Announcement of Scheduled Vote on Contribution to American Whitewater

In accordance with the Club’s bylaws this email is to announce a vote to make a contribution to American Whitewater.  The voting period will be August 28 – Sept. 4.

The proposal is to allocate funds ($17000) to American Whitewater (AW) as designated funds to promote conservation and access to rivers in North Carolina (e.g., French Broad), South Carolina (e.g, Chattooga), Southern Virginia (e.g., Dan) and Eastern TN (e.g., Nolichucky, Pigeon).  This covers the geographic area where most CCC members paddle.  Kevin Colburn who is the Senior Director of Stewardship & Policy at AW assured me that funds could be restricted to this region and it is a region where he does not have access to dedicated and flexible funds so CCC funds would be extremely helpful to AW.  Examples of projects in our region that AW is working on include:

• Working to restore flows to the Pinnacles of the Dan River, just over the NC border in VA.
• Working on hurricane recovery plans for the riverbeds of the Rocky Broad and Pigeon rivers in NC.
• Actively tracking challenges to the right to paddle rivers in NC, and will likely need to take action.
• Continually working to schedule and maintain hundreds of recreational dam releases in NC

To implement the proposal to provide $17000 to AW, we ask for a vote on the following:

• Draw $6000 from the access fund which leaves a balance of $5000.
• Draw $1000 from the Conservation fund which also leaves a balance of $5000. Recall that recently the board provided $5000 to help with a purchase of land around the New River Gorge.
• Draw $10,000 from the Club’s general fund

Background

Before making this proposal, I consulted with organizations without making any commitments to seek their advice on how to maximize impact.  Recall that American Whitewater jumped in to help with the Noli last year and got attorneys involved.

We have been carrying a significant cash balance for years which means that our savings are having no impact and we are losing potential impact to inflation.   Our cash balance is about $57000 (as of late June) and after subtracting an estimate of major expenses through 2026 we will have about $35400 with no allowance for revenue from memberships.  If we allocate the proposed $17000, this would leave the club with about $18000 which is overly conservative as does not include revenue. Historically expenses have been below estimates. As such, in a worst case scenario, there is still plenty of cash for a major but unanticipated expense.

Thank you for your attention and please feel free to reach out to me if you have questions.

Mort Barlaz

Conservation Chair