LA River Expeditions

Our original mission was to protect the Los Angeles River via the Clean Water Act by proving its navigability. We defended valuable watershed conservation laws by paddling the 51 miles of the river in canoes and kayaks, from the San Fernando Valley to Long Beach, on July 25th-27th, 2008. Two years later, our actions proved integral to the Environmental Protection Agency's decision that the entire L.A. River is a "traditional navigable waterway," giving it all the federal protections of a real river.

Since summer 2008, our mission added a second focus: creating guided, safe, recreational-educational canoe and kayak excursions down the more pleasant, soft-bottomed stretches of the LA River. The Paddle the L.A. River program, in which we are a key partner, was the result of years of advocacy work by L.A. River Expeditions; it was also the result of hard work by our partner organizations: Los Angeles Conservation Corps, the Mountains Recreation and Conservation Authority, the City of Los Angeles, the Army Corps of Engineers, The River Project, Urban Semillas and Friends of the LA River. This officially sanctioned pilot boating program, completed in Sept. 2011, was a first in the history of the Los Angeles River!

The Paddle the LA River program ran Aug 13 - Sep 25 and tested the feasibility of permitted recreational boating on the Los Angeles River. This sanctioned program provided an entertaining and indelible learning experience through boating while transforming perceptions about the Los Angeles River, and creating new possibilities for responsible use.

With each journey downriver, we have been educating participants about the history of the river, building environmental stewardship and community leadership, and teaching river safety and paddlesport skills. We are sensitive to nature, in terms of keeping a light footprint and cleaning up garbage wherever we go.

L.A. River Expeditions believes that the more people develop a relationship with the river, the more they will play an active role in its protection and revitalization. Contact us if you have any great ideas about this, or tips about ways or means to help us grow.

L.A. County and the City of Los Angeles have put forth fantastic visions of a sustainable Los Angeles (i.e., river revitalization master plans), and we're supportive of both.  With the EPA’s watershed decision in 2010, L.A. River Expeditions believes we are entering a new, more cooperative and progressive era for the Los Angeles River, in which the public asserts its right to use its local river, and intergovernmental agencies work in sync. Keep your fingers crossed!

We very much appreciate your support in putting the river back in the Los Angeles River!

Check our News page or sign up for our e-Newsletter (top of page) to stay in the loop.

And be sure to visit the the Paddle the L.A. River program site, too.