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Green Infrastructure - A Bridge Made of Pickles?

Posted on April 30, 2007 | Filed Under Clean Water, Green Infrastructure, Healthy Waters, Rain Gardens

Katherine Baer, Director
Healthy Waters Campaign

I’m familiar with green roofs, but the other day I heard someone talk about a green wall! And no, these are not buildings made of salad, but creative design and building techniques that integrate the natural environment into the built environment, making people and our environment better off. This use of green infrastructure is really taking off as the multiple benefits - from reducing polluted runoff and greenhouse gases to providing community green space - of these techniques and planning approaches become clear.

Boston just announced plans to go green by planting 100,000 trees in areas around the City, citing the multiple benefits of trees including cleaner water and keeping the city cooler. Cities around the country from Portland, Oregon to Chicago to Philadelphia have recognized the multiple benefits of integrating the natural landscape as part of City design to create healthier and more attractive communities.

By preserving natural landscape features like buffers and floodplains and restoring and mimicking others through use of low impact development techniques like rain gardens, green roofs, tree boxes, and other techniques that use native vegetation, we can rely on green infrastructure in the same way we rely on built infrastructure like bridges and roads. NRDC’s report Rooftop to Rivers explains how green infrastructure can be used to reduce sewer overflows, sometimes more cheaply than typical hard engineering fixes. Our work on low impact development demonstrates how using the natural landscape is an excellent way to reduce stormwater and flooding.

Now EPA is also getting in the act, recently signing a statement of support for green infrastructure and promising to integrate these concepts and techniques across their permitting and enforcement programs. We’ll be working with the Agency to see this through - so maybe a street made of peas is in your future….

Quenching a thirsty spirit

Posted on April 30, 2007 | Filed Under Healthy Waters, Water for Life

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

When meeting new people or running into friends you haven’t seen in a while, a question many in the environmental field are often asked is ‘why’. Why do you do what you do? Why do you care?

My story (my why) is rooted in my religious faith. I grew up in the deserts of west Texas where what little water there is isn’t taken for granted (despite popular opinion) , and we all thank the Lord every time it rains. While I grew up in a family that was the antithesis of the granola-crunching, hippie variety that many people view environmentalists as, it was instilled in me that we are simply stewards of the earth.

This past Friday Virginia Seminary held a forum entitled The Water of Life: Earth’s Water Crisis, which, for me, is proof positive that American Rivers is moving in the right direction in bolstering its outreach efforts to communities of faith. Partnering with Earth Ministry, we are in the final stages of developing “By the Waters,” our comprehensive river-based learning curriculum that outlines actions congregations can take to protect, conserve and restore God’s wondrous gift of rivers and provides materials on the scriptural and ecological imperative of river stewardship.

Why do I love rivers (besides the fact that they are fun)? They give life. Why do I work at American Rivers? I’m simply doing my part and doing the best I can to be a good steward.

Digging deep to find meaning with redesigned website

Posted on April 30, 2007 | Filed Under Technology

Chas Offutt, Director of Internet Strategy
Technology & Rivers

Over the past year, we’ve developed a new look online that will ideally engage and activate a larger base in support of healthy rivers. And after introspection, feedback and interaction on our redesign blog, I think we’re moving in the right direction.

Asking yourself those hard questions is never an easy thing to do, but for an organizations to initiate that conversation can be like opening Pandora’s box. But, I think it’s essential to the process too.

Much of the work online today is about providing your base access points to your work where there is greater involvement and participation. We’re seeing it all over the place with blogs, social networks and wikis in political and issue driven campaigns.

Seth Godin, an online marketing guru, refers to this as “flipping the funnel” where organizations tap their core supporters to ferry the cause to their individual networks. Basically, people support people and people give to people-that’s the key. A good example of this is Network for Good’s www.sixdegrees.org.

But what does this mean for the online river community? Well, to a certain extent, it means that our new look, how we work and what we’re attempting to achieve online is about building rock stars for rivers through portable and digestible content.

