This piece originally appeared in the 2018 Spring Issue of Outside Bozeman.

Here on the northern edge of the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem, we sit perched on the headwaters of the continent. The mighty Missouri, Green, Yellowstone, and Snake river systems all originate within this landscape, and while the headwaters of these great rivers all flow from a highly-protected block of public land, only one of the four—the Snake River headwaters—is protected under the Wild and Scenic Rivers Act.

This year, on October 2, 2018, the Act will turn 50. A number of local streams are eligible for designation under the Act, and a lot of people in southwest Montana are working to make that happen. But before we can celebrate the Act’s future, we need to understand its past.

The Genesis

President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the Wild and Scenic Rivers Act into law in 1968, but the effort that ultimately got us there started much earlier—and right here in Bozeman. The 1950s and 1960s were the zenith of the big dam-building era in our country, and a number of proposed dams drew the attention of Montanans, including the Spruce Park dam on the Middle Fork of the Flathead River, in what is now the Great Bear Wilderness.

This dam, which would have been built by the Army Corps of Engineers, was to be a mirror of the Hungry Horse Dam one drainage south on the South Fork of the Flathead River. It would have backed up the Middle Fork some 11 miles, and was just one of nearly a half-dozen such dams proposed for the upper Flathead River system.

The Spruce Park proposal caught the attention of John and Frank Craighead, well-known wildlife biologists and conservationists, who might be best known for their pioneering work on grizzly bears in Greater Yellowstone. The Craighead brothers led the fight against the Spruce Park dam, and in 1957, John Craighead first proposed the idea of a federally protected system of “wild rivers” at a conference at Montana State University.

John and Frank would go on to publicize the need to protect wild rivers; a decade later, they were at the forefront of getting the Wild and Scenic Rivers Act passed, along with Interior Secretary Stewart Udall and senators Frank Church (D-Idaho), Gaylord Nelson (D-Wisconsin), Lee Metcalf (D-Montana), and Rep. John Saylor (R-Pennsylvania).

The Craighead family’s ties to Montana remain strong. Lance Craighead, executive director of the Craighead Institute in Bozeman, reflects that even though the brothers tend to be more well-known for their work as wildlife biologists, “my father Frank and uncle John always considered the Wild and Scenic Rivers Act to be one of the greatest conservation achievements that they contributed to in their lifetimes.”

Lance recalls that the two brothers’ river ethic started while canoeing the Potomac River, when they witnessed the degradation of rivers in the East. This awareness and concern grew during their many raft trips down wild rivers in the West after World War II. As with many modern-day river runners and anglers who fall in love with the waters they ply, these experiences turned into a desire to protect those rivers. “As kids, we grew up floating wild rivers with Dad and Uncle John,” recalls Lance. “Thanks to the Wild and Scenic Rivers Act, countless generations of other kids are able to do the same.”

The Wild and Scenic Rivers Act Today

Montana currently ranks seventh in the nation with a total of 368 Wild and Scenic river miles, about the same as New Jersey and Pennsylvania. We have four designated rivers: the Upper Missouri River through the Breaks, and the North, Middle, and South Forks of the Flathead River. This amounts to about 0.2% of the 177,000 river miles in Montana. According to the National Inventory of Dams, which is maintained by the Army Corps of Engineers, Montana currently has 2,960 dams. Montana hasn’t had a new Wild and Scenic River designated since 1976. Meanwhile, our neighbors in Wyoming, Idaho, and Utah added a combined 900 miles of new Wild and Scenic rivers in 2009 alone. Clearly, the balance between conservation and development intended by Congress when it passed the Wild and Scenic Rivers Act 50 years ago has not yet been struck.

There are, however, a growing number of people in Montana working to change that. In December 2017, the bipartisan East Rosebud Wild and Scenic Act (S.501) passed the U.S. Senate by unanimous consent, and was introduced in the House. The East Rosebud bill would protect 20 miles of the stream as it flows through public land off the Beartooth Plateau, and has been championed by the broad-based local coalition known as the Friends of East Rosebud Creek, which includes virtually every rancher, business owner, and resident in the area.

In addition to East Rosebud Creek being on the cusp of becoming Montana’s next Wild and Scenic River, the state-based coalition, Montanans for Healthy Rivers, currently has over 1,000 Montana businesses and over 2,000 citizens endorsing its proposal to designate 50 new Wild and Scenic streams on public lands in the Crown of the Continent and Greater Yellowstone ecosystems.

In 2014 and 2016, bipartisan statewide polls on river issues in Montana found that three-quarters of Montanans support the Wild and Scenic Rivers Act, and two-thirds of Montanans support designating more Wild and Scenic rivers in the state. Furthermore, 85% of Montanans think that “rivers are highly important to our economy and way of life,” and nearly nine out of ten voters would like to see the number of protected rivers in Montana maintained or increased. Support for protecting Montana’s wild rivers is overwhelming, regardless of ideology, party affiliation, gender, age, or geographic region.

Montana’s business community is taking note of rivers, as well. Business for Montana’s Outdoors (BMO) conducted a survey that polled 200 businesses from every county in Montana, to find out opinions and perspectives on the connections between our outdoors, outdoor way of life, and the economy. Nearly three-quarters of business owners said that we can protect land and water and have a strong economy at the same time, and 70% claimed that the “Montana outdoor lifestyle” was a key factor in deciding to locate or expand their business in Montana.

“Montanans and Montana businesses are clearly connected to their environment, whether we’re talking about an outdoor recreation business, a manufacturer, a marketer, or someone in the tech industry,” explains BMO’s Marne Hayes. “People are in Montana for our landscapes and waterways, for the value that those things bring to them personally, and for how they contribute to the culture of their business.”

Then there is the science behind the roles that wild rivers play for humans, fish, and wildlife in our changing and developing world. In many arid regions of the West, the writing is on the wall, and tough choices must be made—and made soon. Scott Bosse of American Rivers in Bozeman explains the urgency: “Given how climate change is rapidly shrinking our snowpack and the West is one of the fastest-growing regions of the country, I think we’re going to see a lot more dams and other water development projects proposed in Montana over the coming decades. That’s why we need to act now to protect our highest-value free-flowing rivers. It will be too late if we wait any longer.”

