First Annual Gunnison Rivers Symposium this Saturday

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First Annual Gunnison Rivers Symposium

River friends and friends of the river: on Saturday, November 10, Western State College will host the First Annual Gunnison Rivers Symposium in the Kebler Ballroom from 4-9PM. Don’t worry, we’ll break for dinner. Admission will be FREE! Highlights of the event include: a kayaking film premier fresh from production; an outdoor gear and apparel raffle ($hundreds in prizes to raffle) to benefit the Gunnison Whitewater Park; and local and international speakers presenting about Colorado kayaking first descents, international water access issues, and the political, ecological and social affects of hydroelectric projects.

The schedule is as follows: At 4:00PM Doors Open, 4:20 Welcome and Introduction of Sponsors, Purpose, Philosophy, and Approach. 4:30 First Keynote Speaker: Daniel Gonzalez of Futa Friends (Futafriends - Conservation Efforts in Southern Chile) -Daniel will discuss the state of the rivers in southern Chile and the conservation efforts this organization are undertaking to secure permanent protection status for the Futaluefu river and other wild rivers of Chile and Argentina from hydroelectric and mining interests. Daniel will also speak about the proposed Yampa diversion by the NWWCD and what's being done to prevent it. 5:00 Second Keynote Speaker: Dan Piano of Vewda Productions-Dan and crew (Routt County River Enforcement-for all you Mountainbuzzers, www.mountainbuzz.com) have done four first descents on Colorado creeks in Routt County in the last two years. Dan will have some video footage, slides, and will explain how these descents were accomplished. 5:30 Third Keynote Speaker: Mike Wight and Steve King from Nederland and Boulder, CO (http://rupertriver.blogspot.com)-Last July, Mike, Steve, and several others embarked on an ambitious expedition to Northern Quebec to run the obscure and gigantic Rupert River. The Rupert peaks at 180,000 c.f.s.! Their plan was to run it in canoes, portage the unrunnable, high-flow class VI rapids while documenting the state of the river in its free-flowing state with video and still photography before it will be dammed! The politics of the proposed damming are not entirely transparent and these adventurers plan to expose the political, social, and ecological dynamics involved by producing a film documentary. They will have a trailer for the movie and an involved slideshow and discussion for this event. 6:00 Dinner Break, 7:00 Film Premier-Lunch Video Magazine’s #24 Begins, 8:30 Raffle Drawing, 9:00 Doors Close. Afterwards: After party at the Gunnison Brewery. Ten percent of food sales proceeds will benefit the Gunnison Whitewater Park.

Event sponsors include: Western State College, Rotary Club, Three Rivers Paddle Shop, Domino Pizza, The Alpineer, Black Tie Ski Rentals of Crested Butte, Gene Taylor’s Sporting Goods, Colorado Kayak Supply, Lunch Video Magazine, Vewda Productions, and Futa Friends. Please call Kevin Heiner @ 970.846.2300 for more details or to donate to or sponsor this event.