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NFC: Fw: [currents] RiverCurrents Online -- Week of June 11, 1999






River News for the Week of June 11, 1999

MISSOURI RIVER: The USA Today this week reported on efforts to restore
the
Missouri River, a river that has appeared repeatedly on American Rivers’
annual list of the nation’s most endangered rivers.  “Dammed, diked and
dredged since the 1930s to control floods and float cargo barges, the
river
the explorers nicknamed the ''Big Muddy'' is today neither big nor
muddy,”
reports the USA Today (6/7). Dam operations and cattle grazing on the
more
wild upper Missouri are destroying the cottenwood trees, and the middle
Missouri is characterized by huge dams and reservoirs to contain floods
and
generate power. The lower Missouri is often described as “the Ditch,” and
is
maintained for commercial towboats operations. More positive changes are
underway, however, including proposed legislation to add protection of
fish
and wildlife habitat to the primary goals of the U.S. Army Corps of
Engineers when managing the Missouri. Also authorized by the bill would
be
funds for riverfront restoration and scientific monitoring of the river’s
health. The Corps will also release their new management plan for the
river
this fall that emphasizes wildlife protection and river recreation.
American
Rivers, among other environmental groups, are advocating for millions of
dollars in federal, state and local projects to restore intermittent
wildlife refuges and natural patches along the river, creating “pearls on
a
string” 2,341 miles long.

     *     *     *

CLEANER RIVERS?: A report written by specialists within the U.S.
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and released by Public Employees
for
Environmental Responsibility (PEER) finds a lack of “reliable,
scientifically verifiable information” that our nations rives and streams
have become cleaner over the last two decades. As reports PEER (5/25),
the
report “gives an insider account of how EPA and its State partners,
through
a mix of politics, bureaucratic inertia and bad science, perpetuate the
fiction that official water quality reports are valid by routinely
presenting Congress and the public with conflicting, erroneous and
manipulated data containing little accurate information on the actual
condition of the nation's waterways. The report “gives an insider account
of
how EPA and its State partners, through a mix of politics, bureaucratic
inertia and bad science, perpetuate the fiction that official water
quality
reports are valid by routinely presenting Congress and the public with
conflicting, erroneous and manipulated data containing little accurate
information on the actual condition of the nation's waterways.”

     *     *     *

CUTTHROAT TROUT: The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is joining with the
states of Colorado, Wyoming, Utah to restore native Colorado River
cutthroat
trout before the species is listed as threatened or endangered. As
reports
the Denver Rocky Mountain News (6/5), the states ”have targeted 1,700
miles
of streams and 650 acres of high lakes for restoration and protection
from
non-native trout species over the next 10 years.” Mine pollution, water
diversions, livestock overgrazing and fishing have reduced the fish to
less
than 1 percent of their original range this century.

     *     *     *

NONCONNAH CREEK: Nonconnah Creek near Memphis, Tennessee has received a
failing grade on the state's latest report card on water quality.
Considered
one of the most water-quality impaired streams in Tennessee, the creek
suffers from being perennially being clouded with silt, carries a number
of
heavy metals and nutrients, and is polluted by “astronomical levels of
fecal-coliform bacteria.” Fish near the mouth of the creek are
contaminated
with pesticides, dioxin and PCBs. State officials will soon be drafting
new
pollution limits targeted at cleaning up the creek.

     *     *     *

DAMS: For the first time in 200 years, migrating shad and river herring
will
have access to the historic waterway from Richmond, VA to Lynchburg in
the
mountains. Thanks to the opening of a fishway at Bosher's Dam along
Richmond's James River, fish will have access to an additional 137 miles
of
the James River, as well as to another 168 miles of its tributaries.

     *     *     *

BONNEVILLE POWER ADMINISTRATION: The BPA in Portland Oregon has proposed
a
new five-year-rate plan that would result in a $1.4 billion surplus by
2006
to be used for as-yet undetermined costs of restoring endangered fish
runs
in the Northwest. Senator Gordon Smith, R-Ore., feels the move makes the
utility a “bigger political liability for its defenders in Congress.”  As
reports the Portland Oregonian (6/11), “the agency sells more than $2
billion worth of power a year generated by 29 dams and one nuclear power
plant in the Northwest.” Its new rates must be established before it’s
clear
how much it must spend to recover endangered fish runs, a requirement of
the
Endangered Species Act and Clean Water Act. The BPA decided to build the
reserves “so it could be financially prepared for any fish-recovery
option
without prejudging" whether removal of the Lower Snake River dams would
be
best for fish.