What does this mean for local rivers, you might ask? While Montana is sure to receive more riverside development in the future, and likely more dams as well, favorite streams like the Gallatin, upper Yellowstone, upper Madison, and Smith rivers all have local groups pushing for their protection. Kristin Gardner from the Gallatin River Task Force in Big Sky sums up the reason behind this interest: “Because of the Gallatin River, we not only live here, we thrive here—as individuals and as a community… Wild and Scenic protection would ensure that the necessary recognition and planning is in place to secure the long-term health of these irreplaceable resources for generations to come.”

“People are passionate about their local streams,” adds Charles Drimal of the Greater Yellowstone Coalition, which is working with Montanans for Healthy Rivers. “In communities like Livingston, Gardiner, Bozeman, and Big Sky, where rivers are just as much a cultural identity as a hydrological force, people want to see iconic rivers like the Yellowstone and Gallatin protected.”

The Future of Wild Rivers

Public lands and rivers, along with our nation’s system of national parks and preserves, have been called “our best idea.” In southwest Montana, we are fortunate enough to live this every day. But not everyone in this country is quite so fortunate. So, how do we maintain support nationwide for this “best” idea?

One way is to keep wild rivers relevant through stories. River stories are one of the most treasured cultural traditions in the outdoor world. Whether you’re spinning a yarn about that time you failed to properly tie down the raft and had to chase it downstream; when Grandpa almost landed a fish this big; when Liz swam the Kitchen Sink in April without spilling her beer; or when a bear loved the smell of frying bacon in the river kitchen a little too much—one and all, these river stories capture and spread the wildness that protected rivers help to maintain in our lives.

In celebration of the 50th Anniversary of the Wild and Scenic Rivers Act, the national nonprofits American Rivers and American Whitewater have teamed up with a number of outdoor gear companies to create 5,000 Miles of Wild. Their goal is to collect 5,000 wild-river stories and to protect 5,000 more miles of such rivers nationwide.

For many of us, what we love about protecting certain wild rivers is legacy. “The legacy of river protection under the Wild and Scenic Rivers Act will serve not only everyone today who cherishes our remaining natural rivers, but all the generations to come in an era when the values of our free-flowing streams will become increasingly evident,” says river author Tim Palmer. This is not to say that it will be easy. Our public lands and rivers are under attack, and it’s going to take a lot more people getting involved to protect them—outdoor recreationists, homeowners, farmers and ranchers, and businesses from every sector. We Americans are learning that conservation is difficult, and protection is not necessarily permanent, unless we all stand up for our wild lands and rivers. Wild rivers, fortunately, are one thing that almost all of us love and understand to be important and necessary. To put it simply, says Lance Craighead: “We need more of them.”

What will that require, you might ask? In John Craighead’s words from 2013, “It doesn’t require much more than having Congress understand how important those rivers are to all Americans. They’re about American as American can be.”

Floods are a natural part of life on a river. But scientists say that severe floods will happen more often as climate change worsens – compounded by the paving over of wetlands and building in floodplains.

After any flood subsides, our natural reaction is to want to rebuild as soon as possible. Everyone wants to help communities get back on their feet and rebuild quickly. But in a world where disastrous storms happen more and more frequently, it’s just as important to make sure that communities are rebuilt better and smarter, so they will be safer and more resilient in the face of the next deluge.

How do we do that? First, we make certain we’re rebuilding in the right places. Floodplains and wetlands often receive the brunt of the impact from storms and floods because that’s exactly how they are supposed to work. Properly managed, they provide buffers that can protect lives and property from the impacts of floods, often more effectively and much more economically than artificial barriers like dams and levees. A single wetland acre, saturated to a depth of one foot, retains 330,000 gallons of water — enough to flood thirteen average-sized homes thigh deep.

When we alter and build in floodplains, we compromise these natural defenses and put lives, homes and businesses in harm’s way. Wherever possible, flood-damaged communities should consider how they can preserve these natural defenses to provide dependable flood protection and avoid risk to property.

Second, we must ensure that we are rebuilding in the right way. Individuals can take advantage of state and federal programs for buyouts and relocations to build their new homes on higher and safer ground. Some communities, such as Valmeyer, Illinois and Charlotte-Mecklenburg, North Carolina decided to move entire portions of their towns to higher ground following repeated flooding.

Unfortunately, President Trump rescinded a critical rule that required rebuilding federal infrastructure to higher standards following floods. Despite the administration’s failure, communities should develop and enforce zoning and building codes that ensure new structures are sited and constructed to be flood-resilient.

Third, we must reject outdated flood control approaches. In the past, many cities and towns reacted to floods by building dams, levees and floodwalls, channelizing rivers in concrete straitjackets – an approach that actually increases flood damage downstream. Billions have been spent on dams, levees and other flood control structures, but we have been largely unsuccessful in “controlling” anything. Flood damages have continued to increase nationwide, costing taxpayers, families, businesses and the environment.

We now know that often the best way to reduce flood damage, and to safeguard people and property, is by avoiding development in floodplains, re-connecting rivers with their floodplains and by protecting and restoring wetlands. After decades of sustaining major flood damage, Vermont now actively promotes these natural flood-management solutions, as opposed to building more and bigger dams, levees and floodwalls. Recent projects in California’s Central Valley prove that reconnecting rivers to floodplains has multiple benefits for flood protection, water supply, fish and wildlife habitat and recreation.

These lessons apply to communities coast to coast, big and small, urban and rural. Our elected officials at the local, state and federal levels should place new emphasis on the restoration of natural flood protection as the most cost-effective way of safeguarding lives and property.

Congress is currently considering a Water Resources Development Act to improve the Army Corps of Engineers. Our elected leaders should require the Army Corps to fully consider natural infrastructure approaches when developing flood risk reduction projects. We know how to keep communities safe. Will Congress act?

This guest blog is by Melissa Diemand, Sr. Director of Communications at Potomac Conservancy.

The Potomac River, the source of drinking water for over 5 million residents in the Washington, DC area, earned its highest health grade ever in Potomac Conservancy’s 10th State of the Nation’s River report. The Potomac’s health has improved to a B, up from a B- in 2016 and all the way up from a D in 2011.

