Calling all river-lovers and map enthusiasts! A new web project called River Runner, created by data analyst Sam Learner, allows you to follow the path of a raindrop anywhere in the contiguous United States. Using data from the United States Geological Survey, Learner mapped the flow of water throughout all 48 adjoining states. Just click on any spot on the map to create your raindrop and watch it flow downstream.

We are excited about this tool because it provides you with a bird’s eye view of the river and its surroundings. Landmarks such as lakes and major mountains are marked, and the degree of detail and vertical distance from the river is flexible, which means you control the detail. Depending on where you begin your journey, you can start on an unnamed stream or a small river, or you might jump right on to the path of a major river.

Here are some trips we suggest trying out:

Follow the Colorado River

As you trace the path of the Colorado, you’ll notice many of the country’s famous natural wonders. The River Runner website shows the river’s nearby topography, and you’ll see it flow alongside mountains, mesas, and canyon walls. Look down on the river flowing through the Grand Canyon or farther north, and you’ll see it flow through other National Parks, including Rocky Mountain and Canyonlands.

As you watch its course, keep in mind that even a grand river has its limits. Demand for the Colorado River’s water is exceeding its supply. Seven different states rely on water from the Colorado, but its usage is unsustainable. While watching it flow virtually, consider how essential it is that we take measures to ensure it does not dry up.

Follow the Snake River

Using River Runner you’ll encounter the Snake River, a tributary of the Columbia River, predominantly in Idaho, but also in Wyoming, Oregon, and Washington.

Along the Snake River, you’ll notice several dams. These include the Little Goose and Ice Harbor Dams. While the river continues to flow through them, unfortunately migratory fish face each of the dams as a barrier, preventing them from moving freely to their natural spawning grounds. A high proportion of juvenile salmon are killed in their attempts to swim downstream. As you follow the Snake River’s path, consider the benefits of making this a truly free-flowing river.

Follow the Mississippi River

You can start your path on the lengthy Mississippi from an incredible number of places, as it flows through ten states and drains 41 percent of the continental U.S. In fact, if you’re in the mood to explore, you’ll notice that to follow the Mississippi’s route downstream, you don’t need to start all that close to the river itself. Waterways as far away as Montana and Pennsylvania will ultimately drain into the Gulf of Mexico via the Mississippi.

While watching the Mississippi’s path, think about the changes the river has undergone over its history. Throughout the 1900s, wetlands and other floodplain ecosystems were drained and cut off from the river. This immensely degraded the habitat of native species and made flooding far more dangerous. Restoring the river’s natural floodplains is crucial moving forward.

These are just a few examples of the literally thousands of possible water sources you can start with. What the website makes abundantly clear is the extent to which our waterways are linked, demonstrating that the problems facing one body of water will seldom remain exclusive to it. This impact was intentional.

 Learner explained, “What I really hope people take away from the tool, besides a fun visual experience, is just how interconnected our waterways are, and the implications of that in terms of pollutants, agriculture, or water use.”

We encourage you to try out the tool, and whether you want to see where the water in your own backyard goes, want to trace the banks of mighty rivers, or even seek to develop conservation strategies, we know you will learn something about how water runs through the country.

This blog was written by Ted Illston and Brian Graber.

The impacts of climate change — felt first and hardest on rivers and water resources in the form of floods and droughts — threaten fragile ecosystems, public health and safety, cultural heritage, our economy and our future. It’s why restoring healthy, free-flowing rivers must be a top priority for Congress and the Biden administration. It’s also why we must chart a smart course for hydropower: a source of energy that may be low-emission but often comes with a high price for river health. 

Today, our efforts to ensure a future of healthy rivers and climate resilience took a major step forward. 

Representative Annie Kuster (NH-02) introduced legislation that advances the environmental, safety, and economic benefits of healthy rivers and charts a course for hydropower in our nation’s future. The bill, which provides $24.8 billion in spending over 5 years, is designed to accelerate the rehabilitation, retrofit, or removal of the nation’s more than 90,000 dams. Rep. Kuster was joined by Representatives Don Young (AK-AL), Kim Schrier M.D. (WA-08), Julia Brownley (CA-26), Jared Huffman (CA-02), Debbie Dingell (MI-12), Emanuel Cleaver (MO-05), Nanette Diaz Barragán (CA-44), and Bonnie Watson Coleman (NJ-12) in introducing this legislation today. Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) will introduce companion legislation in the Senate later this month. 

This bill is urgent and timely, as Congress and the Biden administration consider national infrastructure legislation. Dams are a major component of our nation’s infrastructure – and many are outdated and unsafe. The American Society of Civil Engineers gave dams a “D” grade on its report card on America’s infrastructure. The failure of Michigan’s Edenville Dam last year, and the spillway breach at California’s Oroville Dam in 2017, raised the alarm about the safety of dams in the U.S. An element of the legislation is critical investment to protect the public from the ticking time bombs of unsafe dams. 

