Every spring, a distinct population of orca whales known as the Southern Resident Killer Whales (SRKW) waits at the mouth of the Columbia River like students in a cafeteria line. On the menu: 30+lb spring chinook salmon, the largest and fattiest of the six salmon species found off the Puget Sound.

The Center for Whale Research estimates that the average SRKW consumes between 18-25 salmon per day. With only about 80 members of this population left, that’s 1,500-2,000 salmon every day! Chinook are their favorite by far, making up as much as 80% of these whales’ diets, though they also enjoy a sampling of coho, chum, and steelhead.

Anadromous fish have a complex lifecycle, one that begins in freshwater streams, segues into the ocean, and ends in the same stream of the salmon’s birth, where the ones who don’t end up an orca’s lunch return to spawn and die. They are a remarkable, resilient keystone species but they are vulnerable at every stage of that life cycle.

Rivers that historically produced millions of salmon now suffer from dams, lack of fish passage, overfishing, algal blooms, non-point source pollution, and the disconnection and development of floodplains. The oceans themselves are growing more acidic, impeding salmons’ ability to detect predators and survive to spawn the next generation. As salmonid populations dwindle, meals for the SRKW grow fewer and farther between. Luckily, efforts are underway to restore salmon populations and habitats, and to help them face the challenges of a changing climate. American Rivers is deeply involved in such work in the Pacific Northwest.

The Yakima Basin:

Washington’s Yakima River once boasted the second-largest salmon run in the Columbia system. More than 800,000 chinook, coho, sockeye, steelhead, and cutthroat returned to spawn in its tributaries every year. Their presence supported the Yakama Nation and other Columbia Basin tribes, as well as complex headwater ecosystems throughout the Central Cascades.

Competing demands on the Yakima River’s waters did not turn out in favor of the fish. As agriculture grew, large irrigation reservoirs were constructed without fish passage facilities. In just a few decades summer chinook, coho, and sockeye went locally extinct, while spring and fall chinook barely hung on alongside steelhead. Thanks to lack of passage, low and altered flows, increasing temperatures, overfishing, and past land mismanagement, only 3,000-4,000 salmon remained in the Yakima system by 1990.

After a devastating series of droughts in the 90s and 00s, an unprecedented group of stakeholders came together to discuss the Yakima Basin’s water supply woes in 2009. Realizing that suing one another wasn’t providing anyone with the water they wanted, government agencies, tribal entities, irrigators, county commissioners, recreation groups, and environmental nonprofits convened a Workgroup to sort out what each group needed. The result was the Yakima Basin Integrated Plan, a laundry list of fish passage, water conservation, habitat restoration, surface and groundwater storage, water marketing, and irrigation efficiency projects that will provide reliable water for all parties within the basin. Fish passage projects are among the Integrated Plan’s first major construction efforts. Crews have already broken ground on a one-of-a-kind downstream helix passage system at Cle Elum reservoir. The other four Yakima Basin dams are undergoing studies to determine the best approach to provide fish with passage to spawning and rearing habitat blocked off for a century or more.

Before the Integrated Plan came together, the Yakama Nation Fisheries were hard at work returning chinook, coho, and sockeye to the basin. They drafted inter-tribal agreements to transplant salmon from other basins and established local hatcheries where they rear supplemental stock. Yakama Nation biologists join forces alongside partners like American Rivers, Trout Unlimited, and The Wilderness Society to restore instream habitat and reconnect rivers to their surrounding floodplains, giving salmon and steelhead a fighting chance against habitat degradation, development, and climate change.

Orca Awareness Month:

Killer whales, orca whales, SRKWs, and blackfish are iconic by any name. So how can you help support their recovery?

• Learn about salmon habitat restoration efforts in your area

In Washington, the Recreation and Conservation office created a Salmon Recovery Funding Board to provide grants for salmon restoration, protection, and assistance programs. In Oregon, the Water Resources Department created a Plan for Salmon and Watersheds which combines voluntary restoration actions with state, federal, and tribal projects, monitoring and scientific oversight. NOAA has also developed comprehensive recovery plans by region and species. And, of course, your local river or coastal groups are sure to have information available.

• Learn about local fish passage efforts

Dam removals, culvert replacements, and fish passage installation are all important tools in the work to boost salmon populations. The wildly successful Elwha Dam removal resulted in a local chinook boom. Chinook, coho, and sockeye have returned to the Yakima for the first time in a century thanks to the construction of new fish passage systems. Find out what’s going on near you, and get involved! Lend your voice in support, attend public meetings, or help boost their activities through social media.