Top pollutants – nutrients and sediment – are on the decline, more streamside lands are under protection, and native fish and wildlife are returning. The Potomac now supports healthy communities of striped bass and white perch, and it is one of the few rivers along the U.S. East Coast where American shad populations are thriving.

“The Potomac River is making a comeback and is on its way to joining the Charles, Willamette and other urban rivers that have made remarkable recoveries in recent years,” said Potomac Conservancy President Hedrick Belin.

It’s a dramatic turnaround for the river that President Lyndon Johnson once declared, a “national disgrace.” Since the passage of the Clean Water Act in 1972, changes in agricultural practices, upgrades to wastewater treatment plants, and reductions in industrial discharges have significantly lowered water pollution. And in recent decades, the EPA’s Chesapeake Bay Program has led a historic federal-state cleanup effort to reduce water pollution to the Bay and its tributaries, including the Potomac River.

Federal leadership, while certainly critical, cannot alone address the myriad of threats to our waters; it takes a village. Potomac Conservancy is proud to work alongside American Rivers and conservation partners across the Chesapeake Bay region who are preserving healthy lands and clean water.

Our work is more important now than ever. The report warns that polluted urban runoff, rapid deforestation, and new attacks on federal water protections could derail progress.

Learn more about the Potomac River’s recovery and emerging threats at www.potomacreportcard.org.

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About Potomac Conservancy

Potomac Conservancy is a nonprofit organization that is working to ensure the Potomac River boasts clean water, healthy lands, and vibrant communities. The Conservancy improves water quality through land conservation and advocacy, and empowers a local movement to take action for clean water. Potomac Conservancy is recognized as one of Washington, DC’s best nonprofits by the Catalogue for Philanthropy and is accredited by The Land Trust Accreditation Commission. Learn more at www.potomac.org.

Bogle Vineyards Takes a River-Friendly Approach to Winemaking

In California, water is more precious than sunshine. The state has experienced years of crippling drought. Thankfully, an increasing number of vintners are making strides to reduce the amount of water they use to grow grapes and operate their winemaking facilities.

Take Bogle Vineyards. A decade ago, the company decided to get certified as a sustainable winery through the LODI/California Rules for Sustainable Winegrowing program. The certification requires that winegrowers meet strict standards for managing pests naturally, powering their equipment efficiently, improving soil quality and using water responsibly. In celebration of summer adventures and Bogle Vineyards’ commitment to environmental sustainability, the winery has made a donation to support American Rivers’ mission to protect the rivers that provide clean water, recreation and a connection to the great outdoors.

“In our hearts, we are farmers,” says Jody Bogle, one of the three siblings who operate the 50-year-old family business, now one of the largest wineries in the United States. Jody and her siblings, Ryan and Warren, grew up in the Sacramento Delta — an expansive tidal marshland at the confluence of California’s two largest rivers, the San Joaquin and Sacramento. The Delta’s quilt of islands, which are separated by narrow creeks called sloughs, is one of the most productive agricultural zones in the country. For six generations, the Bogle family has worked this land, growing corn, wheat and, beginning in 1968, wine grapes.

“We know that clean, abundant water is what keeps our land fertile and alive,” Jody says. “We believe we have a responsibility to keep it that way for our kids and grandkids.”

In addition to making sure they irrigate their 1,900 acres only during dry weather cycles, the Bogles also installed a high-efficiency drip irrigation. They also use low-water nozzles and recapture the water when spraying down tanks. Plus, they recycle 95 percent of the winery’s solid waste and have introduced falcons, hawks and owls to keep pests in check.

At first, the Bogles didn’t think their customers would care that they were implementing sustainability techniques. But the response was overwhelmingly positive.

“It turned out our customers care as much as we do about how we use natural resources,” Ryan Bogle adds. “We have received incredible feedback from people who loved the fact that they could get a good wine at a good price — and not have to sacrifice their environmental ethics. They want to support us because they believe we’re doing the right thing.”

The family didn’t stop there: Bogle Vineyards has become a leader in the effort to influence California’s wine industry toward more Earth-sensitive practices. Bogle, which purchases grapes from vineyards across California, asks its growing partners to pursue sustainable certification, paying a bonus to farmers who grow and harvest grapes in an environmentally responsible way. As a result, 92 percent of grapes crushed during Bogle’s 2017 vintage are certified-sustainable.

“American Rivers is proud to partner with Bogle Vineyards, a company that demonstrates a significant commitment to environmental sustainability — and that has a deep connection to keeping our rivers healthy and our water clean for generations to come,” says Bob Irvin, President and CEO of American Rivers.

Learn more about rivers and how you can protect them by visiting www.AmericanRivers.org/greateroutdoors.

The following guest blog, a collection of boyhood memories from Mike Camp, is part of our America’s Most Endangered Rivers® series on the Middle Fork of the Vermilion River in Illinois.

“A river poured through the landscape I knew as a child. It was the power of the place, gathering rain and snowmelt, surging through the valley, under sun, under ice, under the bellies of fish and the brown boats of sycamore leaves.”  – Scott Russell Sanders

I was raised on a farm that bordered the Middle Fork of the Vermilion River, southeast of Collison, Illinois. In 1971, when I was sixteen, we moved to another farm, ten miles northwest near Armstrong, again on the river.

In sixty-four years, I’ve never lived more than two miles from the river’s banks. It has been my constant companion. The river, valley, and accompanying woods have always been my family and friend’s fascinating neighbor.

I had an almost Huck Finn boyhood— even as a kid, I knew I was lucky to be there.

However, even then I knew the river was not pristine. I knew there were problems, including people throwing trash into the river and occasionally soap bubbles on the edge of the eddies. But, the biggest problem was one we did not know about. There was coal ash being stored in the unlined pits on the floodplain. Chemicals from the coal ash were seeping into the groundwater and into the river. Floods were eroding the river bank near the coal ash pits, which could possibly lead to the worst-case scenario: a breach in the bank causing coal ash to flow directly into the river, wrecking the river for miles downstream. However, in the 1960s, I was as oblivious to this as anyone else and spent my time enjoying the river.

No one knows a landscape better than a curious child: hiking, crawling, climbing, swimming, poking with a stick, wandering and wondering. No hollow tree, seep spring, raspberry patch, river pool or riffle was left unexplored. Anytime school or farm work permitted my Mom heard these words as I raced out the door, “I’m goin’ to the river!”

