Sometimes projects don’t go as planned. Sometimes they go sideways really fast. Sometimes those unexpected detours turn out to be a blessing in disguise. This is the story of one such project.
Meet Kehm Run Dam in York, Pennsylvania.
Kehm was a mostly earthen dam with a concrete spillway. Here’s the spillway from the upstream side.
There’s also a smaller weir on the upstream end of the impoundment pictured below.
Kehm sits in the middle of some agricultural fields that are otherwise surrounded by encroaching development. Here’s an aerial view.
It turns out the site is a bit of a diamond in the rough. Like many areas, what was once a rural community in York has filled in with houses and other development. Here, there are still farm fields which makes it a unique place to visit.
Let’s rewind back to 2015— The owners of Kehm Dam receive a letter from PA Department of Environmental Protection’s Dam Safety Program notifying them that their dam is deficient according to state regulations. They must either fix it or remove it. This dam formed a lake used for recreation, but it hasn’t been used as much in recent years as kids have grown up. Here’s a look at the impoundment and a little weekend getaway spot on the lake.
At some point in the past, a family member plugged up the pipe used to drain down the impoundment. It turns out that people need to be able to drain their impoundments these days in case of an emergency, so something had to be done. The owners decided to remove the dam because the cost of repairs would be too much— a conclusion many dam owners come to when faced with the reality of owning aging infrastructure.
American Rivers became involved in the project to help alleviate pressure from the owners who are not otherwise experts on dam removal. For more than 20 years, American Rivers has been working throughout PA to restore healthy river flow and function for the benefit of people and nature. There are more than 3,800 dams throughout the Chesapeake Bay Basin, very few of which provide water supply or flood control benefits. Many of these dams are smaller, older structures that no longer serve a purpose and have potentially become unsafe. This is the case with Kehm Run Dam, the removal of which will benefit resident fish and other aquatic species and reconnect one mile of habitat upstream. This project, like our past work in PA, is intended to provide both ecological and community benefits including improvements to public safety, habitat connectivity, natural ecological function, biodiversity and climate change resilience. Rivers thrive when they’re allowed to move sediment naturally, develop and provide physical habitat for aquatic life, and cycle nutrients in a natural way to support a thriving native ecosystem.
Throughout 2017/2018— We raise funds for what is to become the first phase of the project (thank you to PA Fish and Boat Commission and PA Department of Environmental Protection’s Growing Greener Program).
September 2018— We hire an engineering firm, Princeton Hydro, and navigate through the bumpy road of design and permitting.
Kehm Dam Removal Construction Phase 1
September 2019— Finally, we have permits in hand (a restoration waiver from PA Dam Safety and a drawdown permit from PA Fish and Boat Commission). The project is permitted with a passive sediment release approach for sediment management (this becomes relevant later on). We bid the project for construction. The bids come in. High. Why are they so high? We based our projected costs on an early bid done by one of the owners (no longer living). It turns out that bid did not include removing the whole dam or any of the pipe running through the entire impoundment. We did not realize this ahead of time.
What to do…
Well, we have enough funding to breach the dam, remove the concrete spillway, and remove the upstream weir. Then we will allow the river to find its path and the system to adjust. We can go back after we raise some additional funds to do more work on the site once we see what is truly necessary. Okay, we have a plan.
Here’s what the impoundment looked like before construction from what I will call Point A on the edge of the earthen dam looking upstream.
January 2020— Construction begins. I am 8 months pregnant. This site has some steep hills. I don’t feel as though this picture truly captures how out of breath I was walking up these hills, but it’s all I have.
They started by pumping the water out of the impoundment with a pump machine. The water was pumped from the impoundment into the stream below the dam. Here’s how things were looking from Point A during the pump down.
Next, they removed the concrete spillway with a hydraulic hammer on an excavator. This image shows the breakdown process which happened pretty quickly—only took a few days.
By February, the upstream end of the impoundment was looking more or less as expected. There was a lot of submerged aquatic vegetation up there (hence the lumpiness). At this point, the stream is still flowing into the impoundment, but it doesn’t have a strong path through this vegetation.
Down by the dam, we have some ponding as the pump tries to keep up with moving the water from one side of the dam to the other.
It’s becoming clear that we have a lot of sediment on our hands. This isn’t unexpected for a farm pond. Here’s a look at the impoundment.
PA Department of Environmental Protection thinks there is more sediment here than what was approved under our permit. They order us to stop work on the dam breach before it reaches its final elevation in order to keep sediment from going downstream.
Okaaay. Now what do we do? To sum up the situation:
1) We aren’t allowed to finish breaching the dam.
2) The concrete spillway is already demolished
3) The drawdown pipe is not functional
4) We can’t just electronically pump water out of the impoundment forever
5) You can’t excavate mud soup….we tried…
We had extensive discussions with the engineers and dam safety about how we could temporarily fortify the breach to allow the impoundment time to dry out and stabilize the sediment. In the meantime, Flyway Excavating (the construction contractor) continues to work through on-site problem-solving strategies. They have a breakthrough! They found the end of the pipe that drains the impoundment and have extracted the concrete plug. We can use the pipe to convey the stream from one end of the impoundment to the other without pumping. <Sigh of relief> Here’s the elusive pipe.
We armor the breach with a temporary rock patch to provide protection during storm events, and the river is conveyed through the impoundment pipe. Here’s the near-final temporary breach.
I have my baby a few days later. Yay! (Nothing like last-minute stress!)
Kehm Dam Removal Phase 2
Fast forward to July 2020— I’m back! Baby is doing well! It turns out the site is doing well also. Nature is so resilient. No more “mudflat” in just a few months (with no planting!). Here’s a photo from Point A rotated a bit to include the breach.
We’ve also solved the mystery of the perceived increase in sediment volume in the impoundment. It turns out a math error was made on the design plans for where the bottom elevation should be, making it look like more sediment would evacuate based on the top of sediment elevation. We move on to design Phase 2 of the project to complete the dam breach and remove the upstream weir.
In the meantime, I’ve run out of money. If you’ll remember—we didn’t have enough in-hand to do the full project construction, then we had increased costs with the temporary breach situation.
Enter new best friend Pam Shellenberger with the York County Planning Commission. On a whim, Pam invites Pierre MaCoy with the Susquehanna River Basin Commission (SRBC) for a site visit. Pierre falls in love with the site. Remember—it’s a diamond in the rough of York, PA. Pierre sees the site’s potential. He works with his colleagues at SRBC and they are able to arrange to fund Phase 2 construction. Whew!