American Rivers played a key role in crafting the legislation, with vital partnership from organizations including the Association of State Dam Safety Officials, American Whitewater, Trout Unlimited, The Nature Conservancy, Hydropower Reform Coalition, Low-Impact Hydropower Institute, National Hydropower Association, and others. 

If enacted, the bill – which is not focused on any particular U.S. dam, river or region – would restore more than 10,000 miles of rivers by enhancing their climate resilience through the rehabilitation or removal of hundreds of the nation’s most hazardous dams. The legislation would also secure the nation’s existing hydropower dams by improving their performance, resilience, and safety. Additionally, it would provide a significant investment in existing federal dams to enhance environmental performance and improve dam safety. Collectively, these efforts will support or create approximately 500,000 jobs. 

Key elements of the legislation include: 

• Increase federal financial assistance to improve dam safety – $9.75 billion total over 5 years. 

• Leverage the federal tax code to incentivize investments in dam safety, environmental improvements, grid flexibility and availability, and dam removal – $4.71 billion for a 30% Tax Credit. 

• Create a public source of climate resilience and conservation funding for removal of dams that have reached the end of their useful life – $7.5 billion over 5 years. (Because federal hydropower dam removals require individual negotiations and usually Congressional authorization, they are excluded from this bill’s dam removal funding, but all other dams are eligible.) 

• Invest in existing federal dams and relevant research programs to accelerate decarbonization, increase renewable power generation, enhance environmental performance, improve dam safety, leverage innovative technologies, and evaluate disposition – $12 billion over 5 years (combination of $11 billion for dam-owning federal agencies and $1 billion for research). 

American Rivers and our partners crafted the legislation as a complete package, and it is essential that these pieces remain whole and connected as the bill moves through Congress. 

Since 1912, more than 1,700 dams have been removed nationwide, restoring thousands of miles of rivers. The river restoration movement in the U.S. is stronger than ever, yet there is simply not enough funding to advance all of the projects that are needed for public safety and river restoration. With this legislation, we’re poised to supercharge dam removal – taking river restoration to the next level, with a multitude of benefits for communities nationwide. We’re also acknowledging there is a role for hydropower in our energy future, as long as we balance smart hydro with our need for healthy, free-flowing rivers.  

It’s also important to note that American Rivers is unwavering in our support and advocacy for a critical river restoration effort that is not included in this legislation – the effort to remove the four dams on the lower Snake River in the Pacific Northwest, to save endangered salmon and orca. American Rivers views the Twenty-First Century Dams Act, and the effort to restore the Snake River – which we named America’s Most Endangered River® of 2021 — as top priorities and both must move forward.  

We urge you to contact your elected officials and urge them to support both of these vital river restoration efforts. 

Hydropower and salmon in the Pacific Northwest have had a long, if not occasionally rocky, relationship. The argument over the four lower Snake River dams and salmon recovery seems to be the one that’s always still there the next morning.

There are currently 31 federal hydroelectric dam projects in the Columbia River Basin. Together these 31 dams make up the Federal Columbia River Power System (FCRPS). The Bonneville Power Administration, the agency created to market and transmit power generated by the FCRPS, says hydropower generates about half of the Northwest’s energy.

The four federal dams on the lower Snake River in eastern Washington—Ice Harbor, Lower Monumental, Little Goose and Lower Granite—are part of the FCRPS. For decades, Tribes, conservationists, sportsmen and others have argued the lower Snake River dams pose too great a risk for the long-term survival of Snake River salmon and steelhead. Others have argued the dams are too important to consider removal. Numbers vary annually, but on average these four dams supply about 4 percent of the Northwest’s electricity supply (approx. 1000 average megawatts, or aMW).

Any argument that starts with “all dams are bad” isn’t any more defensible than one that starts with “all dams are good.” Federal dams, like any public infrastructure, should be evaluated based on their overall benefit against overall costs over time. Numbers being numbers, there are obviously disparities among Northwesterners between what constitutes value and what constitutes cost. The best we can do in evaluating the lower Snake River dams is to compare cost and value as we see them using the best available information.

Likewise, any argument that says “replacing the 1000aMW from the lower Snake River dams is no big deal” isn’t a serious one. The argument that says “we can do it, affordably, with clean and renewable electricity we have now,” however, is. In the last 20 years, more than 2,500 aMW from wind, solar, geothermal and biomass has come online in the Northwest, with another 1,500 aMW under construction. A 2018 study shows that a balanced portfolio of clean, renewable energy can place the power produced at the four dams without a loss in the system’s reliability. What’s more, ever-increasing energy efficiencies and conservation are reducing demand significantly. Different analyses have the cost of replacing the electricity production of the lower Snake dams with clean renewables would cost ratepayers on average about an additional dollar a month. Many argue that such an approach is an opportunity to modernize the grid in the Pacific Northwest and create new jobs and growing tax bases across the region.

