The Bureau of Land Management and American Whitewater Partnering for River Stewardship

The Bureau of Land Management (BLM), and American Whitewater (AW) have made it easier to access more river data. The new National BLM River Database is online at http://rivers.river-management.org. Additional information about the Bureau’s floatable/boatable sections of rivers is housed here. The database is of particular value to river managers and other BLM and AW stakeholders: “The database serves as a forum for river managers to use and share valuable river data, which also benefits the floating public and associated watershed users,” says Sera Janson, Project Lead for the BLM.

In 2004 the BLM entered into a formal partnership with AW to facilitate specific national river management projects. Through a five-year national assistance agreement, this partnership allows for coordination on mutual goals and leveraging of funds. The BLM/AW partnership demonstrates how two national organizations are able to work cooperatively in the river stewardship effort. American Whitewater Executive Director, Mark Singleton agrees: “This is an outstanding example of a private-public partnership where river users are the real winners. The depth of information in the database is a welcome resource for boaters who wish to experience some of our country’s special western rivers,” says Singleton.

The River Management Society (RMS) hosts the web-enabled database through a partnership with the BLM. AW offers both technical expertise from its staff and an existing river database infrastructure to the partnership team. The result is a cost-effective and user-friendly interface for BLM’s river data, streamlined efforts to disseminate river data and new opportunities for other agencies to incorporate their data.

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