Maybe the last descent of the Yangtze? Lead by Travis Winn, the trip included researchers and conservationists from China and abroad, all trying to figure out a way to protect this threatened resource.

Their mission is to figure out the fastest way to bring as much attention to these rivers as possible. To get people to rethink their value, to get people to understand individually and personally come to the conclusion that they´re worth protecting.

“At least 20 (new) reservoirs will be put into operation by 2020,” vice minister Hu Siyi was quoted as saying in a report on the Chinese Ministry´s website.

During the descent, they were able to see the start of some of the projects, fated to create huge resevoirs and eliminate the possibility of ever rafting the world´s third longest river.

Government reports in recent years have warned that the dam’s huge reservoir had trapped massive amounts of pollution dumped into the river system and that the reservoir’s weight on surrounding terrain was triggering landslides.

Travis Winn is also heading the China Rivers Project, an organization dedicated to saving rivers in China.

Check out this National Geographic Mission Programs video documenting what may have been the last descent of the Yangtze River.

FIRST DESCENTS: Ken Warren lead in 1986 what is largely considered the first descent of the Yangtze, spending over two months covering 1,200 of the most remote river miles on earth. David Shippe (photographer) died of altitude sickness during the expedition (cutting the trip short before they could explore the lower reaches of the Great Bend) and both Ken and cinematographer John Wilcox were co-defnedants in a court case surrounding Shippee´s death. In May of 1987, Outside magazine ran a story on the trip by Michael McRae called “Mutiny on the Yangtze,” describing how four members of the team left the expedition and hiked out. But Wilcox disagrees with the assessment. “The whole mutiny story was total bullshit,” Wilcox says. “The only ‘mutiny’ was the doctor getting the hell out of Dodge.” Warren and Wilcox were exonerated.

In 1987, Richard Bangs, John Yost, Jim Slad and Skip Horner were able to make it through the previously unexplored lower reaches of the Great Bend.

Adventurers have since been exploring exploring the steep river gorges of the Yangtze deep in Himalayans for decades now. China´s ambitious hydroelectric projects will soon put an irreversible stop to that.