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National Trails Symposium’s Call for Presentations

Posted on March 3, 2008 | Filed Under Blue Trails, Deep South, Events, River Heritage

Jamie Mierau, Director
River Heritage, Blue Trails

Got something to say about water trails? American Trails is now accepting presentation proposals for the National Trails Symposium in Little Rock on November 15-18, 2008. Water trails is one of the symposium’s key topics! Submit your presentation ideas that introduce new ideas, convey useful strategies, identify lessons learned, and strengthen participants’ existing skills and knowledge - in the spirit of the symposium’s theme: “Innovative Trails: Transforming the American Way of Life.” The submission deadline is April 18, 2008.

Save the date: National Trails Symposium

Posted on February 19, 2008 | Filed Under Blue Trails, Deep South, Events, River Heritage

Jamie Mierau, Director
River Heritage, Blue Trails

November 15-18, 2008
Little Rock, Arkansas

Presented by American Trails, the National Trails Symposium is bringing the worldwide trail community together for an inspirational and educational conference. Join the nation’s leading trail experts, advocates, agencies, land managers, planners, technicians, vendors, builders, developers, and enthusiasts for this important biennial conference.

Dozens of speakers and keynote presenters from across the country will cover top trail issues and state-of-the-art technology - among the leading topics is blue trails. Read about the 2006 symposium. Stay tuned for more details about this year’s exciting symposium and blue trail workshops.

Yazoo Pumps Comments Due Today!!!

Posted on January 22, 2008 | Filed Under Alerts, Deep South, Flood Protection, Government Affairs, River Renewal

Joyce Wu, Program Associate
Natural Flood Protection

Comments to the Corps on the Yazoo Pumps, a 67 year-old project that will destroy 200,000 acres of wetlands, are due today, Jan. 22nd, 2008. Please take a few moments to send a letter to the Corps to show your opposition to this boondoggle project, which over 500 scientists say is a bad idea. https://secure2.convio.net/amr/site/Advocacy?cmd=display&page=UserAction&id=961

You can find more information on the Yazoo Pumps at http://www.americanrivers.org/site/PageServer?pagename=AR7_YazooPumpsLetter.

Urge the Corps to Properly Close the Hurricane Highway

Posted on December 14, 2007 | Filed Under Alerts, Deep South

Lindsay Martin, Web Editor
River Alert

More than two years after Hurricane Katrina, the Mississippi River Gulf Outlet (MRGO) still threatens New Orleans’ safety. This controversial navigation channel funneled Katrina’s storm surge into the city and greatly worsened flooding during the storm. Help us ensure that the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers properly closes this hurricane highway.

Creation and maintenance of the MRGO also destroyed more than 20,000 acres of buffering coastal wetlands that could have reduced Katrina’s storm surge and spared lives. The Corps’ final plan for the MRGO will begin the process of protecting and restoring these wetlands. But the plan does not go far enough to restore the areas damaged by the MRGO, and still makes the Greater New Orleans area vulnerable to storm surge.

Thanks to you and thousands of activists from across the country, Congress recently directed the Corps to eliminate the unacceptable storm surge threat posed by the MRGO channel. With your help again, there is still hope for getting the MRGO closure plan right. Tell the Corps to listen to Congress and properly close the MRGO.

Comments are due December 17th, so please act today!

Tell the Corps to Dump the Pumps and Protect Wetlands

Posted on November 29, 2007 | Filed Under Alerts, Deep South

Lindsay Martin, Web Editor
River Alert

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers wants to waste our tax dollars on a project that could drain and damage more than 200,000 acres of wetlands in the heart of the Mississippi River flyway — an area that contains some of the richest natural resources in the nation.

The Corps has recommended spending at least $211 million to build the world’s largest hydraulic pumping plant in one of the most sparsely populated regions in the state of Mississippi. In a throwback to another era and contrary to federal policy, the Yazoo Pumps would be used to drain wetlands so agribusiness can intensify production to reap more farm subsidy payments.

The Corps has released its final recommendation for the Yazoo Pumps. We need your help today to put a stop to this wasteful and destructive project. Urge the Corps of Engineers, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, and U.S. Department of the Interior to dump the Yazoo Pumps. Act now.

Fun Facts on Yazoo, con’t.

Posted on November 13, 2007 | Filed Under Deep South, Flood Protection, Government Affairs, River Renewal, Southeast

Joyce Wu, Program Associate
Natural Flood Protection

In a previous blog entry, I posted some information on the environmental damage that the Yazoo Pumps would cause, drawing this response from Mr. Frank Worley, a Corps public affairs official:

“The Yazoo Backwater project is not designed, nor intended to ‘drain’ anything, but to lower flood levels in the Delta.

