Summer has been hot already – heck, it’s July – it’s supposed to be hot!
But in my neck of the woods, it has been particularly smoky as well. As I sit here in my office in Durango, a campfire-like aroma permeates everything as the 416 fire, which started more than a month ago, continues to burn across more than 55,000 acres of forest, increasing daily. Thankfully, recent rains have helped stifle fire activity and this particular fire is no longer considered a threat.
Map of Colorado’s wildfires as of 7/11/2018, courtesy of The Denver Post. (Click to be directed to the map.)
Last winter, Colorado received only about two-thirds of the snowpack we normally get, especially in the Southwestern corner of the state, where both the Rio Grande and San Juan river basins had less than half what we normally receive. Less snow equals less spring and summer river flows, and the Animas through Durango is a perfect example. On the day of its peak runoff, the Animas had less than 25% of its normal flow through town, a river of sorrows for sure. Couple that with an extremely dry spring (La Plata County had less than one-sixth of its normal spring precipitation) and the formula for explosive wildfires was set. Over the course of the winter, conversations in the local post offices and watering holes about the statewide lack of snowpack resulting in an aggressive fire season were frequent – and it appears those fears are coming true. Now, maps of western Colorado are dotted by little flame symbols from the northwest corner of the state in Moffat County to south-central Colorado where the wildfire on La Veta pass is raging. Basalt has one, Silverthorne, Fairplay, Norwood, Dolores – this smoke will linger until the monsoons kick into gear (we hope…)
Here in Durango, the fire’s impact to the local economy was instantaneous, as the normal influx of tourists from across the country diverted their plans and went elsewhere. In the local fly fishing shop, Duranglers, reservations for guided trips is down considerably, and the rafting outfitters were cut off from the river for more than two weeks, curtailing one of the most productive periods of the year – runoff in the Upper Animas River. Hotel and supermarket parking lots have noticeably more spaces available than normal for this time of year, and it is pretty easy to get a seat in one of our fabulous local restaurants. With the amazing fire crews gaining more control over the blaze, town is bustling, the train is running, and other than the thick brown haze outside my office window, things are getting back to normal. But it was certainly tense around here for a while.
Rain dances only work so often, and there is no reliable way to make more snow in the winter, how we manage the water we do get is something that each of us can control. Earlier this year, we released a report called Do You Know Your Water, Colorado, which outlines how Colorado’s rivers, streams, and population are inherently tied together – from the western slope where roughly 80% of the state’s water falls from the sky as snow, forming a welcome snowpack, to the eastern slope where more than 80% of the population lives. We describe how water moves around the state, supporting both a thriving population base as well as a vibrant economy that includes outdoor recreation, farming and ranching, and a multitude of jobs all across the state. And as important as it is for each of us to do what we can to stretch our water supplies as far as we can, understanding how the system works is key to taking action on behalf of Colorado’s rivers. Check it out!
This year marks the 50th anniversary of the Wild and Scenic Rivers Act – a landmark law protecting outstanding, free-flowing rivers nationwide. As part of our celebration of this milestone, today we are releasing a new film, 5,000 Miles of Wild.
Combining stunning scenery with insightful commentary on the state of river conservation from Senator Tom Udall, Ted Roosevelt IV, American Rivers President Bob Irvin, Rio Grande Riverkeeper Jen Pelz, river guide Austin Alvarado and others, this film is a powerful call to action for protecting our country’s remaining wild rivers for future generations.
5000 Miles of Wild from American Rivers on Vimeo.
The film was shot earlier this year by filmmaker Ben Masters during a trip on the Wild and Scenic Rio Grande in Big Bend National Park. A New Yorker story, published in May, captures some “behind the scenes” of the film shoot and details the issues facing the river.
It was an honor to have Senator Udall from New Mexico with us on the trip. In the film, he talks about his his father Stewart Udall, who was Secretary of the Interior under President Johnson, and integral to creating the Wild and Scenic Rivers Act. Ted Roosevelt IV, whose great-grandfather was the 26th President of the United States, shares his perspective on our nation’s conservation history and advice for today’s river advocates.
We want this film to broaden awareness about the importance of protecting wild rivers, and spark positive action: viewers can visit www.5000miles.org to sign a petition supporting protection of 5,000 new miles of Wild and Scenic Rivers nationwide.
There are a million reasons why we need more Wild and Scenic Rivers. To see some examples, read through the personal stories shared on the 5,000 Miles of Wild site, then share your own.
“We need to be doing more, not less, to protect the rivers that give us clean drinking water, unsurpassed recreation opportunities, fish and wildlife habitat, and connections to culture and our shared heritage,” says David Moryc, Senior Director of River Protection for American Rivers.
“Together with our partners and supporters, we are advancing vision for the next 50 years of river protection in our country.”
The official anniversary of the Wild and Scenic Rivers Act is October 2, 2018.