• Support organizations that restore salmon-bearing streams

American Rivers is one of many Pacific Northwest nonprofits that work in local communities to organize, restore, fundraise, and lobby for the health of our rivers and the wildlife who depend on them. Learn more about our work and help us stretch it further in the future.

One would be hard pressed to find a river more important to a region than the Lower Colorado.

The river provides drinking water for nearly 30 million people from Las Vegas to Phoenix to Los Angeles. It irrigates millions of acres of farmland, growing the vast majority of our nation’s winter vegetables in places like Yuma, Arizona and California’s Imperial Valley. All told, if the river disappeared today, the United States would lose hundreds of billions of dollars in annual economic output.

While the river is not going to disappear, there is a very real possibility that over the next several years, water deliveries will be cut to some users because we collectively use more water than the river can provide. It is also likely that water availability will continue to decline due to rising temperatures caused by climate change. Even incremental cuts to water supply will have a huge impact on the environment and the regional economy. For example, in the event of a shortage, initial cuts would take water from Arizona’s agriculture industry, forcing farmers to either fallow their land or increase groundwater pumping to water their crops. Further cuts would literally dry up most of Central Arizona agriculture. Many aquifers across the state are already depleted, and when the groundwater goes, so does the desert environment, biodiversity, and quality of life.

Some may ask, why list the Lower Colorado River when it’s hardly a river; most of it has been piped, diverted, or dammed? Or some may say, why focus on this threat when clean water, public lands, and our bedrock environmental laws are under attack? The answers to these questions are straight forward – the river is too important, and the consequences to the environment and the economy are too severe –  if we do not continue the progress made to address the water imbalance by Arizona, California, Nevada, the Federal Government, and others through agreements like the Drought Contingency Plan (DCP) and the Drought Contingency Plan “Plus” (two key collaborative agreements currently in negotiation) in Arizona. While there are many legitimate and combative environmental public policy debates happening in the country right now, water is a non-partisan issue.

In the DCP agreement, the Lower Basin States are negotiating voluntary cuts to Colorado River water deliveries in order to stabilize the system and avoid deepening water shortages. Each state is also developing a plan for municipalities, citizens, and industry to adapt to a potential reduction in water. Arizona in particular, where this plan is called “DCP Plus,” entails additional conservation measures, innovative water sharing approaches, and enhanced efforts specifically designed to avoid water shortage, before it’s too late. DCP and DCP Plus were nearly completed at the end of 2016 after more than a year of negotiation with the leadership and support from the Federal government. It is critical that the federal government and congress continue this leadership, support, and funding for these efforts to ensure water supply security and environmental protection of the river and the livelihoods of millions of people across the Southwest.

If efforts like the DCP are going to be successful in the long term, it is essential that diverse voices are engaged in Colorado River issues. This is why the Hispanic Access Foundation has partnered with American Rivers on this year’s Most Endangered Rivers report. Two years ago, the Hispanic Access Foundation and American Rivers produced a short film called Soy Rojo which screened at dozens of churches throughout the Colorado River Basin. Powerful voices within the Latino Faith community emerged from these screenings, highlighting the cultural, spiritual, and economic importance of the Colorado River to Latino communities from Colorado to California. We are proud to partner with the Hispanic Access Foundation on this listing and on our second film together – Milk and Honey – which tells the story of one communities’ connection to the Colorado River near Yuma, Arizona.

Our 2017 America’s Most Endangered Rivers report highlighting the Lower Colorado river illustrates the need for us all to come together, whether you live in Yuma or New York, to develop and promote smart solutions to our most urgent river issues. By working together, and with support of leadership at all levels, we can sustain the Lower Colorado River that works so hard for all of us.

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North Carolina’s Neuse and Cape Fear rivers are threatened by untreated animal waste that is stored in the floodplains of the rivers and can be washed into the river during flood events like what occurred after Hurricane Matthew in 2016.

Over the next few weeks, we’ll introduce you to a series of posts that explore different aspects of the Neuse River and the Cape Fear River, #7 rivers on the list of America’s Most Endangered Rivers® of 2017.