We acquire approvals for the Phase 2 plans and we go to construction in September 2021. It’s a time crunch, due to weather and the impacts of manufacturing delays on the construction industry. But we squeak in the site work before the October 1 instream construction restriction deadline.
Here’s a look at Point A before Phase 1 and then after Phase 2.
Here’s a look across the dam before Phase 1 and then after Phase 2.
The dam breach area will fill back in with vegetation over the next growing season and look more like it did between Phases 1 and 2. This photo is from that same spot after Phase 1 (taken August 2021) to give an idea of what will happen.
Future Plans
We’re not done yet! We need to give the site some time to restore itself. The river will cut a path (or possibly even more than one) through the impoundment. We need to wait and see if that causes any erosion concerns. We need to make sure the breach stabilizes for the long term. Things will shift around a bit as this is an active evolving natural system. We are also going to explore the potential to do some active wetland or floodplain restoration. The site may not need it. It may restore full functionality on its own. We shall see.
There is also an active stormwater erosion problem happening through the field adjacent to the impoundment that is causing excessive sediment inputs into the stream. Here is an image of the ditch that the inadequate stormwater management from the road has caused through the field. It has a Pierre in it for scale.
We are hoping to fix that stormwater issue and repair the field as part of Phase 3 of this project. We are also working with local partners to explore the potential of a conservation easement to help keep the surrounding land in agricultural production instead of development.
When PA Dam Safety put a stop to construction in February 2020, I did not immediately know how we would move the project forward. However, thanks to a bit of luck and the engagement of helpful partners, we are making some dam lemonade at this site. I cannot wait to see the results of Phase 3 as we hopefully complete a more holistic restoration of the site for the benefit of people, fish, and wildlife well into the future. Stay tuned!
In September, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service announced that 23 species in total — 11 birds, eight freshwater mussels, two fish, one bat and one plant – were officially extinct and are gone forever. These include, for example, the flat pigtoe, the Southern acornshell, and the yellow-blossom pearly mussel which are three unique species of freshwater mussels that once graced the rivers of the Southeastern U.S.
Some might say accurately that the history of life on Earth has included species going extinct, e.g. the dinosaurs, and that accordingly this is nothing to be worried about. However, a key observation is that the rate of extinction, endangerment, and threat to all species is at unparalleled levels.
Freshwater species are going extinct faster than ocean or land species, and rivers are among the most threatened ecosystems on the planet. Centuries of dams, pollution and degradation have sapped the life from once-vibrant rivers. Consider the fact that only one-third of the world’s rivers remain free-flowing. Combined with severe droughts and floods made more extreme by climate change, rivers face unprecedented threats.
The world is waking up to the crisis of climate change, and the need to stop burning fossil fuels to prevent further warming and climate chaos. But we have yet to give the same level of attention to the biodiversity crisis. Nature’s abundance of plants, insects, birds, fish and other wildlife has immeasurable intrinsic value. It’s also our life support system, supporting the food we eat, the water we drink and the air we breathe.
And rivers are the lifeblood of it all, our planet’s veins and arteries.
Life simply isn’t possible without clean flowing rivers and streams, lush wetlands and floodplains, and healthy watersheds. Rivers are migration routes and connect critical wildlife habitats. Slow-moving back channels serve as nurseries and provide refuges. If imperiled species are to adapt and thrive in a warming world, they will need healthy, connected rivers.
As we work to support fish and wildlife through river protection and restoration, we can’t forget that the biodiversity crisis is connected with two other serious challenges of our time – climate change and environmental injustice. We must listen to the frontline communities and Indigenous leaders who are on bearing the greatest burdens of climate and biodiversity impacts, and who have firsthand knowledge and innovative solutions.
We must always keep our sights on advancing just and equitable solutions for people, rivers and wildlife.
That’s the goal in the Pacific Northwest, where we’re pushing for the removal of the four dams on the lower Snake River to recover the region’s iconic salmon runs – which support more than 130 other species including Southern Resident killer whales, and which are central to the identity, livelihood and cultures of Northwest Tribes. We can address multiple problems at once: we must remove the dams, invest in clean energy alternatives, honor treaties and commitments to tribes, and restore some of the most amazing salmon runs on the planet.
It’s also our goal in the Southeast, where in the face of the removal of freshwater mussels from the endangered species list due to extinction, we are racing to understand the reason freshwater mussel populations are collapsing— entire populations are dying with only small clues as to why. Initial data shows that freshwater mussels may be experiencing their own pandemic and we are partnering with scientists and agencies across the country to examine why mussels are declining so we can advocate for effective solutions to keep them from going extinct.
All across the country, we are dedicated to protecting and restoring all of the life that rivers support. We are grateful to have partners and supporters like you standing with us.
This is a guest blog by Alicia Yodlowsky who is an undergraduate student of environmental studies at North Carolina A&T State University in Greensboro, NC.
The area surrounding the Walnut Creek Wetland Park in Raleigh, North Carolina, has an inspirational history of restoration work. From the 1990s onward, members of the community have worked to transform the once-polluted Walnut Creek, a tributary to the Neuse River, into a nature and wetland education center where children and adults alike can learn about the importance of keeping resources such as wetlands clean. The efforts of the community have continued beyond the original wetland cleanup events: today, work still continues to address pollution and flooding in the neighborhood.
Watershed cleanup efforts began on a small scale: parishioners of St. Ambrose Episcopal Church began to take the garbage out of the wetlands that bordered the church property. As time passed, the efforts grew in scale. Nearby churches began to collaborate in the cleanup efforts, and the Partners for Environmental Justice (PEJ) was formed for the purpose of restoring Walnut Creek and the development of a nature education center in the neighborhood. These combined efforts prevailed; the cleanups restored the wetlands to an ecologically beneficial resource, rather than a landfill. The community began to advocate for a wetland center in order to protect and bring engagement to the site, and by 2009, the Norman and Betty Camp Education Center was established and 58 acres of the wetlands surrounding it were preserved for use as wildlife habitat and to protect the community from further pollution. In 2019, the Center was officially incorporated into the City’s park system providing it with a higher profile and greater resources.
My Time at St. Ambrose
I recently had the experience of attending St. Ambrose Episcopal Church as a parishioner. I had the opportunity to see the rain garden that was installed there in person. The garden, complete with a detailed sign, is well vegetated, with beautiful flowers and lush plants. The rain garden is a major example of the many steps that St. Ambrose and the Southeast Raleigh community have taken to bring both aesthetic and functional green infrastructure and natural resources to the area.
