Some of the best bigwater wave surfing in the eastern U.S. can be found below Holtwood Dam on Pennsylvania's Susquehanna River. When water spills over the dam each spring, roughly a dozen different waves are formed in this huge channel, attracting paddlers from across the region. The rapids at Holtwood are all that is left of what was likely many miles of rapids now buried below reservoirs created by Conowingo and Holtwood dams.

The operator of Holtwood Dam on the Susquehanna River (PA) proposed to significantly change the operations on the dam and the shape of the river channel downstream of the dam. As originally planned, this project would have destroyed a valuable whitewater recreational resource. American Whitewater joined and assisted a group of paddlers that formed to work with the dam operator on a revised plan. A settlement agreement was negotiated that lead to an amended FERC license that protected most of Holtwood's great whitewater features and mitigate the loss of others with the construction of a whitewater park and provision of 264 releases annually.

You can find the schedule of whitewater park releases here, and stay up to date on the Holtwood Whitewater Park Facebook Page