Photos and text by Kyle Dickman.

For the last week, we’ve been in Laos kayaking portions of the Mekong River to research the effects the proposed Don Sahong Dam will have on the main stem of the river. To see exactly where the crew spent their time paddling, check out their SPOT Messenger map. This dam has the potential to stop fish migrations up Khone Falls, with potentially disastrous effects on the region’s fish populations and as a result, food supply.

EP National Geographic Mekong Expedition

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From National Geographic Adventure:

At Khone Falls, the river divides into hundreds of different channels and drops off a 60-foot cascading waterfall. Which channels fish use to migrate depends on the size of the waterfall. Basically, the bigger the vertical drop, the fewer fish use the channel to migrate.

We’ve outfitted Trip’s kayak with a depth-finder and a GPS to map water velocity, depth, and gradient. We’re hoping to figure out what the migration parameters are for different species of fish (as in, big fish migrate up this channel because the water velocity is less than 20 mph, or whatever the case may be). What we find, will tell us if other channels share the same characteristics as Don Sahong, the site of the proposed dam. Don Sahong is hypothesized to be used most by migratory fishes because of its relatively mild whitewater.

We’ve been at Khone Falls for four days now. The first two days we rode mopeds past water buffalo and monasteries to scout waterfalls. On Sunday, we decided to run Somphamit Falls, a difficult stair-stepping 60-foot drop with fish traps lining the banks. Trip fired it up, recorded the data, and sent it to Sea Floor Systems, the California-based company who designed the system we’re using to process the data.

The fish traps suggest fish use Somphamit Falls as a migratory channel, but the data will show us whether they’re making it past the waterfall in dry season or being turned back. Does this channel share some of the same characteristics as Don Sahong? I’ll let you know what we find out.

See more photos from this expedition in the Gallery

Volcan Villarica

by Todd Wells

Photos by: Candace Sanders, Erik Parker, Jason Cohen, Hannah Kertesz, and Ben Kinsella.

Spending the last semester of my high school career with the World Class Kayak Academy (WCKA) has been unlike any of my previous academic experiences. WCKA is a traveling college preparatory school that focuses on whitewater kayaking. One quarter of each semester is spent studying and kayaking abroad, while the other is spent traveling along either the West Coast or East Coast.

My journey with WCKA began at the airport in Dallas, Texas where I met with my nine classmates and four teachers from all over the country. After our brief introductions we left for the eight hour flight to Santiago, Chile. In Santiago we loaded our kayaks and gear onto our 17 passenger van and its accompanying trailer and set out for the two hour drive to the Rio Maipo.

The next day, in the town of Banos Morales, I began my first day of the WCKA lifestyle. Waking up at 7:00 in the morning we started off the day with an hour of work out. Shortly afterward we sat down to a beautiful spread of traditional Chilean breakfast prepared by our local cooks, Israel and Estrella. After breakfast we all prepared for our first of five one hour classes. At first sitting down to a class of five students seemed awkward, but within the first hour of class I grew to appreciate the small and interactive classes. At noon we took an hour break from class for lunch then finished the last two periods of the day. As soon as all of our classes were finished we loaded our boats into the trailer and drove to the put-in for the Upper section of the Maipo River. At the put in we geared up, chose a buddy for the day, and talked about safety precautions and communication on the river. Between the big waves and high volume rapids of the Rio Maipo we all enjoyed getting to better know each other. After a couple hours on the river we returned to our camp for a hearty dinner where we discussed plans for the next day. Finally, before going to sleep, we each spent what free time we had finishing our homework and preparing for the following day.

For the next few days we followed a similar schedule, keeping each day fresh with different classes, original workout programs, and new sections of river. On one of our days off from school we all hiked to a lush valley beneath the towering peaks of the Andes and enjoyed a refreshing swim in a beautiful spring fed lake. After enjoying all that Banos Morales and the Rio Maipo had to offer we packed up our gear and moved south to the Rio Claro.

Though we spent less time on the Claro, we all had plenty of fun between the perfect waterfalls of the Siete Tazas (Seven Teacups) section and the crystal clear swimming holes less than a hundred feet from our campground. The Claro is one of the most beautiful rivers that I have ever visited, but it is a very popular tourist destination and its banks are heavily littered in trash. As part of WCKA’s dedication to community service all the students and teachers spent four hours one afternoon removing litter from over a mile of the river. In those four hours we removed over 20 full trash bags, and at the end of the day rewarded ourselves with a dip in one of the pristine swimming holes. At the end of our stay at the Rio Claro we packed up our gear and drove even further south to Pucon.

Here in Pucon I continue to enjoy living the World Class lifestyle of school, kayaking and culture, and I only look forward to what the next four weeks here in Chile have to offer.

For in multi-part Chile update and more whitewater stories visit toddwellswhitewater.blogspot.com

Capo Retig boofing on the Siete Tazas

The team in between classes

Falling off the Middle Palguin

picking up trash on the Rio Claro

Miestro Capo on the Palguin

photos © Kyle Dickman

text courtesy of EP and Under Solen Media

Epicocity Project is known for paddling some of the world’s most endangered rivers to promote conservation. But last week they kicked off an expedition on dry land - The Elephant Ivory Project - a project aimed to save wild elephants from the illegal ivory trade.