Some small-scale examples of nature-focused work done at St. Ambrose include the many plants that are growing around the outside of the church; these were planted a while after I began attending St. Ambrose. I was able to assist in labeling each of these plants so that parishioners could know what type of plants they were if they were curious. I was also able to assist in renovating the church courtyard; I helped with landscaping, cleaning, and planting in the courtyard. During my time as a parishioner, I had the chance to see for myself the work that had been done by St. Ambrose, as well as the greater Southeast Raleigh community. I had the opportunity both to learn about work that had been done in the past to mitigate flooding and pollution as well as to learn about and see ongoing work throughout the area.
History of Neighborhood and the Creek
The Black community of Southeast Raleigh, including the neighborhoods of Rochester Heights and Biltmore Hills, have historically taken strides to mitigate flooding, address water pollution, create green spaces, and inspire learning and engagement regarding the Walnut Creek Wetlands.
The Walnut Creek wetlands were originally home to a variety of species of wildlife, and the wetlands also had ecological benefits, such as improving the creek’s water quality. The neighborhood of Rochester Heights was built near the wetlands in the mid-20th century, during segregation. Rochester Heights was the first subdivision for Black families in the city; it was also built in a floodplain. After the construction of Rochester Heights, further construction upstream caused water to be channelized and diverted directly and quickly into the creek. As development progressed in the area, the flood control afforded by the natural floodplain wetlands along Walnut Creek began to be overwhelmed. Homes, churches, and other buildings in the nearby community began to flood, and the flooding only worsened as time passed.
The City of Raleigh had also been using the wetlands to dump sewage and other waste in the 20th century. Private companies dumped garbage in the wetlands, and the site practically became a landfill. As the wetlands became strangled by garbage, the nearby predominantly Black community suffered more intense flooding coupled with the added health hazard of polluted floodwater from the dumpsites in the wetlands.
Facing a crisis of property damage, potential health risks, and the destruction of a natural resource, the residents of Rochester Heights took action and initiated the first cleanups without assistance from the City of Raleigh (who had caused part of the problem to begin with). The community started the first push to focus on green infrastructure and to address flooding and pollution. The community reached out to partners, including experts from NC State University, to collaborate and effect change.
Members of the community continued their work to address flooding even after the Walnut Creek Wetland Center was established. The historic disengagement by the City of Raleigh with the initial cleanup of the wetlands or in mitigating flooding in areas like Rochester Heights led to a sense of distrust by the community and they were unwilling to rely on the city for assistance regarding continued flooding. The community formed the Walnut Creek Wetland Community Partnership to focus attention on the watershed and the flooding issues the community was continuing to face. The Partnership is facilitated by the Water Resources Research Institute and College of Natural Resources at NC State University and in 2015 American Rivers was invited to join the effort listening to the partners discuss plans for potential solutions. American Rivers supported a rain garden project as a demonstration of how water could be better managed. Together, the partners built a rain garden at St. Ambrose Episcopal Church that both helped mitigate flooding and pollution and also provided a beautiful new feature adjacent to the church. The project was completed in 2017.
Walnut Creek Restoration Today and Into the Future
The Southeast Raleigh community continues its work on flood mitigation and pollution elimination, and it has gained momentum. The Walnut Creek Wetland Partnership has begun to rebuild the relationship between the community and the City of Raleigh. The City’s stormwater program has prioritized funding for projects that the community has identified as needed improvements to water management in the watershed.
In addition, work is in progress to incorporate land near Bailey Drive into the Walnut Creek Wetland Park. This work has been supported by the Parks with Purpose program of the Conservation Fund. The project aims to create a gateway with green space for community members. An art installation has already been created at the site that describes and celebrates the history of Rochester Heights, Biltmore Hills and the surrounding area. This temporary installation will be remodeled as a permanent installation at the Bailey Drive Gateway after construction is completed.
Also nearby, green stormwater infrastructure will be installed at Biltmore Hills Park. A series of rain gardens will be part of this project which will infiltrate stormwater and filter pollutants. One other project that is in progress with support from Raleigh’s stormwater department is the conversion of Peterson Street to a green street. This project will help mitigate flooding and filter pollutants from the stormwater that gushes down the street.
As someone who has attended St. Ambrose Episcopal Church and has had the chance to be a part of the church community, I feel honored to have witnessed these incredible and inspirational achievements. Working on smaller-scale projects in the church, like the restoration of the courtyard garden, has given me a great appreciation for the advocacy and effort required to achieve larger-scale projects in the community, such as the creation of the Walnut Creek Wetland Park and the Norman and Betty Camp Education Center. The restoration and flood mitigation work that was started by St. Ambrose parishioners in the 1990s has continued forward to this day, and the ongoing efforts have resulted in tangible benefits for the entire Southeast Raleigh community.
This is a guest blog from the Water for Colorado coalition. American Rivers is a founding member of the Water for Colorado Coalition.
Our rivers are the lifeblood of the American West, and we all know that river and water management are both fundamentally important and infinitely complex, governed through a dizzying network of boards and contracts, local entities and statewide groups, individual expertise, and communal understanding.
Known as the “Mother of Rivers,” Colorado’s water impacts everyone and everything. It’s important that Coloradans from across the state have their voices heard as decisions about our critical waterways are made.
It’s especially important to engage right now. The Basin Implementation Plans (BIPs) — locally driven documents identifying goals and actions in each of Colorado’s nine river basins — are undergoing updates and will help inform the update of the state’s Water Plan, due to be final in late 2022. The public comment period for BIPs begins next week and represents a critically important opportunity to learn more, engage in local conversations, and help shape the content of these plans which inform how water is managed at a local level. Before the comment period begins, Water for Colorado has prepared this blog to help you and your community understand the world of river basins and roundtables, and how you can speak up to protect healthy rivers for all who depend on them.
Basins: In order to facilitate conversations around managing our water, Colorado developed nine unique Basins that encompass multiple rivers, natural or artificial boundaries, and watersheds. Each basin has its own governing body called a “basin roundtable” composed of local volunteers who plan and make decisions about how to manage precious water resources.
So why are there nine basins and basin roundtables? The concerns of the Arkansas Basin — from the San Luis Valley to the Eastern Plains, where agriculture reigns supreme — are different from the concerns of the Metro South Platte — where rapid growth and a booming population are key challenges — which are different from the concerns of the Colorado — where the conversations around America’s hardest working river are both intensely local and surprisingly broad. As such, having governing bodies familiar with the unique concerns and opportunities in each basin helps ensure that the management within each basin is driven by locals. This process allows for decisions to be discussed and decided by locals who deeply engage with the rivers that support our environment, economies, and Colorado way of life.