Just upstream along the river from our house was a long, curving bend, with a wide, willow-edged sandbar. My older brothers, John and Bill, and a couple of their friends and I camped there every chance we got. My brothers were five and six years older and allowed me to tag along with considerable grace and only a little annoyance. We fished, using both poles and trotlines. For bait, we walked up the riffles, dragging a seine along the bottom. We caught hellgrammites, crayfish, minnows, and on one memorable occasion, a mudpuppy. The mudpuppy was so hideous looking that I thought that if they were twelve feet tall, they would rule the world.

Gone Swimmin’

On the Collison farm, there was a deep pool, on a shady bend of the river, only a quarter mile from our farmstead. This is where my siblings and I learned how to swim. My older brothers had taught me to dog paddle, late in the summer when I was seven. With only a shaky remembrance of how to do it, we went swimming the next June for the first time that summer.

I did not realize then how much a river’s channels can change.

I walked confidently into the river in what had last year been waist deep water. This year it was a scoured-out hole deeper than my head. Down I went, then up splashing and swallowing water. Panicking, down I went again. Then up, trying to make a strangled yell to my brothers. The third time down, I decided I had better try to do something. So, flailing away I headed back toward the bank. By then they had figured out I was in trouble and came to help.

So, there I was lying on the sand, spitting water and gasping. First, they checked to see that I was okay. Then they immediately threatened to kill me if I told Mom. She was always worried about us going to the river, and this incident would have ended our fun. So, she never learned about it until years later.

Living Off the Land

When I could not be outdoors, I read all I could find about wildlife, Native Americans and living off the land. With my cousins, Carl and Bob, we’d catch and fillet some fish and attempt to cook them by impaling them on a willow switch or by laying them on a flat rock by the fire. The result would be a charred on the outside and raw on the inside morsel, usually with a dusting of fine sandbar sand. We gained enormous respect for anyone who could eat like that and survive.

One December day when I was twelve, my friend Joe and I gathered a bucket of mussels from the cold, clear water. Wanting to try to eat them, we took them up to the house and put them in Mom’s best soup pan. Fortunately, she was gone.

As the water boiled, the stench coming off the mussels was amazing. The shells fell open and we were both dreading having to try one. Fortunately, Mom came home. She voiced a pretty clear opinion of our experiment, and the mussels got tossed, untried. Another important lesson in living off the land: it required a lot more experience, knowledge and especially hunger to be successful.

The Float Experiment

The summer I was thirteen, my friend Denis and I decided to build a log raft to float the river. With a dull axe and determination, we chopped down some of the smaller soft maple trees that grew like weeds on the floodplain of the river. Carrying the logs to a sandbar, we tied it together with ropes braided out of baling twine, making it as tight and secure as we could. It was about 8 x 12 feet long, just big enough for two boys and a little gear.

With two long push poles, we launched and headed downstream, quickly learning that a raft is not the most nimble vessel. We ran it up onto a submerged rock, causing the back of the raft to swing downstream. The log I was standing on rotated, opening a gap, which my left leg fell down through.

So, there we were, going backward downstream, with my leg dragging and Denis hooting with laughter and me hollering at him. He quickly jumped off and pulled the raft up onto a sandbar, got me loose and we both laughed at the absurdity of it. We got back on and floated a-ways downstream. Then got into the water, towed the raft back upstream, and did it again several times.

Of course, when we built it, we did not think about the practicality of a raft— it works best going downstream, one-way. But that did not matter. The fun was in the creation and time on the water.

Rivers— the Cure for Boredom

Of course, this is only a fraction of the things I did on the river. As I said, even as a kid, I knew I was damn lucky. In a lifetime outdoors, with the river as my companion, I’ve never been bored because there is always something to see if you are open to it and looking.

My wife Kristin and I have felt so strongly about this that we have introduced our children, grandchildren and extended family to the river hoping they will gain an appreciation of the beauty, peace and excitement of being outdoors. Children today lead lives that are spent much more indoors than in the past. But if they have the opportunity to be exposed to nature, they may, like me, discover a lifelong, healthy pursuit of knowledge and pleasure.

Sadly, rivers need constant protection. We have a rare jewel in our midst. Good men and women fought against an unneeded pork-barrel dam in the in the 1970s and won. In the 1980s many of the same people won a National Scenic River designation for the stream. Now we need to work together to see that this coal ash problem is solved safely. Then, in the future, kids will be running out a screen door, yelling, “I’m goin’ to the river!”

Please send a letter to Governor Rauner and Illinois EPA Director Alec Messina asking them to ensure this toxic waste will be removed and relocated to a properly-constructed, lined, and monitored facility far from the Middle Fork.

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Author:  Mike Camp

Mike Camp is a long-time resident of Vermilion County, Illinois. Mike continues to be a champion for protecting the Middle Fork of the Vermilion River.

This guest blog by Dr. Donald Jackson is a part of our America’s Most Endangered Rivers® series on the Big Sunflower River in Mississippi.

The rivers that course through the Mississippi River Alluvial Plain (a.k.a. “The Delta”) of Western Mississippi are integrated functionally as key components of floodplain river ecosystems. Such ecosystems, worldwide, are known for biological richness and typically support some of earth’s most productive inland fisheries. Very real and tangible dependencies exist between humans and these fisheries. The Big Sunflower River is a good example, and research into channel catfish growth in this Delta stream is providing important insights about this floodplain river system.

Rivers, unlike ponds and lakes, derive most of the energy driving biological productivity from organic material (primarily plant material) of terrestrial origin. Organic material, including leaves, woody debris and detritus from vegetation, is colonized by bacteria and fungi that convert it to forms usable (digestible) by aquatic invertebrates like insect larvae, snails and crayfish. Production of aquatic invertebrates is called secondary production. The amount of secondary production in an aquatic ecosystem is directly related to fishery production.

