A film celebrating a unique and collaborative alliance, created through education and experiential understanding, premiered Wednesday on YouTube. 

“A Guide to Fighting for Wild Rivers,” by Logan Bockrath, shares the story of a group of Yampa River advocates, organizations and decision-makers who come together annually on a multi-day river expedition to understand and protect one of the last minimally curtailed Western waterways.

The free-flowing nature of the Yampa is the result of a dedicated stewardship and prolonged effort toward creating communal alliance. One of the key facets in creating that coalition is bringing people together on an adventure-filled learning experience down some of the most beautiful parts of the river.

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“Rivers are protected by love, by people who stood up and fought for them,” says the narrator in the opening of the film. “Through their work, we have a template for how we can protect rivers – a guide to fighting for wild rivers.”

The film follows the 2024 Yampa River Awareness Project, which is a multi-day experiential and educational rafting expedition hosted by multiple organizations. Held annually since 2012, it has become a unifying force among the diverse group of individuals and groups who hold varied interests in the river as a vital resource.

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“The YRAP is an experiential trip in which Friends of the Yampa, and American Rivers, partner and invite people that need to see the Yampa and experience how special it is so they can bring that message to their roles in whatever they do that’s somehow connected to the river,” says Friends of the Yampa Executive Director Lindsey Marlow in the film. 

The trip has nurtured an enduring alliance, which has been forged over the course of more than a decade, and has become a key facilitator in dialogue surrounding the protection of the Yampa. The film was created to showcase those alliances while also inspiring others to become involved using similar methods and ideologies. 

“A film can reach so many more people … it can inspire others to do trips like this too,” said Mike Fiebig, director of Southwest River Protection for American Rivers. “This film tells a really compelling story about the Yampa and about engaging people through the power of getting them out on the river.”

The steps outlined in the film are an exemplary framework that can be used to protect any vital waterway within the country, but are specifically applicable in the American West, where increased use amid worsening drought conditions have pushed many watersheds to the brink. As a result, recreationalists, advocates and those who utilize the river for agricultural and commercial purposes have been motivated to come together to protect the critical waterways that remain, as well as the habitats that exist along them. 

Those key steps involve proactivity, teaming up, connecting decision-makers to waterways, building a movement, sharing stories with the public — and keeping it wild.

“I think the film takes the viewer through the partnership that has been formed by American Rivers, Friends of the Yampa and Oars on a journey down the Yampa River to (help people) experience its unique attributes while showcasing one strategy for how to protect a wild river,” said Steve Markle, the vice president of sales and marketing for OARS.

“I would say the film is also about connecting multi-day river recreation to river conservation,” added Fiebig. 

Kent Vertrees, recreation and education coordinator for Friends of the Yampa, explains in the film that YRAP began in response to a past threat to the Yampa in the form of a potential “pump back.” Front Range interests sought to construct an off-channel reservoir, fed by pump from the river, which would have provided water to communities along I-70 and I-25.

Fiebig also noted a key aspect of the film being how it is broken up into stages, or steps, in addition to illustrating a template for understanding among different groups that rely on rivers, bringing them together in a common dialogue based on understanding, collaboration and a sense of belonging within the spirit of a waterway.

“It really does mirror what happens with folks … to engage people, getting them to know and love a place, and then relying on them to protect it into the future,” said Fiebig. “I think the coolest thing about it is that it’s not like we have to orchestrate this…the river does the teaching. The engagement with the group of people, and with the guides and with the place, it does it on its own.”

That level of engagement can result in a strong coalition being in place, and ready to act, when a threat to a river’s existence arises.

“Usually by the time a big threat comes about, once we learn about it, it can be too late,” says Fiebig. “The folks that are actually looking to dam, divert, or degrade a river have invested a lot of time and energy and politics into it. So, the best way to protect a river is to get ahead of that, to do it proactively.”

The Yampa River is unique among the waterways of the American West, primarily due to the fact that it has minimal dams and diversions along its course. The few dams that do exist are at the upper reaches of the waterway, and thus do not have the detrimental impact that has been witnessed on other rivers that are more heavily curtailed. 

“It takes a lot more investment and courage to work on protecting a river, and setting up a framework to protect a river, when it doesn’t have that threat knocking on the door at the moment,” said Fiebig. “And at the same time, that’s when you want to engage people to protect a river. Usually by the time we hear of a big, credible threat to a free-flowing river, it can be too late.”

He went on to explain that being “too late” could mean anything from a lack of time to create a constituency, to minimal engagement, to proponents for the threat having a head-start through the investment of time, money and resources. 

“Engaging people on the Yampa, a river that we know is so valuable to so many different people, before it has that threat knocking on the door, is a really important thing,” closed Fiebig.

The film has also been submitted to multiple film festivals throughout the western United States. 

“A Guide to Fighting for Wild Rivers” can be viewed at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vFDqfjar7wg.