Our Work

American Packrafting Association is committed to working with land managers, landowners, packrafters, and packraft-related businesses to increase opportunities for safe and low-impact packrafting nationwide.

Conservation: Fully compatible with wilderness management policies and ethics, a packraft is a useful and appropriate access tool and mode of travel for designated Wilderness areas and other roadless wildlands. APA organizes stewardship projects and respectfully collaborates with land managers, landowners, industry, and other user groups to preserve America’s rivers and wildlands in a pristine state.
Education: Because packrafting is becoming more and more mainstream, APA provides information and standards that will help packrafters navigate rivers and wilderness safely and responsibly. This will in turn help establish packrafters as a valid user group and increase packrafting access opportunities. APA also educates land managers, landowners, and other user groups about packrafting to minimize misunderstandings and resulting conflicts. APA also supports packraft-related businesses with information and opportunities to increase commerce and help meet the needs of packrafters.
Access: The multi-faceted nature of packrafting creates unique challenges for land and river managers that are outside established river and backcountry recreation management strategies. APA respectfully works with land managers, landowners, and other user groups so that packrafters have a place on public and private lands.

APA has invested in the quality of its risk management practices by participating in a Risk Management Training offered by NOLS, an organization with over 50 years of experience managing risk in wilderness environments. As a result of this training, while NOLS doesn’t endorse or certify our practices, APA is developing its risk management strategy. We have invested time and resources in these practices because the health and well being of participants during our events and outings is one of our highest priorities.