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I've been an "Ender Club" AW member for almost 20 years, and was on the MCC board most of the '90s
Submitted by Oci-One Kanubi on 11/Feb/2011 in reply to Many paddlers (especially new ones) might not understand what AW does (or not) for them posted by Counterpoint on 29/Jan/2011
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In addition to paying the $100 Ender Club rate I volunteered annually at the Gauley Festival and other AW events.
But then, when I put on my MCC hat, I voted against contributing to AW. We (the MCC board) tried and tried to get AW to help us with access issues on places like the Shenandoah Staircase and the Needles; places where hundreds of Class II paddlers try to boat every day in the summertime. But AW was putting its money into buying land for a Watauga take-out and an Upper Yough put-in and other resources that would be used by top-end paddlersm who are many fewer.
It always seemed terribly shortsighted, to me, for AW to moan about its small membership base while failing to recognize that any adventure sport has a small number of participants at the top end and a much larger number at the bottom. For paddling, it's millions of Class II paddlers vs. a couple thousand (at most) Class V paddlers.
The logical thing, I always though, was to take AW's current budget, spend it on Class II issues to grow the membership, and end up having even more money than ever for Class IV/V issues, but AW has always been a Class IV/V-chauvinist organization. Fine for me, as one of the few MCC members paddling Class IV and IV/V water, but as an MCC board member, spending the money of the mostly Class II members, I couldnt justify giving any to AW.
Now, we notice that AW is touting dam removal on the Class II Tuckaseigee River in NC, but we could notice, too, that that negotiation was rolled in with negotiations for releases on the Class III Nantahala Cascades and Class IV sections of the Upper Nantahala and Tuck. I wouldn't bet a nickle that AW would have worried about the Dillsboro Dam if it weren't part of a package deal with the Class IV stuff.
Now, if all the DC- and MD-area users of Paddle Prattle joined the MCC, there would be a large enough contingent to justify an AW contribution, but opinions on Paddle Prattle are a lot more numerous than contributions.
-Richard, His Kanubic Travesty
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