Welcome to the Neuse and the Cape Fear Rivers

The Neuse River and the Cape Fear River systems flow out of the heart of North Carolina. They have modest beginnings in the foothills of the state near the border with Virginia. The Neuse River is one of the iconic rivers of North Carolina; at its mouth is New Bern, a city founded in 1710 that served as the original capital of the state and remains a center of maritime and agricultural commerce, and at its headwaters is the current capital, Raleigh. The Cape Fear River derives its name from the peninsula of land where the river meets the Atlantic Ocean, but the river pulls from the heart of North Carolina 200 miles inland. The Cape Fear has supported robust shipping commerce over the state’s history. The vast longleaf pine forests of the lower watershed enabled this trade as hundreds of distilleries crafted basic materials from the trees for storing and transporting supplies across the sea: tar, pitch, turpentine, and rosin. It is from this industry that North Carolina developed its nickname as the ‘tar heel state.’

The main stem of these rivers tend to be broad flowing rivers with limited whitewater ideal for easy paddling trips and observing the landscape surrounding them. The rivers drain a watershed that is about 15,000 square miles and have nearly 10,000 miles of stream amongst them. More than four million people in North Carolina get their drinking water from the rivers, including the growing cities of Raleigh, Durham, Fayetteville, and Wilmington. In addition, the estuaries of these two river systems play a large role in the economically important seafood industry, accounting for more than 90 percent of the commercial seafood species caught in North Carolina. The Neuse and Cape Fear rivers are vital to supporting North Carolina’s $1.7 billion fishing industry.

What’s at Stake?

The Neuse River and Cape Fear rivers have suffered for decades from harmful algal blooms due to excessive amounts of nitrogen and phosphorous. While this pollution has many sources, the most prominent are human and animal waste and stormwater runoff. In the wake of Hurricane Matthew (2016), one of the greatest successes and tools for protecting the health of the rivers from nutrient pollution was realized — eliminating animal waste lagoons and piles from the 100-year floodplain.

North Carolina is the second leading producer of hogs and the third leading producer of poultry in the country. Much of North Carolina’s animal production occurs in the Neuse and Cape Fear watersheds. Hundreds of millions of gallons of wet animal waste from these operations are held in open lagoons, and tons of dry waste is piled in fields near the concentrated animal feeding operations (CAFOs). Within the 100-year floodplain of the coastal counties, 62 swine CAFOs house more than 235,000 hogs and at least 30 poultry CAFOs house over 1.8 million chickens and turkeys. There are 166 open-air waste pits directly within the 100-year floodplain, and another 366 within 100 feet of the floodplain.

The flooding from Hurricane Matthew in Craven, Duplin, Green, Jones, Lenoir, Pitt, Sampson, and Wayne counties, partially submerged 10 industrial hog facilities with 39 barns, 26 large chicken-raising operations with 102 barns, and 14 open-air pits holding millions of gallons of liquid hog manure, releasing untreated waste directly into the rivers.

What can be done?

There is a simple and commonsense action that can be taken to reduce the threat to our water resources and communities — remove the existing industrial CAFO facilities from the floodplain. A highly successful program to move waste operations out of the 100-year floodplain was developed after Hurricane Floyd in 1999, which was the last major flooding event to impact the rivers. The state of North Carolina spent $18.6 million to close 42 swine facilities with 103 waste pits.

The program has run out of funding and there are no other viable funding options for farmers to move their waste operations out of the floodplain. There are 92 CAFOs and their associated waste operations within the floodplain that need to be relocated to protect the health of the Neuse and the Cape Fear. It is time to restore the Swine Buyout Program and include language expanding it to all CAFOs in the floodplain as part of the Hurricane Matthew recovery package.

Please join us in asking the Commissioner of the N.C. Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services, Steve Troxler, to champion the protection of this vital natural resource and protect the investments of family farmers by pushing for full funding of the floodplain buyout program.

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Rivers run through the lives of our children in so many ways.

They give us our drinking water. They water the fields that grow the fruits and vegetables we eat. They give us beauty, serenity, adventure. They are where we reconnect with the natural world, our friends and family, ourselves.

There are few things more fundamental to the health of our families than clean drinking water. But too many families in our country today are forced to live with polluted rivers and unsafe drinking water.

Top 3 reasons why your family needs healthy rivers:

1. Your kids need clean drinking water.

Nationwide, rivers provide more than half of our drinking water supplies. Rivers flow through our veins. So when rivers are polluted, that raises health concerns – for moms, for babies, for all of us. As our kids grow up, we want to know that the water flowing from our taps is clean and safe. Too many communities in our country (it’s not just Flint) do not have access to safe drinking water.

