The [Upper Navua Conservation Area (UNCA)] was established in 1998 when a small rafting company, Rivers Fiji – along with the dedicated support of O.A.R.S. president and founder, George Wendt – joined forces with an unlikely group of local entities including two villages, nine mataqalis (land-owning clans), a logging company and a government organization to protect the area’s natural assets. As a result, the group set-up a 25-year land lease that precludes logging, road building or mining in the fragile river corridor. Instead of easy money from resource extraction, locals turned to tourism to fund a conservation area that would provide long-term sustainability to the region. Since then, a low-impact commercial rafting operation on the Upper Navua headed up by Rivers Fiji has given more than $1 million back to local communities. ... there are still ongoing threats to the area. According to Dr. Kelly Bricker, co-founder of Rivers Fiji, the health of the entire river corridor is continuously at risk because of illegal logging within the conservation area, as well as gravel mining operations on lower stretches of the river. ... But it’s not only the health of Fiji’s third largest freshwater resource that’s at stake. Bricker says there are also concerns about increased development including a proposed hydroelectric dam and potential mining projects in the future.