This guest blog from Mike Davis is a part of our America’s Most Endangered Rivers® series on the Mississippi River Gorge.
“The channel was very crooked, winding about between reefs of solid rock, with an eight to ten mile current… he knew that the drift of a minute in that white water would pile us up on the next reef below… for the next six miles he turned and twisted among the reefs, under a full head of steam, which was necessary to give us steerageway in such a current.”
– From “Old Times on the Upper Mississippi” by George Merrick
Although this does not sound like a description of any river channel within the Twin Cites, Minnesota, it is.
Only a century ago, the reach of the Mississippi River downstream of St. Anthony Falls met this description. Depending on the season, a raging white-water torrent or a more docile rapids and riffle channel flowed around a dozen or more islands on the way to its confluence with the Minnesota River. Early explorers remarked often about the majesty of the falls, and were amazed by the huge numbers of eagles and other fish-eating birds that congregated in the gorge below to feed. This was no accident since the rapids below the falls was one of only three that existed upstream of St. Louis. With the falls blocking further upstream movements, the rapids area of the Mississippi’s only gorge was no doubt a destination for both migratory and resident rock-loving fish species. Although historic accounts lack detail, it is probable that this rapids was a critical spawning habitat for several large river fish species, such as sturgeon and paddlefish. Today the rapids are “lost” beneath the impoundment created by the Ford Dam.
Historically the Mississippi River between St. Anthony Falls and Lake Pepin (68 river miles) supported at least 43 species of native mussels. Native freshwater mussels have been integral players in river ecology for millions of years. Mussels feed on bacteria and fungi that they filter from the river water, stabilize the riverbed with their shells and provide attachment and habitat for other life ranging from algae to walleye. They are unique among the world’s mollusks in having a parasitic life stage using fish as temporary hosts. Numerous fascinating adaptations of females deliver larvae onto the fish species of choice.
Painting of the Mississippi Gorge | Minnesota Historical Society
Once so abundant that the river bottom was literally made of mussels, by 1900 water quality in this reach of the Mississippi River had declined enough to nearly eliminate them. Giant floating bogs of rotting sewage sucked the life-giving oxygen out of the water for decades. These degraded conditions continued until the 1970s when Congress passed, and President Nixon signed, the Clean Water Act. Water quality improved during the 1980s and 1990s with the separation of sanitary and storm sewers in the Twin Cities Metropolitan area and wastewater treatment was much improved.
Today, both native fish and mussels are again thriving in this reach of the river. However, 20 species of native mussels have yet to recolonize this improved habitat. In order for this to occur, host fish carrying mussel larvae must travel from a part of the river still supporting these species – travel greatly impeded by dams today.
With large river species of fish far below their reported historic abundances and with spawning rapids obliterated elsewhere on the Mississippi below the falls, restoration of these rapids and access to them by migrating fish would be an enormously important ecological achievement. A modern-day redemption for the uses conceived of at the close of the 1800s, but still with us today.
Below the Mississippi Gorge falls | BF Upton
Moreover, with the recent return of good water quality, restoration would create recreational and scenic opportunities not found in a large urban setting anywhere else in the U.S. Redemption of these rapids would create 2 to 300 acres of accessible riparian parklands and 15 miles or more of high quality shoreline angling opportunities.
Kayaking anyone?
You can help us Restore the Gorge! If you are in the area, attend a public meeting:
July 16th at 6PM at Mill City Commons, 704 Second St. S., Minneapolis, MN 55401
July 17th at 6PM at Highland Park Senior High School auditorium, 1015 Snelling Ave S, Saint Paul, MN 55116
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Author: Mike Davis
Mike Davis is a River Ecologist.
The story of Walnut Creek isn’t just about a river coming back to life — it’s about a community reclaiming its voice. Tiny and meandering, the creek flows through a cluster of urban neighborhoods in southeast Raleigh, North Carolina, before joining up with the Neuse River. Developed during segregation in the 1950s, southeast Raleigh was the city’s first planned neighborhood for African Americans. Racism made its mark in significant ways.
A flood of inequity
“The city had been dumping sewage into Walnut Creek — into a black neighborhood — for 60 or 70 years,” says Reverend Jemonde Taylor, of St. Ambrose Episcopal Church in southeast Raleigh. “There was no respect for the creek or for the residents. It was an unofficial dumping ground.”
Developers also neglected to tell new residents that they were moving into a floodplain. Every time a big storm hit, Walnut Creek became a massive torrent, swamping people’s homes and businesses with water.
Over the years, the city sidelined citizens’ requests for help and instead invested in affluent communities’ education, recreation and green spaces. Walnut Creek became like so many other urban rivers: eroded, polluted and littered. Without any reason to feel pride in Walnut Creek, citizens lost their connection to the stream altogether, seeing the overgrown and littered wetland as a nuisance. Some residents didn’t even know it was there. Over time, indignation toward the city hardened into distrust.