Imagine if our decision makers and members of Congress understood our bodies – their own bodies –  as directly connected to the health of rivers and the natural world. Instead of slashing clean water safeguards, as they are doing now, we’d be having a much different conversation about ensuring the health of American families for generations to come.

2. Playing outside is good for kids’ brains and bodies.

Children need to play, and they need to play outside. The natural world is full of opportunities for fun, wonder, discovery, and exercise. Studies show that when kids get outside, they do better in school. Richard Louv writes about the many benefits of nature for kids and adults, including reducing depression and building family and community bonds.

It’s important that we insist on public access to rivers, safe parks, and other outdoor areas for all communities, urban and rural, big and small. Every child should have a chance to connect with her river and reap all of the benefits of outdoor play.

3. It’s their birthright.

Your kids own the rivers. We all do. Rivers are public resources, benefitting all Americans. And rivers connect us – past, present and future. Rivers are an essential part of our country’s heritage. From the Lewis and Clark expedition, to Huck Finn, to the poetry of Langston Hughes, rivers flow through our history, art, music, and literature.

The Potomac, the Yellowstone, the Shenandoah, the Mississippi, the Colorado, and the river flowing through your town: Your children are inheriting all of this, and they will pass it on to the next generation.

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June is National Rivers Month – Here are three ways to celebrate:

Participate in a river cleanup

Join the millions of volunteers who are cleaning up trash from rivers and streams, and giving back to their communities. Learn more »

Share your river story

Why are rivers important to you and your family? Share a photo or a special memory with us! Share your story »

Call your member of Congress

Did you know that President Trump is proposing massive cuts to clean water safeguards in the federal budget? Tell your member of Congress to oppose any effort by President Trump or Congress to cut funding for river conservation and clean water protection. (Find contact info for your representative and senators).

Get out and enjoy your rivers, share your story, and speak up to your decision makers!

The Upper Cle Elum, Cooper, and Waptus rivers are not part of the National Wild and Scenic Rivers System, a fact that surprises many visitors and local residents. You only have to stare into the clear depths of the Cooper River swimming hole, hike the Waptus outcroppings into the Alpine Lakes Wilderness or stroll through the wildflower meadows bordering the Upper Cle Elum wetlands to understand why; the area is prized for its beauty, diversity, and broad array of recreational opportunities. Hiking, fishing, birdwatching, camping, horseback riding, canoeing, kayaking, and more are available within the Upper Cle Elum River system, supporting the economic vitality of nearby communities and quality of life for locals.

These three rivers are also a key component of the Yakima River headwaters. They provide clean and cool water to fish and wildlife, as well as drinking and irrigation water to towns in Kittitas and Yakima counties. And thanks to fisheries restoration efforts by the Yakama Nation and the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, they’re home to the first sockeye salmon to be found within the Yakima basin in more than a century! It is no wonder then that community leaders, environmental groups, and outdoor clubs feel that these rivers should be protected under a Wild and Scenic River designation.

The Wild and Scenic Rivers Act was signed into law in 1968 at the height of the modern dam-building era. It prohibits federal involvement in new dams, diversions, or other development that would harm a designated river’s free flowing condition, water quality or quantity, or unique values. This landmark law is the highest form of protection available to rivers in the United States, though less than ¼ of 1% of America’s rivers are currently designated.

A Wild and Scenic River designation identifies and creates a management plan to protect a river’s “outstandingly remarkable values.” These can be recreational, scenic, ecological, geological, archeological, or historic values. Anything that sets the river apart on a local, regional, or national scale is considered within the designation. The Upper Cle Elum and Waptus rivers were recommended to receive this protection by past Forest Service planning efforts, while the Cooper was found eligible for further consideration. The need for future management planning has only increased as sockeye salmon return to spawn in these rivers once again, and a growing Washington population seeks out quality recreation experiences on the East Side.

Best of all, the Wild and Scenic Rivers Act mandates that communities be involved in creating a Comprehensive River Management Plan for every designated river. American Rivers is working toward designation of the Upper Cle Elum System as part of the Yakima Basin Integrated Plan, a comprehensive approach to water management and habitat enhancement throughout the Yakima River Basin.

This story was originally published as part of the NW League of Whitewater Racer’s newsletter.

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Join us to protect wild rivers and public lands. To celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Wild and Scenic Rivers Act in 2018, we are teaming up with partners to ask Congress to protect 5,000 new miles of Wild and Scenic Rivers and one million acres of riverside lands.