I really liked a recent blog post from the Chief Executive Officer and President of Sun Microsystems, Inc., Jonathan Schwartz, who said it best:

[A brand] is not a logo, an ad campaign or a money back guarantee. At minimum, it’s a promise that helps to define those items. Beyond that, it’s a cause that gives definition to the ill-defined, that tells you how to deal with the unexpected or the uncomfortable. It’s what motivates you to hire that fellow at the front desk, and to foster his instinct to feel, “Eureka, I found an opportunity to build an evangelist!”

Along those lines (I can’t remember where I heard this), but it’s not what you do that is important as how you make people feel. Yes, it does sound very customer service-like, but I think invaluable to the welfare of our rivers.

In rivers, the water that you touch is the last of what has passed… — Leonardo daVinci

Posted on April 30, 2007 | Filed Under Quotes

Lindsay Martin, Web Editor
River Quotes: Your Daily Escape

In rivers, the water that you touch is the last of what has passed and the first of that which comes, so with time present.
– Leonardo daVinci

* Rivers connect us to past and future generations. American Rivers has a vision of a future with clean water and healthy rivers in all of our communities. Join the River Guardian Society, a group of leadership supporters who share this vision and donate $1,000 or more to American Rivers annually.

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

High quality water is more than the dream of conservationists… — Richard Bangs

Posted on April 27, 2007 | Filed Under Quotes

Lindsay Martin, Web Editor
River Quotes: Your Daily Escape

“High quality water is more than the dream of conservationists, more than a political slogan; high quality water, in the right quantity at the right place at the right time, is essential to health, recreation and economic growth.” — Richard Bangs

*Learn about our vision for “healthy rivers, healthy communities” in our 2006 Annual Report.

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

Lies, Damn Lies, and the 100-Year Flood, Part II

Posted on April 26, 2007 | Filed Under Dam Removal, Flood Protection, River Renewal

Joyce Wu, Program Associate
Natural Flood Protection

Part I of this blog post defined a 100-year flood as a flood with a 1% chance of occurring each year. The second and third parts will explain how the 100-year flood impacts homeowners. With a 1% annual probability, the 100-year flood is a seemingly small risk, and yet the 100-year floodplain (the area of land that a 100-year flood would cover) is subject to the strictest building regulations.

Flood insurance is currently only mandatory for federally-backed mortgages in the 100-year floodplain, which FEMA has designated a Special Flood Hazard Area. Clearly, the 100-year flood is a better than remote possibility. In fact, although a 100-year flood has a 1% chance of occurring in any given year, the likelihood of someone experiencing a 100-year flood during the life of a 30-year mortgage is 26%.

The simplest explanation again uses a bag of 100 marbles-99 blue ones and 1 black one. In Part I, I wanted to know, “Every time I take a marble out of the bag, what are the chances of pulling the black marble?” Each pull was treated as a completely separate event. Even if I repeated the exercise 100 times, every time I pulled a marble, I had a 1% chance of picking the black one.

This time, I want to know: if I repeat the exercise 30 times, what are the chances that I will pull the black marble at least once? This time, I’m looking at the cumulative probability of my picking 1 black marble out of 100, and looking at a set of 30 pulls as one attempt. It turns out that if I shake a bag of 100 marbles, pull one out, and throw it back in, 30 times in a row, there is a 26% percent likelihood that I will pick the black marble once in those 30 tries. (Why the answer is 26% rather than say, 30%, goes into complicated mathematical functions that I don’t really understand. Suffice to say, you can’t add the probability of the event for each year; the graph of the recurrence interval over time is a curve and not a straight line. See the gorgeous graph below that the brilliant husband of a colleague made for me. Thanks, Mike!)

Similarly, living in a house for 30 years gives nature 30 different tries to throw a 100-year storm your way. Asking “What are the chances of a 100-year flood occurring this year” is very different from asking “What are the chances of a 100-year flood occurring once in the next 30 years?” Coming up, and this will be the last one of the series, I promise, why the 100-year flood is not the 100-year flood.