This fall, the explorers will team up the Center for Conservation Biology at the University of Washington to collect DNA samples from elephants in the remote African jungle. These samples will help to complete a DNA map of illegal ivory poaching hotspots. With this data, scientists can pinpoint where illegal ivory is coming from and send resources to stop it in those areas. For that expedition, the Epicocity crew is venturing to a country considered too dangerous and remote for scientists to travel - the Democratic of Congo.

But before they make that trip, the team needs to research where the illegal ivory is being sold… And that’s why they’re exploring Thailand.

“Day one in Bangkok and I’ve already been offered ivory,” team-member Trip Jennings said.

The EP team is in the epicenter of it all. Bangkok has the largest ivory market in Asia - with most of that ivory coming from African elephants. Just few days in Bangkok and they can see that the ivory trade is booming. Poachers kill elephants at a rate of 10 percent per year. With just 470,000 elephants left in the world, it means that in just a few years wild elephant populations will disappear.

The EP team is determined to stop that from happening. But in order to be successful, they have to know what they’re up against - and that means researching the ivory trade in Bangkok and talking to the folks who are leading the conservation effort… And of course meeting some elephants.

To find elephants, they drove into the country and met a man taking his elephants out into the forest to eat. He let them take a ride.

“Elephants are amazing creatures - intelligent, gentle and powerful. It’s heartbreaking to know that poachers kill more than 100 elephants every day,” team-member Andy Maser said. “But it’s not hopeless. Twenty years ago, with a global upwelling of support, the ivory trade was stopped, nearly overnight. We can do that again.”

So, what can you do?

1. Support the Elephant Ivory Project. 100% of your donation will go directly to the expedition and it’s 100% tax-deductible. Let’s save some elephants!
2. Visit www.elephantivoryproject.org to learn more. Knowledge is power. Poachers kill more than 100 elephants every day. It doesn’t have to be that way. Pass it on!
3. Don’t buy ivory! The U.S. has the 2nd highest demand for ivory. Think about it

Read more stories from the field on the Elephant Ivory Project blog!

This past summer a group of West Asheville boaters took a trip to BC to go kayaking and run waterfalls. A group favorite during the trip was the Callaghan/Cheakamus double. The day consisted of waking up to a run on the Callaghan Creek, back to the Cheakamus parking lot for lunch, then up to the put-in for afternoon run(s) on the Cheakamus. This was the program for a few days before heading north to the Birkenhead River and Cayoosh Creek. There is still more footage from those runs that will be edited in the future. The footage in this video was shot by Jason Dillow, Jon Crain, and Gareth Tate & edited by Jon Crain. Hope you enjoy and don’t forget that all rivers in BC are currently under threat from private power production by some of the worlds largest corporations.

Also, Take a moment and learn about what is at stake and how it could affect your next kayaking trip to BC:

BC Creek Protection Society Homepage

Save Our Rivers Society

The Range Life - 49 Megawatts

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h92S_iSD5G8[/youtube]

Hope you enjoy,

Jon Crain

As well all know, the holidays bring a lot of gadgets to the consumer market and this is a good time to take a look at the Electronics Industry to see what they are doing to control “e-waste” which include known toxins like polyvinyl chloride (PVC) and brominated flame retardants (BFRs). Also, do you ever think about taking a look at a given company’s producer responsibility or take back programs to see what they are doing with discarded products like used cell phones. Do these companies provide any type of consumer information about the products they offer? Check out the Greener Electronics Guide from Greenpeace for the beta. Happy Holidays!

Last Monday was recycling day here at Astral Buoyancy and it was a busy one for the home office in Asheville. The goal of that afternoon involved loading a 16 wheel semi trailer full of leftover foam scraps. The foam scraps occur when we use a die cutter to trim out panels of foam for use as buoyant material in PFD’s…its kind of like a cookie cutter in that we end up with a good bit of excess material once the desired shapes are cut out. We are happy to tell you that this semi was filled with 100% Polyethylene Foam (PE). PE foam is far superior to PVC in that it can easily be recycled by the same processes that recycle your everyday plastic drinking bottles. We’re also proud to mention that 1/2 the amount of PE yeilds that same buoyancy as 1 unit of PVC so it makes good business sense too. For most PFD manufacturers this semi could easily have been loaded full of PVC foam, on its way to the landfill or burn pile (depending on their local regulations of course), but here at Astral it is ALL taken to the recycling center to be melted down and reused. For information on finding about how recycling can help your home or business visit http://earth911.org/

The foam scraps were piled up to the ceiling at Astral!

Notice the cookie cutter pattern of the PE scraps as Jared hauls them to the semi…

We ended up filling that truck so full of foam that it was hard to get the door shut.

Cieba pentandra in its natural jungle environment.

