THERE’S GOLD IN THEM HILLS. PHOTOS: COURTESY STEVE KIESLING


SMALL-TOWN WHITEWATER DREAMS MEET BIG LOGISTICAL CHALLENGES


Perhaps you’ve heard this story before. A small town has a big dream—to build a whitewater park. Everything’s going smoothly. The funds are coming in, the locals are on board, maybe there’s even an Olympic pro touring the site and hyping up the whitewater. Then, enter ‘the man’—the logistics, the


regulators. There goes that dream. This is the case for many wannabe white-


water parks attempting to put themselves on the map. Where the Rogue River flows in Gold


Hill, Oregon, a town of just over 1,200 peo- ple, the fine print details are an ever-present issue for cultivating a paddling paradise. “The only people who make a living on


this stretch of river are the regulators,” says Steve Kiesling, a former Olympic rower and the man behind what he hopes will one day be the Gold Hill Whitewater Park. The project started in 2005 when es-


teemed park designer Rick McLaughlin—a designer for the 1996 Olympic whitewater slalom race course on the Ocoee River— saw potential for a kayak training site and play park. Between McLaughlin and Kies- ling, the idea for the next paddling paradise was born. It wasn’t long before local government


put a halt to the project. They were con- cerned it would interfere with the removal of a nearby dam. It wasn’t until 2011 when the US De-


partment of Agriculture and City of Gold Hill underwent a study on the economic impact of the site that they came on board. They determined the site could put $7 mil- lion into the local economy each year. So in 2012, the city of Gold Hill included the park in its strategic plan.


STALLED OUT Despite having the local government be-


hind them, Kiesling and McLaughlin are still hitting road bumps at every step of the journey. Kiesling says recently a county code en-


forcement officer slipped them a warning saying the temporary boathouse they con- structed out of an old railroad container was deemed illegal. It was within the floodplain area and had to be removed. The whitewater center project became an


official not-for-profit last year but the park, with all its amenities, is still a dream. A similar park project was underway in


Cascade, Idaho; for three years a volunteer group was had been fundraising through small events like cupcake sales, when Mark Pickard, a Wall Street retiree, and his wife decided to back the project in full. “With our own money we made the river


accessible, cleaned it up and made it a real destination spot,” says Pickard, of Kelly’s Whitewater Park, which now hosts high- level paddling competitions in a town with only 1,000 residents. “It’s helping the econ- omy and people know it.” Keisling is doing what he can to push the


Gold Hill project ahead, having personally poured at least $12,000 into the project, but running up against permits is an ongoing obstacle. For him and rest of Gold Hill’s hopefuls,


the park will require patience and persever- ance as they plug away at permits, with the glimmer of a whitewater vision to guide them. To follow their progress, visit www.goldhill-


whitewater.org. Katrina Pyne is a multimedia journalist


and freelance videographer based in Halifax, NS. www.katrinapyne.com.


www.rapidmedia.com 17


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