You can check out a map below to determine your river basin; and engage with the graphics at the bottom of this post to learn more about how each basin’s economy is impacted by the recreation in the area.
Basin Roundtable: The basin roundtables were developed by the Colorado Water Conservation Board in 2005 to “facilitate discussions on water management issues and encourage locally driven collaborative solutions” (CWCB Basin Roundtables). These roundtables are composed of local volunteer members who represent a variety of interests including basin agriculture, environment,and recreation. Each basin has its own bank account and funds local projects. Monthly meetings are open to the public, and are where funding and other strategic decisions are made. This means you, and others who care about water conservation can participate and help influence the decision making process. Better yet, you can join these meetings virtually from the comfort of your home.
Basin Implementation Plan: Basin Implementation Plans (BIPs) are developed by basin roundtables to help frame regional issues as part of the overall creation of Colorado’s statewide water plan. While the Colorado Water Plan seeks to address statewide water concerns, BIPs are more focused on local needs, plans, projects, and goals. The BIPs are developed by basin roundtable members with support from the community and ultimately help inform the statewide water plan as well as direct spending priorities for the Roundtables.
Colorado Water Plan: In 2015, then-governor John Hickenlooper ordered the creation of a plan to help coordinate and manage Colorado water. That moment was the impetus for our nine partner organizations to come together to form the Water for Colorado Coalition. The Water Plan was written and developed by the Colorado Water Conservation Board with support from stakeholders, interest groups, and the general public, who submitted 30,000 comments (which Water for Colorado played a major role in gathering) to inform the plan. The core values of the plan are designed to support a productive economy, create efficient water infrastructure, and protect the state’s diverse ecosystems. Colorado’s Water Plan remains a living piece of guidance that undergoes regular updates, the next of which is coming up in June 2022 — and is therefore already underway.
Local engagement: Here’s where you come in!
The first step toward responsibly managing water is working to ensure the public helps shape these plans. Members of the public need to speak up ensuring environmental concerns are addressed in the BIP updates. There’s no one better suited to inform local planning than people like you, who live, work, and recreate in the basins and understand the critical role that water and healthy rivers play in our economy, environment, and everyday lives. In the coming weeks, Water for Colorado will share opportunities for you to engage in the update process for the Basin Implementation Plans during the public comment phase that runs from October 13 through November 15. This is a critical opportunity for you to make your voice heard! Until then, we hope that you share this blog with members of your community to help all Coloradans understand the role they can play in supporting Colorado’s rivers and water!
Sometimes, it’s the little things that remind us how important it is to keep at our work of protecting and restoring rivers.
That’s how I felt all afternoon on a Saturday in September of this year, after American Rivers and our partners coordinated the second-ever Southside River Rendezvous, a community-based water quality monitoring event to check up on the health of streams all across Metro Atlanta’s southside.
It was the stories of volunteers returning with their water samples and so much more—sightings of fish, frogs, turtles and hawks, the happy side-effects of a morning of urban creek exploring—it was seeing those intangible benefits of people getting in touch with rivers and river conservation: I think that was what got me reflecting.
And this fall I’ve got a lot to reflect on! As we all learn to adapt to the world’s strange new normals, American Rivers and our partners on the Flint have kept up the pace of conservation and restoration efforts on this hard-working river. Here are some of the exciting things going on:
Restoring the Urban Source of the Flint
Four years after the launch of the Finding the Flint initiative, we’re supporting the city of College Park, Georgia in an effort to build a nature preserve at the urban source of the Flint River. The seven-acre empty parcel where the Flint first sees daylight will not only provide access to nature for a part of Metro Atlanta that’s lacking in nature-based greenspaces, but will also celebrate the source of this regionally important river.
And that’s just one project site. To learn more about the big vision that is Finding the Flint, take a few minutes to watch this new video describing the project. We’re excited to be working with our partners to tell the story of this visionary project—check it out!
And if you need a screen break, remember our We Are Rivers podcast series. There’s a great new episode about Finding the Flint. It features project coordinator Hannah Palmer and her story of working to restore a sense of place and connection to nature in southside Atlanta communities and the Flint River headwaters.
Planning for a Climate-Resilient Future for the River
Meanwhile, American Rivers has kept our focus too on treasured reaches of the Flint River downstream from Atlanta—and on the need to keep the river flowing there, even during drought. This year has been a rainy one, but we’ve continued to work to help the Flint be better prepared and more resilient to the droughts that are sure to return in the future.
Building on our work of many years leading the Upper Flint River Working Group, we are collaborating with water managers and ecologists now to bring critical information on river flows into state water planning efforts. In doing so, we aim to advance efforts to ensure enough clean water for both people and nature in the Flint during drought. And even more than that, this work provides a great opportunity to improve planning and to enhance the climate resilience of the river system and the communities that depend on it, regardless of when drought might return or exactly what conditions a changing climate might throw at us.
Going forward, it’s going to take all this work and more to secure a resilient, healthy future for the river and the communities that depend on it: ensuring that this river connects communities upstream and down, and that it can help those communities prosper, just as their residents and leaders work to ensure its health.
As uncertain as the seasons ahead might be, I can’t wait to see what projects are in the works by the time next fall’s Southside River Rendezvous rolls around.
There are few things at American Rivers we argue over as much as the question: what is the best river song?
Traditionalists prefer the classic takes on “Ol’ Man River” or “Song of the Coulee Dam.” Old (and young) hippies swear by the Grateful Dead’s “Black Muddy River.” Pop-music lovers swim down Billy Joel’s “River of Dreams.” And millennials prefer current offerings, like Dar Williams’ newest, “Today and Everyday.”
Me? I am a neoclassical river-song lover. Led Zeppelin’s cover of “When the Levee Breaks” is a perennial classic. “Pain Lies on the Riverside” and LIVE’s anthemic drumming spoke to me in college. But my current favorite is Joni Mitchell’s iconic “River.” I’m fairly certain Joni didn’t intend that song to be about an actual river, but the rules about what makes a best “river” song are pretty loose, right?