For reference: here’s a chart of the likelihood of different flood-events over time.

Many go fishing all their lives without knowing that it is not fish they are after. — Henry David Thoreau

Posted on April 26, 2007 | Filed Under Quotes

Lindsay Martin, Web Editor
River Quotes: Your Daily Escape

“Many go fishing all their lives without knowing that it is not fish they are after.” — Henry David Thoreau

*Read Jamie Mierau’s story about what fishing on her hometown river means to her.

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

Delay on the Elwha

Posted on April 25, 2007 | Filed Under Dam Removal, Northwest, River Renewal

Amy Kober
Northwest Outreach & Communications Director

Bad news on the Elwha River – what was supposed to be a dam removal start date of 2009 has morphed into 2012. The reason for the delay is that the construction of two water projects that must be in place before dam deconstruction will take longer than initially estimated.

It’s disappointing, and hopefully the process can be expedited. This river restoration project – the biggest dam removal in the country – enjoys tremendous public support.

The Elwha River captures the imagination — its blue-green waters and tight canyons are stunningly beautiful. The landscape is wild — most of the watershed is protected within Olympic National Park. If you get the chance, hike up the Whiskey Bend Trail and continue to Low Divide to get a real sense of the wildness of this place, and why it’s so certain that salmon will thrive here.

Visit our Elwha page to read about all the benefits of a restored river, for salmon and the community.

There’s a lot of talk these days about how we need to do more to restore Puget Sound and recover the area’s salmon and steelhead runs. Removing the two dams on the Elwha would be a big leap towards achieving those goals.

People are tired of waiting. The Lower Elwha Klallam Tribe has been waiting for a restored river and salmon runs for nearly 100 years.

“Our elders want to see it in their lifetime,�? says Tribal Chairwoman Frances Charles in the Seattle Times.

Let’s get on with it.

Save the Clean Water Act!

Posted on April 25, 2007 | Filed Under Alerts, Healthy Waters

Lindsay Martin, Web Editor
River Alert

The fundamental safeguards for clean and healthy water in our streams, rivers and lakes are in jeopardy. A confusing 2006 Supreme Court decision concerning the Clean Water Act has left the fate of 60 percent of the nation’s stream miles in legal limbo. As expected, polluters are now flooding the courts with appeals to raze small streams and wetlands.

Congress can resolve this problem by passing legislation to restore full federal protection for all our waters. Help us ensure that all of our nation’s waters are protected under the Clean Water Act. Urge your representative to co-sponsor the Clean Water Authority Restoration Act of 2007 today.

Thank you for helping to ensure that all of our nation’s waters remain fully protected.

KK Clean Up

Posted on April 25, 2007 | Filed Under Events, Healthy Waters, Rain Gardens

Gary Belan, Associate Director of Healthy Waters Campaign
Healthy Waters, Catching the Rain

Just a quick update on River activities in Milwaukee. As you’ve seen, I like Milwaukee so much, I’ll even visit in February. But fortunately the weather has warmed recently, and folks were able to get out to do some river clean-ups.

Friends of Milwaukee’s Rivers organizes a big Milwaukee Estuary Clean-Up every year, and this year they put together a video (see below too) to commemorate their success on the Kinnickinnic River (known as the KK in Milwaukee). Check it out, they do good work up there, and I’m proud to be working with them. We can only hope those who were working on the Kinnickinnic River were able to get there hands on a KK Chicken Sandwich after the clean-up.

We listed the KK as one of our top 10 most endangered rivers in the U.S. this year, but the folks in Milwaukee are obviously trying hard to clean up the KK and their other rivers; and they’re starting at ever younger ages. The kids in Mr. Pipers 5th grade class were working hard to do their part in cleaning up a section of the Milwaukee. Take a look at Mr. Pipers 5th grade class blog to see how they were involved as well as the reflections the kids had on the clean up. For more information on river clean ups in your area, take a look at National River Cleanup Week.

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