The more organic material entering the aquatic component of a river ecosystem, the greater the secondary production, and the greater the fishery production. Some organic material falls directly into a river’s channel (such as leaves falling from trees), but in floodplain systems like the Big Sunflower, flooding increases the area over which organic material is available for contributing to secondary production of aquatic invertebrates. During high water, rivers like the Big Sunflower fill their floodplains and fish leave the confines of the normal river channel. They follow the rising water both to exploit the additional sources of food the floodplain affords, and to spawn in the floodwaters. When the river recedes after high water, the fish return to the river’s channel nourished through feeding on the floodplain. Some species spawn on floodplains and return to the main channel having contributed a new year-class of juveniles to the river.

Generally speaking, fishery production for a given year in a floodplain river ecosystem is directly related to the height and duration of flooding one to two years before the year in question. This is usually the amount of time it takes for fish that were spawned in the flooded areas to grow large enough to be captured in the fishery (this is called recruitment into the fishery).

When a river’s cycles of flooding and low-flow periods are disrupted by human activities, the fishery and the people who may have dependencies on it can suffer. Although flooding can occur during any time of the year, across evolutionary time aquatic organisms have evolved to anticipate flooding during winter/early spring and low flows during summer/autumn. Leaves fall off of the trees in fall and are an energetic bank of high-quality organic material available for use by aquatic invertebrates once floodwaters inundate the associated floodplain. The invertebrates (primarily aquatic insects and crustaceans) maximize their growth during winter and subsequently become energetically efficient forage items for fishes that are also out on the floodplains. This is why, for example, channel catfish in rivers have their greatest growth during winter while channel catfish in ponds and lakes have their greatest growth during summer. Channel catfish are poikilothermic (cold blooded) so one would think that in both types of systems they would grow fastest during summer. But that just isn’t the case. It is a matter of availability of food for the fish. In river systems, the availability of food is greatest and more energetically efficient (larger food items) during winter (Flotemersch and Jackson 2003). The same patterns of foraging, growth, and recruitment to exploitable size exist for other riverine species.

Most rivers in “The Delta” have been modified by damming and dredging (including, in some cases, channelization). These activities are designed to minimize flooding. Two principal rivers in the region that have not been significantly altered are the Big Sunflower River and the Big Black River. In a Ph.D. study of growth rates for channel catfish in rivers throughout the state of Mississippi, these two rivers were, respectively, number one and number two for fastest growth (Shephard and Jackson 2006). Additionally, catch rates were highest in these two rivers (Shephard and Jackson 2009). The channel catfish has “cultural icon” status because recreational fishermen prize them and commercial fishermen target them for local markets. This fish species thrives in rivers that are allowed to function as floodplain ecosystems.

When people in Mississippi (and throughout much of America’s “Deep South”) think about fishing in lowland rivers, they are thinking primarily about catching catfish (Jackson 2016). The channel catfish is the “bread and butter” fish that sustains most fishing in these systems. Therefore, in order to safeguard the rich traditions and cultural values associated with our rivers, we should refrain from engineering these productive ecosystems in ways that modify their flow and flood regimes.

Please join American Rivers in asking your Members of Congress to oppose the Yazoo Pumps project that will have a major impact on the Mississippi River floodplain.

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References:

Brown, Ralph B., John F. Toth, Jr., and Donald C. Jackson.  1996.  Sociological aspects of river fisheries in the Delta Region of western Mississippi.  Project Completion Report. Mississippi Department of Wildlife, Fisheries and Parks.  Federal Aid Project F-108.  Freshwater Fisheries Report number 154.  98 pp + 2 appendices.

Cloutman, Donald G.  1997.  Biological and socio-economic assessment of stocking channel catfish in the Yalobusha River, Mississippi.  Ph.D. Dissertation. Mississippi State University.  184 pp.

Jackson, Donald C.  2016.  Deeper Currents.  University Press of Mississippi.  231 pp.

Flotemersch, Joseph E. and Donald C. Jackson.  2003.  Seasonal foraging by channel catfish on terrestrially burrowing crayfish in a floodplain-river ecosystem.  Ecohydrology and Hydrology 3:61-70.

Shephard, Samuel and Donald C. Jackson.  2006.  Difference in channel catfish growth among Mississippi stream basins.  Transactions of the American Fisheries Society 135(5):1224-1229.

Shephard, Samuel and Donald C. Jackson. 2009.  Density-dependent growth of floodplain river channel catfish Ictalurus punctatus. Journal of Fish Biology 74:2409-2414.     

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Author:  Dr. Donald C. Jackson

Dr. Jackson is a former professor of fisheries at Mississippi State University. He is now the Sharp Distinguished Professor Emeritus of Fisheries at Mississippi State and the author of four books: Deeper Currents, Wilder Ways, Tracks, and Trails.

Last week, after four years of pressure to improve fish passage at Buckley and Mud Mountain dams on Washington’s White River from tribes, American Rivers, and others, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers hosted a groundbreaking ceremony for a new state-of-the-art fish passage facility.

On Friday afternoon under a drizzly yet glorious spring day, we joined individuals from the Army Corps, Puyallup Tribe of Indians, Muckleshoot Indian Tribe, Cascade Water Alliance, and Senator Patty Murray at a groundbreaking ceremony that kicked off the two-and-a-half-year project and eventual completion of the nation’s largest fish trap-and-haul facility.

Originating from the Winthrop, Emmons, and Fryingpan glaciers on Mt. Rainier, the White River travels 68 miles and drains almost 500 square miles before flowing into the Puyallup River and South Puget Sound. The White River is enjoyed by kayakers, fishermen, hikers, and visitors to Mt. Rainier National Park and the surrounding area. The river is home to four species of salmon (coho, chum, pink, and Endangered Species Act (ESA)-listed Chinook), as well as ESA-listed steelhead and bull trout. The river’s salmon and steelhead are central to the culture of the Muckleshoot and Puyallup Indian tribes.

Over $150 million in taxpayer funds are spent each year to restore salmon to rivers and streams around Puget Sound. This investment is undermined every year when thousands — even hundreds of thousands in some years — of salmon and steelhead die at the antiquated and dangerous Buckley Diversion Dam fish collection facilities, due to the poor condition of this dam and its undersized fish trap.

The Buckley fish trap was built in 1941 and from its inception, was never really sufficient to transport the large numbers of salmon attempting to return to their spawning grounds above Mud Mountain Dam. Even if salmon do make it into the overcrowded fish trap, they are often exhausted, delayed, impaled on rebar, and/or injured from the cramped holding facilities, which reduces their chances of survival and lowers their spawning capability after release.

