If you live or use Utah's rivers for recreation then head over to Recreation Law blog. Long time readers of the instructors blog will remember me talking about his fantastic site filled with great legal resources for the outdoor industry.

Today, James talks about how the legislature of Utah is considering bill HB 187 which will limit access to rivers for boaters and fisherman who want to walk, swim and float in the water.

The crazy thing about the bill is that it takes away access to all but 14 rivers in Utah and imposes limits on the 14.

If you want to learn more about the bill, visit the Utah Water Guardians and sign the online petition.

Incomming letter from Becky Mason (and with some possible good news):

Hi All,
If you can, please take 30 seconds to write the time saving pre-written letter from the Sierra Club Canada website link:

http://org2.democracyinaction.org/o/5654/t/3791/campaign.jsp?campaign_KEY=1092

I've heard that our letters have triggered a hearing on the Navigable Waters Protection Act this coming Monday night (February 23rd)! I've been informed that Ecojustice has been invited to present at the hearing. This is incredible news! In a nutshell we are asking that amendments to the Navigable Waters Protection Act (NWPA) that are contained in Part 7 of the budget Implementation Act be removed. The NWPA has inefficiencies but eliminating it in this way is not acceptable.

We need you to write now! It doesn't matter how many other letters you've already written lets make history in letter writing before Monday evening and make a difference.

As a kayaker, I can be fairly safe to say that I take water for granted. I can easily paddle all day without thinking anything about it. Same goes at home. Recently in our building's hot water was broken. Everybody was in a panic! Where were we to get hot water? What were we to do? The problem was fixed and a couple of hours later, we could jump in the shower and not think about it again.

I will also be honest, up until today, it never really occurred to me that over 1 billion people don't have access to safe, clean drinking water.

A billion people?! Holy stink that is a lot of people. That's 1 in six people drinking dirty, bacteria filled water. A billion people people!

Surfing around today, I stumbled upon a really fantastic looking project called Charity:Water. Charity:Water funds a range of water projects including hand-dug wells, deep wells (boreholes), rehabilitations, spring protections, rainwater harvesting schemes, and biosand filters throughout the world.

They recently put together a fantastic promotional video outlining what they do. Beck fans will also enjoy the donated song, "Time Bomb".

This is an incomming from the Canadian Rivers Network. Canadian paddlers, you must act now to save our rivers.

URGENT ALERT
Friday February 6, 2009

GOVERNMENT INTRODUCED NWPA AND OTHER CHANGES TODAY UNDER ITS BUDGET IMPLEMENTATION ACT

Under the guise of the 2009 Budget Implementation Act, the federal government has introduced amendments to the Navigable Waters Protection Act (NWPA) that will have serious negative impacts on both the acient public right of navigation in Canada and on the environment.

The NWPA mandates that, if someone wants to build something in, on, around, under, or over a navigable waterway, an assessment of the impacts on navigation and an environmental assessment need to be done first.

The NWPA was originally enacted in 1882. It is one of Canada's oldest pieces of legislation, and there is no doubt that it needs to be modernized-however, in the name of "cutting red tape" to speed up the building of infrastructure projects and stimulate the economy, the government is introducing changes that will remove navigable status from thousands of waterways in Canada.

These changes were recommended by a committee that did not consult Canada's paddling community, the outdoor tourism industry, environmental groups, First Nations communities, anglers and hunters, or anyone who accesses Canadian waterways for business or recreation.

The heritage right of navigation predates confederation, and Canadians consistently rank the environment as one of their top issues of concern.

These changes to the NWPA are simply unacceptable.

There is something you can do-raise your voice! Spread the word, and tell the government you care about Canada's waterways. For more information and how to take action, please see www.ispeakforrivers.ca.

_______________________________
Canadian Rivers Network
www.ispeakforcanadianrivers.ca

I just got an email this morning and wanted to post it as it is a SUPER important issue to all Canadians including anybody who visits Canada to do any paddling on our great rivers.

Please help in anyway that you can as clearly it is an issue that is not getting any press in the mainstream media.

***********************************************************************************************************
Hello:

This is a broadcast email from the Canadian Rivers Network.

We remain concerned about the Harper government's intentions to gut the Navigable Waters Protection Act and exempt thousands of waters from the provisions of the act by calling them "minor waters" and by exempting "minor works" from the provisions of the act.

Our position is:

- there is no such thing as a minor water in Canada
- there is no such thing as a minor work on a waterway in Canada
- you cannot save the economy by gutting Canada's environmental laws