A spark of change ignited
In the late 1990s, a group of parishioners at the St. Ambrose Episcopal Church envisioned a way to bolster the community’s spirit: clean up Walnut Creek. Getting rid of tires and other litter created positive momentum and spurred conversation about how to solve other problems in the community.
The group organized and, for 15 years, advocated for the creation of a dedicated educational park, which opened in 2009. Just a mile from downtown, the 58-acre Walnut Creek Wetland Park provides wildlife habitat and flood relief to nearby homes. It’s also a hub where local people can learn about and connect with the environment in their own backyard.
Natural solutions and local voices
Southeast Raleigh’s spirit of activism had awoken, but flooding still plagued the community. Skeptical that the city would help, residents searched for alternative solutions. Reverend Taylor and other community members started talking with scientists at North Carolina State University, which sits upstream, and Peter Raabe, who leads American Rivers work in North Carolina.
Raabe saw an opportunity for American Rivers to help the community build on their progress and improve the health of the entire Walnut Creek watershed. For a year, he attended meetings and simply listened. When the idea for a rain garden arose, he saw his opening.
The beginning stages of the Walnut Creek Rain Garden | Peter Raabe
“American Rivers deeply believes that all people have a right to clean water and environments,” Raabe says. “It’s not our place to impose ideas and see what sticks. What we can do is amplify the voices to make change happen.”
American Rivers gave a $10,000 grant to kick start development of a rain garden at St. Ambrose Episcopal Church. A rain garden is a natural area of rocks, plants and soil that captures excess water in a depression. It is an inexpensive, natural way to filter out pollution, keep extra water out of overburdened storm pipes and add beauty to a community.
By leveraging the grant from American Rivers, St. Ambrose secured matching funds from the city of Raleigh, allowing the church to double the size of the rain garden. Throughout the whole process, the church community was heavily involved — choosing the location and participating in the design and construction. Completed in April 2017, the 550-square-foot rain garden captures rainwater from the parking lot and lets it soak into the ground rather than flooding.
“We designed it in the shape of an almond—which is a symbol of transformation to Christians,” says Taylor. “We are transforming Walnut Creek wetland from a place of environmental injustice and rewriting that narrative.”
Writing a new future, together
Reverend Taylor acknowledges that the community can’t “rain garden itself” out of decades of injustice.
But he finds hope in the fledgling relationships and collaboration with the city, university and other groups:
“There’s still mistrust, and rightfully so, but walls that were there between us are coming down. People are listening to our story and there’s traction. This would have been unimaginable 10 years ago. I’m grateful to American Rivers for the grant and opportunity to share our story — that sharing is where change can occur. We’re talking to each other, and that’s a good thing.”
Walnut Creek’s Rain Garden | Peter Raabe
Since the initial grant, American Rivers has supported other ways to engage local people around solutions. Raabe has directed grants for community focus groups to provide a forum for discussion and sharing. And recently, a local group called the Center for Human-Earth Restoration used an American Rivers grant to host a workshop for middle school and high school students to learn about rain gardens and other natural ways to manage flooding. The students presented what they learned to their parents, some of whom expressed interest in having rain gardens installed at their homes. To plan for the future, American Rivers is helping create a watershed map to show city planners how Raleigh’s population and building boom affect the historically marginalized communities living downstream.
“The community previously thought flooding was a condition it would have to live with,” Raabe says. “American Rivers has been proud to support solutions that are both respectful of this culturally rich community and that will turn Walnut Creek from a liability into something positive that local people can take pride in.”
This guest blog from Jo-Ellen Darcy, former Assistant Secretary of the Army (Civil Works) and American Rivers board member, is a part of our America’s Most Endangered Rivers® series on the Mississippi River Gorge.
American Rivers named the Mississippi River Gorge in Minnesota one of America’s Most Endangered Rivers® of 2018 because of the threat posed by outdated locks and dams. This is a critical year, as the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (Corps) is conducting a “disposition” study of locks and dams in the river. On a political landscape rife with conflict, these little-known studies are proving to be rare points of consensus between conservatives and environmentalists. What are they and why is the Corps conducting them across the nation?
What is a disposition study?
Disposition studies, authorized by Section 216 of the Flood Control Act of 1970, evaluate infrastructure owned by the United States and managed by the Corps. This study will answer one simple question— is the infrastructure still fulfilling its purpose? To find the answer to this question, the Corps focuses on a few things:
- Why was the infrastructure constructed? Congress authorizes each piece of federal infrastructure for a specific purpose or purposes, such as navigation, flood control and/or ecosystem restoration. The Corps looks back at that purpose(s) and evaluates the current need for the infrastructure.
