McLaughlin Whitewater Design Group

MWDG at Interagency Workshop

Risa — Tue, 22 Feb 2011 17:00:15 +0000

Rick McLaughlin and Risa Shimoda will be presenters at the 2011 Interagency River Management Workshop and 30th Annual International Submerged Lands Conference taking place in Girdwood, Alaska May 10-13, 2011. Rick will provide his perspectives on the technical process of designing and constructing whitewater parks as regards to permitting and managing newly engineered rivers. Risa will provide perspective on the proliferation and evolving popularity of whitewater courses and parks. They will be joined by Kevin Colburn, National Stewardship Director for American Whitewater, who will provide his organization’s policy on these projects from a conservation perspective. The workshop’s primary sponsor is the US Fish and Wildlife Service. Other sponsors are the State of Alaska Department of Natural Resources and Department of Fish and Game, Bureau of Land Management, National Park Service, and US Forest Service.

Columbus Restoration Model Trip

Risa — Sun, 13 Feb 2011 23:00:05 +0000

On February 21-24, 2011 the MWDG team of Rick McLaughlin, Jack Goble and Ben Neilsen will visit the scale model of the river restoration project on the Lower Chattahoochee River that flows between Columbus, Georgia and Phenix City, Alabama. The most recent trip in November, 2010 was a tremendous success, for the design team was able to witness how the flow splits and the shapes of the waves will actually take place at water levels varying from 800 to well over 13,000 cfs, the range of planned releases. They even replicated a mini-flood level of 20,000 cfs and were psyched that water flowed through this part-natural, part-reconstructed rock labyrinth as predicted. The team will return this month to validate several refinements integrated into the design, including modifications that will improve the view for spectators.

Green River in Freestyle Series

Risa — Sat, 12 Feb 2011 01:01:45 +0000

On May 21-22, 2011 the City of Green River, Wyoming will host Number 4 in a series of eleven freestyle events this spring and summer as part of the 2011 USA Freestyle Kayaking Point Series. The course’s Wave Shaper will enable course officials to adjust the feature if they’d like for different classes of competitors. This is the second year for the US Freestyle Point Series, which will run from mid-March at the first event in Alabama to mid-July in Idaho.

Fox River: Batavia, IL

Risa — Sun, 30 Jan 2011 22:53:25 +0000

Sometimes dam removal offers the best and simplest improvement for boating. The community in Batavia needed to do develop a plan for their aging dam that was breached and due for replacement. Believing that it was most important to restore the Fox River to a more natural state, they decided in favor of improving fish habitat and fishing, as well as extending a river trail popular for canoeing The design needed to:

Create whitewater improvements that would suit open-deck canoeing and beginner – level whitewater paddling
Provide fish passage for native species

This integrated restoration design met the assignment to provide recreation options for the entire community, throughout the year, including:

Restoring free-flowing aquatic habitat
Removing a portion of the dam
Creating an off-river pond for calm water boating, fishing and ice skating