Operational costs at the four lower Snake dams, built between 1955 and 1975, are hard to estimate. The US Army Corps of Engineers, which operates the dams, announced a $58 million project in 2016 to upgrade two of the six turbines at Ice Harbor, acknowledging that the dam’s 1961-vintage turbines are about worn out. These are aging dams and like any other infrastructure, are not expected to last forever. They are at the point where they need significant investments to maintain them. Over the past 30 years the federal government and Northwest ratepayers have made massive investments in salmon recovery in the Columbia-Snake Basin totaling more than $17 billion, and the costs of ongoing efforts to get and keep operations at the aging dams in compliance with statutes like the Clean Water Act and Endangered Species Act continue to rise.

At American Rivers, we believe that any plan to remove the four lower Snake River dams must include an equitable and robust economic transition plan for affected communities. A key component of our regional dialogue must include the feasibility of replacing the dams’ services with alternative methods of transportation, energy, and water delivery.

Studies show that power from the lower Snake dams can be replaced by new renewable resources like wind and solar with little or no increase in rates or greenhouse gas emissions. Given green energy mandates in the region and the early retirement of coal plants, developing an energy transition plan that supports reliable and low cost energy and that is also equitable is needed. Developing wind and solar replacements for the dams on the lower Snake River will provide jobs, as well as increased reliability and flexibility for the Pacific Northwest energy system.

Inland Northwest farmers feed our nation — and the world. Generations of families have dry land farmed the rolling hills of the Palouse, and Washington continues to be one of the nation’s leading wheat-exporting states. Dry land winter wheat was a natural fit for the semi-arid climate and soils of the Palouse. By the 1930s, Inland Northwest wheat was big business, with ready markets in Asia, but suffered a competitive disadvantage having to move its crop overland to ports in Seattle and Portland by rail. Other wheat-producing regions could move more volume cheaply by barge. The mighty lower Snake and Columbia rivers right there in the front yard were still untamed—too treacherous yet for barge traffic.

Between 1938 and 1975, river transportation arrived. A series of eight federal hydroelectric dams equipped with navigational locks—four on the mainstem Columbia and four on the lower Snake—created a 465-mile barging corridor and made Lewiston, Idaho, the furthest inland port on the West Coast of the United States. Millions of tons of Inland Northwest wheat still make the journey to port on barges every year.

America’s bold bet on barging and hydropower on the Columbia and Snake—and the massive commitment to infrastructure and technology it required—changed the Northwest. We know now that along with the benefits came an enormous cost. Already declining salmon and steelhead runs in the Snake and Columbia—once the world’s greatest—nosedived when the four lower Snake dams came online in the 1970s. Northwest tribes lost ancestral homelands and the salmon our treaties agree they can catch, are being wiped out. Entire economies driven or supported by fishing suffered or dried up altogether.

The 20th century was when we tamed mighty rivers for transportation and energy. Our challenge for the 21st century is to repair this system so salmon, wildlife, and recreation on the lower Snake River can coexist with new energy technology and continued farming. This is a region that can tackle big challenges and achieve them.

American Rivers supports major, job creating investments in transportation infrastructure, technology and efficiency that make moving soft white wheat and other crops and commodities from the Inland Northwest to market better, faster, and more reliable. Crops such as apples, alfalfa, grapes, onions, potatoes, and sugar beets are grown with irrigation water from the reservoir behind Ice Harbor Dam, the lowermost dam on the Snake River near Pacso, WA. Infrastructure upgrades that extend pipes to reach the new river level, add pumps, and deepen wells will allow irrigation to continue along the lower Snake River.

American Rivers envisions a free-flowing lower Snake River, a future of healthy, harvestable wild salmon and steelhead that honors commitments to Native American tribes, renewed fishing economies and vibrant agriculture that helps feed the world.

Salmon and orca are facing extinction as dams block river habitat and climate change heats up Northwest streams. That’s why the Salmon and Orca Summit on July 7 and 8, hosted by the Nez Perce Tribe and the Affiliated Tribes of Northwest Indians, is so timely. The summit, which will take place on the traditional homelands of the Squaxin Island Tribe, represents hope, opportunity, and a chance for real solutions.  

The tribes are providing the leadership our region needs right now. Let’s celebrate all that salmon and orca mean to us and seize this moment. 

In May, the Affiliated Tribes of Northwest Indians passed a resolution “calling on the President of the United States and the 117th Congress to seize the once-in-a-lifetime congressional opportunity to invest in salmon and river restoration in the Pacific Northwest, charting a stronger, better future for the Northwest, and bringing long-ignored tribal justice to our peoples and homelands. The fate of our Tribes and the Northwest salmon are intertwined.”  

