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Green Roofs - My Ah-Ha Moment

Posted on May 9, 2008 | Filed Under Green Infrastructure, Healthy Waters, Mid-Atlantic, Sewage

Katherine Baer, Director
Healthy Waters Campaign

Standing with Barbara Deutsch on the green roof at Casey Trees here in Washington, DC, I had my ah-ha moment. Now, Gary has done a great job of explaining what a green roof is and how it works, but I needed to experience one for myself. So we went on a green roof mini-tour visiting Casey Trees as well as the green roof at the American Society for Landscape Architects (ASLA). At Casey Trees, the roof was green, or at least brown-green, covered with sedum plants that cool the building, extend the life of the roof and reduce polluted stormwater runoff.

“Just look at all these other roofs,” said Barbara pointing out toward the buildings surrounding McPherson Square. “All of that prime rooftop real estate is just wasted space.”

Wow. A whole new perspective, the bird’s-eye view of real estate. We’re wasting a whole dimension of our cities by leaving rooftops flat and devoid of life. If every building had a green roof, cities would be greener, more attractive, and cooler. In fact, Casey Trees and Limno Tech (pdf) found that if 80% of eligible rooftops in DC had green roofs combined sewer overflows to the Anacostia and Potomac Rivers would be reduced by 15% and air pollutants reduced by almost 17 tons.

So with all these benefits the real question is - why aren’t we doing this all the time to increase the effective green infrastructure of our communities? The usual barriers exist, like lack of familiarity, although that’s waning and there is now quite a green roof industry in the U.S.

But what are the best ways to institutionalize green roof techniques so they are the norm for all new construction and roof replacement. Ideas, anyone?

The river is the center of the land… — Tim Palmer

Posted on May 9, 2008 | Filed Under Quotes

Lindsay Martin, Web Editor
River Quotes: Your Daily Escape

“The river is the center of the land, the place where the waters, and much more, come together. Here is the home of wildlife, the route of explorers, and recreation paradise… Only fragments of our inheritance remain unexploited, but these streams are more valuable than ever.” — Tim Palmer

* The Pearl River, in Louisiana and Mississippi, is one of this year’s America’s Most Endangered Rivers™. The Pearl is threatened by a boondoggle that would cause irreparable harm to the river and the communities that depend on it. More

River Quotes are posted weekday mornings. Want to see your favorite river quote here? Email it to lmartin@AmericanRivers.org.

It’s easy to become hopeless… — Dr. Jane Goodall

Posted on May 8, 2008 | Filed Under Quotes

Lindsay Martin, Web Editor
River Quotes: Your Daily Escape

“It’s easy to become hopeless. So people must have hope — the human brain, the resilience of nature, the energy of young people and the sort of inspiration that you see from so many hundreds of people who tackle tasks that are impossible and never give up and succeed.”

* Our Serena McClain recently interviewed Alison Barrett about her job monitoring the return of historic fish runs. More

River Quotes are posted weekday mornings. Want to see your favorite river quote here? Email it to lmartin@AmericanRivers.org.

“Water trail janitors” keep rivers clean

Posted on May 7, 2008 | Filed Under Blue Trails, Great Lakes, River Heritage

Jamie Mierau, Director
Blue Trails, River Heritage

A new program called Illinois Water TrailKeepers is now providing stewardship of local water trails. TrailKeepers, a joint project of Illinois Paddling Council and Openlands, is creating a corps of stewards for designated water trails in Illinois. Mirroring other groups which turn their passion for the outdoors into hands-on care for it, Openlands is sponsoring “Reach Stewards,” who will adopt a section of a water trail much like the successful Adopt-A-Highway programs that help take care of roadways throughout the nation.

Monitoring and reporting conditions, including any log jams or other obstacles to recreation along it, the Reach Stewards will be the eyes and ears of the agencies entrusted with the management of our waterways. Often, they will be the helping hands as well.

The initial program will include seven waterways in nine counties, totaling 350 miles of rivers, including the Fox, Kishwaukee, and DuPage rivers. Instream maintenance teams will literally be “water trail janitors” who will maintain water trails on smaller streams by clearing obstructions and hazards in a safe and environmentally sensitive way.

This is an exciting program that I hope will be replicated in other states and regions.

Like many fly fishermen… — Norman Maclean

Posted on May 7, 2008 | Filed Under Quotes

Lindsay Martin, Web Editor
River Quotes: Your Daily Escape

“Like many fly fishermen in western Montana where the summer days are almost Arctic in length, I often do not start fishing until the cool of the evening. Then in the Arctic half-light of the canyon, all existence fades to a being with my soul and memories and the sounds of the [river] and a four-count rhythm and the hope that a fish will rise.” — Norman Maclean

* Filson, long known for its classic fly fishing line, is introducing Stockingfoot Waders this month. In celebration of this product launch, Filson will donate 1% of the sales of the new Waders to the American Rivers Wild and Scenic River Campaign. More

River Quotes are posted weekday mornings. Want to see your favorite river quote here? Email it to lmartin@AmericanRivers.org.