To address the threat, American Rivers named the White River among America’s Most Endangered Rivers® in 2014, shining a national spotlight on the impacts of two Army Corps dams on salmon and steelhead runs and river health. Additionally, with the help of Earthjustice, we sued the Army Corps for “take” of a threatened species and failure to consult with NOAA Fisheries over dam operations. The legal action resulted in consultation and a plan by the Army Corps to avoid “take” and begin work on updated fish passage, which will help ensure the long-term survival of Puget Sound spring Chinook and other salmon and trout species in the basin.

The original facility was designed to move only 20,000 fish annually. During peak salmon migration, in odd years, the facility is overloaded, as it struggles to move upward of 20,000 fish per day. The new facility is designed to transport 60,000 fish a day, or upward of 1.2 million fish per year.

Last week’s commencement of the project to improve fish passage and upgrade the facility would not have happened without the dedication of the Muckleshoot Indian Tribe and the Puyallup Tribe. It also would not have happened without the leadership and commitment from Senator Patty Murray. Additionally, this project was made possible by the hard work of the Army Corps of Engineers – Seattle District along with the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife and NOAA Fisheries as wells as the Cascade Water Alliance.

We look forward to monitoring this project as it progresses toward a 2020 completion date and many thanks to all of our supporters who spoke up about Buckley Dam, which has killed thousands of salmon and steelhead in this endangered river. Because of your advocacy, the Army Corps is addressing the problems, which is great news for the White River, the threatened salmon and steelhead populations, and the overall health of Puget Sound.

Guest blog by Mike Davis of Minnesota Department of Natural Resources for our continued celebration of World Fish Migration Day.

Lake Pepin is a 23 mile long riverine lake in the Mississippi River created by the delta of its tributary, the Chippewa River of Wisconsin. Pepin is the widest place on the entire Mississippi River and at one time reached from the Chippewa to the city of St. Paul, MN and within about 10 miles of the foot of the rapids that extend upstream to St. Anthony Falls. By the 1800’s St. Anthony Falls had eroded upstream far enough to leave around 6 miles of prime spawning habitat for fish species dependent on rapids for spawning. The 60 mile run upstream to these rapids was an easy trip on a free flowing river for the fish of Lake Pepin and the river in between.

Residents around Lake Pepin in the 1800’s reported being awakened at night by the splashing of thousands of paddlefish feeding at the surface, probably targeting the enormous insect hatches common to the lake in summer. Commercial fishermen landed hundreds of sturgeon and paddlefish in seines. Huge spawning runs of blue suckers attracted settlers to the gorge to pitchfork and club them to feed to livestock and to pickle for later home consumption.

All that changed as industry set its sights on the river as a source of power and transportation. In 1917 a high dam was erected near the foot of the historic rapids that stopped the age-old migration of fish into the rapids. Pollution and lack of access to critical spawning habitat greatly reduced populations of these fish. Since the Clean Water Act of 1972, pollution has been greatly reduced and these fish populations have begun to increase. However the rapids spawning habitat that they need remains a missing link to their full recovery.

Today we have an historic opportunity to return rapids habitat to the Mississippi’s last remaining rapids that lies submersed below the reservoir of Lock and Dam 1. Locks have stopped serving the barge industry that they supported for decades and an Army Corps of Engineers Disposition Study is now underway to determine the fate of this dam and another upstream at St. Anthony Falls. Dam removal is a feasible option that could be the recommended outcome of this study. Removal of the dams would allow for restoration of the world-class St. Anthony Falls rapids and reopen the habitat lost a century ago. Sturgeon, Paddlefish, and other rapids dependent species could once again migrate and spawn in the midst of this major metropolitan area and in full view of its human residents.

As we continue to celebrate World Fish Migration Day we look to the new places where we could see rivers once again flowing free. World Fish Migration Day could, in a few years, become an annual celebration along the Mississippi’s resurrected rapids in downtown Minneapolis!

The following guest blog from Pam Richart with Eco-Justice Collaborative is part of our America’s Most Endangered Rivers® series on the Middle Fork of the Vermilion River in Illinois.

The first major battle for the Middle Fork of the Vermilion River in its over 10,000-year history occurred in the early 1970s, when farmhouses were purchased and razed, and construction equipment moved in to dam the river for recreational purposes. Due to the hard work of tens of thousands of people who wrote letters, made calls, and met with their elected officials, the dam was stopped. Then in 1986, the Middle Fork of the Vermilion was designated a State Scenic River. Three years later, the U. S. Department of Interior designated 17.1 miles of the Middle Fork of the Vermilion as a National Scenic River.  At the time, with a state-administered corridor management plan in place, people thought the river would be protected from future threats.

This year, as we celebrate the 50^th Anniversary of the Wild and Scenic Rivers Act, the Middle Fork of the Vermilion is again under siege.

This time, the river is threatened by a plan that could leave 3.3 million cubic yards of coal ash in its floodplain forever. The coal ash is stored in three unlined pits, just a few yards from the river channel. Two of the three pits are known to be leaking, and the erosion of the banks next to these impoundments continues to raise concerns over a possible breach and coal ash spill.

The Beauty and Wildlife of the Middle Fork

East-central Illinois boasts some of the richest farmland in the country. However, the predictable “flat-as-a-pancake” topography abruptly changes when approaching the Middle Fork of the Vermilion River from the west. This scenic river carves a meandering path through Illinois’ Grand Prairie glacial deposits, exposing scenic, steep, valley slopes with towering bluffs. Most of the area along the Middle Fork is forested (including stately oaks, beech, and sugar maple), but there are also several prairie sites and seep springs. Giant sycamore trees with their twisted, exposed roots line the riverbanks providing shade during summer months, and the variety of hardwood species in upland and bottomland forests present a firestorm of fall color. The only structures visible from the river are the abandoned power plant and its smokestack and pump house located further downstream.

The scenic river designation begins at the northern boundary of the Middle Fork State Fish & Wildlife Area and extends through Kennekuk County Park, power plant property, and on through Kickapoo State Park. The river and its 1,000-foot wide scenic corridor pass through nearly 10,000 acres of public lands. The only private property is the land owned by Dynegy, where the Vermilion Power Generating Station and associated coal ash pits are located.

