Forbidden Waters

Will Freihofer, The University of Montana

Abstract

Since 1950 Yellowstone National Park has stood as the largest river system with a complete ban on boating in the world. Despite the prohibition, generations of kayakers have been unable to resist the world-class whitewater of the Black Canyon of the Yellowstone River, and today advocates on both sides of the issue press the Park Service to determine if visitors will ever legally wet a paddle on the thousands of miles of rivers and streams in the first National Park.