The project includes a pump station and also includes a huge non-structural component which is the purchase of conservation easements to reforest 55,600 acres of land that will never again be used for agriculture.

The pump station would only be operated during specific backwater flood conditions. We invite you to review the final report when it is released for more specific details on the project as proposed.”

First of all, I want to thank Mr. Worley for taking an interest in and commenting on the AR blog site. American Rivers appreciates any opportunity to engage in a dialogue about our work, and the part of the purpose of blogging was exactly to spark this kind of discussion.

In response to Mr. Worley’s comment, I would like to quote from two documents on which the information in the post is based. These documents are from the Environmental Protection Agency and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, two federal agencies that have formally protested the Yazoo Backwater Pumps project because of the major damage it will cause to wetlands and other natural resources. These documents provide the most recent information available to the public on the Yazoo Pumps; we look forward to reading the Final EIS when it is published.

In a letter to the Corps’ Vicksburg Disctrict on November 3, 2000, EPA:

wrote that the Yazoo Pumps would “result in adverse impacts to over 200,000 acres of wetlands in the Mississippi River floodplain, cause water quality impairment, and further degrade already impaired waters.�?
gave the Yazoo Pumps its lowest rating (Environmentally Unsatisfactory-3), and said that the project was appropraite for a Clean Water Act veto because of its “substantial and unacceptable adverse environmental consequences.” (There have only been 11 Clean Water Act vetoes ever, so it is clear that the Pumps pose a major threat to the environment.)
noted that the damage that would be caused by the Pumps could be largely avoided by the use of a nonstructural alternative proposed by researchers from Virginia Tech University and the US Geological Survey.
expressed concern about its perception that the Corps did not appear at all to seriously consider a nonstructural alternative to building a pumping plant to pump water out of, and thus draining, the Yazoo Backwater area.

In its October 2006 Fish and Wildlife Coordination Act report, the US Fish and Wildlife Service:

wrote that the Yazoo Pumps would cut off the hydrological cycle of backwater flooding that “is critically important to maintenance of project-area wetland and aquatic habitat values, including fisheries production.�? This flooding cycle provides the biochemical link to the rest of the lower Mississippi Alluvial Valley ecosystem.
concluded that the Corps’ plan for the Yazoo Pumps is “ecologically unsound.�?
commented that the Corps’ recommended plan is “one of the most environmentally damaging alternatives of 35 proposals that were initially developed during the consensus-building process. Reasonable alternatives involving nonstructural, flood damage reduction features [were] rejected without being thoroughly evaluated.�?

We at American Rivers recognize that structural flood reduction projects may well be necessary when large populations and critical infrastructure are at risk, such as in the New Orleans area. However, the Corps has the legal responsibility not to construct such projects until it has demonstrated that other less costly and less environmentally damaging alternatives could not do the job. According to EPA and FWS, the Corps has not come close to meeting this burden in the case of the Yazoo Pumps project, but instead recommended an incredibly costly wetland drainage project that will cause far-reaching and permanent environmental harm.

Again, we welcome dialogue on our work, and invite continued discussion on this important issue.

The New York Times Weighs In on the Yazoo Pumps

Posted on November 6, 2007 | Filed Under Deep South, Flood Protection, Government Affairs, River Renewal, Southeast

Joyce Wu, Program Associate
Natural Flood Protection

With the Final Environmental Impact Statement for the Yazoo Pumps–a destructive and fiscally irresponsible Army Corps of Engineers project in southern Mississippi–due at the end of the week, the New York Times published this spot-on editorial on the project today:
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/06/opinion/06tue3.html?th&emc=th

6 Month Update on America’s Most Endangered Rivers: 2007

Posted on October 22, 2007 | Filed Under Alerts, California, Deep South, Endangered Rivers, Great Lakes, Great Rivers, Mid-Atlantic, Northwest, Outreach, Southeast, Southwest

Chelsea Lane-Miller, Associate Director of Outreach
Outreach Events and Activities

Though it may be hard to believe, it’s been six months since we released our America’s Most Endangered Rivers: 2007 Edition report. That means it’s time to check in and see what’s happened on each of the ten rivers. Read closely — there are new opportunities for you to take action and to learn more.

