It is this—the river’s spectacular beauty, the habitat it provides, the adventure it inspires—that make the Escalante so vital to the Southwest. Though the Escalante River has been identified for Wild & Scenic protections by the National Park Service and various non-profits, this rare river is threatened by mining claims, impacts of climate change, and development.  Constant threats including reductions to the size of Grand Staircase Escalante National Monument further imperil the rare intactness of this fragile desert ecosystem. For decades, volunteers have spent millions of dollars and countless hours to remove nonnative species and improve the river’s habitat and condition, but proposed management changes invite devastating impacts from increased grazing, mining, and oil and gas drilling, and erosion from OHV use that would directly impact water resources.

The Backstory

The Elwha Dam stood 108 feet tall when it was built in 1913 just five miles from the river’s mouth in Puget Sound. It completely blocked robust runs of five different species of Pacific salmon from their native spawning habitat, stressing the ecosystem and obliterating tribal sustenance fishing. The 210-foot Glines Canyon Dam, built 14 years later, further obstructed the river and fish passage in what is now Olympic National Park.

After decades of work, sparked by a challenge to the relicensing of a hydropower dam within a national park, a coalition including the Lower Elwha Klallam Tribe, American Rivers, and other partners finally succeeded in authorizing dam removal and securing federal funding for the Elwha River restoration project in 1992. Elwha Dam removal began in September 2011, and the river was fully reconnected with the final blast to the Glines Canyon Dam in August 2014.

The Future

The Elwha is a story of a river returning to life. From its 6,000-foot headwaters in Olympic National Park to its mouth at the Strait of Juan de Fuca, the river once again flows freely from source to sea, with the rare benefit of being almost completely protected by park boundaries. Revegetation efforts throughout the formerly flooded valleys are ongoing, with park botanists and volunteers planting more than 400,000 native plants in the newly exposed sediment. What happens next, however, is up to Mother Nature.

But the immediate ecological and cultural benefits are undeniable. Local tribes and visiting anglers alike may once again thrive on the natural bounty of migrating fish. Now reconnected, the ecosystem is repairing itself, from the riparian old-growth forests reaping nutritional benefits from decomposing fish right down to orca whales thriving off a regenerating food source. With reestablished river flows, boaters, hikers, and other visitors are rediscovering the lush forests, deep valleys, and mountain views surrounding the Elwha River.

More than 100 years of dams does, however, take a toll on a river. Scientists say it could take a generation or more for the Elwha to fully heal. But it makes for compelling theater as the world watches a rare river rebirth. If there’s a better comeback story in American river restoration, we’re still waiting to hear it.

Such dramatically reduced flows have far-reaching consequences, including allowing salt water to encroach higher upstream, potentially killing trees and displacing wildlife that depends on fresh water. Fish habitat suffers, recreational opportunities are threatened and downstream users are increasingly uncertain of their fate.

The Future

American Rivers continues working to provide sustainable water supplies for all, while supporting river health and recreation on the Edisto.

More than 130,000 acres of land have been protected through public/private partnerships in the heart of the ACE Basin, qualifying it as one of the most acclaimed freshwater natural areas found on the East Coast. Undammed and largely undeveloped, the Edisto serves as one of the premier examples of a southern blackwater river from source to sea. It deserves to remain such.

The path’s formal name is East Rosebud Trail. Originating near Red Lodge, the hike’s fame stems largely from the East Rosebud Valley, cut from the creek’s cascading waterfalls as it tumbles from the Absaroka-Beartooth Wilderness near Granite Peak (Montana’s highest at 12,807 feet). Just before it leaves the mountains, East Rosebud Creek flows through East Rosebud Lake before spilling into a glacially carved valley and then joining the Stillwater River, a tributary of the Yellowstone.

Both East Rosebud Creek and Lake have long been popular areas for trout fishing, whitewater paddling, hiking, and mountaineering. A cluster of cabins lines the north side of the lake, forming a quaint alpine village. Moose browse the willows while raptors soar overhead.

Because of its outstanding scenery, recreation, and geology, the U.S. Forest Service has declared 13 miles of East Rosebud Creek above the lake and 7 miles below it eligible for designation under the Wild and Scenic Rivers Act, our nation’s most powerful river protection tool. One look at the stunning beauty of East Rosebud Creek should convince even the fiercest skeptic that it is deserving of Wild and Scenic designation.

The Backstory

East Rosebud’s widely-popular Wild and Scenic campaign originated in 2009, when Bozeman-based Hydrodynamics Inc. applied for a permit to build a hydropower project on East Rosebud Creek. The project would have been located on public land within the Wild and Scenic–eligible reach just below East Rosebud Lake, and would have entailed building a 100-foot wide diversion dam, a 2-mile long penstock, substation, powerhouse, and transmission lines.

American Rivers and several of its conservation partners filed formal objections to the project and launched an aggressive media campaign that eventually pressured the hydropower company to abandon it in 2013. Although the dam is no longer an immediate threat, the proposal was the second of its kind since the year 2000, suggesting the need for constant vigilance.

The Future

In August 2018  President Trump signed the East Rosebud Wild and Scenic Rivers Act, which permanently protects 20 miles of the creek from all new dams, diversions and other threats and  established Montana’s first new Wild and Scenic River since 1976 and the state’s fifth overall.

Water released from the dam flows sharply northwest through Ponderosa and Slickrock Canyons, uniting with the San Miguel before flowing through the Paradox Valley and, ultimately, through Gateway Canyon and into the Colorado River.  