In 1997 Philip Curry began researching alternate methods to PVC foam which was the standard material used to build PFD’s at that time. One of the major results of this research was the modern use of Kapok, an organic fiber that has some incredible benefits to the world of buoyancy. During a brief interview I was able to catch up with Philip between R&D sessions to discuss the use of Kapok at Astral:

Bryan Owen (BO): “Philip, What is Kapok and where is it found on this planet?”

Philip Curry (PC): “Kapok comes from the tropical rainforest tree known as Cieba pentandra found in the American Tropics and West Africa. The fruit of the cieba tree is surrounded by kapok, a fibrous material that protects the small seeds inside. On a microscopic level kapok is perfect for flotation as it is made of a waxy tube of encapsulated air. It is naturally buoyant, light, insulating, and water resistant.”

Kapok fibers at the microscopic level.

BO: “It seems that the kapok fiber is ideal for use in flotation. How did you originally come across it?”

PC: “I was researching old Coast Guard documents and came across a report that mentioned kapok. Apparently, kapok was one of the main materials used in the old ‘horse collar’ lifejackets that the US Army and Coast Guard wore during the 50’s and 60’s. The early flotation industry discontinued kapok with the advent of synthetic foams such as PVC which could be easily produced in a factory setting. I began prototyping early kapok jackets while at Lotus Designs but unfortunately the lifejacket industry was still hooked on PVC and the prototypes never reached production.”

A look inside the seed of the Cieba pentandra.

BO: “How does kapok compare with PVC foam in design?”

PC: “Originally I was seeking a better material than PVC to use from a design aspect, meaning I wanted a material that was more conforming than the flat, 2-dimensional PVC sheets. Kapok is a fill material or stuffing allowing it to better fit the natural bends and curves of the body making for a much more comfortable platform than the PVC designs of years past. Kapok is inherently buoyant and will remain so even when it is wet. To maintain its shape for stuffing kapok fiber into the PFDs we have developed a special bladder that is resistant to cold, solvents, and salt. It is also impervious to water and air and is extremely flexible, strong, and resilient.”

Astral’s Kevin Mulligan stuffs Kapok inside a bladder to use in the LDB jacket.

BO: “How does kapok compare with PVC from an environmental standpoint?”

PC: “There is really no comparison here. Basically, the only toxins released from using organic kapok are from gas emissions during transportation. To harvest kapok you simply climb the tree and pick the fruit from its branches. PVC foam is a toxic substance to produce and this puts factory workers at the greatest health risk. In addition PVC leaches toxins and plasticizers throughout its short life cycle which eventually leach into the watersheds and pollute our rivers, lakes, and oceans. On top of all this we can also use 100% of the kapok that we order. With PVC you end up with about 80% yield after cutting the foam to size. This creates a lot of waste from unused foam trimmings.”

Philip Curry demonstrates that 1 batch of kapok can yield the same as 10 rolls of foam.

BO: “So which Astral jackets are made from organic kapok?”

PC: “You can find organic kapok fill inside the front panels of the Abba, Norge, Otter, LDB, and Grunion jackets. These are among our most popular and comfortable designs to date. This goes to show that synthetic manmade materials are often inferior to what Mother Nature can produce. We took an old concept from the 50’s and found that it was a better option that what was the norm in the 90’s.”

To learn more about the uses of organic kapok visit  http://www.ceiba.org/ceiba.htm

Clearcuts are becoming frighteningly common in BC….

Do your part to help protect the land surrounding this kayaking phenomenon.

Please do your part to protect the pristine area surrounding this kayaking phenomenon. The village of Egmont, BC, is asking for the help of all kayakers who have ridden (or aspire to ride) the waves of the Skookumchuck Rapids. We have learned that a logging company has acquired the logging license in this area. The logging plans involve three huge clear cuts on the local watershed with one that extends right to the Skookumchuck Trail within the Provincial Park. Also, there is a planned cutblock that would mow down the trees along Egmont Road from Highway 101 to North Lake; a huge cutblock off of Maple Road; and another cutblock on the watershed at the north end of Ruby Lake. As well, the company plans to log Sechelt Nation Reserve lands just inside the Sechelt Inlet just past the rapids. The residents of Egmont asked if the logging company would take a sustainable logging approach but they said no and so the area’s residents have said no to the logging company.

We now ask for your support to keep the logging out of this area. We ask that you email the forestry rep (represents the agency in favor of logging the Skook zone) before June 6th deadline at cam_forrester@dccnet.com to express your dissaproval for logging this incredible natural resource. Also please copy that email to us at skookumnarrows@yahoo.ca

Please address your email to:

Cam Forrester, R.P.F. Consulting Forester

6231 Sunshine Coast Highway,

Sechelt, BC V0N 3A7

Tel: 604-885-7142, Fax: 604-885-7112

Email: cam_forrester@dccnet.com

We will be posting all information about this proposed logging and our efforts to stop it on our blog at www.saveourwatershed.com. We look forward to your support.

Sincerely,

Friends of Egmont

paddlers: James Mole and Steven Olsen

photos: BO