Those who've paddled the 200 miles of the Colorado River through the Grand Canyon know how special of a place it is.  Not much compares to spending 3 weeks with a small crew of friends completely isolated from the rest of the world in a stunningly beautiful place.  Sure the world class whitewater and perfect glassy surf waves are fun, but it's the experience of being committed to weeks of downstream travel deep in a canyon that makes the strongest memories.

Unfortunately, there's a proposal to mine uranium in the land surrounding the Grand Canyon.  Not only would this affect the landscape outside of the Canyon, but it would also mean the contamination of streams that feed the Colorado--the very streams that paddlers depend on for their drinking water.  I know that I'd be a lot less excited about staying hydrated if I knew that my water was laced with uranium.

Right now, the Obama administration is considering a plan that would protect up to 1 million acres of the Grand Canyon's watershed from new uranium mining.  This type of plan needs public support to help it along, so head over to protectgrandcanyon.org by May 4th to quickly and easily send a message to the Federal Government telling them that you support such a plan.  Because as paddlers, it's our responsibility to help protect the places that we love to play.