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“We’re now living in a world of extremes on the Mississippi River,” Mayor Brant Walker of Alton, Illinois told E&E News last month. “We just don’t get normal spring rains anymore. We get huge downpours.”

The community of Alton isn’t alone. Flooding has devastated communities from South Carolina to California in recent years, while drought and water scarcity have squeezed Georgia, Arizona, and other states.

These are the kinds of impacts we’re seeing with climate change – and we may see more, now that President Trump is withdrawing the U.S. from the Paris Climate Agreement.

There’s no doubt that climate change is hitting our rivers and water resources “first and worst”. Without bold action to stop climate change, more severe floods and droughts, more waterborne diseases, and increasingly scarce water supplies will threaten communities in the United States and around the world.

Since our founding in 1973, American Rivers has been about solutions that work for people and rivers. And now our work is more important than ever.

That’s because, in addition to fighting dirty fossil fuel pollution, we are leading the charge to help communities build their resilience to climate impacts with river conservation solutions, such as:

• Making cities like Atlanta, Milwaukee, and Tucson more water efficient
• Restoring floodplains to absorb floodwaters and build wildlife habitat
• Protecting wild rivers, healthy forests, and streams that naturally sustain clean water supplies
• Improving our nation’s crumbling water infrastructure

Thanks to the work of American Rivers and our nation’s strong river community – including non-profit advocates, scientists, water managers, businesses, and other leaders –  the United States is a global leader in river restoration and protection.

As Bob Irvin, the president of American Rivers, stated, “President Trump’s head-in-the-sand approach to climate change contrasts sharply with the leadership and moral courage of countless individuals, businesses, and cities that are working tirelessly to stop dirty fossil fuel pollution and strengthen communities against climate impacts including increased flooding and drought.”

“American Rivers will continue to stand with these local leaders, and we will continue helping communities build their resilience with innovative river conservation solutions. We will work to ensure the United States remains a global leader in river restoration and protection, because a healthy river is a community’s best defense against the impacts of climate change.”

Learn more: Resources on Climate Change and Rivers

• Natural Defenses: Safeguarding Communities from Floods

• Naturally Stronger: How Natural Water Infrastructure Can Save Money and Improve Lives

• Getting Climate Smart: A Water Preparedness Guide for State Action

• Weathering Change: Bringing Federal Policy into the 21st Century

This guest post, from Stephanie Curin, is a part of our America’s Most Endangered Rivers® series spotlighting the Bear River.

Every visit to the Bear River is precious because that’s when you get to hear the music of the river.

No sound on earth compares to the soothing rush of water as it travels over stones, through willows, and around each river bend. There is a timeless quality about a river that whispers of the past, talks into the present and gives hope for the future.

Recently, when walking along a path next to the river, I was keenly aware of the changing volumes of the rushing water. Sometimes it was a quiet, gentle flow, then a few steps further on the river gathered speed as the rapids loudly crashed over rocks and branches in its path. Next was a place where the water moved forward at a steady pace, sounding like a constant wind coursing through the waters.

Often our lives parallel with the flow of a river. We go through peaceful times when everything is smooth and hushed, then suddenly a storm comes along and we’re tossed about in the turbulence of our circumstances. All seems loud and the calm is drowned out. Then there are days we move steadily forward, one wave at a time, through the ongoing routine of daily existence. These wonderful sounds of the river give clarity and reassurance as they echo our daily walk through life.

Another beautiful sound of the river is the tumble of rocks under the water, as they move from one place to another. I first heard this as a child when our family camped along the banks of a small river in Idaho. After a full day of playing in the river, we gathered around the campfire telling stories and gazing into the flames. When it got pitch dark, and the night was bright with stars, the grown-ups shuffled us kids off to bed. The distant rise and fall of adult voices were barely audible, as the tales became more interesting and the fire crackled as the moon rose in the sky. It was difficult going to sleep. I tossed and turned in my sleeping bag straining to hear more of their stories.

But after a while, the river music began. First, it was an incessant hum. The more I listened, the more varied it became as it muffled the other sounds of the night. The swift current ebbed and flowed into the deep rumbling of stones turning over in the waters of the river bed. It reminded me of my father’s voice, low and calm, gentle and deep. Soon the river music lulled me peacefully to sleep. A sound from childhood I have never forgotten. You must be very still and quiet to hear the murmur of rocks tumbling in a river.

