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- Meet Gary our video and stormwater guru
- Meet Jamie our blue trails expert
- Meet Jenny our Southeast water efficiency expert
- Meet John our Hydropower Reform Coalition director
- Meet Katie our Great Lakes stormwater management expert
- Meet Katherine our river advocacy director
- Meet Lindsay our daily river quotes and web editor
- Meet Matt our our Southeast blue trail & hydro guy
- Meet Rebecca president of American Rivers
- Meet Serena our dam removal expert
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It is a fascinating and provocative thought… — Lyall Watson

Posted on January 31, 2008 | Filed Under Quotes

Lindsay Martin, Web Editor
River Quotes: Your Daily Escape

“It is a fascinating and provocative thought that a body of water deserves to be considered as an organism in its own right.” — Lyall Watson

Amy Kober recently posted several bonus clips from our film about the restoration of Oregon’s Sandy River, “Unexpected things come together on the river.” More

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

Give A Green Boost To The Economy

Posted on January 30, 2008 | Filed Under Green Infrastructure, Healthy Waters, Water Conservation

Rebecca Wodder
President

What our economy needs right now is a whole lot of green: Green jobs, green projects and green investments that will boost local economies while improving our environment and quality of life. (read Katherine’s post, Ring Around the (Green) Collar)

Congress is looking at ways to jump-start the economy and avoid a recession. Recently, we’ve been hearing from a lot of governors, mayors, and economists saying that infrastructure investments are among the most powerful and enduring things we can do to grow the economy. Investing in “green�? upgrades to our nation’s sewage and drinking water systems may not sound sexy (know any Hollywood stars who want to speak up for sewage treatment?) but I’d argue it is the most important thing we can do to create jobs, improve clean water, protect public health and safety, beautify our communities, and revitalize our economy

Our nation’s pipes and sewers – many built 50 to 100 years ago – are old and quickly deteriorating. The report card released by the American Society of Civil Engineers on the state of the nation’s infrastructure gave a grade of D- to sewers and water treatment plants — very near failing. The Environmental Protection Agency warns that we could soon see sewage pollution levels that we haven’t seen since the 1970s. This means more waterborne illnesses, more beach closures and fewer opportunities for fishing and boating.

Investments to fix these outdated structures and systems would pump money into the economy and create tens of thousands of jobs — for every billion dollars invested in water infrastructure construction, 47,000 jobs are created. And it’s important to invest in environmentally-friendly public works projects wherever possible. Green approaches to managing water and sewage not only save us money, it brings all kinds of other benefits to people, rivers and wildlife.

Philadelphia, Chicago, Portland, New York, Washington DC, Seattle, and Los Angeles are already leaders when it comes to green projects. These cities are embracing green roofs, rain gardens, urban tree planting, and other ways to reduce storm-water runoff. Instead of funneling stormwater into a pipe, it can be used to cool buildings and irrigate landscapes, or simply allowed to seep into the ground to replenish streams and groundwater. If every city embraced these ideas, think of how many “green collar” jobs we could create.

Another great way to create green jobs is to boost funding for retrofits of old toilets, plumbing fixtures and water-using appliances to more efficient models. Much of the country is struggling with drought and impacts to their water supplies from climate change, so investing in water efficiency is a smart solution. Over a decade ago, New York City created jobs and dropped water consumption by 26 percent by installing more than a million low-flow toilets.

The bottom line is that green investments pay off. They can make our rivers cleaner, create green collar jobs, and make our communities better places to live. Our message to Congress: Want to jump-start the economy? Go green.

The post, Give A Green Boost To The Economy, was first posted on Trehugger.com.

For real company and friendship… — Henry van Dyke

Posted on January 30, 2008 | Filed Under Quotes

Lindsay Martin, Web Editor
River Quotes: Your Daily Escape

“For real company and friendship, there is nothing outside of the animal kingdom that is comparable to a river. �? — Henry van Dyke

*Structural flood prevention strategies create a false sense of security for floodplain communities, often increase flood heights, and typically damage a river’s ability to minimize flooding. Instead, working with nature works. More

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

National River Cleanup is Live (shhh, it’s a soft launch)

Posted on January 29, 2008 | Filed Under Cleanup, Events, Technology

Chas Offutt, Director of Internet Strategy
Technology & Rivers

After nearly three months of learning a new Convio module, designing the page(s) and wrangling the content, we are excited to beta launch National River Cleanup^TM.

Basically, what that means is though the “site” is up and running, and you can officially organize or volunteer at a cleanup, we’re still testing and tweaking the overall functionality.

And here’s where you can help! Give it a spin by testing out the links, even try organizing your cleanup or search for a cleanup happening close to you (there were 11 cleanups in the first 24 hours!).

If you have thoughts, comments or questions, please let us know with a comment below. We value your input and hopefully, as more eyes are on this year’s event, we can address the hiccups as they unfold.

