www.sierraclub.org/files/Sierra%20Club%202015_IRS%20F990_FINAL_PUBLIC%20DISCLOSURE%20COPY.pdf

Total Revenue = 109 mm
Salaries = 41.5 mm
' Other ' Expenses = 63.7 mm
Grants ( Outgoing ) = 897K
Fundraising Fees = 1.6 mm

Average Salaries of Directors = approx. 200K / yr. each

All the ' Other ' expenses are all laid out as you scroll down the form.

As with most non-profit orgs, a lot of travel and ' office supplies '


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## AW-Evan (May 27, 2014)

Speaking of AW here's a cheat sheet for all the current issues affecting whitewater rivers right now. This week in review also includes a web portal so you can easily email your 2 senators and 1 representative to speak up for rivers on any issue at any time (and say whatever you want). You can also call the Capitol Switchboard @ 202-224-3121 to get connected to your political reps. Go ahead and make your river voice heard! And also please become an AW member –*most of our political muscle comes from the number of members we represent. Thanks for all the props!


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