River music is an irreplaceable sound that is worthy of being treasured and preserved. It speaks volumes as it calms the soul. Whatever my mood is— happy, sad, restless or fretful— the river gives me peace, a deep down sense that all is well as the water moves constantly forward to the sea. The sound of the river heals, teaches, and renews when we make the time to listen to its low, steady voice.

Help us keep this special river flowing

One of the Bear River’s last free-flowing reaches is threatened by an expensive, damaging and unnecessary new dam. Damming the river is a 19th-century solution to the 21st-century challenge of a changing climate. Tell the Nevada Irrigation District to stop this expensive, risky and unnecessary dam project at the expense of local communities and ecosystems.

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Stephanie lives with her family in Colfax, California, near the Bear River recreation area and regularly visits the river to go hiking on its many trails. She is a member of the local garden club and enjoys creating natural plant habitats to support native pollinators and migratory birds. Currently, she is volunteering to raise awareness of the threatened Bear River.

President Trump will arrive in Cincinnati to talk about his vision for the nation’s infrastructure. He could learn something from Cincinnati — and Ohio — when it comes to innovative solutions for water infrastructure.

There are few issues more vital to our health than clean water, and rivers provide more than two-thirds of our nation’s drinking water supplies. But nationwide, our water infrastructure – including pipes, sewage treatment systems, locks, and dams – is crumbling.

Problems ranging from water contamination due to lead pipes in Flint, Michigan, to safety concerns at the nation’s tallest dam in California have grabbed national headlines. The American Society of Civil Engineers gives our nation’s dams, drinking water systems, and levees a “D” grade in its 2017 report card on the nation’s infrastructure. The impacts of outdated water infrastructure and water management fall disproportionately on low-wealth neighborhoods and communities of color that are already suffering from a lack of investment and opportunity.

Many cities, including Cincinnati, are moving in the right direction to confront water challenges with innovative, cost-effective solutions that recognize healthy rivers and streams as an essential part of a community’s infrastructure. The Metropolitan Sewer District of Greater Cincinnati (MSD) has embarked on a multi-year initiative to clean up polluted rivers while creating social and economic opportunities for communities. MSD’s efforts include capturing stormwater with bioswales and restoring streams to improve water quality and decrease local flooding.

Statewide, Ohio has done a good job restoring river health through the removal of unsafe, unneeded dams. The Cuyahoga River, once a symbol of environmental degradation, is now a symbol of restoration thanks in part to the removal of outdated dams. Downtown Columbus has reconnected to the Scioto River after removing dams and restoring wetlands.

Any federal investment in water infrastructure must advance these types of 21st-century solutions so we can ensure reliable clean water supplies and safe, healthy communities for our children and grandchildren.

Specifically, federal investment must

1) Update water systems to ensure public safety

We must replace decaying and dangerously out-of-date drinking water systems (such as lead pipes) and upgrade wastewater treatment plants.

2) Prioritize natural infrastructure

We need a new kind of water management and we need it in the right places. Solutions that protect, restore, and replicate natural systems and use water efficiently have a wide range of social, economic, and environmental benefits. Natural infrastructure can mean planting trees and restoring wetlands, rather than building a costly new water treatment plant. It can mean choosing water efficiency instead of building a new water supply dam. It can mean restoring floodplains instead of building taller levees.

3) Remove outdated infrastructure

Many locks and dams provide benefits, but many others have outlived their usefulness, creating an economic drain on communities or dangerous public safety hazards. Nearly 1,400 dams have been removed nationwide and efforts continue. For example, efforts are underway to remove Gorge Dam on the Cuyahoga, and the Army Corps is currently studying whether to retire five locks and dams on the Allegheny River, a tributary of the Ohio River.

4) Maintain environmental safeguards

When deciding how to address our infrastructure needs, we must not forego the protections provided by laws such as the National Environmental Policy Act, Clean Water Act, and Endangered Species Act in our haste to move projects forward. These laws enable us to look before we leap and think about which path will provide the best and most environmentally-sustainable, long-term solution for our needs.

Clean water can and should be a bipartisan issue. Healthy rivers are economic engines and water is an excellent investment: every $1 spent on water infrastructure generates nearly $3 to the private economy, according to the U.S. Department of Commerce. Rivers helped build Cincinnati, and they helped build our nation. Investing in healthy rivers and innovative water infrastructure solutions will strengthen our country and pay dividends for generations to come.