- How much does the infrastructure cost to operate and maintain compared to the benefits it provides? The federal income tax pays for most federal infrastructure costs. So, the Corps evaluates the national impacts of the benefits and costs.
The answers to these questions will determine the value of the infrastructure to the nation. If the Corps finds the infrastructure is no longer valuable, then it will make a recommendation to dispose of the infrastructure. In most instances, Congress must act before the disposal can move forward.
What does infrastructure disposal look like?
Disposal does not necessarily lead to removal of the infrastructure. For example, a completed disposition study of five dams on the Green and Barren River in Kentucky recommended disposing of all five dams. Two of the dams will be transferred to local municipalities for water management, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has removed one dam in Mammoth Cave National Park, and removal of the remaining two dams will likely be completed through partnerships with local conservation organizations.
The disposal and dam removal projects on the Green and Barren Rivers are not complete. But their success is the result of a partnership forged between environmentalists and conservative state leaders. In an era of divisive politics, infrastructure disposal is a rare point of consensus between environmentalists and conservatives.
Conservatives support infrastructure disposal because it helps reduce federal spending on projects that might not be valuable to the nation anymore. Environmentalists support disposal because it provides an opportunity to remove environmentally damaging infrastructure, like dams. Truly a bi-partisan endeavor.
What is the status of the disposition study in the Mississippi River Gorge?
Aerial photo of Lock and Dam 1 at the Mississippi River Gorge. | Photo: USACE
On the Mississippi River in Minneapolis-St. Paul, the disposition study is now underway for Upper St. Anthony Falls Lock, Lower St. Anthony Falls Lock and Dam, and Lock and Dam 1. The Corps will examine the purpose, costs and benefits of the three locks and two dams in the Gorge. In mid-July, the Corps will host public meetings to gather input on the scope of the study. They will give an overview of the study process and listen to the community.
The Corps will release a draft report for public review in spring 2019. The report will recommend one of two options:
- Keep the locks and dams in Federal ownership. In this case, the Corps would continue to operate and maintain them. Under this option, additional studies will still be possible to consider alternate uses.
OR
- Dispose of the locks and dams by releasing them to another entity. If disposal is recommended, Congress must act to deauthorize them and provide direction on how they should be released.
As the Corps works to determine the future of the three locks and dams on the Mississippi, it is essential that they hear from the people in the community. There are several opportunities for public input. The best decisions are made when people are engaged in the process.
If you are in the area, attend a public meeting:
July 16th at 6PM at Mill City Commons, 704 Second St. S., Minneapolis, MN 55401
July 17th at 6PM at Highland Park Senior High School auditorium, 1015 Snelling Ave S, Saint Paul, MN 55116
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Author: Jo-Ellen Darcy
Jo-Ellen Darcy is a former Assistant Secretary of the Army (Civil Works) and American Rivers board member.
The Salmon-Challis National Forest in central Idaho, headwaters of the world-renowned Salmon River, is currently revising its forest plan. This process occurs just once every 20 years or so, making it incredibly important that the Forest gets it right. While getting a new Wild and Scenic river designated by Congress often takes upwards of 10 years, forest plan revisions have the potential to protect dozens of free-flowing rivers through the planning process – a once in a generation opportunity.
Part of the plan revision process is inventorying and protecting the remaining free-flowing streams on the Forest that qualify as “outstanding” under the Wild and Scenic Rivers Act. The Salmon-Challis National Forest has done a great job on its draft inventory, finding 69 streams totaling 708 miles to be free-flowing and possessing at least one outstanding value. But opposition groups are pressuring the Forest to protect far fewer streams, and in some cases none at all.
We need your help. Please send a comment to the Forest supporting the protection of all streams in the Salmon-Challis National Forest’s “Draft Wild and Scenic Eligibility Inventory.”
Comments on the Draft Eligibility Inventory, due July 16, can be emailed to: scnf_plan_rev@fs.fed.us.
For more information, take a look at the Forest’s story map to review their recommendations. You can also submit a supportive comment through their portal. For those who want to dig even deeper, take a look at the Forest’s Draft Eligibility Report.
During the year of the 50th Anniversary of the Wild and Scenic Rivers Act, and at a time when public lands are being assaulted from all directions, we need more of our last free-flowing rivers to be protected, not less. Thank you for your help!
This blog is a part of our America’s Most Endangered Rivers® series on the Mississippi River Gorge.
Mussels – the Brita filters of the animal world – are the most endangered animal in North America due to habitat degradation in rivers.
In this video, the female federally-endangered snuffbox mussel hides in the gravel bed waiting for a common logperch to flip it like a pebble. When the logperch touches the female snuffbox, she grabs the fish by the nose while ejecting her baby glochidia, who will attach themselves to the logperch’s gills to feed until they grow large enough to settle in a gravel bed.
Not to worry! The logperch is unharmed by the encounter.