American Rivers stands with these 57 tribes in their call to action. We named the Lower Snake River America’s Most Endangered River® of 2021 because no river is in more need of bold, urgent action. We need federal investment this year in a plan that includes the removal of the four dams on the lower Snake to restore the free-flowing river that salmon need. The plan must include infrastructure investments to replace the dams’ services. A well-crafted, comprehensive solution would not only benefit the Northwest, but the nation as a whole by restoring salmon runs, bolstering clean energy and strengthening the economy of one of the most dynamic regions in the country. 

We look forward to listening and learning from the native leaders at the summit. It is a historic government-to-government moment in the movement for Indigenous sovereignty and treaty and human rights. Please join us in thanking the leaders participating in the summit. Together, we can save salmon, deliver justice, and invest in the Northwest.    

You can watch a live-stream of the summit on the Nez Perce Tribe’s Facebook page. 

On June 17, 2021, the American Council of Engineering Companies (ACEC) honored the Patapsco Interceptor Relocation and Bloede Dam Removal, Catonsville, Maryland, at its 2021 Engineering Excellence Awards. This is a national juried competition that evaluates projects from around the world on their excellence in technical savvy, innovation and overall social impact. Projects are rated on the basis of: uniqueness and/or innovative application of new or existing techniques; future value to, and enhancing public awareness/enthusiasm for the engineering profession; social, economic, and sustainable development considerations; complexity; and successful fulfillment of client/owner’s needs, including schedule and budget. Earlier this year, the project was awarded the Grand Prize by the ACEC Maryland Chapter.

American Rivers managed this complex dam removal project in Patapsco Valley State Park on behalf of the dam owner, Maryland Department of Natural Resources. The lead engineering firm was Inter-Fluve, Inc., with support from the firms Hazen & Sawyer (sewer line relocation engineer), Kiewit Corporation (construction firm), and KCI Technologies Inc. (construction management engineer). Removal of Bloede Dam was made possible through a partnership of American Rivers, the Maryland Department of Natural Resources, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the Friends of the Patapsco Valley State Park, as well as monitoring partners U.S. Geological Survey, Maryland Biological Stream Survey, Maryland Geological Survey and University of Maryland Baltimore County.

The century-old, 34-foot-high Bloede Dam on Maryland’s Patapsco River was safely demolished starting in September 2018, to restore the river to its natural state. The dam also had become a bane to the region’s health and safety as nine people had died there since the 1980s. The engineering achievement honored with this award highlights the passive release sediment management strategy for removal of 300,000 cubic yards of impounded dam sediment, and the relocation and installation of a new 42-in-diameter sanitary sewer line to replace an outdated cast-iron siphon that ran along the river’s edge. 

Removal of this dam is the linchpin of a larger effort to remove four mainstem dams on the Patapsco River aimed at restoring more than 65 miles of spawning habitat for blueback herring, alewife, American shad, hickory shad, and more than 183 miles for American eel, and improve the resiliency of the Patapsco River to a changing climate.

This project was funded with grants from Maryland Department of Natural Resources, Maryland State Highways, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (both through a grant administered by the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation as part of the Hurricane Sandy Coastal Resiliency Competitive Grant Program and through the Hurricane Sandy Disaster Relief Appropriations Act of 2013), Coca Cola Foundation and Keurig-Green Mountain.

As our collective understanding of the value of healthy watersheds has grown, so too has our appreciation of the critically important role of source water and intermittent streams — those that flow only part of the year — play in providing clean water, habitat and recreation. Across Oregon we have many examples of intermittent and headwater streams that may not flow year round, but provide a myriad of benefits to the larger landscape, watersheds and communities. 

If we want to preserve our clean water, recreation, and habitat, it is just as important to protect these streams as it is to protect better known rivers such as the Deschutes, the Owyhee, and the Rogue — in fact, many of these legendary rivers are fed by the vital intermittent headwater streams that come to life each season. These often ephemeral streams give life to the larger rivers and surrounding ecosystems and are increasingly important in the face of climate change. They are the capillaries of the circulatory system of a watershed that allow the river to fan out across the landscape and breathe, delivering life to every corner of Oregon.

More than 1.7 million people in Oregon receive drinking water from public drinking water systems that rely at least in part on intermittent, ephemeral, or headwater streams. According to the Environmental Protection Agency, in Oregon 16,029 total miles of streams provide water for surface water intakes supplying public drinking water systems; of this, 9,134 miles (57 percent) are intermittent, ephemeral, or headwater streams. 

For years, we’ve learned the hard way what can happen when we leave these streams unprotected. Hindsight being what it is, we now know it would have been easier to leave a river’s floodplain or wetlands connected to a river to help store floodwaters or recharge aquifers than to reconnect them decades later, for example. We used to remove all of the wood from rivers and streams thinking that the salmon could migrate more easily, but now we know the importance of woody debris in rivers to provide habitat and a shady sanctuary when temperatures rise. Each lesson provides a better understanding of the ways watersheds and rivers work — from top to bottom and side to side — and informs our own work to protect intact functionality before it’s compromised or lost. 