One of the most tell-tale signs that the management of stormwater was a problem in Atlanta occurred in 2012.

After decades of development, all that was left in this area were parking lots and a deteriorating sewage system. As a result, several homes in the Turner Field communities were flooded by massive amounts of stormwater runoff and sewage.

While Turner Field is currently being redeveloped, residents and community partners could no longer stand on the sidelines. By working together to ensure a community driven development process, the growing concerns of stormwater have gradually been put at ease.

Interstate Pilot Project for Turner Field Communities

Two important initiatives, the feasibility studies of green stormwater infrastructure (GSI) and the Turner Field Neighborhoods Livable Centers Initiative (LCI) plan, helped set forth a plan to aid some of Atlanta’s highways. American Rivers and the LCI team collaborated with the Georgia Department of  Transportation (GDOT) to determine a way to aid issues with massive downspout disconnect. With the GDOT funding the green stormwater infrastructure and the construction of the pilot project, the problem was well on its way to being fixed.

One thing remained: Finding another partner group to maintain the installations.

 

Central Atlanta Progress (CAP) was a no-brainer when it came to finding an enthusiastic partner to join our group and carry out the installations for the GSI pilot project. The CAP upholds a strategic plan that specifically addresses the idea of greening the downtown interstate highways. The next step involved bringing both the GDOT and CAP teams together.

The first meeting between all of the partners was held in early December 2016. Each of the individual team members represented diverse backgrounds and departments, yet all shared a mutual willingness to champion this project. Based off of our feasibility studies, we were able to reach four possible options for the project. By the end of the meeting, we had chosen our construction site: the intersection of I-75/85 and I-20 in downtown Atlanta.

Today, the GSI pilot project is underway and construction is anticipated to begin in the fall of 2017. The landscape architecture firm, Solidago Design Solutions, is now developing design plans for the site that will follow our feasibility assessment recommendations. By using bioretention to capture stormwater, it is likely that the recommendation of 1.8 inches of rainfall will be infiltrated through green stormwater infrastructure.

“Can you hear me?”

For this community in particular, residents often feel misrepresented, as though they cannot voice their opinions. By taking matters into their own hands, residents decided to initiate programs that provide outlets for voices to be heard.  Trained citizen advocates represent the desires, concerns, and wishes of the community.

Fortunately, the interstate GSI pilot project is shedding light on the needs of the surrounding community. The project presents the opportunity for the GDOT to evolve their approach to stormwater management systems, while also addressing communal concerns.

An important connection between the flow of people and the flow of water must be an interconnected process. These two parts of a well-oiled machine can improve the holistic design of urban stormwater management, transportation, and sustainability. By implementing a new way of managing stormwater run-off, communities will have the health, quality of life, and access that they deserve.

There is no solitary department, agency, school, organization, or business that can provide the single solution to stormwater management. This is a collective issue that will take a collective effort to make sure that the identity of this community remains intact and is a reflection of its residents.

This interstate GSI pilot project could serve as a model for other State Departments of Transportation in order to address stormwater entering communities, while also incorporating community recommendations and feedback into planning efforts.

At the end of April, American Rivers teamed up with Keurig Green Mountain employees in Suffolk, VA and the Nansemond River Preservation Alliance (NRPA) to install five rain gardens, plant 30 native shrubs, and enhance a 100-foot buffer along Bennett’s Creek, a tributary of the Nansemond River. To talk more about the work we did and the importance of buffers, we’ve asked Elizabeth Taraski of Nansemond River Preservation Alliance to guest blog.

Restoring the impaired waterways of Suffolk, VA requires a sense of community collaboration.

The Nansemond River Preservation Alliance (NRPA), launched in 2010, has been working diligently to educate and encourage citizens to be environmental stewards. One of the key elements at the core of NRPA’s strategy and business plan involves community collaboration, as well as working with like-minded organizations.

The partnership between NRPA and Keurig Green Mountain (Keurig) is known as one of the success stories on the Suffolk waterways. The partnership began in 2012 when Keurig provided grant funding for the NRPA Nansemond Watershed Initiative (NWI): Connecting the Classroom with the Environment, a program for seventh grade students. Over a two-year period, 2,000 students participated in NWI indoor and outdoor hands-on classroom experiences. In 2015, Keurig and NRPA collaborated on a community-based project that emphasized the importance of conservation, and how it protects the waterways.