Here are some other current favorites from our staff:
“In African American spiritual music, water (especially rivers) symbolizes safety, rebirth and the challenges we endure. This roots song is one of the latest in that long tradition. For me, it symbolizes the obstacles that we as African Americans face, but also the many moments of joy, love and triumph that are often hidden or ignored by popular media.” – Janae Davis, Associate Director of Conservation, South Carolina
“Proud Mary” — Creedence Clearwater, Ike & Tina Turner
“This song speaks to me with its rolling style and river imagery. Traveling, going with the flow: ‘You don’t have to worry if you got no money. People on the river are happy to give.’ I love road trips, and this song has that sense of adventure, of meeting new people, new towns and an easy-does-it simplicity. I sing along loudly and badly to any version.” – Pat Callahan, Director of Philanthropy, California
“Going Down to the River” — Doug Seegers
“Growing up, the rivers and creeks outside Austin were my sanctuary. They were my place to explore, grow and simply be a kid. This song reminds me that whatever is going on in your life, you can always go down to the river and be rejuvenated.” – Brandon Parsons, Associate Director of Restoration, Washington
“The River” — Bruce Springsteen
“I can relate to this East Coast, blue-collar, coming-of-age story that is somehow sad, sweet and hopeful all at the same time. It talks about the river as a place where we go for freedom, celebration and respite, in a way that rings true to me and reminds me of what’s most important in life.” – Jen Adkins, Director of Clean Water Supply, Pennsylvania
The great thing about river songs is that the lyrics can be about anything. Yes, some are obviously about a memorable place in the songwriter’s life. Cripple Creek, the Green River, Yellow River, Kern River, Black River, Tennessee River and the James River all come to mind.
But then there are songs that actually have very little to do with rivers at all. We like to lump them onto lists like this for fun. A number of artists have done “Take Me to the River” and “Moon River,” both take on relationship melodrama. “Satan’s River” is either a gospel-country duet from Porter Wagoner and Dolly Parton or a metaphor for the climate change crisis. And then there is Patti Smith’s take on a river song, which is what Willie Nelson must do after being on the “Whiskey River.” (If you don’t get the reference, well….)
What makes a good river song is decided by the listener. We’ve been collecting river songs in a YouTube playlist over the years. Do you have a favorite? Are we missing something? Drop us a comment, or hit us up on social, we’d love to hear what you think are the all-time top river songs.
North American River Otters are cute, fluffy river dwellers, but did you know they are also a crucial indicator of an aquatic ecosystem’s health?
River otters are indicator species so their presence is a sign of good water quality. Freshwater ecosystem health is of particular concern to us humans because of our reliance on clean water. Think about it — most cities are built on rivers, all people need clean water.
Otters exhibit robustness and resilience to climate disruption events like strong storms, drought, sedimentation, and temperature shifts. However, the otter’s food is more sensitive to the impacts of climate change and other ecosystem impacts like pollution. Otters are at the top of the food chain which means impacts to their food can accumulate to impact otter populations. Other climate related threats to river otters and their food include sea-level rise and salt water intrusion into freshwater habitat.
The good news? These furry animals are extremely adaptable and occupy “a broad ecological niche.” This means otters thrive in a wide variety of environments and enjoy a wide variety of food.
North American River Otters, while cute, fluffy little beings that swim on their backs and flitter on river banks, are incredibly important at indicating how detrimental cumulative environmental changes can be. We see these little guys as barometers of their habitats, and ecosystems at large, as our climate changes. As climate change continues to affect freshwater environments, this is a species worth paying close attention to.
“We begin in water and we return to water,” contemplates Juanita Wilson, an enrolled member with the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians, whose traditional lands span what are now eight states across the Appalachian Mountains.
She reflects on the Cherokee’s traditional relationship with rivers: “The Cherokees have always viewed the river as ‘Long Man (Gunahita Asgaya),’ whose head lay in the mountains and the feet in the sea. Long Man (or Long Person), was a revered figure among the Cherokee as one who provided water to drink, cleanliness, food, and numerous cultural rituals tied to medicine and washing away bad thoughts and sadness.”
American Rivers honors this relationship the Cherokee have with rivers, and we honor the deep, diverse connections that other Indigenous Peoples have with rivers and water. Across the country, tribes are caring for the land and are powerful leaders advocating for clean water and healthy, free-flowing rivers. Many are leading successful efforts to revive traditional knowledge in their communities and apply their skills and wisdom to protect and restore rivers especially in this era of climate change.
On Oregon and California’s Klamath River, for example, the Karuk, Yurok, Klamath and other tribes have led the effort to remove four dams to bring back salmon runs and improve water quality, with dam demolition scheduled to begin in 2023. In the Northwest, the Nez Perce Tribe, Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation, Yakama Nation, Upper Snake River Tribes, and others are leading the effort to restore a free-flowing lower Snake River, in what would be the biggest river and salmon restoration effort in history. The Navajo and Hopi have fought to protect the Grand Canyon from harmful development. And the United Tribes of Bristol Bay were instrumental in killing the notorious Pebble Mine proposal that would have devastated the world’s biggest salmon runs.
It is important to also acknowledge that deep injustices persist toward Indigenous People. Tribes were forced out of their homelands and away from their sacred rivers and traditional food sources and continue to this day to disproportionately feel the impacts of dams, pollution, and inequitable water management decisions. Climate change, which is bringing increasingly severe floods and droughts, is exacerbating these current problems. For too long, Indigenous People have been kept out of decision-making and marginalized by the mainstream environmental movement.
We have a responsibility to do better. If we are to heal our relationship with rivers, if we are to confront the climate crisis and adapt to its on-going impacts, the traditional ecological knowledge and perspective held by Indigenous People is essential. Ensuring tribes play a leadership role in forging river conservation solutions is vital to the future of the environmental and river movement, and our nation as a whole.
On Indigenous Peoples Day, I ask you to join me in the small step of committing to learn more about the ancestral lands where you live and work (https://native-land.ca/ is one resource), and to support Indigenous-led river conservation efforts in your area.
On October 20 in western North Carolina, Juanita Wilson is inaugurating a river cleanup. She says her goal is to “live our connection with Long Man by cleaning trash out of waterways. However, this is much more than a one-time ‘river cleanup,’ it is a cultural awakening and/or re-awakening. Honoring Long Man Day cleanups will continue into the future.”
Today and every day, it is leaders like Juanita who are providing the vision and determination that our rivers and communities need to thrive.
Clear, spring-fed creeks trickling from the steep slopes of the Appalachian Mountains join into powerful rivers, then widen and flow into the sea. Long Man is a personification of the river, whose head lays in the mountains and feet stretch to the sea.
The rivers of the Appalachian region are some of the country’s most biodiverse ecosystems and have long been important to the traditional inhabitants of these lands, including the Cherokee.
“Long Man (Ga-nv-hi-dv A-s-ga-ya) is a revered figure among the Cherokee,” observes Juanita Wilson, a tribal member of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians in North Carolina and head of the tribe’s Talent and Development Program. “Long Man provides water to drink, cleanliness, food, and numerous cultural rituals tied to medicine and the washing away of bad thoughts and sadness.”
