Outfitter OARS has released A Guide to Fighting for Wild Rivers, a new film that is both a tribute to the Yampa River in northwest Colorado and an inspiring call to action for river conservationists around the globe.
Filmed by Logan Bockrath during the 2024 Yampa River Awareness Project (YRAP) trip, A Guide to Fighting for Wild Rivers illustrates how a rafting company, a local conservation group and a national river advocacy organization have worked together for more than a decade to build a coalition of support for the last free-flowing river in the Colorado River Basin.
Every spring, American Rivers and Friends of the Yampa invite key decision-makers, stakeholders, and activists on a transformative rafting journey, offering them the chance to experience firsthand what could be lost if the Yampa is threatened by a major dam, diversion, or dewatering project as water supplies continue to diminish in the West. Each YRAP trip builds a growing network of passionate river defenders, united by a shared commitment to preserving the Yampa for future generations.
“The reality is that the Yampa River in the Colorado River system needs people to care beyond this basin, and OARS and American Rivers help us expand that network,” says Lindsey Marlow, Executive Director of Friends of the Yampa.
“We grow our network in support of wild rivers, healthy rivers, then their networks grow,” adds Matt Rice, American Rivers’ Southwest Region Director. “That’s how you build a movement for river conservation.”
The conservation model highlighted in the film takes a lead from early river crusaders David Brower, Bus Hatch, and Martin Litton, whose advocacy efforts in the 1950s and 60s helped achieve several major conservation wins for western rivers, galvanized by people’s love of a place. It’s a blueprint that the organizations believe can be implemented for other wild rivers and public lands that deserve long-term protections.
“If there is ever a threat to the Yampa, there’s an army of folks who are connected to it through these YRAP trips—people that love it, that know it, that have gotten the silt under their fingernails—and they’ll fight for it,” said Mike Feibig, American Rivers’ Southwest River Protection Program Director. “They’ll protect this place.”
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For more information of protecting the Yampa, visit www.friendsoftheyampa.com
About OARS
In 1969, OARS became the first exclusively non-motorized rafting outfitter authorized by the National Park Service to run trips on the Colorado River through Grand Canyon. Today OARS caters to active travelers of all ages and abilities with more than 75 unique itineraries worldwide, including one-day and weekend escapes. Each year the company contributes to regional conservation organizations around the globe via voluntary donations and annual fundraising events, and in partnership with their guests, OARS has contributed more than $6 million in donations and fees toward the preservation of the environment and to various conservation initiatives since the company’s inception. www.oars.com