The Middle Fork is an upper perennial stream, which is uncommon in central Illinois. The average gradient is 2.9 feet per mile and it twists and turns through boulder riffles, making it fun to paddle. This clear, gravel-bottomed river is one of the highest quality and most biologically diverse in Illinois. Numerous species of fish, mussels, and other invertebrates live in its fast-moving water, sand and gravel raceways, and clear pools. Good populations of game fish such as smallmouth bass, crappie and channel catfish are present. Perhaps the most notable among the abundant and diverse fish fauna is the bluebreast darter. The breeding male has a colorful olive-green body with a bright blue breast, orange dorsal fins, and red spots along the sides. The only known location of this species in Illinois is in the Vermillion River basin.

Wildlife is abundant. Woodlands provide habitats for many mammals, including the grey fox, fox squirrel, raccoon, and white-tailed deer. The least shrew, red fox and striped skunk make their home in the transitional grassland/shrub areas. River otter, mink, beaver, and muskrat inhabit river shorelines. Wood ducks, egrets, heron, kingfisher, and shorebirds make their home in the bottomlands. The upland wooded areas are frequented by warblers, vireos, and most common songbirds, and it is not uncommon to see a pileated woodpecker. Several pairs of nesting bald eagles have made their home along the river’s edge, and the elusive southeastern shrew also is found in the area.

In spring, the woods explode with a vibrant display of colorful wildflowers, including Jack-in-the-pulpits, violets, bluebells, sweet Williams, spring beauties, Dutchman’s-breeches, wake-robins, and nodding trilliums.

Vermilion History and Economy

A 1,000-year-old, native American complex listed on the National Register of Historic Places sits along the bluffs and in the floodplain of the Middle Fork on the east side of the river, in Kennekuk County Park. This is a ceremonial site that is believed to have connections to the Cahokia Mounds State Historic Site, a 2,000-acre complex of mounds where a pre-Columbian city thrived at the confluence of the Missouri and Mississippi rivers. Named after the Collins family that farmed the area, the complex features eight mounds that exhibit lunar alignment. The most prominent – Indian Springs Mound – is about 7 feet tall, sits on a bluff overlooking the river, and was built over a wooden, burned funeral structure that contains the remains of indigenous leaders. What connects Collins to Cahokia are the mounds themselves, their shape and placement, and the artifacts found there.

The river system also provides the benefits of a strong recreation economy to Vermilion County. Kickapoo State Park, Kennekuk County Park, and the Middle Fork State Fish and Wildlife Area are key destinations for local residents and visitors, enjoyed for canoeing, kayaking, tubing, wildlife viewing, photography, hunting, angling, hiking, and horseback riding. A livery located in Kickapoo State Park puts over 10,000 people on the Middle Fork River in canoes, kayaks and tubes each year.

We Need to Come Together to Protect This River Again

Later this year, the Illinois EPA is likely to decide on a proposal by Vistra Energy/Dynegy (Dynegy) that could leave 3.3 million cubic yards of coal ash in unlined, leaking pits on the banks of the Middle Fork, where erosion from this natural meandering river threatens their long-term stability.

Two of the three coal ash pits are known to be leaching arsenic, barium, boron, chromium, iron, lead, manganese, molybdenum, nickel, and sulfate into the river. These contaminants are known to cause birth defects, cancer and neurological damage in humans, and can harm and kill wildlife, especially fish.

But perhaps most alarming is the ongoing erosion of riverbanks next to the two oldest pits. Gabions (wire baskets filled with rock) installed in the 1980’s to protect the pits from the meandering river have been severely compromised, leaving the river bank vulnerable to aggressive erosion. They have been ripped off the banks by the Middle Fork, and either lie in the channel next to the pits or have been swept downstream. Two storms in 2015 were responsible for eroding banks precariously close to the New East Ash Pit, causing Dynegy to seek emergency riverbank stabilization to avoid a potential breach.

A recent engineering study by Dynegy’s consultant shows just 15 feet remains between the river bank and the toe of the slope of the coal ash pits in some areas along the North and Old East pits. A previous study indicated that the Old East and North Ash Pits could fail if separation between the bank and the toe of the slope of these pits is reduced to just eight and 10 feet, respectively. In the meantime, a near-record storm this past February appears to have further eroded the banks adjacent to these pits – severely undercutting banks and leaving large, cavernous holes from downed trees and boulders moved downstream by this flood event. As the Middle Fork of the Vermilion River continues to wear away at the sides of riverbanks next to these pits, the threat of a catastrophic breach continues to increase. And while Dynegy’s plan includes bank stabilization, we know no stabilization lasts forever.

This is another time the public needs to demand the protection of Illinois’ only National Scenic River. There or no requirements for a public hearing on a proposal that could leave Vermilion County residents a legacy of toxic coal ash and, to date, the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency has declined to hold one. Any decision that is made by the Illinois EPA as to whether or not Dynegy will be able to cap and leave its coal ash in the river’s floodplain with bank stabilization will be made without any public input.

That’s why Eco-Justice Collaborative is holding a People’s Hearing in Danville, Illinois, next month. The agency’s decision will either positively – or negatively – affect the health, recreational, scenic and economic values of this National Scenic River. This hearing will give those who rely on the river an opportunity to voice concerns that are backed up with facts by experts who will testify on the risks of leaving the ash in the river’s floodplain.

Take Action Today!

Please send a letter to Governor Rauner and Illinois EPA Director Alec Messina asking them to ensure this toxic waste will be removed and relocated to a properly-constructed, lined, and monitored facility far from the Middle Fork.

That is the only solution that can fully protect this National Scenic River from ongoing pollution or a potential coal ash spill.

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Pam Richart

Pam  is Co-Director of Eco-Justice Collaborative (EJC).  EJC is organizing a grassroots campaign to remove the coal ash from the Middle Fork of the Vermilion River.

Guest blog by Hackensack Riverkeeper Outreach Coordinator, Caitlin Doran.

The saying “a picture is worth a thousand words” has become a little worn these days. At Hackensack Riverkeeper, we prefer, “a pictures is worth a thousand pounds of trash.”