Headwaters sort, store and distribute vital nutrients downstream; whole communities of bugs, plants, fish and birds rely on nutrients that originate in headwater streams. They also filter out pollutants, excess silt and maintain water quality throughout a watershed. Even streams that run dry seasonally or intermittently — some 60 percent of all those in the US — are in themselves essential ecosystems that support entire biological communities based on the predictability they’ll run dry during certain times. Headwater streams represent essential migration corridors for spawning salmonids and all manner of wildlife.

Among their many vital roles, headwater streams are the frontline of defense for rivers against climate change. Many serve a dual role as the gatekeepers of vital groundwater — both as collection areas for recharge and as distributors of cold, clean groundwater and snowmelt that help keep temperatures livable for fish and so many others downstream dependent on it, not to mention freshwater for humans to drink and irrigate with. Nowhere is this function more important than in arid desert watersheds.

Headwater streams at upper reaches of watersheds come loaded with lessons about their critical function to the perennial streams and rivers they feed downstream. We’d be wise to protect headwaters now as there may be no do-overs on this one. Without headwaters, by definition, there is no river downstream. Damage or loss of headwater habitats echoes throughout the watershed and beyond.

Fortunately for Oregonians, Senators Wyden and Merkley have introduced the River Democracy Act, aimed at protecting more than 4,600 miles of new Wild and Scenic Rivers in the state, including many intermittent and headwater streams. This bill, informed by listening sessions in urban centers, remote communities and everywhere in between, aims to protect rivers and streams nominated by more than 15,000 Oregonians. The Wild and Scenic Rivers Act is one our nation’s best tools for safeguarding freshwater rivers and streams for future generations, and will ensure our rivers keep functioning as nature intended — including those that show themselves during certain seasons. Whether we can see them or not, these streams are working hard for all of us, and it’s time we get to work for them. 

Take action to thank Senators Wyden and Merkley for their leadership: https://ouroregonrivers.org/take-action/.

Learn more about two Headwater and Intermittent streams protected in the River Democracy Act:

1. Dry Creek, a tributary of the Owyhee River in southeast Oregon, courses through rarely seen combinations of rock and erosion patterns that have carved its long pools. Dry Creek’s unique geology and has allowed it to retain a genetically unique population of redband trout in an area where most neighboring redband populations have been compromised or lost. Dry Creek also provides outstanding wildlife habitat for sensitive species such as the Columbia spotted frog.
2. Rough and Ready Creek is a key tributary of the Illinois River in southwest Oregon. Originating in the Kalmiopsis Wilderness, Rough and Ready meanders down through the South Kalmiopsis Roadless Area in characteristic bends and braids. Its unique geology, natural diversity and gin-clear waters have combined over the ages to form a floodplain environment exceptionally rich in rare plant communities, earning Rough and Ready its reputation as a “botanical wonderland.”
3. Basin Creek is a headwater stream in the Joseph Creek watershed an important sub-watershed of the Grand Ronde River. Basin Creek is a cold water source that emerges on lands of the Nez Perce Tribe in Northeast Oregon before flowing through National Forest.  They refer to this area as the “Precious Lands” and Basin creek is a prime source of clean water important for salmon and steelhead. 

The Clean Water Act. Title VI of the Civil Rights Act. The Freedom of Information Act. Environmental laws in the United States are meant to protect the natural environment and create equitable and just outcomes for communities.

While the U.S. is a leader in environmental regulations and safety, there is a long history of Black and Indigenous communities and other communities of color systematically being denied such basic necessities as access to clean water and a healthy river. Low-income communities and communities of color disproportionately bear the negative environmental impacts stemming from the inequitable systems rooted in this country— impacts that are intensified by climate change. Those who are most affected by flooding, drought, extreme temperatures, and storms have the fewest resources to adapt due to a history of racist policies, a legacy of pollution and a disinvestment in basic infrastructure.

Addressing water inequities is a human rights and justice issue. But for the average citizen, environmental law is a vast and intimidating field. Seasoned attorneys can spend their entire careers learning to navigate and apply U.S. environmental laws and policies. How can communities that are most impacted by environmental injustice use existing laws and policy to address their need for clean water and a healthy environment?

American Rivers’ new report, “Water Justice Toolkit: A Guide to Address Environmental Inequities in Frontline Communities,” was developed to provide legal resources to support, encourage, and engage communities experiencing environmental injustice. This “toolkit” includes a set of six guides for local communities and organizations to either start or supplement their environmental justice efforts:

1. Clean & Safe Water Guide
2. Equitable Flood Risk Management Guide
3. Title VI Environmental Justice Complaints & Compliance Guide
4. Local Land Use Planning & Zoning Guide
5. Public Participation Guide
6. Community Science Guide

Each guide provides a basic overview of federal laws and policies. In addition to explaining legal avenues, the toolkit highlights numerous case studies where community organizers have implemented policy tools to address local environmental justice issues. Special thanks to our community partners for helping develop this report and sharing their stories, including the Intrenchment Creek Community Stewardship Council in Atlanta, GA, Coalition for the Delaware River Watershed, Lowcountry Alliance For Model Communities (LAMC) in Charleston, SC, Corazón Latino, Community Health and Empowerment through Education and Research (CHEER), The Waccamaw Indian People of South Carolina, and Freshwater Future in Toledo, OH and Flint, MI.