Please visit www.NationalRiverCleanup.org or www.AmericanRivers.org/Cleanup.

About National River Cleanup^TM (straight from our site)

Millions of tons of trash end up in our nation’s rivers and streams every year. American Rivers is a proud sponsor of National River Cleanup^TM, the most popular and successful stream cleanup program in the country that taps into the civic pride of tens of thousands of volunteers across the country.

National River Cleanup^TM is a year-long event. This year’s event officially kicks-off May 31st - June 8th, though American Rivers will help support cleanups planned before the May 31st.

Since the launch of this annual event by America Outdoors in 1991, more than 600,000 volunteers have participated in thousands of cleanups across the country, covering more than 100,000 miles of waterways. These cleanups have removed more than 1,000 tons of litter and debris from America’s rivers and streams.

National River Cleanup^TM 2007 was the most successful year to date, with more organizers and cleanups than ever before, in all 50 states and the District of Columbia.

In the 19th century… — Stephen Ambrose

Posted on January 29, 2008 | Filed Under Quotes

Lindsay Martin, Web Editor
River Quotes: Your Daily Escape

“In the 19th century, we devoted our best minds to exploring nature. In the 20th century, we devoted ourselves to controlling and harnessing it. In the 21st century, we must devote ourselves to restoring it.�? — Stephen Ambrose

*Recognizing that a healthy river is one of a community’s most valuable assets, American Rivers work with local stakeholders to demonstrate how to enhance public safety, quality of life and economic development opportunities by restoring natural river features and functions. More

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

Extra footage from our Sandy River film

Posted on January 28, 2008 | Filed Under Dam Removal, Northwest, River Renewal, Stories

Amy Kober
Northwest Outreach & Communications Director

Our film about the restoration of Oregon’s Sandy River, “Unexpected things come together on the river“, continues to receive great feedback. It was recently shown at the Wild and Scenic Environmental Film Festival in California.

When we were shooting this past spring, we got so much great footage that there was no way we could fit it all into a 10 minute film. So, here are some extra clips. Thanks again to all of the wonderful people who appeared in the film and helped make it happen.

Fun river stories

Larry Callister talks about his childhood, growing up on the Sandy

Deb Scrivens describes an autumn walk on the Sandy at Oxbow Park

Don Mench, Deb Scrivens and Linda Malone talk about volcanic eruptions, Lewis and Clark, and the history of the Sandy River as a sandy river

What the river restoration means for people

Mayor Linda Malone: “The river is the namesake of our city…”

Mayor Linda Malone: “It means a lot to our economy…”

Russ Plaeger: “The dam removal will help more people connect with the river…”

Russ Plaeger and Tom O’Keefe: “The Sandy is a gem in Portland’s backyard…”

Why the Sandy is special

Deb Scrivens: “This river has become part of my identity…”

Keith Jensen: “The Sandy supported our business…”

Matt Moreland: “It’s the quality of life benefits…”

I chatter, chatter… — Alfred Lord Tennyson

Posted on January 28, 2008 | Filed Under Quotes

Lindsay Martin, Web Editor
River Quotes: Your Daily Escape

“I chatter, chatter as I flow to join the brimming river, for men may come and men may go, but I go on forever.” — Alfred Lord Tennyson

*It turns out that, people (and politicians!) are finally making the connection that good decisions for the environment are also good for the economy and communities. More

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

Blog Round Up: January 18th - January 25th

Posted on January 25, 2008 | Filed Under Weekly Round Up

Chas Offutt, Director of Internet Strategy
Technology & Rivers

Before I started these round ups, Earth Threat had a post urging you to abuse your friend’s toilets to save water. Today I noticed a post on Treehugger that goes into detail on why this is a bad idea, and it’s not about keeping your friends.

The river round up for 1-18 to 1-25:

The Sustainable Stormwater Management blog alerts us to the $20 million fine being paid for polluting streams and waterways in West Virginia and Kentucky.

River Stories and Sense of Place wonders who has the rights to water.

It appears like a lot of people want to remove the Dillsboro Dam, except the county commission. The Jackson County, NC- Real Estate and Community Blog doesn’t know what is going to come out of this debate.

Your donation can be tripled to help remove with a dam removal on the Penobscot River. The Trout Underground knows this is an important cause.

Save water with your toilet, GreenStrides knows it isn’t glamorous.

CyberBistroBoutique knows that a rain garden is a great way to keep pollutants out of important waterways.

Rain Garden How-to Video Series

Posted on January 25, 2008 | Filed Under Healthy Waters, Rain Gardens

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

Over the last couple of weeks, Patricia Pennell (West Michigan Environmental Council) and I have put together a series of how-to videos to build a rain garden. Below is a recap of the videos.

1. Rain Day Projects: Winter Rain Gardens

2. Rainy Day Projects: Where to put your rain garden