Santa Fe River
The people of Santa Fe are making steady progress on efforts to bring their namesake river back to life. In July, Mayor David Coss delivered the annual State of the City address to the people of Santa Fe, in which he said, “I am happy to announce to you today that I am proposing 1,000 acre-feet of water be dedicated to the Santa Fe River by next spring through adoption of the city’s Long Range Water Supply Plan. This means that we will have enough water to keep riparian vegetation alive in stretches of the River during the summer months. While there are still many challenges to work through as we strive for sustainable water policies in Santa Fe, this 1,000 acre-feet will be the first designation of water to a river anywhere in the state.”

The city now plans to hold town hall meetings and discussions with all key stakeholders so that the community of Santa Fe can come together in support of a common vision of a living river that will eventually be adopted by the City Council.

San Mateo Creek
Though the proposed Foothill South toll road still poses a real threat to San Mateo Creek, opposition to this ill-advised project continues to grow. Editorials in the L.A. Times and North County Times both say that the toll road is not worth it, and stories in the San Diego Tribune and Orange County Register show that nearly 70% of local residents are opposed to the road.

In other positive news, California Rep. Susan Davis (D - San Diego) successfully introduced an amendment in the Armed Services Committee that would remove several exemptions from state environmental laws that the TCA obtained in order to build the proposed toll road. The House version of the bill passed and the Senate is currently debating the bill.

Additionally, American Rivers and Surfrider Foundation supporters recently sent comments to the California Coastal Commission (CCC), urging them to deny approval of the toll road to protect San Mateo Creek and Trestles Beach, which draws surfers from all over the world. There’s still time for you to tell the CCC how you feel. Act now!

Iowa River
Conservation groups in Iowa are working to draft a set of rules that would keep the Iowa and other rivers in the state from becoming more polluted, but the state Department of Natural Resources is dragging its feet. People in Iowa want clean rivers, and they’re not going to wait forever to get them!

Take the University of Iowa in Iowa City. In response to the listing of the Iowa River as one of AMERICA’S MOST ENDANGERED RIVERS:2007 Edition, the University is organizing several events on the River, including three bus tours and a talk about the river as part of their Civic Engagement Program.

Plans are also in the works to organize a local group in Hardin County, Iowa to work on improving the river. These discussions include farmers and local people.

Upper Delaware River
The Upper Delaware River continues to face a grave threat from powerline plans by New York Regional Interconnect, a private power company. In order to protect the Upper Delaware Wild and Scenic River, U.S. Senators Charles E. Schumer and Hilary Rodham Clinton have introduced legislation to block federal approval of this highly controversial proposed power line route. If it becomes law, the legislation will stop the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission from unilaterally establishing power line routes through New York State. It would also prohibit FERC from overriding New York State’s siting process and eliminate the agency’s ability to use eminent domain to confiscate private property.

There’s a big incentive to pass the Clinton-Schumer legislation - on October 2^nd, the Department of Energy (home to FERC) issued their final designation of the National Interest Electric Transmission Corridors. The one on the east coast includes the Upper Delaware River, essentially paving the way for the proposed power line. Stay tuned for your chance to express your support for the Clinton-Schumer bill.

White Salmon River
Designating the White Salmon River as one of America’s Most Endangered Rivers has helped to raise awareness and support for the removal of Condit Dam. Since the listing, local efforts have: turned back a threat from the local electric company to start condemnation proceedings as a way to stall or prevent removal; hosted informational meetings to stir discussion and share facts about dam removal with the community; and appear to be turning back a move by Klickitat County to rezone a large area along the river most critical to salmon restoration. Fish scientists continue to make plans for salmon restoration - some think that rainbow trout found upstream of the dam may actually be steelhead (genetically identical to rainbow trout) that were able to adapt to freshwater life. This means that there may still be native species of steelhead in the river only waiting for the chance to return to the ocean and resume their anadramous life cycle.

It is important that FERC keep dam removal on track. Public support for dam removal is high and growing - the listing of the White Salmon generated 300 comments to the agency. Also, the tremendous public support for the recent removal of the nearby Marmot Dam on the Sandy River just outside of Portland makes Condit Dam an obvious and excellent next step for supporting people and salmon in the Columbia basin.

Neches River
The fate of the Neches River is still up in the air. Proponents of the Neches River Refuge are waiting for a judge to rule in the lawsuit filed by the City of Dallas to eliminate the refuge. Meanwhile, the Texas state legislature has designated the area as a “unique reservoir site” for Fastrill Reservoir, but the state designation will become relevant only if the refuge is overturned.