The Water Justice Toolkit was produced as part of the  Anthony A. Lapham Fellowship. This fellowship honors the memory of Anthony A. Lapham who served for many years on the board of American Rivers, including as its Chair. The goal of the Lapham Fellowship is to develop the next generation of skilled leaders who can promote practical environmental solutions that achieve measurable results for natural and human communities.

This document was developed with and for community organizers, neighborhood organizations, concerned residents and individuals, students and educators, and established environmental nonprofits. With time and the right resources, anyone can learn how to utilize environmental laws and policies to advocate for and address environmental justice concerns.

Environmental justice starts and ends with the community. It is our hope that the Water Justice Toolkit will provide both inspiration and guidance on how to apply laws and policies to address harms in local communities and watersheds. Feel free to download and share this free resource to support your ongoing efforts to ensure clean water and healthy rivers for all.

Even as much of Oregon has barely begun the recovery process from last year’s catastrophic wildfires, this year’s fire season has gotten off to an early and ominous start. The Pomina fire in drought-stricken Klamath County — started in mid-April — is yet another sign that wildfires all across the West are starting earlier, burning hotter across larger areas, and burning later into the year than ever before. As of writing this post, according to the Oregon Department of Forestry, 350 individual fires have already sparked across our state. 

In a recent Instagram post, Oregon Senator Ron Wyden wrote, “This fire season has the potential to be the most devastating in our nation’s history. The climate crisis is here, and we’re living it.” The threats are so severe that Senator Wyden and fellow Oregon Senator Jeff Merkley have already sent a letter to federal agencies pressing them to “ensure our state has the resources it needs to fight these fires and keep communities safe.”

Thankfully, Oregon’s senators have already been at work crafting legislation to bolster wildland firefighting and resources. In February, Senators Wyden and Merkley introduced federal legislation — the River Democracy Act — that will more than triple Oregon’s Wild and Scenic river miles and in doing so also strengthen wildfire preparedness statewide. On June 23, the U.S. Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources held a hearing on the bill, moving it one step closer to protecting more than 4,600 miles of Wild and Scenic rivers in Oregon. 

The River Democracy Act provides for stronger wildfire risk assessment and planning for homes and businesses near Wild and Scenic rivers, greater inter-agency coordination in fighting wildfire including with Native American Tribes, and more federal resources to repair wildfire damage to infrastructure, drinking water quality, and watersheds. The bill also provides $30,000,000 annually for Wild and Scenic Rivers that provide drinking water for downstream communities or those that have been degraded by catastrophic wildfire.

Most of us associate Wild and Scenic River designations with protecting the natural, recreational, cultural and ecological values of these waters — and we should. We should also understand the critical importance of national Wild and Scenic River designations as a tool to help us prepare and protect against an ever-increasing combined threat from catastrophic wildfire, warming climate, drought cycles and more people in harm’s way. Healthy, resilient rivers lead to healthy, resilient communities — and the importance of these life-giving rivers only becomes more vital in the face of climate change and fire seasons like the one we’re looking at this year.

But you don’t have to take my word for it. Over the next several weeks, we’ll be sharing guest posts from people who have been — and still are — on the front lines. 

Stay tuned and stay safe. 

The unused hydro dam stretched across the Watauga River in mountains of North Carolina, obstructing free river flow and movement of animals.  Today, it is gone. Today the river again flows freely, reconnecting with 140 miles of waterways. Today the Watauga is a better home for native brook trout, freshwater mussels, and hellbender salamanders.  Removing this dam resonates through the ecosystem, but why is this important? In a word, science.

Science helps us to understand our world with observations and questions. We recognize that removing dams and freeing rivers impacts animals and plants who live in and near the water and changes the shape of the river.  But how do we know? And why is it important? 

On the Watauga, with Appalachian State University, we study exactly those things before and after dam removal, looking at who lived in the river before and after removing the dam. Understanding how animals such as brook trout, tangerine darters, green floater mussels and hellbenders react after 80 years of separation will help us to better understand how free flowing rivers function.

We also look at how the shape of land and river changes after, once again, becoming free flowing. Rivers are dynamic places. Observing the Watauga before and after removing this dam helps us to understand the relationships between the flowing water, the moving earth and the nearby ever-changing terrestrial life. We see that reconnecting rivers allows waterways to absorb and disperse a wider range of rainfall. Studying the Watauga dam removal, among others, adds to our greater understanding of the link between removing dams, improved ecosystems and creating a more resilient world for all of us.