To live by a large river is to be kept in the heart of things. — John Haines

Posted on May 6, 2008 | Filed Under Quotes

Lindsay Martin, Web Editor
River Quotes: Your Daily Escape

“To live by a large river is to be kept in the heart of things.” — John Haines

* Keep up with the latest river happenings. Join our eRiver Community to receive timely action alerts, news and updates. More

River Quotes are posted weekday mornings. Want to see your favorite river quote here? Email it to lmartin@AmericanRivers.org.

When we save a river… — Tim Palmer

Posted on May 5, 2008 | Filed Under Quotes

Lindsay Martin, Web Editor
River Quotes: Your Daily Escape

“When we save a river, we save a major part of an ecosystem, and we save ourselves as well because of our dependence — physical, economic, spiritual — on the water and its community of life.” — Tim Palmer

* Josh Klein, our National River Cleanup Coordinator, recently traveled to Cullowhee, NC to volunteer at the 24th Annual Tuck River Cleanup. More

River Quotes are posted weekday mornings. Want to see your favorite river quote here? Email it to lmartin@AmericanRivers.org.

Rivers are places that renew our spirit… — Ted Turner

Posted on May 2, 2008 | Filed Under Quotes

Lindsay Martin, Web Editor
River Quotes: Your Daily Escape

“Rivers are places that renew our spirit, connect us with our past, and link us directly with the flow and rhythm of the natural world.” — Ted Turner

* Join American Rivers’ eRiver Community and be a part of a growing tide of river lovers across the country who are standing up for healthy rivers. More

River Quotes are posted weekday mornings. Want to see your favorite river quote here? Email it to lmartin@AmericanRivers.org.

Have you ever heard of a herring warden?

Posted on May 1, 2008 | Filed Under River Renewal

Serena McClain, Associate Director of River Renewal
River Renewal, Restoring Rivers

Project monitoring is an important part of river restoration work. A solid pre- and post-dam removal monitoring plan can provide you with a reliable foundation on which to build your project and to document its successes. American Rivers has committed to funding a small percentage of monitoring work on some of the projects we are involved in through our partnership with the NOAA Community-based Restoration Program.

The town of Plymouth, Massachusetts has been working on an amazing suite of restoration projects aimed at restoring the historic fisheries of Town Brook, and American Rivers is proud to be working with an array of partners to restore historic fish runs that once sustained America’s earliest settlers. A key part of this project has been to hire a herring warden to monitor current fish populations on Town Brook.

If you’re like me, you might be wondering what exactly a herring warden does and what monitoring entails. To get some answers, I recently spoke with Alison Barrett, Town Brook Herring Warden.

Alison hard at work! S: What exactly is a herring warden?

Alison: I am in charge of monitoring herring runs (both blueback and alewife) on Town Brook. This involves doing three 10-minute herring counts (morning, afternoon, and evening) to provide the partnership data on how many fish are in the system. There is also an electric counter at the site that gets checked daily.

S: How does the electric counter work?

Alison: The counter is placed at the top of the fish ladder and has sensors attached to it. When the fish go through the tube at the top of the ladder, they hit the sensors. Different sensors register whether the fish are migrating upstream or downstream. Also, the University of Massachusetts at Amherst has an underwater camera set up that even has infrared capabilities for night monitoring.

S: Speaking of the fish ladder, what specific site or sites are you monitoring?

Alison: While I’m monitoring the entire system, the primary site is the fish ladder at the Jenney Grist Mill. I also check the weir at the harbor and at the top of the Holmes Dam.

S: How many fish have you been seeing?

Alison: I’ve seen more than 20,000 this season. Last week, I was averaging roughly 400 herring per ten minute count.

S: How do you keep up, counting that many fish?

Alison: I have a clicker to help me keep count.

S: Do you monitor anything else?

Alison: Just water temperature at the top of fish ladder. I also note presence and absence of resident fish, such as large mouth bass.

S: What prompted you to take the job as herring warden?

Alison: I have lived here my whole life. My mom used to bring me to the brook to watch the herring runs. I’m now a biology major in college, and taking this job just seemed like the right fit.

Do you have questions about monitoring you’d like to ask? Feel free to post them in the comment section. Otherwise, stay tuned for future updates from the Town Brook monitoring front!