No other small fish can survive the snuffbox’s attention, making the logperch its obligate host. In other words, the mussel is totally dependent on the logperch for the survival of its species.
While the snuffbox mussel and the logperch lived in the Mississippi River Gorge historically, the habitat is not suitable today because of two dams.
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The Klamath River was once the third largest producer of salmon on the West Coast. But for nearly 100 years, four dams have blocked salmon and steelhead from reaching more than 300 miles of historic habitat, and have caused toxic algae outbreaks that harm water quality all the way to the Pacific Ocean, more than 190 miles away.
That’s all about to change, with the most significant dam removal effort in history. And today, we marked an important milestone in the push to remove the river’s four dams — J.C. Boyle, Copco 1, Copco 2, and Iron Gate. The Klamath River Renewal Corporation, the entity managing the dam removal project, submitted its plan to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, as part of its application to transfer the license for the four dams and remove them.
Demolition Details
Known as the Definite Plan, the 1,500-page document provides comprehensive analysis and detail on project design, decommissioning, reservoir restoration, and other post-deconstruction activities.
For example, the plan describes how the reservoirs behind the dams will be drawn down, or drained, carefully and relatively slowly in a process that will take two to three months. Demolition of the dams will follow during the dry season (June to October). A five to ten-year restoration plan will ensure lands formerly inundated by the reservoirs are stabilized and restored with native plants.
What comes next? FERC will use the information to make a decision on the license transfer application. If FERC approves the transfer application, it will then turn to the dam removal application – the final approval we need. We are hopeful that the project will stay on track, with dam removal beginning in 2020.
Smart Move for Ratepayers
Dam removal makes sense from both an environmental and an economic perspective. The four Klamath dams produce a nominal amount of power, which can be replaced using renewables and efficiency measures and without contributing to climate change. In fact, since we started working on this project over 10 years ago, 10 times as much wind, solar and geothermal capacity was produced than is provided by these dams.
In 2008, the Public Utilities Commissions in Oregon and California concluded that removing the dams, instead of spending more than $500 million to bring the dams up to 21st century safety and environmental standards, would save PacifiCorp customers more than $100 million..
The World’s Biggest?
The Klamath River project will be the most significant dam removal and river restoration effort yet. Never before have four dams of this size been removed at once which inundate as many miles of habitat (4 square miles and 15 miles of river length), involving this magnitude of budget (approximately $397 million) and infrastructure.
But perhaps more important than the size of the dams is the amount of collaboration and the decades of hard work that have made this project possible. American Rivers has been fighting to remove the dams since 2000. And thanks to the combined efforts of the Karuk and Yurok tribes, irrigators, commercial fishing interests, conservationists, and many others, our goal of a free-flowing river is now within reach.
This blog is a part of our America’s Most Endangered Rivers® series on the Mississippi River Gorge.
Rivers connect us.
Map of the Mississippi River Gorge, click to enlarge.
Not just in the wild lands of Montana or through the great canyons of the West, but they are the life force of many urban centers. This is the case with the Mississippi River Gorge… and in this case, our urban river connection could be even stronger if we remove the dams that keep it tightly harnessed.
The Mississippi River Gorge runs approximately eight miles from Saint Anthony Falls in downtown Minneapolis to the Minnesota River confluence in Mendota, Minnesota. In the Gorge, steep bluffs extend to the waterline and are mostly undeveloped throughout the Mississippi National River and Recreation Area. Parkland and walkways parallel the top of the bluffs, and some areas are crisscrossed with hiking trails. From the water, recreational boaters experience a feeling of remoteness even though they are paddling through a major metropolitan area. However, despite the river’s proximity to the city’s center and its National Park designation, it has the fewest number of recreational boaters on the Upper Mississippi River Navigation System in the St. Paul District.
Although within the most populous area of the river, Pool 1 has the least recreation with no projected growth assuming present conditions continue. (Click to enlarge.)
The Gorge is impounded by two navigation dams that also produce hydropower: Lower Saint Anthony Falls Lock and Dam, and Lock and Dam 1.
These dams are impacting a river corridor that supports many state and/or federal species of concern, including black buffalo fish, paddlefish, northern long-eared bat, eleven species of mussels and Blanding’s turtle.
This year, there is an opportunity to restore part of an untamed Mississippi River and bring back fish and wildlife exiled a century ago.
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is currently studying Lower Saint Anthony Falls Lock and Dam, and Lock and Dam 1, to determine if it is in the taxpayers’ best interest to continue paying for maintenance and operation of the structures. This study will also determine if other federal, state, local, non-profit and private entities are interested in future ownership of the properties. Upon completion of the study, the Army Corps will submit recommendations to Congress on the fate of the infrastructure. This study provides a rare opportunity to influence the future of the Mississippi River Gorge and residents’ connections with the river.
