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ACA Clubs Stepping Up to Protect Local Rivers
The ACA’s affiliated paddling clubs and their members have a long history of volunteering to protect and restore their local waterways and provide access for paddlers. Here are some of the great things ACA clubs have accomplished:
About the ACA
In the late 19th century, the American Canoe Association, a member based national nonprofit, set forth on a mission to support the paddling community in a number of ways. Today, 131 years later, the tradition is still strong, focusing on core competencies in paddlesports safety, education, instruction, stewardship, public policy, outreach and competition. We have members and instructors in every U.S. state and 18 countries and growing! Not only does the ACA support clubs and paddlers by offering insurance for events, but
it provides the tools and resources needed to help paddlers of all abilities enjoy waterways around the world. Our instructor certification program is known as the “gold standard” in paddling education. Our public policy efforts help keep legislators at state and federal levels looking out for the best interests of the paddling community. The ACA promotes a healthy lifestyle and paddling education in our outreach programs while our competitions expose paddlers from the beginner level to the elite level to the joys of competition. We incorporate our stewardship ideals into our safety education, outreach, and even in competitions to make sure paddlers understand what it means to be good stewards of the waterways. The ACA has been supporting paddlers since 1880. Help us keep the tradition moving
forward for future generations by joining or donating to the ACA at
www.americancanoe. org/joinrenew. For 10 cents a day you can have a voice in an organization that provides resources and represents the best interests of all paddlers. Through our new partnership with Rapid Media you will not only have one of four magazines as a new member benefit, but the opportunity for your voice to be heard in the paddling community. Go to www.
americancanoe.org to learn more about other member benefits including rights to visit/camp on the ACA’s Sugar Island in Canada and Camp Sebago in NY.
The Northwest Indiana Paddlers Association (NWIPA) is just two years old, but they are already making significant accomplishments, reopening timber-choked rivers to paddlers, and reestablishing the South Shore of Lake Michigan as a recreational resource after years of dominance by heavy industry. Using a $1,000 L.L. Bean Club-Fostered Stewardship grant from the ACA, NWIPA has cleared two miles of deadfall from the Little Calumet River, which will eventually be part of a 16-mile water trail connecting to the Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore. In addition, NWIPA is working with the National Park Service to designate the South Shore segment of the Lake Michigan Water Trail as a National Recreation Trail. They have also helped a local land trust raise $135,000 to acquire land on the Little Calumet that will be used for river access and as a science lab. Because of its success, the ACA gave NWIPA its Stroke of Achievement Award at the November 2010 National Paddlesports Conference in Asheville, NC.
The Greater Baltimore Canoe Club (GBCC) has participated in the Annual Patuxent River Cleanup for many years, but in 2009, they took on an even more ambitious task. They targeted a large dump site that had been in the floodplain of the river since the 1950s. The site contained many large items such as discarded appliances and welding tanks. It also contained five abandoned cars, which were partially buried in the mud and could not be easily moved. The GBCC removed an estimated 25 tons of smaller items in 2009. Then, in 2010, they returned to the site to cut up the abandoned cars and haul them up to the road for removal. A metal worker cut
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