American Rivers

PHILADELPHIA - Like so many beavers, earlier Pennsylvanians rarely passed up a chance to throw a dam across any river, creek or stream they happened across. But now that zeal is running in the other direction, as the state and private partners have been removing more dams every year - restoring stream flow, improving conditions for prized sport fish and eliminating potential killers. "Pennsylvania is leading the nation in the effort to remove dams," said Eric Eckl, spokesman for American Rivers, a private Washington-based nonprofit group that is a partner with the state Fish and Boat Commission and Department of Environmental Protection.

The Potomac River, which flows between Maryland and Virginia, was named the nation's "most endangered" waterway today by a Washington-based environmental group. American Rivers put the Potomac atop its annual list of endangered rivers.  Though cleaner than it used to be, the "nation's river," so named because it flows through Washington, D.C., still faces threats from urban and agricultural pollution, the group says, and from cutbacks being pushed in Congress of federal environmental regulations.

The Potomac River, which flows between Maryland and Virginia, was named the nation's "most endangered" waterway today by a Washington-based environmental group. American Rivers put the Potomac atop its annual list of endangered rivers.  Though cleaner than it used to be, the "nation's river," so named because it flows through Washington, D.C., still faces threats from urban and agricultural pollution, the group says, and from cutbacks being pushed in Congress of federal environmental regulations.

If Democrats and Republicans could work as well together as Anguilla rostrata and Elliptio complanata do, we'd probably have a better country. They don't have to like each other much — Anguilla and Elliptio aren't especially fond of each other, either — but if the leaders of the two major parties could at least strive toward the kind of symbiosis found in nature, we might see some progress on all sorts of issues confronting the nation....

The national conservation group American Rivers has named Maryland's Pocomoke River the third most-endangered river in the United States for 1998, noting the river's outbreaks of Pfiesteria and blaming its problems on an overload of nutrients from poultry wastes.It was the first time in at least 10 years that an Eastern Shore river was named to the Washington-based environmental group's annual list of endangered rivers. The Potomac River, which has been included several times, was ranked No. 12 this year.

A Washington-based environmental group has been given $4 million in federal economic-stimulus funds to remove two old dams on the Patapsco River that make it difficult for fish and boaters to pass. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said Tuesday that it has awarded a grant to American Rivers to dismantle Simkins and Union dams, two of four dams obstructing the flow of the Lower Patapsco. Built in the late 1800s and early 1900s to power mills that have long since been closed, the dams hinder fish migration and pose safety risks for people using the river as it flows past Ellicott City, Catonsville and Elkridge on its way to Baltimore harbor and the Chesapeake Bay. Serena McClain of American Rivers said work is expected to begin this summer on removing Union Dam in the Hollofield area of Patapsco Valley State Park off U.S. 40. The 24-foot-high structure was breached by Tropical Storm Agnes in 1972, McClain said, but remains a hazard for inexperienced paddlers and an impediment for fish because of the velocity of water that can pour through the opening in the dam. Simkins Dam, at the site of a cardboard recycling plant devastated by fire several years ago, has a fish ladder meant to help alewives, blueback herring and other fish get upstream to spawn in the spring.

If Democrats and Republicans could work as well together as Anguilla rostrata and Elliptio complanata do, we'd probably have a better country. They don't have to like each other much — Anguilla and Elliptio aren't especially fond of each other, either — but if the leaders of the two major parties could at least strive toward the kind of symbiosis found in nature, we might see some progress on all sorts of issues confronting the nation....

My fishing buddy, Bob, is against the dam on our local stream being removed. In his mind, the spillway is a waterfall. To his eye, flat water, the wide lake behind the dam, is more aesthetically pleasing than a free-running stream. He does not want a dramatic change; he does not want the landscape altered. Our rivers and streams have become so crowded with dams, many only a few feet high and 100 or more years old, that many people like Bob do not see the toll they have taken on fish populations, wetlands and the overall health of the stream.

ISSUE: The conservation group American Rivers recently cited raw sewage, mine runoff, slashed cleanup funds and a proposed inflatable dam near Wilkes-Barre, Pa., in declaring the Susquehanna River "America's most endangered river." PRO: "The volume of untreated and poorly treated sewage that ends up the river is a serious threat to the health of the river and everyone who wants to enjoy it - and the problem is poised to get worse," said Rebecca R. Wodder, president of American Rivers. One University of Maryland consultant has estimated that the river contributes 40 percent of the nitrogen and 20 percent of the phosphorus, both key ingredients in fertilizers, to the bay. These nutrients fuel algae blooms that take oxygen from bay water, killing fish, shellfish and plants.

Two polluted tributaries of the Chesapeake Bay, one urban and the other rural, rank among the most threatened rivers in North America, a national conservation group said yesterday.Runoff from Washington-area streets fouls the Anacostia River, and pollution from Pennsylvania farms has put the Susquehanna at risk, said American Rivers, a Washington-based organization.The Anacostia, which flows from Maryland through Washington, and the Susquehanna, the bay's largest freshwater artery, made the group's list of 25 waterways considered "in serious decline."