It costs about $1.5 million annually to operate and maintain the dams and locks in the Mississippi River Gorge. On top of this routine funding, the infrastructure must be overhauled about every 50 years to extend the life of the infrastructure. Such major rehabilitation work can cost around $45 million per site.
If the Army Corps decides to keep the dams in place, aquatic habitat in the Gorge could continue to decline for a generation or more. On the Upper Mississippi River, habitat is degrading faster than it can be restored through existing conservation programs, and the river’s dams are a primary cause of declining aquatic habitat.
Saint Anthony Falls was once one of four big river rapids on the Upper Mississippi. Today, a lone remnant of the St. Louis Chain of Rocks rapids is all that remains. While the Gorge’s bluffs have been mostly protected as public parkland, the dams remain blocking access to unique habitat for fish and wildlife and stifling natural river processes.
Lower Saint Anthony Falls Lock and Dam | Olivia Dorothy
The dams in the Mississippi River Gorge were built to support an industry vision dating back to the 1800s. Although the dams currently produce hydropower, their capacity is tens of thousands of kilowatts below the 55,000-kW national average, and their actual production is lesser still. Keeping the dams in place would require millions of dollars annually to safely maintain the infrastructure, some of which is a century old, while the river’s ecosystem continues to degrade.
The time is ripe to take a bold step forward towards a new vision of the Gorge that removes the environmentally damaging features of a 150-year-old industrial plan, restores the natural flow and character of the river, rehabilitates habitat for fish and wildlife, and promotes compatible recreation and business opportunities.
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers should move towards a solution that removes the dams in the Mississippi National River and Recreation Area.
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The first half of June have been nothing but hot and dry for most communities in Colorado. On the Front Range, temperatures have soared into the high nineties, and in numerous places across the state, wildfires have flared, darkening the skies with smoke and threatening local economies as tourists remain at home. Across the state, we are seeing – and feeling – the impacts of our dry winter.
Rivers form the lifelines of Colorado’s economy, environment and lifestyle. They impact every aspect of our lives, providing most of our clean, safe and reliable drinking water, supporting thriving farms and ranches, and contributing to culture, heritage and recreation. During a dry summer like this, we can easily identify the impacts that healthy, flowing rivers have on our communities and quality of life.
Those who enjoy spending time on or near rivers have likely noticed the lower – and earlier – flows we experienced this year. The Colorado River peaked about 4 weeks earlier than normal, and at the GoPro Games in June, flows through Gore Creek were less than half of the normal discharge. On the upper Yampa above Steamboat Springs, fishing has been restricted below Stagecoach Reservoir to help protect fish in this reach. And farmers and ranchers are radically changing their normal operations to ensure they protect their livelihood at this time of dwindling irrigation water in their ditches.
As this summer presses on, we certainly will continue to be impacted by the dry year. But there is hope, and things each of us can do to help conserve our critical water resource, including reducing shower times, limiting outdoor watering, and educating yourself about the health of our rivers and streams – including ways you can support more conservation and flexibility across the state. It’s now more important than ever to increase your awareness about where your water comes from and how water moves throughout the state.
“Do You Know Your Water, Colorado?” map. (Click to enlarge.)
Earlier this summer, we produced an illustrated guide, called “Do You Know Your Water, Colorado?” to explain the long, complicated journey a drop of water takes from its home in a river to your tap. As a Coloradan, it’s our responsibility to understand how water is moved from place to place across our great state and the role we all have in protecting our state’s flowing rivers and the clean, safe, reliable drinking water they provide.
Always, but especially in a dry year like this, we must meet future water demands without sacrificing our rivers and everything they support. Our communities, economies, environment and drinking water supply depend on all of us working together. Can our rivers count on you to help move Colorado’s water future forward?
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This guest blog was written by Sarah Evans and is a part of our blog series on America’s Most Endangered Rivers® – Rivers of Bristol Bay, Alaska.
I grew up in the Bristol Bay, the salmon capital of the world. My family first lived in Manokotak, a small village on the Igushik River. When we moved there, my mom wanted to make friends right away, so she brought me down to the beach where all the local women were filleting salmon. And she asked if she could help. But when my mom brought out a filet knife, the women busted up laughing, they said, “Are you crazy? We don’t use a man’s knife here,” and handed her an ulu and taught her to fillet salmon the Yup’ik way.
I should pause to explain my mom a bit, she was beautiful and was always done up to the nines. She always had perfect makeup, with bright pink lipstick – the lipstick was her signature look. She loved pink anything and loved wearing high heels. At the time, Dillingham had mostly dirt roads, but she still wore heels most days.