The Neches River made an appearance in Sierra Club’s America’s Wild Legacy report. They highlighted threatened wild places in each state - including the Neches in Texas. Efforts to designate the river as a National Scenic River are still in motion as well.

Kinnickinnic River
The Kinnickinnic is on the path toward restoration. Although Wisconsin is still working on budget issues that affect the project, once the state funding is in place the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency appears likely to provide the federal match for removal of the contaminated sediments. The Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources is close to having final designs for the remediation, and the Environmental Analysis and permits are close to being completed. Dredging is expected to start next spring, and finish by early fall.

The good news is that it appears likely that a project upstream on the Milwaukee River at Estabrook Dam will also receive funding. This project would also remove PCB-contaminated sediments from behind the dam, and further upstream. Cleanup is scheduled to being next spring.

Neuse River
In early September, elected officials in North Carolina floated the Neuse River to learn about threats to the river’s health, and ways to help protect the river. Upper Neuse Riverkeeper Dean Najouks led them on the trip. He talked about how rainwater running off of lawns, parking lots, golf courses and roads - collectively called stormwater - can harm a river, and how low impact development can help to alleviate these problems. For many, it was an eye-opening experience. Hopefully this trip will help to pass a bond measure in Wake County, NC that would preserve 30% of the county’s land as open space - something that would help to reduce the amount of stormwater funneled into creeks and rivers.

There are still many challenges facing the Neuse River, including a drought this year. Additionally, the state just approved a sewage plant expansion for Johnston County and is endorsing a plan to grant the City of Raleigh a variance request to allow more than 1000 acres of polluted ground water to leach into the Neuse River - that would be more than 120,000 lbs of nitrogen per year for the next 30 years, without any treatment or mitigation. A local blogger explains how you can speak out for the Neuse on this issue.

Lee Creek
Arkansas’ Lee Creek continues to face an uphill battle, but efforts to protect this Extraordinary Resource Water are not over yet. In early October, changes to the regulations that protect Extraordinary Resource Waters (ERW) in Arkansas were passed unanimously by the PC&E Commission. These changes provide a way to delist the river as an ERW, which would normally prohibit dam construction, if a community has no alternative source of drinking water. Although this opens the possibility for constructing a dam on Lee Creek, there must be ample proof that it’s absolutely necessary for drinking water. Project proponents have not been able to show this because cheaper and more ecologically sensible alternatives exist for local drinking water.

Additionally, the Water Resources Development Act (WRDA), which passed the Senate and House in late September, renews the 1967 authorization of the Pine Mountain Dam - proposed for Lee Creek - along with 14 other water projects in the state. Funding for study of the dam proposal is provided but there is no guarantee that any funding will be provided for building the dam. Furthermore, the project cited by the Act authorizes the dam for flood control - not water supply - meaning that the dam would still be in opposition to state law protecting ERWs.

Chuitna River
The listing of the Chuitna as one of America’s Most Endangered Rivers has brought much deserved attention to the plight of this remote treasure. Elevated awareness has coalesced locals and concerned citizens have redoubled their efforts to protect the Chuitna from destructive strip mining. PacRim Coal, the company pushing for the coal mine is moving forward with its plans, including permit requests to the Alaska Department of Natural Resources (DNR). Local citizens and others submitted a petition in June requesting that lands within the fish-rich Chuitna watershed be deemed “unsuitable” for coal strip mining. DNR Commissioner Tom Irwin of Alaska DNR denied the petition on July 16^th claiming lands within the petition area are exempt. The DNR decision is under appeal. The nearby communities of Tyonek and Beluga rely heavily upon this area for their year-round subsistence fishing and hunting.

While the State of Alaska continues to push this project forward, efforts to slow the project and extend the timeline have been successful — the Draft Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement (SEIS) is now expected to be released as early as summer 2008. The development of this mine would not only devastate thousands of acres of prime fish, moose, and bear habitat but would also emit huge quantities of CO2 and other greenhouse gases from coal combustion.

Fun Facts on Yazoo, or, Why the Corps Should Dump the Pumps

Posted on October 19, 2007 | Filed Under Deep South, Flood Protection, Government Affairs, River Renewal, Southeast

Joyce Wu, Program Associate
Natural Flood Protection

In 2000, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) concluded that the Yazoo Pumps would drain and damage more than 200,000 acres of ecologically significant wetlands in the heart of the
Mississippi River flyway – a critical migration route for 20 percent of the nation’s duck populations. That is seven times more wetlands than all the nation’s private developers harm in one year nationwide. The Corps recently acknowledged that 26,300 acres would be drained dry. All of this damage will happen in an area that the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service) describes as having some of the richest natural resources in the nation.