So, we know that reconnecting rivers creates a better environment, how do we find dams that need removing?

Science, the science of geography, helps us find these dams. This dam on the Watauga River was identified as a top priority for removal in the Southeast by the Southeast Aquatic Resources Partnership and “tier one, priority one” by the North Carolina Aquatic Barrier Assessment Tool. How? By digitally layering, ranking, and calculating data in a Geographic Information System.  Here is a little more detail.  Knowing where to focus our dam removal efforts is a critical tool to bring rivers back to life.   

Through time, science has advanced our technology. Most of the dams that obstruct waterways from North Carolina to Oregon to Pennsylvania to Minnesota no longer serve their intended purpose. What was cutting edge when this dam on the Watauga River was built – equipment using the movement of water to grind grain, cut wood and to provide power – is no longer functional, relevant, or safe.  We simply have found more efficient ways to do these things and know that a free-flowing river is the strongest base for healthy communities.

The science is clear, free rivers equal healthier wildlife, safer communities, improved climate resilience, a brighter future for all of us. How can we build on this impressive feat?

We are calling on congress to build on this science and remove exponentially more dams.  When President Biden took office earlier this year, American Rivers prepared a bold blueprint for action that calls on the administration to investment in rivers and clean water. One of the priorities in this blueprint is investing in a national dam removal initiative. Let’s work together to build our healthy, safe, resilient communities one free-flowing river at a time.

The multitude of studies and reports about the impacts of climate change on western water and the Colorado River Basin increasingly come to parallel, if not precisely the same, conclusions: the future will be warmer and drier, with less water. The studies also show that the process of warming and aridification is happening faster than anticipated.

In 2008, Science Magazine published a short article claiming that the concept of “stationarity” in water management was dead. Stationarity—a fundamental concept in water resource management and planning— is the “idea that natural systems fluctuate within an unchanging envelope of variability”. The envelope of variability, however, is definitely changing.

But this is a difficult principal to let go of. It loosens the moorings of decades of water supply thinking.

While many water managers and policy professionals agree that stationarity is no longer valid, I wonder how well they understand its full implications. Many still assess temperatures and precipitation today as compared to “normal”. That “normal” is based on the concept of stationarity.

A 2019 report by the Colorado River Research Group, Thinking About Risk in the Colorado River, emphasized the loss of stationarity and the growing likelihood of what are called “Black Swan” events. These are events that fall outside the scope of normal expectations and planning efforts, thereby inflicting an unexpected shock to the system. While the current southwestern drought, possibly a megadrought, could be called a Black Swan, it’s more likely to become the norm than to disappear.  

With the advent of increasing warming and aridification due to greenhouse gas emissions, any past certainty of droughts eventually breaking is now in question. We are in a time that climate scientists Brad Udall has labeled “The New Abnormal”.

 The Center for Colorado River Studies at Utah State University recently released a new white paper, Alternative Management Paradigms for the future of the Colorado and Green Rivers (White Paper #6). This study takes a look at the future of water supplies in the Colorado Basin, using science as opposed to aspirational politics. We covered the report in more detail in a series of blogs titled, “Colorado River Futures”, which includes an overview, a “changed river” edition, and a “climate and the river” edition.  

The study begins with the statement, “Our ability to sustainably manage the Colorado River is clearly in doubt”.

While we have responded to recent crises by developing new planning and management techniques, the report warns that “A gradual and incremental approach to adaptation… is unlikely to meet the challenges of the future.”

Simply put, we need to change how we think about the Colorado River and water supply in the southwest. The paradigms of the past no longer suffice.

The paper states “The Colorado River can be sustainably managed only if consumptive uses are matched to available supply. This will require Upper Basin limitations and substantially larger Lower Basin reductions than are currently envisaged.” The paper suggests that by capping Upper Basin use to 4 MAF or less and reducing Lower Basin use by 1.4 to 3 MAF critical storage levels in Lakes Powell and Mead might be maintained.

Across the basin, individual states are thinking about how they can address their climate and water supply challenges. Renegotiations of the 2007 Interim Guidelines are in their nascent stage.  This round of discussions will be different from 2007 as the rights of the 29 Native American tribes, along with those of the environment, will be at the table. The tribes hold as much as 20% of the Basin’s water rights, 2.9 MAF. That’s more than Arizona’s compact allotment and a right that has never been included in basin wide agreements. This more inclusive and collaborative approach to negotiations is essential to address the serious challenges that are facing all of us.   

Water conservation and evolving technologies will become increasingly important. But we need more than that. We also need to shift our perspectives, our ways of seeing and imagining water and rivers in the Colorado Basin.

I suggest that we think about water and rivers as Native Americans do, as sacred. Water IS life.

