Why River Travel?

Our goal within the river component of the Outdoor Program, aligned with the Mission Statement, is to provide a safe, but challenging environment for students to develop their leadership skills, while encouraging a sustainable form of environmental and wilderness ethic. In addition, we've found that students gain an appreciation for the local area and its resources few St. Lawrence students find. Many O.P.-involved students leave St. Lawrence with a body of river knowledge and skill that will no-doubt carry over into life-long recreation and a love of the outdoors.

Recent mid-semester break and weekend offerings have included multi-day whitewater canoe trips in Algonquin Provincial Park, kayaking local whitewater on the Grasse, Raquette, St. Regis, and Oswegatchie Rivers, and whitewater trips to Tennessee, West Virginia, and the Carolina's. The O.P. also offers Swiftwater Rescue to those students participating in the Hadwen Guide Program. The river-based experiences offered by the O.P. will see over 210 student/instructor days this semester alone.

For those with less time to commit, The Canoe Shack on the Little River provides the campus community with boats to explore the Little and Grasse Rivers' on a more spontaneous basis. Last fall, the ‘Shack saw over 350 students and faculty take advantage of the canoes and kayaks.

Through the Hadwen Guide program and the Canoe Shack alone, the water-based programming is employing eleven students this spring. Not typical student work, these students gain a sense of ownership, responsibility, and leadership skills while on the job.

According to the last National Survey on Recreation and the Environment (2001), a comparison of recreation trends in the U.S., the highest growth rate (over 100% since 1995) in any given outdoor activity was found to be kayaking. Canoeing participation rates rose over 40% since 1994. In the state of Maine, whitewater rafting participants increased from 60,000 people to over 91,000 in 2001 (2003 Maine SCORP).

It is our hope that the Outdoor Program's water-based curriculum will help support these national trends toward a more outdoor-oriented populace. Finding value in unpolluted, pristine rivers, whether it be intrinsically, recreationally, or for survival, is the first step in conserving and preserving these resources, which ultimately, should be everyone's goal.