Dillingham, AK | United Tribes of Bristol Bay
When I was seven, my family moved from Manokotak to Dillingham, a larger community, where every fall they held the No-See-Um Festival, which includes a salmon filleting contest. Local women competed to see how many salmon they could filet in 10 minutes. Our first fall, my mom walked over to sign-up, and I could see the locals giving her strange looks as if to say, ‘who the hell is this fancy chick,’ and laughing at her pink rubber boots (bought from a Martha Stewart catalog). But sure enough, my mom annihilated all of them in the contest with her ulu! Jaws dropped to the ground. I have never been so proud or seen my mom so happy. And from that moment on, I was hooked on salmon.
I’ve spent every summer completely salmon-obsessed. I have been a commercial fisherman, a sport fisherman, and massive subsistence user of salmon. I have studied salmon from an anthropological and biological perspective. But my greatest salmon accomplishment was earning my spot at the fish splitting table.
Salmon strips and fillets being smoked. | United Tribes of Bristol Bay
The splitting table is a sacred place. It’s where women gather together to do much more than just put salmon away for their family to eat throughout the winter. To be able to join the table is a rite of passage, and an honor you have to earn. When I was a kid I wanted so badly to be at the table – I wanted in on the jokes and secrets. I desperately wanted my own ulu! But I had to work my way through the ranks: umping fish guts, making sure there were buckets of water to clean the table, hanging fish strips in the smokehouse, and other chores. When I was 16, I had made it through the gauntlet, and I had a spot at the table – and my very own ulu. Finally, I was able to laugh with the women because I was in on the jokes, the stories, the secrets and the drama. I thought of us all as the Queens of the Bristol Bay!
Not long after, my community and many others became aware that the salmon that hold our communities together was threatened by the Pebble Mine. So for more than a decade, we’ve been fighting to ensure that there would be splitting tables for generations to come. The fight has had its ups and downs, but through it all, we’ve never lost hope and never given up. And along the way, there’s been some fun.
A few years back, we got the greenlight to host a Salmon Day at the Alaska State Fair. We decided to do salmon print t-shirts with kids – give parents a break from their sugar-riddled kids, and give kids a fun salmon memento to take home. The night before we left Dillingham for Anchorage to go to the fair, we realized we didn’t have any salmon to use for the prints! No problem, right? We were Queens of Bristol Bay. We could get up early catch some silvers before flying out. Of course, that plan didn’t go as expected, and we only got two fish from our expedition.
We knew we needed more for the booth, as hundreds of people would be at the fair. But it was late August, and we couldn’t find anyone with whole fish still. Everyone had processed theirs for winter. Still, we were Queens of Bristol Bay. We thought we could catch some around Anchorage.
Our crew of Bush Rats in the Big City started trying to find our natural habitat. We got a tip that there were some great creeks north, and headed out. By the time we find some salmon in a shallow creek, it is dark out, and we couldn’t see much. We manage to catch a few humpies with our bare hands and toss them in a garbage bag. Back at the hotel, we shoved the garbage bag into our mini-fridge, having never looked at our catch. The next morning we wake up and the whole room smells unbearable. We open the fridge, and completely rotten, mushy salmon fall out. Even if we could use them without puking, they’d fall apart on the first print. Now out of time, we realize we’re going to have to settle for herring purchased at a nearby fish market.
The shirts were still a hit, the parents were happy for a break from their kids, and we lived to fight the Pebble Mine another day.
I am fighting the Pebble Mine so I can help protect Alaska’s most valuable resources: our clean water, our clean air, our fisheries, wildlife and our people! I’m fighting so that all of us can pass on our knowledge, our stories, our experiences to the generations to come, and so that one day we all have a chance to make it to the fish splitting table. I know that if my mom were still alive she’d be standing here right next to me with her heels on and a one-of-a-kind pink No Pebble Mine t-shirt on, fighting with us all.
Sign-on by June 27th to be included in our petition!
Editor’s Note: You can also listen to Sarah’s story here.
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Author: Sarah Evans
Sarah Evans is from Dillingham, Alaska, newish to Anchorage. She spends most of her free time outdoors with her two dogs, or sitting somewhere with a drink in her hand obsessing over Alaskan politics.
This guest blog was written by Jenny Weis with Trout Unlimited. It is a part of our blog series on America’s Most Endangered Rivers® – Rivers of Bristol Bay.
Standing in a carpeted, sterile event hall next to identical rows of beige, cushioned chairs, my eyes welled up with tears as I watched the propaganda video put forth by the Pebble Partnership detailing their phase-one plans to build a massive mine at the headwaters of Bristol Bay.
Thirty years ago, a vast, low-grade deposit of gold and copper was found in the hills of a water-rich saddle within the remote region in southwest Alaska, at the headwaters of two of the eight major rivers that flow into Bristol Bay. The same year of the discovery, a little over four thousand miles away, I’d just been born.