My fishing buddy, Bob, is against the dam on our local stream being removed. In his mind, the spillway is a waterfall. To his eye, flat water, the wide lake behind the dam, is more aesthetically pleasing than a free-running stream. He does not want a dramatic change; he does not want the landscape altered. Our rivers and streams have become so crowded with dams, many only a few feet high and 100 or more years old, that many people like Bob do not see the toll they have taken on fish populations, wetlands and the overall health of the stream.

A Washington-based environmental group has been given $4 million in federal economic-stimulus funds to remove two old dams on the Patapsco River that make it difficult for fish and boaters to pass. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said Tuesday that it has awarded a grant to American Rivers to dismantle Simkins and Union dams, two of four dams obstructing the flow of the Lower Patapsco. Built in the late 1800s and early 1900s to power mills that have long since been closed, the dams hinder fish migration and pose safety risks for people using the river as it flows past Ellicott City, Catonsville and Elkridge on its way to Baltimore harbor and the Chesapeake Bay. Serena McClain of American Rivers said work is expected to begin this summer on removing Union Dam in the Hollofield area of Patapsco Valley State Park off U.S. 40. The 24-foot-high structure was breached by Tropical Storm Agnes in 1972, McClain said, but remains a hazard for inexperienced paddlers and an impediment for fish because of the velocity of water that can pour through the opening in the dam. Simkins Dam, at the site of a cardboard recycling plant devastated by fire several years ago, has a fish ladder meant to help alewives, blueback herring and other fish get upstream to spawn in the spring.

A Charles County creek regarded as one of the Chesapeake Bay's best remaining fish spawning areas has been ranked among the nation's most endangered rivers because of plans for a highway and development across the creek's watershed. Mattawoman Creek, a mostly forested Potomac River tributary that also harbors rare plants, abundant waterfowl and bald eagles, made the list published Tuesday by the environmental group American Rivers. "The river's really at a turning point," said Katherine Baer, a top official with the group, which annually puts out a list of the 10 most endangered waterways.

PHILADELPHIA - Like so many beavers, earlier Pennsylvanians rarely passed up a chance to throw a dam across any river, creek or stream they happened across. But now that zeal is running in the other direction, as the state and private partners have been removing more dams every year - restoring stream flow, improving conditions for prized sport fish and eliminating potential killers. "Pennsylvania is leading the nation in the effort to remove dams," said Eric Eckl, spokesman for American Rivers, a private Washington-based nonprofit group that is a partner with the state Fish and Boat Commission and Department of Environmental Protection.

ISSUE: The conservation group American Rivers recently cited raw sewage, mine runoff, slashed cleanup funds and a proposed inflatable dam near Wilkes-Barre, Pa., in declaring the Susquehanna River "America's most endangered river." PRO: "The volume of untreated and poorly treated sewage that ends up the river is a serious threat to the health of the river and everyone who wants to enjoy it - and the problem is poised to get worse," said Rebecca R. Wodder, president of American Rivers. One University of Maryland consultant has estimated that the river contributes 40 percent of the nitrogen and 20 percent of the phosphorus, both key ingredients in fertilizers, to the bay. These nutrients fuel algae blooms that take oxygen from bay water, killing fish, shellfish and plants.

The first Europeans to explore America found a land rich in rivers -- some 3.5 million miles' worth of free-flowing waters full of life. The rivers near Jamestown, Va., were "so stored with sturgeon and other sweet fish as no man's fortune has ever possessed the like," wrote one of Capt. John Smith's companions in 1607. The French Rene-Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle dazzled the court of Louis XIV with his descriptions of the mighty Mississippi in 1682. Today the James River is tainted with pesticides, sewage and farm runoff.

BOSTON -- Stretches of the Blackstone River in central Massachusetts weave through areas of wilderness where the absence of houses and other man-made structures makes it seem like an undisturbed river far from civilization.But the serene and idyllic setting masks the pollution below the surface and lodged in the sediment along its banks.The 46-mile-long Blackstone, whose headwaters begin in Worcester, Mass., receives effluent from the city's waste-water treatment plants. Oil from cars and other sources of urban runoff seep into the water.

A Charles County creek regarded as one of the Chesapeake Bay's best remaining fish spawning areas has been ranked among the nation's most endangered rivers because of plans for a highway and development across the creek's watershed. Mattawoman Creek, a mostly forested Potomac River tributary that also harbors rare plants, abundant waterfowl and bald eagles, made the list published Tuesday by the environmental group American Rivers. "The river's really at a turning point," said Katherine Baer, a top official with the group, which annually puts out a list of the 10 most endangered waterways.

The national conservation group American Rivers has named Maryland's Pocomoke River the third most-endangered river in the United States for 1998, noting the river's outbreaks of Pfiesteria and blaming its problems on an overload of nutrients from poultry wastes.It was the first time in at least 10 years that an Eastern Shore river was named to the Washington-based environmental group's annual list of endangered rivers. The Potomac River, which has been included several times, was ranked No. 12 this year.

BOSTON -- Stretches of the Blackstone River in central Massachusetts weave through areas of wilderness where the absence of houses and other man-made structures makes it seem like an undisturbed river far from civilization.But the serene and idyllic setting masks the pollution below the surface and lodged in the sediment along its banks.The 46-mile-long Blackstone, whose headwaters begin in Worcester, Mass., receives effluent from the city's waste-water treatment plants. Oil from cars and other sources of urban runoff seep into the water.