This is why Juanita is inaugurating the first Honoring Long Man Day, on October 20, 2021, in Cherokee, North Carolina.
Juanita believes that if tribal youth learn about and reconnect with Long Man, they will also recognize that rivers provide for us every day — and that taking care of rivers is the right thing to do.
“On this day, we will live our connection with Long Man by cleaning trash out of our waterways. However, this is much more than a one-time ‘river cleanup.’ It is a cultural awakening and/or re-awakening. Honoring Long Man Day cleanups will continue into the future.”
The Honoring Long Man Day river cleanup will take place on the rivers around Cherokee — the Oconaluftee and Tuckasegee rivers and streams in the area. Honoring Long Man Day participants will gather in the morning to learn about Long Man and share breakfast.
Juanita hopes that this is just the beginning. She would like to see Honoring Long Man Day become an annual, regionwide event that inspires a new generation of people devoted to river stewardship.
Click here to register for the Honoring Long Man river clean up on October 20. We encourage EVERYONE to take some time on this day to clean up a waterway near you. Post a picture using #honoringlongman.
Those of us who care deeply about rivers have much to learn from the Indigenous People who are using their sovereignty, knowledge, and expertise to work for a future in which local communities and river ecosystems can thrive.
Together, listening to the wisdom of others, we can begin to give back to the rivers in our lives — and honor all that rivers give to us.
This is a guest blog by Boulder, CO based photographer Tim Romano. All images were taken by him. All rights reserved.
For decades, I have been exploring and photographing the Upper Colorado River and its tributaries. Not for any reason other than I love the watersheds associated with it, have grown up on them, and truly feel connected to these trickles of water. I literally can’t help it. As a photographer and river rat it’s always been something I’ve done. For fun…
Yet something this spring changed for me in that regard. After the COVID daze of the last year and surreal summer of fires the Upper Colorado endured last year, I felt compelled to actually go out and document what was happening, essentially in my home space.
It’s hard to put into words, but after a spring of running river miles by floating the San Juan, main stem of the Salmon, Gunnison, Arkansas, Roaring Fork, multiple small tributaries on the Front Range, and the Colorado I realized I was actually chasing something. Something deeper than simply the next great shot, or the next slick run through roiling whitewater, I literally was chasing the future of my home, and the home of my little girls.
For the first time in my life, I felt like I was doing it for something beyond just thrills. A certain truth set in for me this year as my home river was reduced to a mere trickle, smoke filled the air every day for a second or even third summer in a row, fires started, and water temperatures approached the mid-seventies. This is how it’s going to be. Maybe for the rest of my adult life and my kid’s as well? That’s not to say things can’t be done to reverse some of the damage, but throughout this summer I’ve felt like I must see and do as much as I reasonably could with the river. If I was invited on a permit, I said yes. If I could squeak in an extra lap on the St. Vrain after work, I did. If I had to drive four hours to fish a bit of river I’d never seen, I went.
In early July, a commercial photoshoot of mine was canceled due to smoke. I had already booked the time (a few days,) rented some gear, and had my camping stuff packed. I was frustrated, mad, and sad all at the same time. Instead of just moping and being angry, I decided that it would be cathartic for me to go see some of the fire damage from last year and experience what was really happening on some of the drainages that feed the Colorado. My need to document what’s going on was strong. So I went. It wasn’t necessarily uplifting, and the reality of the situation certainly hurt. But I had to share. Maybe you’ll find it depressing, educational, or somehow perhaps it will inspire you to take note of what’s going on, and maybe find something within you that you can do – for the river.
The extent of the devastation from the East Troublesome fire that ripped through much of the Colorado headwaters is like no fire scars I’ve ever seen. In one day the fire burned 120,000 acres and in total destroyed 193,812 making it the second largest in Colorado history. This image was taken just west of the Kawuneeche Valley in Rocky Mountain National Park.
Smoke has filled the air almost every day this Summer and sadly has become so normal that it just seems like a part of life now on the eastern edge of the Rocky Mountains. This image is from the top of Independence pass next to one of the nearly dried up feeder streams to the Roaring Fork river – a tributary of the Colorado.
The inflow at Highland Marina is basically non-existent as plants start to take hold on what was once the bottom of Lake Granby. One can almost walk from one side of the bay to the other without getting wet. The lake is the third largest body of water in Colorado and is a major storage reservoir for the Colorado river.
A backhoe pushes the dock store further out into what’s left of Lake Granby and backfills with dirt to make sure people can access it from the water. The background shows damage to the trees from the East Troublesome Fire which basically burned a good portion of the West side of the lake.
Thick smoke fills the air over the dewatered Roaring Fork River near Glenwood Springs while swallows take to the air consuming grasshoppers that are emerging months earlier than normal this year.
The “mighty” Colorado next to I-70 in Glenwood Springs is deeply discolored from fire-caused mudslides in Glenwood Canyon. There’s real concern that these heavy loads of sediment will not be easily washed away as lingering low flows year after year persist, smothering bug life and coating the bottom of the river with thick muck.
A lone trailer sits empty near the nearly dewatered confluence of the North Fork of the Gunnison and and main Gunnison Rivers earlier this summer. The North Fork’s flows were about 10 CFS (Cubic Feet per Second) and temperatures were approaching 80 degrees. Driving into the Gunnison River valley makes you realize that green wouldn’t even be a color on this thin ribbon of land if it wasn’t for this important artery of the Colorado.
Raft guides and clients walk a boat out of the sediment laden waters of the Colorado at the Grizzly Creek Rest Area in Glenwood Canyon on the Colorado, where a 36,631-acre fire that burned almost the entire canyon occurred, burning from August 10th until December 18th, 2020.
A lone raft launches from the Shoshone put-in on the Colorado. Since this image was taken several, 100 & 500 year rain events have coursed through the burn scars, completely covering both the highway and across the entire river, altering rapids and pumping thousands of cubic feet of mud and debris into the river.
A soiled and sad Colorado River below the dam that holds water for the Shoshone power generating station. Shoshone holds senior water rights to more than 1,250 CFS, pulling water from the headwaters of the Colorado westward, but sometimes dewatering this short stretch in Glenwood Canyon.
A quick stop on a misty evening on the top of Independence Pass en-route to a float can sometimes trick you into thinking all is fine down valley with low clouds, moisture and rain cascading down to the river.
Water clarity in the headwaters of the Colorado River seem to be more this color than anything else, after the fires of last year and monsoonal rain events that have followed this summer.
These signs were posted in early June on the upper Colorado. On June 14th, A gauge far upstream of these read 73.76 degrees and a mere 335 CFS of water. During what should have been a raging runoff on the Colorado river.
