History Highlights include:
2012: 12 Rivers in 2012 Campaign: the RFC Team paddled over 1,600 miles from Source to Sea while collecting scientific data and connecting people to rivers through outreach events.
2013: Launched the California 100, California’s first ultramarathon paddling race. In the last four years, our racers have paddled 27,287 miles and spent 3,626 hours,15 minutes on the Sacramento River.
2014: Assisted award-winning CNN journalist John Sutter on his 417-mile source to sea down the San Joaquin River.
2015: Completed the 1st SUP source to sea expedition down the Androscoggin River: paddling 192 miles over 13 days and walking 13.25 miles during 15 portages around 24 dams.
2016: Hosted a sold-out Wild and Scenic Film Festival on Tour in Sausalito, CA.
2017: Launched our Source to Sea School with our Source to (Inland) Sea on the Truckee River with a student ambassador team of 10. Also reached over 800 kids with in-school presentations.
2018: Second year of our Source to Sea School on the Truckee river reaching over 1,230 students through presentations, on-shore events, and our team of student ambassadors.
-Launched Source to Sea Grant program with Still Water Silent Jungle, an expedition, and film project raising awareness about a threatened river in Bolivia.
-Launched 2 new Snacktime Science videos to engage the online community in science and rivers.
2019: In May we completed the first source to sea descent of the Lamprey River in preparation for our Source to Sea School with Student Ambassadors which occurred in July. Continued our Source to Sea Grant Program by supporting two incredible source to sea ambassadors. One on the Columbia with Claire Dibble and one on the Mississippi River with LouAnne Harris.
2020: Source to Sea Stories launched-3 online episodes focusing on Adventure Grantees (adventure), Ultra-distance paddle racing (race), and the undamming of the Klamath River (science/conservation). Diversity and Inclusion Grant given to Chris Farris. Survived Strategic Planning and a pandemic.
History of events and programs:
Ongoing: Connecting Source to Sea: At the heart of RFC is a desire to increase source to sea literacy. Through our expeditions and events we engage with communities and non-profits along the river to enhance people’s understanding of whole river systems.
Source to Sea expeditions include: Yuba, Russian, San Joaquin, Sacramento, Klamath, American, Feather, Tuolumne, Mokelumne, Merced, Androscoggin (first SUP descent), Lamprey (first descent)
Past Annual events include:
Source to Sea School: Training the next generation of environmental stewards through immersive education from source to sea. Truckee River: 2017, 2018. Lamprey River: 2019
River to Reel: a Community Paddle Day on the Lower Yuba River to help kick off the Wild and Scenic Film Festival with SYRCL: 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2017
Cow Patty Pageant: a local race on the Estero Americano: 2013-2015
California 100 Clinics and Trainings (3-6/yr): 2013-2016
Sacramento River Community Paddle Day: 2013-2015
California 100: a hundred-mile ultra-marathon paddle race down the Sacramento River: 2013-2016
Sacramento River Cleanup: an on-water community river cleanup: 2013-2016
California Native Plant Rare Treasure Hunt: a Community Paddle aimed at searching for rare Native plants by boat: 2012-2015
Gorge Downwind Champs: A week-long event in the Columbia River Gorge near Hood River, OR. Full of clinics, the North American Surfski/OC1 Downwind Championship. RFC was a co-organizer and beneficiary: 2015-2018.