Whether or not we use water is not the question here, but our attitudes and how we use it are. Water should be used with respect, with reverence, with gratitude and within limits. You only take what you need, and never so much as to impair the integrity of the rivers and watersheds that supply us with that water.

We already have an idea of water as sacred codified in Colorado and Western water law in the concept of the Duty of Water.

The Water Rights Handbook for Colorado Conservation Professionals defines the Duty of Water as “The amount of water that through careful management and use, without wastage, is reasonably required to be applied to a tract of land for a length of time that is adequate to produce the maximum amount of crops that are ordinarily grown there.” If you don’t need the water, you have no right to it.

As irrigation technology and infrastructure improve, less water is required for transport and other “non-consumptive” uses. Less water is needed at the point of diversion and can be left in the river.

Seeing water as sacred also means that we must not regard it strictly as a commodity.

Water is a “natural resource” for our use and benefit, but water has worth far beyond base economics. This worth includes its spiritual, cultural and environmental value. While markets and economics do play a role in water supply management, seeing water solely as a tradeable commodity diminishes its true value.

We need to see and think of rivers and their watersheds as a whole and integrated system, rather than parceling them into separate disconnected “resource” and jurisdictional bins.

To do so, it is critical that we rely on the most up to date science. Science reveals the situation we are in, in all its complexity, uncertainty and without judgement. And we need to pair that modern science with the traditional knowledge that has guided water management for centuries. It is up to us to do the right thing, being clear-eyed and honest. If we hope to adapt and gain true resilience we need to change how we perceive, plan and use water.

It’s late spring and winter’s bounty is mostly melted. Moisture is making its way into and through the parched soils and transforming into the flows of the rivers many of you (us?) are dying to float. And, alas, because last year couldn’t be the year for many, this year, too, won’t be the year for many. Permits for favored rivers are increasingly hard to snatch, and COVID only added to the brooding desire to get outside and on the water. The odds can be deflating. On the Middle Fork of the Salmon River, 17,000 applicants battled for only 387 permits in 2020. On the highly sought after and impossible to pull Yampa, applicants have about a 2% chance of pulling a permit. With odds like these, who needs enemies?

Rather than spend too much time lamenting the very system that works to preserve the health and long-term sustainability of the rivers we long to float, we’ve schemed up some alternatives. While we know these are no multi-day floats down the Selway or the Green, they’re better than a poke in the eye with a sharp stick. Fortunately, there are still a number of floats that don’t require permits, and floating rivers is not the only way to enjoy them. So, here are a few alternatives for you to ponder, pursue and check out yourself:

GET ON THE RIVER:

• In northern New Mexico, the Rio Chama offers a family-friendly overnight, and some easy day-trips running laps on the section below the Wild and Scenic stretch.
• In southwest Colorado, the Upper Animas river is touted as one of the best Class IV-V runs in the region, and beyond. There are more than 100 rapids on this spectacular run through the Weminuche Wilderness. Not for the faint of float, the river drops nearly 85 feet per mile along this stretch.
• The Flaming Gorge in Utah is a permit-free float on the Green River below the Dam. Broken into three sections, the full float is 23 miles through spectacular canyons, on relatively mellow water that plentiful opportunities for fishing, hiking, camping and wildlife viewing.
• For a day at the park—the whitewater park—head to Montrose, CO where their recently completed Winter Sports Park offers places for kiddos to splash around, and six drop structures where expert kayakers can test and hone their skills.

RECREATE RIVERSIDE:

• Pack a picnic and find your perch in the network of parks and trails built around Clear Creek in Golden, CO. You can play in the water or around it, the trails are paved and are biker, runner, skateboarder friendly, and the water is clean.  
• Hike along the Verde River in the Mazatzal Wilderness in Arizona. There are numerous options, but the Verde River Trail offers a roughly 14-mile out-and-back that crosses the river in multiple places (take note). 
• Bike the 22-mile Colorado Riverfront Trail in Mesa County. Connecting the towns of Fruita, Grand Junction, and Palisade, the trail is tied at the hip to the river, and meanders through or around numerous parks, Wildlife Areas, Botanical Gardens and lakes. 
• Commit to a multi-day exploration of the Escalante River Canyon in southern Utah. Whether or not you decide to tackle the full 85-mile expedition, or to dabble in a shorter in-and-out hike, be prepared to wade through the river, and to be humbled by the deep geologic and human history on display in the canyon.

FOR THE RIVER:

• Give back: for as much as we enjoy rivers, our impact can be negative, and our ongoing ability to enjoy them will be dependent upon the ways we commit and contribute to their long-term health. To learn about opportunities near you, visit (or contribute to) our growing list of river clean-up opportunities and sign up to volunteer with National River Cleanup.

Finally, before we spend too much time cursing the permit system that has you in search of alternatives, take a moment to be grateful that these precious resources have some protection that can help usher their unbeatable existence into the next century (and hopefully beyond).