     *     *     *

SALMON: A Canadian fisheries biologist told a Senate subcommittee that
the
“survival rates of salmon when they finally reach the Pacific have
plunged
during the past 30 years and may be more of a factor in declining runs
than
originally thought.” The survival rate is believed to be one-tenth of
what
it was in the 1960s, reports the scientist, and is blamed on a sharp
decrease of plankton, a primary food source. Plankton has decreased due
to
climate changes that keep them from reaching the deep ocean nutrients
they
need to survive. Northern lawmakers have “embraced” this theory, with the
hopes that dams on the Lower Snake River in the Northwest will not need
to
be breached to recover the salmon, if a plankton shortage is really at
fault. Neither will restrictions on increased development need to be
imposed. As reports the News Tribune Tacoma (6/10), “Ocean conditions are
more important than all of the other issues combined," says Sen. Slade
Gorton. But salmon proponents say that poor river conditions make salmon
even more susceptible when ocean conditions are poor.

     *     *     *

DAM REMOVAL: The US Army Corps of Engineers is proposing to decommission
the
Savannah River Dam which was built to support commercial shipping 16
years
ago. As reports the Augusta Chronicle (6/10), the dam no longer serves
its
intended purpose, so the Savannah River will be lowered six feet by the
decommissioning of the New Savannah Bluff Lock and Dam. Augusta Port
Authority member Rick Toole says the decommissioning would be “disastrous
for Augusta,” because the riverwalk would then be overlooking dry ground.
The dam currently creates a reservoir and a pool along the riverwalk.
However, there is no sponsor willing to take over the site, since the
city
of Augusta, the city of North Augusta and the Augusta Port Authority “all
have declined to become a cost-sharing owner.” Maintenance and operation
of
the reclaimed site would cost too much, they claim. As reports the
Chronicle
“the federal Water Resources Development Act requires projects that no
longer meet their authorized uses be abandoned or transferred to new
owners
who would own the sites and share future costs.”

     *     *     *

WESTERN WATERS: Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt this week said that “the
nation must restore the health of rivers that were dried up to provide
water
for farms and cities over the past century.” As reports the Denver Rocky
Mountain News (6/10), Babbitt believes dismantling some dams might be an
option for improving rivers, though he “stopped short of calling for the
destruction of major dams as advocated by some environmental groups.” He
also emphasized the need for public consensus before dams are removed.
Many
western cities now depend on reservoirs created by dams for their water
supply, but Babbitt said future cities will rely on underground storage.

     *     *     *

SAVANNAH RIVER: Strengthening the presence of the redhorse sucker in the
Savannah river in Georgia is its best chance of survival, say scientists.
As
reports the USA Today (6/7), sedimentation from developments virtually
wiped
out the fish, and though it is surviving in the Oconee River, it is not
reproducing well. The “smaller fluctuations and clean, oxygenated rapids
with lots of gravel on the bottom” of the Savannah river offer a much
better
breeding environment for the fish.

     *     *     *

STREAMBANK EROSION: In an effort to prevent streambank erosion on the Big
Wind River in Wyoming, a ranch moved 4,000 cubic yards of gravel from the
river at two locations over the winter. Disturbing about a half-mile of
riverbed, the action is illegal and prompted the U.S. Army Corps of
Engineers to cite the ranch. Moving material out of the river and against
the banks is strictly prohibited without a permit, says the Corps. 
Removing
the rock is not prohibited, but placing it elsewhere in the river, rather
than hauling it away, is, reports the Billings Gazette (6/7). The ranch
has
retained an engineer to determine how to stabilize the disrupted
riverbed.

     *     *     *

MISSISSIPPI RIVER: Annual flooding on the Mississippi river is viewed as
a
good thing by environmentalists and wildlife. As reports the Memphis
Commercial Appeal (6/8), after a flood “millions of newly spawned white
bass
feed on plankton and find refuge from bigger fish. Sandpipers and other
shore birds settle down on the vast, open shallows for a migration rest
stop, gorging on crustaceans and watching for predators.” Local citizens
are
not as thrilled by the natural activity of the river, however, and are
looking for approval of a $65 million Corps of Engineers project that
will
control flooding in the New Madrid Floodway and the adjacent St. Johns
Bayou
basin. The proposal, that would include two pumping stations and the
enlargement of channels in the bayou basin, would also cause loss of
nearly
200 acres of wetlands and habitat areas. The Corps would reforest
9,500-plus
acres outside the project area to compensate for this loss. The Fish and
Wildlife Service estimates that “the alterations would mean 36,000 acres
of
wetlands no longer would be seasonally inundated by backwater flooding,”
reducing fish spawning and rearing habitat by 93%.

