Merrick Whitewater

The Aspen Times recently published findings on whitewater parks and fish migration in Colorado. 🐟 🌊 The takeaway? Design matters.

When you engage the right agencies early and design with intention, recreation and ecology can coexist. The key is making fish passage a priority from day one.

Swipe through to see just how we do that.

📷 Merrick Landscape Architecture & Visualization team

At Merrick Whitewater, we believe low-hazard rivers are fun rivers. 💦

Formerly known as McLaughlin Whitewater, we’ve been leading the industry in whitewater hazard mitigation and design for more than a decade. Now, we’re doing it with a name that reflects the full strength of the team behind our work – Merrick Whitewater.

At Merrick, our team leads with safety at every stage of a project – through design, construction, and project start-up. Whether we are retrofitting hazardous dams with bypass channels or designing high-performance river parks, safety always comes first. In fact, safety concerns at an existing dam are often the catalyst for building a river park. Using patented wave technologies, advanced hydraulic modeling, hands-on oversight during construction, and our team’s experience as surfers, paddlers, and enthusiasts, we create river features that are low hazard, high performance, and built to last—for everyone.

Swipe through to see how we’re turning river hazards into fun community assets while making rivers safer, healthier, and more accessible.

We’re consumed by water! 🌊 The Merrick Whitewater team has engineered urban river restoration projects and provided strategic direction and implementation of in-river whitewater features for enthusiasts and grassroots river advocates for decades. And we’re not just engineers, we’re avid whitewater paddlers, surfers, and river users. This passion ignites our work and creates solutions that are right for the water, the community, and river enthusiasts. Formerly known as McLaughlin Whitewater, our new identity as Merrick Whitewater reflects our large multidisciplinary team, including the full spectrum of water resources and civil engineering services.

Whether leading transformative river corridor projects or enhancing small-town surf waves, we design with purpose: to improve public safety, stimulate local economies through tourism and development, and restore the natural function of river systems. These waterways aren’t just work sites—they’re living ecosystems and vital community assets. We’re committed to creating river environments that are not only fun and functional, but also safer, restorative, and economically beneficial for generations to come.

Meet Merrick Whitewater, our innovative team of river engineers. ✨

McLaughlin Whitewater is now Merrick Whitewater!

We’re officially bringing our nationally recognized whitewater design services under the Merrick & Company brand.

💧 Same passion for rivers
🌊 Same foundational principles of safety, performance, and durability.
🏄 Same commitment to innovation, creativity, and standout project delivery.

From wave design and river restoration to permitting, funding, and construction, our 15+ person team is continuing to push the boundaries of what’s possible in whitewater design—now with a name that reflects who we are and where we’re going.

Tulsa, OK - are you ready to catch a wave? The new Tulsa Wave Park is now open for business, with seven play zones and two access points (from Zink Lake itself and from the east bank trail system). We designed a 1,100-foot whitewater course for flows up to 800 cfs for tubing, river surfing, and kayaking. Our design includes various play zones that vary in intensity and skill level, meaning there’s something for everyone! and see for yourself!

for the Gunnison River Festival this weekend! We're a proud sponsor of this community event that promotes river education, competition, and healthy river ecosystems. We hope to see you there as we celebrate our beautiful local rivers.

River parks can transform a community. 🌊 🚣‍♀️🌊 Successful river parks feature moving water, whitewater, and waves, that engage diverse recreational use – kayaking, surfing, rafting, SUP, and others. They also offer more than just recreational benefits: river parks can bring a wealth of social, environmental, and economic benefits to your community. We design river parks for diverse users of all ability levels to empower communities to have a relationship with their rivers. Think your community's ready for its greatest adventure yet? Check out our river park guide to get a step-by-step guide to navigating the process of turning an exciting idea into a vibrant river park in your community.

! Pro kayaker Nick Troutman tests the course at the newly opened Whitewater Park in Oklahoma. We hope you'll and experience the fun for yourself!
📷: Grand River Dam Authority

It's a swell time at the Whitewater Park in Oklahoma! Congratulations to the Grand River Dam Authority, City of Siloam Springs, and Walton Family Foundation on the opening of the park. Are you ready to ?

Meet Theresa Ring! She's an engineer on our team with a focus on floodplain studies, river restoration, access, and whitewater recreation projects. Her passion for water was sparked during her time with the Peace Corps, where she experienced how much water is taken for granted when infrastructure works well—and how dangerous and destructive it can be when the proper infrastructure isn't in place. Now, she loves working on projects that help make our rivers healthy, remove hazards, create recreation, and connect communities back to nature. When she's not working, you can find Theresa in nature: hiking, biking, camping, or spending time on her local rivers!