Three years later, the collaborative partnership continues as Keurig employees came to Bennett’s Creek Park in Suffolk to participate in another community-based site project. This year the project had three components:

1. Establishing five rain gardens;
2. Planting 30 shrubs along the shoreline;
3. Spreading 105 cubic yards of mulch.

In order to be successful, the NRPA worked in collaboration with the Suffolk Parks and Recreation Department to plan and manage the project. The NRPA also provided guidance to employees on how to properly plant shrubs. Collaboration and planning are the key elements to the program’s success. Both Keurig and American Rivers recruited the volunteers, as well as provided the funding for plants, supplies, and refreshments. Most of all, Keurig and American Rivers lifted the momentum for volunteers with plenty of support and enthusiasm.

Immediately after day one of the project, a rain storm drenched the planting site with nearly 1.5 inches of rain. The rain gardens planted earlier in the day were put to the test. NRPA is delighted to report the rain gardens were effective in their mission by reducing storm-water runoff. The riparian buffer is also currently stabilizing as a result of the Keurig’s three years of volunteer work.

Keurig employees have embraced this project as upwards of half of the employees who participated in the past returned to help again. Employees who were new to the program shared that this was their first experience volunteering for an environmental project. It was also the first time that they had the opportunity to plant a native shrub or a tree. Many had never heard of or seen a rain garden. By the end of the day, several were talking about planting their own at home.

The Washington Post recently featured South Carolina’s Congaree National Park in its travel section, boasting of its towering old growth bottomland hardwood trees, sinuous rivers and paddle trails, and rich cultural history.

American Rivers has worked to protect and restore the Congaree River and the National Park for nearly a decade. Our first blue trail projects are on the Congaree and Wateree Rivers, which converge at Congaree National Park in near Columbia, South Carolina.

The Congaree River Blue Trail is the first water trail designated a National Recreation Trail in South Carolina by the Department of Interior. American Rivers has been instrumental in assuring enhanced stream flows to support boating and habitat for fish and wildlife as part of a new federal licensing for upstream dams.

The Washington Post article is right. There’s much to explore along the Congaree River. Learn more about the Congaree River and plan your own adventure down the river.

In the Eagle Lake watershed – located east of Mount Lassen National Park – a myriad of local, state, and federal partners are working to restore some of the largest meadow systems in California and recover one of the West’s most iconic native trout. The wettest winter on record gives us a look at what these restored meadows might soon offer as new habitat for the imperiled Eagle Lake rainbow trout.

This is the intersection of Little Harvey Creek and Pine Creek, aptly named ‘Confluence meadow’. Under normal circumstances, this meadow is dry and doesn’t support a healthy and diverse aquatic community of species. Like many of the meadows in the Pine Creek watershed, it is dewatered by decades of channel incision due to a variety of legacy land uses in the watershed. That unnaturally-deep and straight channel on the left of the photo above acts like an open cut, draining groundwater from the meadow, and leaving the great-looking habitat on the right of the photograph high and dry. Restoration work at this site proposes to abandon the left channel so that Pine Creek will flow through the meadow floodplain like it once did naturally, providing surface water longer into the hot summer months. Flood waters will soak deep into the meadow, be stored as groundwater, and recharge Pine Creek with cold, clean water to support, among other species, naturally spawning Eagle Lake rainbow trout.

The Eagle Lake rainbow trout is an endemic, at-risk California native trout species that has not successfully spawned in the Pine Creek watershed in considerable numbers since the 1950’s, largely due to poor watershed condition, a man made fish barrier, and inadequate flows. A fish ladder was installed over the barrier in 2012, but low flows during the drought and poor habitat condition have prevented spawning in recent years. According to the US Fish and Wildlife Service’s conservation strategy, meadow restoration is an integral component to recovering the species.

Thanks to the record winter, we get a glimpse of what a working floodplain and functional meadow will once again look like. Solving complex watershed issues takes time, vision, and a strong and broad partnership. Partners working towards long-term goals to recover Eagle Lake rainbow trout include the US Forest Service, Eagle Lake Guardians, California Department of Fish and Wildlife, Susanville Indian Rancheria, UC Davis, the Honey Lake Resource Conservation District, local ranchers and anglers, Trout Unlimited, and American Rivers.

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By David Lass and Luke Hunt

Dave Lass is California Field Director for Trout Unlimited. Luke Hunt is Director of Headwaters Conservation for American Rivers.

Photos courtesy Trout Unlimited, Drone Productions, and Todd Sloat