Riverbanks have looked like this a lot the past few years and I suspect we’re going to have to get used to seeing a lot more of them going forward.
Whitewater enthusiasts may also have to get used to changing landscapes like this one in Glenwood Canyon. Not only is a burnt forest an eyesore, it holds serious complications for the watersheds, infrastructure, and outdoor recreational enjoyment that they once anchored.
It’s never a good sign when plants are growing on mid-stream sandbars in early July. The Upper Colorado River just upstream of Lyons Gulch, one day after a water call bringing the water up from what was about 400 CFS, making what would have been a frightening trickle look almost normal.
Newly installed and updated boat ramps covered in sediment and in some spots becoming almost unusable due to the ongoing low water situation.
A muddy and critically low Colorado river above the Horse Creek Launch shows the disparity of who has water, how it’s used, wasted, and what the land would look like if the water disappeared.
After enduring one of the longest and most severe droughts in recorded history – a length that legitimately amounts to a good portion of my adult life here in the West, I’ve come to realize this isn’t going away. We can do our snow dances, pray for rain and use our magical thinking skills to try and fix it, but the reality is it’s going to get worse. The science says so, and as an observer of the outdoor world I can feel it and see it happening year after year.
It may ebb and flow. We might have some big water years coming up, but more than likely we’re going to be dealing with lots of low water, fires, dewatered reservoirs, and rivers that we once knew – changed for good. As water lovers we all either better be really good at not caring, do what we can now to save what’s left by conserving, or straight up adapt to what’s left. The new reality is here now, and sadly it’s not likely to get a whole lot better soon. Unless we all lean in, and act.
This is a guest blog from our partners at Georgia’s South River Watershed Alliance and highlights the South River, one of America’s Most Endangered Rivers® of 2021.
A federal Clean Water Act consent decree is a once-in-a-lifetime event, and it is imperative that the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) get it right to ensure a healthy future for Georgia’s South River and the residents who live near it. For south DeKalb County right outside metro Atlanta, two legal actions— the 2010 DeKalb County consent decree and 2020 Modified Consent Decree (MCD)— offer the best hope for liberation and yes, freedom, from a future of continued massive sewage spills that have plagued this part of the county for more than six decades.
For south DeKalb County’s majority of Black residents, the pollution began in 1961, with the opening of Snapfinger Wastewater Treatment Facility. This facility almost immediately failed its federal clean water permit requirements, incurring violations that persisted into at least the mid-1990s. It is this section of the County that is designated “non-priority” in the 2010 consent decree and 2020 MCD. Neither of these federal legal actions includes a deadline to repair the sewer system in “non-priority” areas where approximately 69 percent of the County’s sewer lines, more than 1,750 miles of sewer pipes, and most of the sewage spilled into streams and rivers occurs.
In fact, a federal district court found that there is no requirement for compliance with the Clean Water Act for these impacted communities that are served by two-thirds of the sewer system. In a citizen lawsuit filed under the Clean Water Act by the South River Watershed Alliance (SRWA), the district court noted that, “the Consent Decree does not establish a timeline for DeKalb to stop spills, or rehabilitate the [sewer system] in non-priority areas.” No technical expertise is required to understand that no timeline to stop spills or rehabilitate the sewer system in non-priority areas means the Clean Water Act will not be enforced in those areas and problems will not be addressed. Further, the district court found that the County, “is admittedly not complying with the Consent Decree — with the express permission of,” EPA. However, the court would not force action to correct this issue.
This miscarriage of environmental justice cannot just be allowed to happen. The court must defend the tenets of the Clean Water Act for all citizens equally. In DeKalb County, that means requiring a fix of the sewer system for ALL residents. Consequently, SRWA appealed this ruling to the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals. Oral arguments before the court are scheduled for mid-December.
The Clean Water Act is being manipulated in DeKalb County to favor the polluter over the health of local residents. The County could violate the Clean Water Act in perpetuity without violating the consent decree. In EPA’s motion to the court seeking approval of the MCD, the agency asserts that the document is fair, reasonable, in the public interest, and consistent with the Clean Water Act. Nothing could be farther from the truth and quite frankly, reality. The EPA and DOJ are totally ignoring the failure of the consent decree to address impacts to citizens of south DeKalb County. They fail to acknowledge the absence of a deadline for compliance and denial of equal protection under the law for so many local people having their daily lives impacted by sewer issues.
EPA claims a settlement is fair when it is the product of good-faith negotiations, reflects the opinions of experienced counsel, and takes into account the possible risks involved in litigation if the settlement is not approved. Even the district court ruling refutes this assertion. EPA’s entire approach is enforcing a pay to pollute mentality that has proven to be totally inadequate to eliminate spills; it is inconsistent with the goal of the Clean Water Act— to restore and maintain the chemical, physical, and biological integrity of the Nation’s waters. This protection of clean water should apply to all people, not just those with money and influence.
EPA assumes that local governments would act in the public interest for all residents equally when they have negotiated an agreement, and the court supports this view. How can a consent decree and MCD that violate the Clean Water Act possibly be in the best interest of all people? What justice is being served for the 400,000 residents of south DeKalb County? Rather than maximizing this once in a lifetime opportunity to correct decades of environmental injustice, EPA is continuing a decades-long pattern of deliberate discrimination and denial of equal protection under the very law the agency is obligated to uphold.
DeKalb County does not get a pass simply because it reached a settlement that “addresses” some problems at the expense of the two-thirds of the county most impacted by their inaction. It is the responsibility of the EPA to effectively negotiate and enforce consent actions that achieve the goals of the Clean Water Act for all, regardless of race, socio-economic status or geography. Furthermore, it is EPA’s responsibility to exercise its regulatory authority in a way that prohibits intentional discrimination and unintended discriminatory effects.
If EPA and DOJ are incapable of performing these important aspects of their jobs, then it falls to the EPA Administrator and U.S. Attorney General to step up and step in. The actions taken to rectify this debacle will either result in the realization of a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity or the perpetuation of a pollution nightmare on a community that has faced discrimination for much too long.
Author: Jacqueline Echols, PhD
Dr. Jacqueline Echols, PhD, is the Board President of the South River Watershed Alliance, a grassroots organization working on the ecological restoration of Georgia’s South River for the benefit of nature and people.