Anglers rowing a remote Bristol Bay river atop spawning sockeye salmon. | Fly Out Media
The region sustains world-class sport fishing and hunting, and an Indigenous subsistence culture that has thrived for millennia. The Bay itself is a famous commercial fishery that supplies over half the world’s sockeye salmon. Pebble mine backers are asking us to trade the gold in the hills for the salmon in the rivers. Thousands of Alaskans and a million Americans have spoken up in response, and have resoundingly and repeatedly said, “no way.” Yet the company presses on.
Over the past two weeks, I watched from afar as residents of rural villages dotting the region have packed tiny community centers and school gyms to tell the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the agency in charge of reviewing one of Pebble’s most critical permits, their concerns about the proposed Pebble Mine. Seated in mish-mashed accumulations of folding chairs, Native Elders stood and spoke about how the mine would impact their clean water and traditional fishing and subsistence hunting and gathering practices that have been passed down for generations. It was sometimes hard to discern their testimony through thick Yup’ik accents, grainy cell phone videos due to poor connection, or tears. Commercial fishermen feared that any impacts would destroy the fishery and thus, their livelihoods and the trade they planned to pass onto their children. They were visibly frustrated — after dozens of hearings and meetings, why did they have to say this all over again?
The scenes couldn’t be more different in Anchorage.
Protesters outside the Anchorage meeting hosted by the Army Corps of Engineers. April 19, 2018. | Brandon Hill
There was no opportunity for public testimony in Anchorage, Dillingham — the largest community in the Bristol Bay region, or in Homer — the largest community on the Kenai Peninsula, near the proposed gas pipeline and additional 250MW power plant the company proposes to build. It’d take too long to get throughthe hundreds of comments in opposition, said the Corps of Engineers.
Impassioned testimony was replaced with a single, sterile video produced by Pebble with a faceless, robotic voice over discussing the company’s massive plans. The opportunity to publicly testify was replaced with a court reporter in a side room who would transcribe a private, oral statement.
Bristol Bay’s “red gold.” | Ben Knight
The video displayed prominently on a large screen upon entering the meeting. Describing what would need to be dug up to access the gold and copper, the very landscape of Bristol Bay — things like trees, vegetation, wetlands, fishing rivers, and wildlife habitat, the video used the word, “overburden.” The video said Pebble would closely monitor wildlife activity on the tailings ponds, but left out the end of that very sentence, which is, “because it will be toxic.” It explained that once the phase-one mine was done with operation, Pebble would replace all the material they remove from the pit and “revegetate.” This word struck me as something that would almost be funny — imagining hard-hat workers trying to replace the wild character on vast amounts of ground they’d unearthed, if it weren’t so depressing and impossible.
Clearly, this fight has absolutely nothing to do with me. I was hired by Trout Unlimited’s Alaska program in 2014 to help their army of concerned lodge owners and anglers organize, following the lead of the Native community, and help get the word out that the science is in, and the mine would be catastrophic to the businesses and cherished fishing opportunity, as well as the livelihoods of those that live in Bristol Bay now and have since time immemorial.
As I’ve gotten to know the people who’d be personally impacted by this proposal over the last four years, it has become clear why testifying against this project could make you cry, even if it’s your 10th or 50th time doing so.
Bingham Canyon Copper Mine| Trout Unlimited
It’s hard not to shudder when a robot explains that 160,000 tons of mine waste per day would be trucked down roads that would have to cross 200 salmon streams, introducing concrete and fences to a wild region wherein those two items are now uniquely absent. It’s not uncommon to see a room full of shaking heads when the company brags that no longer using cyanide in their plans is its claim to “environmental responsibility,” despite that the very mineral they seek to unearth, copper, is lethal to wild salmon even in trace amounts. And you can’t help but wonder how the mine backers sleep at night promising the mine will be safe while knowing that NO mine in modern history has safely contained toxins from the surrounding environment at this scale.
I know that if Pebble Mine goes through, my life will likely carry on as usual. Alaska’s economy will take a hit, and the world’s supply of salmon will be altered. But I have no skiff to leave to my children or smokehouse to continue filling the way ancestors did before me. Pebble banks on the fact that most of their opponents recognize this, and will eventually give up.
But on behalf of the people I have met in the last four years, whose lives and whose children’s lives will be irreparably altered by this proposal, I’ll be damned if I don’t do everything I can to ensure that Bristol Bay remains characterized by the one thing it has since before time: wild salmon. The Pebble Mine proposal doesn’t fit into this picture.
So, you can bet I’ll be standing there with them, behind them, at as many meetings as it takes until the robot videos, arrogant foreign investors, and unfair permitting schedules are a thing of the past.
Sign-on by June 27th to be included in our petition!
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Author: Jenny Weis
Jenny Weis works for Trout Unlimited‘s Alaska Program. She lives in Anchorage. Trout Unlimited is working with anglers, local communities and businesses to stop Pebble Mine and put long-term protections in place for Bristol Bay, Alaska.