Your Opinion Matters

The Consensus Ballot and Public Review period for NASBLA 101-20XX: Basic Boating Knowledge - Human-Propelled Boats ends in less than 30 days. Your input is important. Please review the document and submit any comments you may have via the EZ-ESP website: http://esp.nasbla.org/esp/

For more information, please contact the Education Standards Panel at esp@nasbla.org or call 859.225.9487 (M-F, 9-4:30 Eastern Time).

Organize an Earth Day Cleanup & Win Free ACA Instruction

Organize a group of 10 or more people for an Earth Day weekend cleanup (April 22-24, 2016) and your group could win a weekend of free instruction with an ACA Instructor Trainer! 

The ACA is committed to cleaning up Marine Debris from our watersheds. To date, our members have removed more than 620,000 pounds of Marine Debris! 

Hosting or participating in a Marine Debris cleanup is a great way for people to connect with paddle sports and their watershed. This year, we are asking our members, Paddle American Clubs (PAC’s) and Outdoor Livery and Guide Services (OLG’s) to host a watershed cleanup on the Earth Day weekend April 22nd -24th, 2016.

Interested? For more information, please visit: http://www.americancanoe.org/?page=EarthDayCleanup

Welcome New ACA Public Policy Chief, Louis Metzger!

Please join us in welcoming our new Public Policy Chief, Louis Metzger, to the ACA team. Lou will work toward furthering the ACA’s positions on access and water stewardship. In addition to working with ACA staff, he will work with local, state, and federal government, environmental and other organizations, and will be the primary contact for the ACA with the Outdoor Alliance.
To learn more about Lou, click here!

Check out the ACA Event Calendar!

Looking for paddling events and classes near you? Check out the ACA Event Calendar. 

Whether you are searching for a canoe/kayak/SUP class, an upcoming race, or an adaptive paddling workshop, you'll find a wide range of events on our event calendar to boost your skills while having fun! 

(Pro tip: Use the drop-down menu at the top of the page to filter by event type or location.) 

Save the Date for the 2016 National Paddlesports Conference in California!

Have you marked your calendar yet? The 2016 ACA National Paddlesports Conference will take place November 11-13, 2016, in Sausalito, California!

This conference will feature exciting events for paddlers of all experience levels, family paddling opportunities, educational sessions, and more.

Visit www.americancanoe.org/NPC for more information, and be sure to save the date! We hope to see you there.

Minnesota’s Canoe Country Needs Your Help!

Written by Rachel Garwin, Policy Director of Campaign to Save the Boundary Waters. 

Photo by Dave Freeman

Paddlers know Minnesota’s Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness as some of the best lakeland paddling in the world. People from across the country and across the world care about the Boundary Waters, especially since it is so accessible to people of a range of abilities, ages, and backgrounds. We routinely hear stories from people we meet all across the country how their first meaningful canoeing trip, their first extended wilderness trip, or the first time they went camping with their family happened in the Boundary Waters. 

The 1.1-million-acre Boundary Waters adjoins with Canada’s 1.2-million-acre Quetico Provincial Park to provide a stunning example of a large, intact ecosystem laced with canoe and kayak routes. It supports iconic wildlife like black bear, wolves, moose, bald eagles, and loons. The wilderness also supports people, whether they only visit once or have lived alongside the wilderness for years. Generations have visited the Boundary Waters and other wilderness areas in search of healing, self-knowledge, challenge and personal development.

It can be somewhat shocking, then, to consider the environmental, recreational, and economic impacts of building sulfide-ore copper mines on the edge of the wilderness. Even worse, these proposed mines would be located directly upstream from the Boundary Waters and Quetico. This type of mining has a longstanding track record of water pollution, and routine spills of toxic materials, chemicals and industrial wastewater are common at these types of mines, even in the United States. In addition to potential water pollution, the proposed underground mine would harm the surrounding landscape through infrastructure footprints, wildlife corridor disruptions, traffic, noise, dust and light. These are only a few of the impacts that the Boundary Waters and the people it supports would experience, of course.

Photo by Piragis Northwoods Company

In the face of these threats, the Campaign to Save the Boundary Waters is committed to raising the voices of people who believe the Boundary Waters is too important to risk to sulfide-ore copper mining. Through adventure advocacy efforts like the Paddle to DC, Bike Tour to Save the Boundary Waters, and the ongoing Year in the Wilderness, people who depend on the wilderness have engaged with thousands of people. To date, over 100,000 people have taken at least one action demanding permanent protection of the Boundary Waters.