On Sunday, sixteen years to the day after Hurricane Katrina made landfall, Hurricane Ida roared ashore in Louisiana, with enough power to reverse the flow of the Mississippi River. Thankfully, unlike during Katrina, the New Orleans levee system withstood the impacts of the Category 4 hurricane and storm surge thanks to $14.5 billion invested in the city’s flood protection system. But as the images and stories roll in, it is clear that Hurricane Ida brought catastrophic flooding and storm damage for many communities in her path. A million people were left without power and utilities as they begin the long, slow process of recovery and rebuilding.
As Ida made her way north, the storm dumped significant rain onto communities across the Appalachians and Mid-Atlantic. Here in Central Pennsylvania where I live, schools were closed on the second day of the school year in expectation that flash flooding would make roads too dangerous for buses to travel. New York City’s stormwater infrastructure was overwhelmed by record setting rainfall that turned streets into rivers and drowned residents in basement apartments.
Reducing flood vulnerability will require an anti-racist approach.
Hurricane Ida is just that latest in a decades long string of catastrophic storms and floods that have sparked an outcry to reform the way we manage flooding and natural disasters as a nation. What feels different about this event, is that we are having the conversation about how to recover from a catastrophic flooding event while simultaneously having a national conversation about who is most vulnerable to floods and how to ensure equity and justice in flood management. Flood vulnerability isn’t just a matter of whether you live in the 100-year floodplain and what your community has done to improve flood resiliency. Flood vulnerability is based on both the proximity to the potential path of the flood waters as well as the various social factors that influence a person’s ability to get themselves out of harm’s way, and, perhaps most importantly, how they cope with and recover from the disaster.
Since Katrina, significant focus has been placed on increasing the resilience of communities across the country. Jesse Keenan, an associate professor at Tulane University in New Orleans and former chair of the US Community Resilience Panel for Buildings and Infrastructure Systems under the Obama White House Climate Action Plan, published an OpEd on CNN this week that suggests the legacy of Hurricane Ida will be this: it is time to move beyond the concept of resilience and begin to adapt.
“We have to transform our cities and our infrastructure to adapt to climate change. In some cases, this means building back better, but, for many, it also means building back somewhere else. We have to ask some tough questions about where we are going to rebuild and who has the resources to rebuild.”
Jesse Keenan, Associate Professor, Tulane University
We also need to start focusing on all three aspects that influence flood vulnerability by reducing exposure, reducing susceptibility, and increasing resilience.
The science could not be clearer about the need to adapt as climate change impacts the water cycle. This summer the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) released its latest report which included finding that “Climate change is increasing the water cycle. This brings more intense rainfall and associated flooding, as well as more intense drought in many regions.” As floods become more intense, the area of land exposed to flooding will increase. A FEMA sponsored study found, in the US, the average area of the 100 yr floodplain will increase by 45% by 2100. And in some areas, the areal expansion of the floodplains will increase by 80-100%. This will dramatically increase the number of people and property exposed to flooding.
Given these prospects, we simply cannot expect to build our way to safety everywhere using the traditional methods of levees, dams and concrete. Our solutions need to prioritize reducing exposure to flooding by
- Putting in place stronger floodplain development standards that will limit unwise development in flood-prone areas
- Adapting our land use practices so that floodplains can do what they do best — flood
- Restore the natural capacity of land to absorb rainfall and slow runoff by restoring forests and wetlands, and increasing green infrastructure throughout our watersheds.
Listening to, and supporting, the most vulnerable in our communities
We are only beginning to fully comprehend and consider susceptibility to flooding including the social conditions that make someone more prone to experience flooding. According to the Natural Hazards Center, “Social vulnerability influences the capacity to anticipate, cope with, resist, and recover from the impact of a disaster. Socially vulnerable populations are thus more likely to experience disproportionate negative impacts from disasters including emotional distress, loss of property, temporary or permanent displacement, illness, and death.” Black, Indigenous, and people of color, people of lower economic status, LGBTQIA+, people with functional and access needs, and many other groups and identities are disproportionately impacted by flooding events due to social, economic and political factors. For instance, a recent analysis by Red Fin found that formerly redlined areas (a racist 1930’s housing policy) experience 25% more flood risk than non-redlined areas.
As the nation wakes up to the legacy of racism and discrimination in public policies, including flood management, we need to actively dismantle racist and discriminatory policies and practices, and devote resources to reducing exposure and increasing resilience of those most susceptible to flooding in our society. The Biden Administration’s Justice40 initiative has started down that road, by ensuring that 40% of funding via FEMA’s Flood Mitigation Assistance Program and Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities (BRIC) Program will be directed to “disadvantaged communities”. This is a great start, but there is much more to be done to build trust with communities and people that have been left out of the flood management decision making table in the past and to adapt our practices to ensure their voices are listened to.
What comes next?
Fundamental changes are needed to reduce flood vulnerability and keep communities safe from the intense flooding events to be brought by climate change. Soon there will be key opportunities for policy change like:
- Reforming the National Flood Insurance Program to strengthen floodplain management standards, deter development in floodplains and improve information access to homeowners and renters;
- Improving hazard mitigation planning to focus investments on community-led visions that strengthen communities by addressing related issues like affordable housing, access to healthy food, and historic preservation;
- Revising policies that ensure key agencies like the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers prioritize nature-based solutions.
Immediately, Congress must make long overdue investments in programs that will not only make communities resilient to flooding, but will help them adapt to the impacts of climate change. The once-in-a-generation Infrastructure and Investment and Jobs Act, or (a.k.a. Bipartisan Infrastructure Bill) that passed the Senate includes some historic investments in flood mitigation: $1 Billion in additional funding for BRIC (over the statutory formula), and $3.5 Billion in funding for the Flood Mitigation Assistance Program. These investments are absolutely critical to help states and communities implement flood hazard mitigation planning, relocate and acquire flood-prone properties or ensure flood-prone structures are flood compatible, restore streams and wetlands, and install green infrastructure that will reduce flooding.
Currently, the House and Senate are progressing through the reconciliation process to build up a $3.5 trillion social infrastructure package. This is another rare opportunity to invest in improving flood management. Specifically, the reconciliation bill is an opportunity to invest in programs and issues related to climate change, the catalyst for worsening and more frequent flood events. This means investing in solutions to address a root cause of climate change, emissions. Importantly, we must also invest in sustainability and resilience to protect vulnerable communities from indefinite and worsening floods.
For instance, to date, FEMA has mapped less than one-third of the nation’s streams and coasts and most maps don’t meet the latest requirements for accuracy. The Association of State Floodplain Managers estimates that FEMA needs a minimum of $800 million annually to expand flood maps across the nation and identify the future flood risk that climate change will bring. These investments are necessary to ensure that the resilience funding being directed to states and communities will be relevant for future floods.