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NFC: Fw: [currents] RiverCurrents for the Week of November 12, 1999
Welcome to RiverCurrents, a weekly summary of the river-related news
occuring across the United States. This service is provided by American
Rivers. Comments and suggestions should be sent to Julie Walker at
jlowe at amrivers_org. To be removed from this list, please respond to this
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Enjoy the news, and we look forward to your feedback!
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River News for the Week of November 12, 1999
RIVERS OF LEWIS AND CLARK: American Rivers this week announced a campaign
to
revitalize the Columbia and Snake Rivers by 2005, the bicentennial of
Lewis
and Clark's historic voyage. The national river conservation
organization's
two-year-old Voyage of Recovery (sm) Campaign to restore portions of the
Missouri River has restored more than 10,000 acres of wildlife habitat.
To
recover portions of the Columbia and Snake Rivers, American Rivers will
restore wildlife habitat along the Lower Columbia River, help communities
build greenways and trails, reform the operation of public and private
dams,
and protect the Columbia River's Hanford Reach. American Rivers' campaign
on
the Columbia and Snake Rivers will include field staff, a monthly
newspaper,
educational materials, a Lewis and Clark trail guide, a Rivers of Lewis
and
Clark web site, and a traveling exhibit. (American Rivers press release
11/9)
* * *
DAM REMOVAL: BEST OF 1999: The Kennebec Coalition announced this week
that
the decommissioning of Edwards Dam has received a 1999 Popular Science
"Best
of What's New" Award. The dam's removal was completed in October and came
as
the result of a precedent-setting 1997 decision by the Federal Energy
Regulatory Commission (FERC) that found the environmental benefits of dam
removal outweighed the economic benefits of re-licensing the dam. The
world's largest science and technology magazine, Popular Science features
its award winners in a special 26-page special editorial section of its
December 1999 issue that hit newsstands over the weekend. This year marks
the 12th anniversary of the awards program which annually recognizes 100
"Best of What's New" award recipients selected by the magazine's editors
from thousands of new products, technology developments and scientific
achievements. To vote for the Edwards Dam Removal project in the Popular
Science Reader's Choice Awards, please see:
<http://www.popsci.com/features/bown/bown99/vote.html> (American Rivers
press release 11/9)
* * *
COLUMBIA RIVER: President Clinton has announced a major expansion of the
Saddle Mountain National Wildlife Refuge to include critical lands
surrounding the Columbia River's Hanford Reach, the last free flowing
stretch of the Columbia River in the United States. The 51-mile stretch
of
river runs through the Department of Energy's Hanford Nuclear Reservation
and provides a migration corridor and critical spawning habitat for fall
chinook salmon. President Clinton's announcement transfers management of
57,000 acres of the Wahluke Slope to the US Fish and Wildlife Service.
Protecting the fragile lands of the Wahluke Slope is essential to
safeguard
the spawning grounds in the Hanford Reach for chinook salmon, according
to
American Rivers' president, Rebecca Wodder. An outstanding example of a
shrub-steppe ecosystem, the Wahluke Slope provides habitat for numerous
native plants and animals, including almost 200 species of birds. More
than
150 Native American archaeological sites have been discovered along the
shoreline. (American Rivers press release 11/5)
* * *
DAM REMOVAL: The utility Pacific Gas and Electric Co. has agreed to
remove
five small dams on Battle Creek in California, and to open 42 miles of
this
tributary to the Sacramento River in the effort to protect endangered
fish.
As reports the San Diego Union-Tribune (11/7), the $50.7 million project
will provide Chinook salmon and steelhead trout an easier and safer route
to
spawn in Battle Creek. The project is considered the largest removal of
existing dams in California's history, and was developed in cooperation
between ranchers, fish advocates and Pacific Gas and Electric. Fishery
experts consider the Battle Creek effort to be the best and perhaps only
chance to truly revive wild salmon and steelhead in the area. The $27.2
million cost of the project will be covered by state and federal
agencies.
* * *
EEL RIVER: A report released recently by the EPA indicates that poorly
built
and maintained unpaved roads are the single largest contributor of
human-induced sediment in the Eel River in California. Blamed for as much
sediment entering streams as logging roads, rural residential roads are
largely unregulated and their condition deteriorates as the years pass.
Conditions on logging roads continue to improve due to improved state
standards governing their construction. As reports the Press Democrat
(11/8), along an area on the south fork of the Eel river, "the volume of
sediment flowing into streams feeding the river was nearly twice that of
other areas where industrial-type logging operations occur." The EPA also
recognizes the river sediment problems caused by seismic activity and
naturally caused landslides in the area, which represents one of the
world's
most geologically unstable regions.
* * *
CHESAPEAKE BAY: Inspite of Maryland's effort to restore the Chesapeake
Bay
through a $200 million project paying farmers to plant trees and grasses
along area waterways, the project is falling short of its goal by more
than
half. As reports the Baltimore Sun (11/12), only 13,000 acres were put
into
the program by farmers in 1997, out of a goal of 100,000. The state
Department of Natural Resources is expecting only another 43,000 acres to
be
put into the program by the end of the five year project. Some say that
the
number of groups involved in the effort complicates the process -- eight
state and three federal agencies, five environmental groups, and four
individual landowners are involved.
* * *
NORTHWEST SALMON PROTECTION: $25 million a year was approved by the House
this week through a bill passed to keep salmon and other fish out of
farmers' irrigation systems in five states. As reports the AP (11/10),
the
federal government would pay "65 percent of the cost of screens and other
devices that local officials would voluntarily build along streams in
California, Oregon, Washington, Idaho and Montana." The other 35 percent
of
the cost would be contributed by farmers and local officials. Funds are
authorized for the project from 2001 through 2005.
* * *
MAINE SALMON: The Maine Atlantic Salmon Commission is recommending the
closure of all Maine rivers to fishing for sea-run Atlantic salmon, and
will
conduct hearings on the proposal Nov. 17 in Bangor and Nov. 18 in
Machias,
Maine. The proposal takes place as federal fish agencies prepare their
proposal to list the salmon in eight state rivers under the Endangered
Species Act, reports the Bangor Daily News (11/8). The number of salmon
in
Maine's rivers is so low that even the catch and release program that has
been in place since 1997 is hurting the species. As reports the Bangor
Daily
News, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the National Marine
Fisheries
Service "believe the fish in the eight rivers are a distinct population
and
contain enough genetic material to make them the last wild Atlantic
salmon
in the United States."
* * *
RIO GRANDE SILVERY MINNOW: The Rio Grande Silvery Minnow has taken a
"nosedive toward extinction" as evidenced by fish surveys last month. As
reports the Albuquerque Journal (11/11), "biologists are planning to meet
in
the coming weeks to come up with a plan to save the minnow from following
about half the Rio Grande's native fish species into oblivion."
Restoration
efforts under consideration include collecting and moving minnows
upstream,
building fish ladders past dams, and perhaps constuction of a hatchery
to
keep the species alive. Unfortunately, one of the highest populations of
the
minnow is near the headwaters of the Elephant Butte Reservoir, where they
are especially vulnerable when that stretch runs dry, or higher lake
levels
allow predators access to the minnows. Survival of the species is
important
since it acts as an indicator of how poor the health of the Rio Grande
ecosystem is.
--------------------
For more news, please see the American Rivers website at www.amrivers.org