     *     *     *

APALACHICOLA RIVER: For 41 years the US Corps of Engineers has been
dredging
the Apalachicola River in Florida to allow for the operation of a limited
number of barges that carry fertilizers, fuel, asphalt and other cargo up
to
Georgia and Alabama. State scientists say that the environmental damage
from
the dredging has reached a crisis point, and destroys as much as 25 miles
of
productive river. As reports the St. Petersburg Times (6/8), the state is
now proposing “the most restrictive environmental permit in the dredging
project's history and is asking the Corps, among other things, to
consider
putting the dredged sand somewhere else.” The Apalachicola River system
is
an impressive ecosystem, with “forested ravines, rare trees and
mysterious,
ancient swamps.” It also fuels the marine system of Apalachicola Bay,
home
to 90 percent of Florida's yearly oyster harvest. One of the highest
densities of amphibians and reptiles in North American lives in the upper
part of the Apalachicola basin. However, only an act of Congress can stop
the dredging altogether, so the Department of Natural Resources is
pushing
to Corps to restore some of the damaged areas.

     *     *     *

WISCONSIN CREEKS: The Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources has
identified two creeks in northeastern Ozaukee County that are regularly
sending soil, sediment, and pollution into Lake Michigan. After each
rainstorm, Sauk and Sucker creeks are the recipients of soil from plowed
fields and construction sites, which smothers plants, aquatic insects and
fish eggs in the streambeds. A proposed county ordinance would require
property owners to plant vegetation along both sides of the streams,
though
the Land Conservation Committee has postponed that action until later
this
year. The DNR report also recommends an inventory be carried out of fish,
mussels, insects and other aquatic life in all tributaries to Sucker
Creek
and the three main streams feeding Sauk Creek, reports the Milwaukee
Journal
Sentinel (6/5).

     *     *     *

CLARKS FORK: The Clarks Fork of the Yellowstone River will not be
threatened
by proposed logging, thanks to a ruling by the U.S. Forest Service in
favor
of environmentalists that appealed a planned Shoshone National Forest
timber
sale, reports the Omaha World-Herald (6/8). Arguing that the
environmental
study behind the timber sale study was faulty, the Wyoming Outdoor
Council,
American Wildlands and the Alliance for the Wild Rockies claimed that
logging the 140 acres above the Clarks Fork of the Yellowstone River
would
threaten the federally designated wild and scenic river, as well as
destroy
rare plants and habitat for endangered wildlife.

     *     *     *

MINING: The Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources
(DCNR) Secretary announced this week an $18,500 Keystone Rivers
Conservation
Grant to “help eliminate acid mine drainage flowing into Babb Creek,
Tioga
County.” The Pennsylvania Environmental Defense Foundation Inc. will use
the
grant to develop systems to treat polluted discharge from two abandoned
coal
mines. Babb Creek, a major tributary of Pine Creek, is a primary victim
of
the polluted discharge. Pennsylvania has more than 1,200 strip mines that
cause the state’s single worst water pollution problem.

     *     *     *

RUNOFF: The Delaware State House of Representatives this week approved
legislation that would “create a permanent panel which would draft and
enforce rules curbing harmful runoff from farms and poultry houses into
Delaware's waterways.” As reports the Dover Delaware State News (6/10),
the
bill would authorize a newly created commission which would regulate
fertilizer use and storage by July 1, 2000. The House approved the
measure
on June 8 and Governor Carper is expected to sign the bill.

     *     *     *

TIMBER: Washington Governor Gary Locke this week signed two bills,
cementing
a 50-year old deal that would restore state salmon runs while “still
protecting loggers' livelihood." As reports the Tacoma News Tribune
(6/8),
the timber industry has agreed not to take trees along salmon streams in
exchange for an $8 million a year tax break. Some environmentalists fear
the
deal is a sellout and will allow timber companies to cut trees too close
to
streams.

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