The winning National River Cleanup® photo contest picture was just one moment that was part of many great river cleanups. The 2017 photo captures how hard working and dedicated volunteers are to cleaning up local waterways. American Rivers continues to support this idea with National River Cleanup, an initiative that provides much needed support to our organization and others like it.

In a given river cleanup season, dedicated volunteers like Anton Getz remove upwards of 15 tons of trash and debris from our 210 square mile watershed. They do this in extreme cold, heat, and sometimes-rainy weather, working in places as far north as Lake DeForest in Rockland County, NY, all the way down to the Newark Bay from the peninsula of Bayonne, NJ. Hackensack Riverkeeper volunteers are the boots on the ground (literally), cleaning up our most important natural resources­  – like the Meadowlands, the kidneys of our river and one of the most important estuarine environments on the East Coast, and the reservoirs that provide us with our drinking water.

This particular river cleanup took place at Woodcliff Lake Reservoir in Woodcliff Lake, NJ – part of the drinking water system for close to 1 million people. Volunteers are always surprised to find such a litany of litter threatening their drinking water supply, and these cleanups continue to open our eyes to the way non-point litter reaches even the most sensitive parts of our watershed. Thanks to volunteers like Anton, we are getting ahead of the trash in many parts of our watershed, as we work to be the upstream solution to river and marine pollution!

With the help of National River Cleanup we were able to get the word out about our cleanup and have trash bags to supply volunteers with. Every season we are able to organize cleanups and register them through their site alongside other cleanups going on around the country. After submitting cleanup photos for the National River Cleanup photo contest we were ecstatic to hear that our photo had made it to the voting round and even more excited when we were announced as the winners.

This spring, we’ll be returning to Woodcliff Lake Reservoir to undo more environmental damage. Join us! If you live in New Jersey and would like to know more about the work of Hackensack Riverkeeper, please call 201-968-0808 or email Caitlin at Outreach@hackensackriverkeeper.org. See you at the river!

What if you couldn’t pay your water bill? What if the city cut access to water in your home, and throughout your neighborhood?

In Detroit in 2014, more than 33,000 homes lost access to water service because residents couldn’t afford the costs. The problem is ongoing. Just two months ago, the Detroit Free Press reported that more than 17,000 people in the city are at risk of shut-offs.

In Flint, Michigan, even at the height of the crisis when their drinking water was contaminated with lead, residents paid some of the highest water rates in America.

“If you care about clean water, you need to care about affordability,” says Katie Rousseau, Director of Clean Water Supply in the Great Lakes for American Rivers.

“This is a human rights issue. When you don’t have clean water, what do you do for drinking, bathing, cleaning and cooking? When you can’t pay your water bills, that has all kinds of consequences. People can lose their homes, their children.”

“Everyone deserves clean, safe, affordable water,” Rousseau says.

That is why American Rivers is sponsoring “Making Ends Meet: A Workshop on Water Affordability” in Philadelphia, May 30-31. We’re teaming up with the Mayors Innovation Project, the Water Center at Penn, and the Clean Water for All coalition to offer this free workshop to share solutions on how cities can keep water, sewer and stormwater services affordable for all residents. The workshop will feature Michael Nutter, former mayor of Philadelphia, and other experts.

“We need to get ahead of this problem. It shouldn’t take a crisis to force cities and states to protect people’s health. We are committed to ensuring clean water and healthy rivers for all,” says Rousseau.

Learn more and register for “Making Ends Meet: A Workshop on Water Affordability”

When it comes to recovering federally endangered pallid sturgeon in the lower Yellowstone River, a strong majority of Montanans support removing an existing diversion dam that has been implicated in their demise.

That’s according to a new poll that was commissioned by American Rivers and its conservation partners and conducted by Tulchin Research last month. The pollster interviewed 400 likely Montana voters and has a margin of error of +/- 4.9 percent.

Among the key findings of the poll:

• 81% of Montanans support efforts to protect the pallid sturgeon, a prehistoric fish that was added to the endangered species list in 1990
• By a 64-21 margin, Montanans support removing the Intake Diversion Dam to recover pallid sturgeon and replacing its function with irrigation pumps to meet the needs of farmers
• By a 51-26 margin, Montanans support removing the Intake Diversion Dam even after being told the cost to do so could be three times higher than the cost of building a new dam and bypass channel
• By a 62-20 margin, Montanans would be more likely to support an elected leader who supports removing Intake Diversion Dam to recover pallid sturgeon

The poll comes at a pivotal time, as a federal appeals court recently lifted an injunction that was blocking the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers from building a new $59 million concrete dam just above the existing Intake Diversion Dam. The sole purpose of the proposed new dam is to divert water from the river into a canal that irrigates 54,000 acres of cropland in the Lower Yellowstone Project.

As part of the project, the Corps wants to build a two-mile-long bypass channel that it hopes pallid sturgeon and other fish will use to get around the dam. But most fisheries scientists who have studied this issue are skeptical the bypass channel will work. They point to the fact that no artificially constructed bypass channel has successfully passed any sturgeon species anywhere in the world.

Since Intake Diversion Dam and five other upstream diversion dams were constructed on the lower Yellowstone River early in the 20^th century, the pallid sturgeon population has dwindled because they can no longer access historic spawning habitat.

To successfully reproduce, pallid sturgeon need long stretches of free-flowing river so their hatched embryos can drift downstream and gradually mature into juvenile fish. Currently, the hatched embryos drift downstream into Lake Sakakawea, an artificial reservoir on the Missouri River, where they perish due to a lack of dissolved oxygen in the water. Removing Intake Diversion Dam would give pallid sturgeon access to 165 miles of historic habitat.

Biologists estimate there are only 125 adult pallid sturgeon left in the lower Yellowstone River and the adjacent Missouri River below Fort Peck Dam. Government scientists have long said that the key to their recovery is removing impassable barriers such as Intake Dam that prevent them from accessing their historic spawning areas.

American Rivers hopes the Corps will hold off on building the new dam and bypass channel and instead work with conservation groups and Montana’s congressional delegation to explore other options for delivering water to the Lower Yellowstone Project so Intake Dam can be removed. One promising option currently under consideration is piping water from Fort Peck Reservoir into the Lower Yellowstone Project.