Corps Resurrecting Destructive World War II Era Project

Posted on October 17, 2007 | Filed Under Deep South, Flood Protection, Government Affairs, River Renewal, Southeast

Joyce Wu, Program Associate
Natural Flood Protection

Sixty-six years of opposition have not been enough for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (Corps) to give up on a flood control project that won’t actually protect homes. Over the objections of the Environmental Protection Agency and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the Corps is continuing to push for the Yazoo Pumps—a proposal to build the world’s largest hydraulic pumping plant that will drain 200,000 acres of what the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service called some of the richest resources in the country. The real purpose of the project is not to protect people from flooding, but to open up thousands of acres of rich (and sparsely populated) floodplain land to more intensive farming.

Local stakeholders and federal agencies have fought against this project because it violates the Clean Water Act, violates federal policy, is not economically justified, and impacts wetlands that have already been set aside for federal protection. Furthermore, the whopping $211 million price-tag is a 100% federal cost; the Corps wants taxpayers to shoulder the entire financial burden.

The Yazoo pumps will squander federal tax dollars.

Some 80% of the project’s alleged benefits are from increased agricultural production, mostly from more federal subsidies. If this project is authorized, the federal government will spend $211 million tax dollars to increase agricultural production in the Mississippi Delta, where farmers received $15.3 billion in subsidies from 1996 to 2001 and where the federal government is already actively setting aside sensitive croplands to decrease production.

Furthermore, the pumps will not appreciably save local homeowners from flood disasters. According to the Federal Emergency Management Agency, residential flooding is very limited in the project area. From 1979 to 2002, the National Flood Insurance Program paid out just $1.664 million in flood loss claims. At that rate, it would take more than 3,054 years to recoup the construction investment in the Yazoo Pumps.

The project itself is also fundamentally flawed. An independent analysis commissioned by the EPA revealed that the Corps’ calculations inflated the project’s economic benefits by a stunning $144 million.

The Yazoo pumps will destroy the local environment.

The Yazoo Backwater Area is a haven for migratory birds, floodplain fisheries and wildlife. The project area is also nationally renowned for excellent deer, waterfowl, and other game hunting. In fact, the region became famous in 1902 for being the original home of the ‘Teddy Bear.’ While hunting in the Yazoo Backwater Area, President Theodore Roosevelt’s refusal to shoot a bear that had been tied to a tree spawned the iconic children’s toy.

The Yazoo pumps project will damage or harm 200,000 acres of ecologically significant wetlands, much of which are national park land, mitigation for earlier federal projects, or voluntary restoration projects. The Yazoo pumps will also change the hydrology of 925,000 acres of the Mississippi delta—almost the entire historic delta floodplain for the Mississippi River.

The Yazoo pumps do not have local, national, or federal support.

The Yazoo pumps have met with local and national opposition for 65 years. The Clarion Ledger, the largest newspaper in the state of Mississippi, the New York Times, and papers and magazines from Oregon to New England have repeatedly and consistently editorialized against the project.

Moreover, both the EPA and USFWS have stated that the project should not proceed because of its colossal environmental toll, and because the project violates federal law as well as federal wetlands policy. According to the EPA, the pumps’ wetlands impacts will be 25 times greater than the combined impacts of all other projects it had vetoed because of Clean Water Act Section 404 (c) violations. This final EIS does not improve on the Draft EIS, which received the EPA’s lowest rating—EU-3, Environmentally Unsatisfactory – Inadequate.

In its Fish and Wildlife Coordination Act report, published as recently as 2006, the USFWS called the Yazoo Pumps “ecologically unsound�? and “totally contrary to the Service’s goal for a balance between economic and environmental sustainability in the [Yazoo Backwater Area].�?

The irony of theYazoo pumps project is that it proposes destroying natural flood protection systems in the name of flood control. Wetlands act as natural sponges, storing and slowly releasing floodwaters after peak flood flows have passed. A single acre of wetland, saturated to a depth of one foot, will retain 330,000 gallons of water—enough to flood thirteen average-sized homes thigh-deep. Coastal wetlands also reduce the size and velocity of storm surge during storms and hurricanes. The dramatic loss of these resources in the Yazoo Backwater area will have lasting and unpredictable consequences. For more information, see the USFWS fact sheet on the Yazoo pumps www.fws.gov/southeast/pubs/facts/yazooback.pdf or see our fact sheets on theYazoo pumps.

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