2016 will be a big year for the Boundary Waters and Quetico. We hope that the US Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management collect robust science and public input about whether sulfide-ore copper mining is an appropriate activity adjacent to the nation’s most popular wilderness. Guided by the principles that the Boundary Waters and Quetico are special and beloved places, that sulfide-ore copper mining is a toxic and risky industry, and that future generations deserve to inherit a wilderness as healthy and life-giving as it is today, we will push tirelessly for its permanent protection. We hope you will join the cause by signing this petition to federal decisionmakers.

ACA Office Closed Today

The ACA office is closed today for President's Day (and also snow!), and we will reopen on Tuesday, February 16, at 9am ET. 

In the meantime, find out how you can win a weekend of free ACA instruction by organizing a river clean up event with friends! Learn more at the link below:

http://www.americancanoe.org/?page=EarthDayCleanup

#WearIt!

click to enlarge image

Accidents on the water can happen much too fast to reach and put on a stowed life jacket. Drowning is the reported cause of death in three-fourths of all boating fatalities – and 84 percent of drowning victims in recreational boating accidents were not wearing a life jacket in 2014. 

Life jackets only work if you wear them. 

Your safety is our number one priority. For more tips on how to take care of yourself (and others) out on the water, check out our YouTube playlist.

You can also visit www.americancanoe.org/Top10 for our top 10 tips on how to paddle smart. 

Share the Love of Paddling this Valentine's Day!

On February 14, give your valentine an ACA Gift Membership so they can support safe, enjoyable paddling and protection of America's recreational waterways.

Visit our estore to purchase an ACA Gift Membership today. After you make your purchase, we will send you a card that you can print out and give to your loved one. 

Thank you for supporting the nation's oldest paddlesports nonprofit organization. The ACA is able to fulfill its mission because of the generosity of members and donors like you. 

21st Annual Quietwater Symposium

The Quiet Water Society is proud to announce the dates for our 21st symposium. As we begin a third decade of “Outdoor Michigan’s Favorite Indoor Show” we embrace the same principles with the same fervor that prompted the originators of The Quiet Water Symposium in 1995. The 2015 symposium smashed all previous attendance records and with your help we will do it again in 2016. 

The 21st Annual Quiet Water Symposium will be held once again on the campus of Michigan State University in conjunction with Michigan State University’s Agriculture and Natural Resources Week.

More information is available here. 

Last Day to Enter Our Photo Contest!

Photo by Keith Vincent

Today is the last day to submit your photo to be considered for the "Photo of the Month" feature in the March issue of Paddle! This is a great chance to get your photo out in front of a wide audience.

Here is how it works:

• Email your entries by Friday, February 5th, 2016, to Catharine Lloyd, ACA Communications Coordinator, at clloyd@americancanoe.org 
• Type "Photo Contest - March 2016" in the email subject line 
• You may enter up to 5 photos at a time
• High-resolution photos preferred

Thanks! We can't wait to see your snaps! 

Save the Date: 2016 National Paddlesports Conference

Have you marked your calendar yet? The 2016 ACA National Paddlesports Conference will take place November 11-13, 2016, in Sausalito, California! 

This conference will feature exciting events for paddlers of all experience levels, family paddling opportunities, educational sessions, and more.

Visit www.americancanoe.org/NPC for more information, and be sure to save the date! We hope to see you there. 

2016 Club Fostered Stewardship (CFS) Grant Applications Now Available!

Since 2002, the ACA has partnered with L.L. Bean to sponsor the Club Fostered Stewardship (CFS) Program in order to provide funding to local and regional paddling clubs and organizations that undertake stewardship projects on waterways in their area.

CFS grants are available for projects that utilize volunteers in efforts to protect, maintain or restore recreational waterways, to provide for or improve public access, or to enhance safe navigation. 

Eligible projects include: cleaning up waterways, clearing in-stream safety hazards, maintaining access areas, erecting signs and controlling erosion, establishing and maintaining paddle trails, acquiring threatened access points, and providing sanitary facilities. 

Grant amounts range from $100-$1,000.

Learn more and then fill out an application today!

Merger Talks Resume between ACA & USACK

The board of directors of ACA and USA Canoe/Kayak have restarted their partnership and will be moving forward with plans for a merger.

In the meantime, the ACA will continue to provide membership, database, insurance, website and financial services to USACK members.

We will continue to post updates to www.americancanoe.org/USACK as they become available.