When water is released, nearly 170 miles of it are floatable. In 2016, the Dolores River ran for the first time in five years. A healthy winter snowpack translated to some short-lived and well-celebrated releases that allowed for boating through the amazing Dolores River Canyon. On the rare opportunity to float, paddlers marvel at the towering sandstone walls, the regular encounters with beavers, the unique way floating the Dolores becomes paddling through coyote brush and tamarisk. Because high water flows are such a rare occurrence, campsites are overgrown and under established.

Since 1968 when initial construction on the McPhee Dam began, stakeholders in the region have worked to develop river management plans that support the river’s cold water fish species, alongside agricultural irrigation and the desire for recreation flows. The reservoir was completed in 1984, and in 1990, a dry summer limited flows from McPhee to less than 20 CFS, resulting in a major kill of cold water fish. Even lower summer flows have been recorded in recent years, killing native fish, destroying the geomorphology of the channel, shorting irrigators and the Ute Mountain Ute Tribe, and stressing wildlife.

WILD AND SCENIC ELIGIBILITY

In both 1976 and again in 2013, the Dolores River was found suitable for designation under the Wild and Scenic Rivers Act by the U.S. Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management, giving the Dolores River administrative protections for its free-flowing character and outstanding values. After a lengthy negotiation process, language in the Dolores River National Conservation Area bill would trade away Wild and Scenic suitability for similar protections of the river’s free-flowing character and outstanding values within the National Conservation Area (NCA) and Special Management Area (SMA). However, this would not preclude designating the Dolores River or its tributaries under the Wild and Scenic Rivers Act in the future it there is social and political support for such a designation.

Threats to This River

The Detroit River helped Detroit, the nation’s auto manufacturing hub, grow to become the country’s fifth largest city in 1950, but this enormous urban center led to problems with pollution, and the river suffered.  According to the EPA, the river has faced 11 beneficial use impairments, including beach closings, restrictions on water consumption, and loss of fish and wildlife habitat.

These impairments are caused by bacteria, PCBs, PAHs, metals, and oils and greases entering the watershed, coming from municipal and industrial discharge and urban runoff, among other means.  The contaminated river was undrinkable and virtually uninhabitable for many types of wildlife, but cleanup efforts that are now in place have made the Detroit River suitable for human and animal use once again.

A number of animals have returned to the Detroit River over the last few years, including sturgeon, whitefish, peregrine falcons, bald eagles, walleyes, and most recently beavers, which had not been seen in the river for 75 to 100 years.  The fact that the river is providing adequate habitat for all of these species is clearly a sign of progress, and suggests the Detroit River is returning to health.

Urban runoff has been a big problem in Detroit, as 7.8 billion to 18.2 billion gallons of rainwater run off the land instead of being absorbed by it each year, but local efforts to make the city green, such as green roof construction and promoting urban farming, are helping reduce pollutants entering the water supply.

THREATS

While it’s true that Desolation Canyon remains one of the most remote places in the contiguous United States, the threats it faces are not so remote. And ironically, the canyon’s deep and layered history and geology in some ways, threaten  the river most. The Green River Formation, formed between 33-56 million years ago, is a much sought after petroleum resource. A recent report by the USGS posited that the formation could hold as much as 1.3 trillion barrels of oil. In order to convert tar sands and oil shale into usable oil (1.55 million barrels/day), producers would require about 378,000 acre feet of water per/year, likely from the Green. While the inner gorge of Desolation Canyon is a designated wilderness study area, on the state, tribal, and federal lands surrounding it, oil rigs march right  to the canyon’s edge.

The canyon’s existing protections are tenuous at best. In 2019, 142,996 acres were designated as the Desolation Wilderness in the Dingell Act, and 5.3 miles of Desolation-Gray from the Ute Reservation boundary to the take-out were designated under the Wild & Scenic Rivers Act. While this is a good start, 78.6 miles of the river remain lacking permanent protections.

Like so many rivers in the Colorado River Basin, the Green is subject to threats from persistent drought, climate change, and increased consumption from a growing population.

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Let’s Stay In Touch Image: Anthracite Creek, Co. | Sinjin Eberle

The Backstory

The Ashley River’s historical, cultural, and natural significance to South Carolina cannot be overstated. The river mouth served as the site of the state’s first permanent European settlement in the late 1600s and plantation owners began developing the upstream land along the river a century later. The river remains home to fish and wildlife, scenic landscapes, and opportunities for families to enjoy time together outside.

In 1992, the state’s Office of Coastal Resource Management worked with local communities to create the Ashley River Special Area Management Plan with the goal of preserving the river’s natural and historic character. In 1998, a portion of the river was designated as a State Scenic River in an effort to further protect its outstanding qualities. A second portion was added in 1999.

Today, the Ashley is part of one of the most rapidly growing regions in the United States. As a result, it is even more imperative to work now to promote and preserve the Ashley River as an easily accessible recreational oasis offering countless physical, mental, spiritual, and economic benefits.

The Future

The Ashley is a river at a crossroads right now. The ongoing threat of urban development is rapidly increasing as Charleston’s popularity as a community and top tourist destination continues to gain momentum and creep farther up the river corridor. Wisely planned growth is critical to the area and the Ashley River headwaters in particular.

Toward that end, plans for developing riverfront parkland, access points, special events, and programming that showcase the recreational value of the Ashley River figure prominently into Dorchester County’s current effort to create its first ever park system. Recently, American Rivers worked with local communities to create the Ashley River Blue Trail as a way to help those communities engage in the river and develop a vision for what it should look like in the future.

A Blue Trail is a river adopted by a local community that is dedicated to conserving riverside land and improving family-friendly recreation like fishing, boating, and wildlife-watching. Just as hiking trails are designed to help people explore the land, Blue Trails help people discover their rivers. They help communities improve recreation and tourism, benefit local businesses and the economy, and protect river health and wildlife. They are voluntary, cooperative, locally-led efforts that improve communities’ quality of life.