Missoula Swiftwater Rescue Training: Blackfoot River Published: March 7, 2018

WRI will be hosting several Swiftwater Rescue Classes near Missoula on the Blackfoot River this spring. It's our home river and our favorite place to teach. Join us at a discounted price this year. Missoula Swiftwater Rescue Class: April 6-8 Missoula Swiftwater Rescue Class: April 20-22 Missoula Swiftwater Rescue Class: May 11-13 Missoula Swiftwater Rescue Class: June 8-10 [caption ...

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Swiftwater Rescue in Costa Rica Published: March 5, 2018

EMS and Swiftwater Rescue Training in Costa Rica with Aerie Backcountry Medicine One of the best things about working in the rescue community is getting to work with wonderful people. WRI Instructor Mike Johnston just returned from teaching a swift water rescue class in Costa Rica on the Rio Sevegre as part of Aerie Backcountry Medicine's Wilderness EMT semester program.  Mike has worked with ...

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Inland Geographic Response Plans: Their Value and Limitations Published: February 27, 2018

Inland Geographic Response Plans With the recent push for Inland Geographic Response Plans (GRP), community and responder preparedness is at an all-time high.  Most of the major waterways in the west now have plans associated with them.  This consolidation of data will undoubtedly make future responses to inland waterways more effective and safe. [caption id="attachment_1051" align="aligncen...

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Developing Good Communication Published: February 27, 2018

Inland Spill Response: Communications is key. It was 11:30 pm, on a moonless night and the temperature was hovering around 30 degrees Fahrenheit. The river was lit up with an array of floodlights from shore, mixed with the not-so-bright navigation lights from the boats. Our spill response team was split between three boats assisting in a salvage operation on a river channel. The web of stabilizati...

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Fastwater Spill Resonse Published: February 13, 2018

Inland Spill Response: WRI Environmental Fastwater spill response , river spill response and inland oil spill response training are our speciality at WRI Environmental. WRI has comprehensive experience in every aspect of inland spill response. From pre-planning, collecting data and creating Geographic Response Plans -to coordinating multi-agency spill response training and fastwater oil spill r...

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Inland Oil Spill Response Challenges Published: February 9, 2018

Inland Spill Response Inland oil spill response often involves moving water and presents a unique set of challenges for responders. WRI offers state of the art and innovative inland oil spill response training in our Swiftwater Spill Response Technician courses. Responder safety and managing risk during fastwater spill response are our top priority at WRI.  Safety officers must be well versed in...

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Cold Weather Response: Personal Gear Published: January 10, 2018

At WRI Environmental we specialize in fastwater spill response and inland spill response training. Last Christmas, I was put on standby for an inland oil spill response and spent over an hour collecting the right personal gear I'd need to be outside on a river in windy 10 degree weather.  I was reminded that safely responding to a river emergency or spill in cold weather requires a little more p...

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Graves Creek Case Study Published: August 30, 2017

Case Study: Graves Creek, MT Class V-V+ June 7, 2012   Two friends, Joe and Sam, left Missoula at 0400 the morning of the 7th to begin the drive up to Graves Creek. They decided that the drive would take about 4 hours, placing them at the put-in by 0800. Joe, who had been down Graves Creek once before, said that even though the section they would be paddling was only 1 mile l...

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WRI November 2011 Update Published: November 15, 2011

By Frank Preston If you live in Missoula long enough, you stop listening to the weather report this time of year. The predictions of 12-24 inches in the mountains almost always disappoint with a third that much. You figure out what the weather is really going to do, and you rely on your own cloud-reading. Despite WRI celebrating a week of staff birthdays, I don’t know if we are ready to talk ...

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Should Canoers wear helmets? Published: March 23, 2011

As an avid skier, I have watched the transformation of the heads in lift lines go from day glow head bands and mohawks, to wool beanies, to what we see today--helmets. It makes sense. The speed and the likelihood of falling are high. Why not protect our noggins. This same transformation has been seen with many sports--motorcycles, biking, and climbing to name a few. Standard issue for kayakers,...

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“Whether you are a river-rookie or an experienced boater, WRI tailors their classes to what you need to learn in a fun and challenging environment. Their scenario based teaching approach creates an electric learning atmosphere where you feel like you are in actual river rescue situations. I would recommend them to anybody!”

Eric Giddens, Owner Kern River Brewing Company/1996 Olympic Kayak Team Member
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