RIVERS IN
JEOPARDY
It sounds like an honor, but it’s not.
This year, the West contains four of the nation’s 10 most
endangered rivers, chosen annually by American Rivers, a river
conservation group. Because of a proposed gold mine near
Yellowstone Park in Montana, the group voted the Clarks Fork of the
Yellowstone River the most imperiled; second place went to a river
plagued by raw sewage, industrial chemicals and poor urban
planning, more often thought of as a movie set for car chases – the
Los Angeles River. The Northwest’s Columbia and Snake River systems
shared third place because of a massive series of dams that
continue to hammer salmon runs. Rebecca Wodder, president of
American Rivers, says that the recent federal plan to restore
salmon still relies on barging fish around dams, rather than more
expensive dam drawdowns which would help flush young salmon out to
sea. And fourth is the still free-flowing Animas River, which the
Bureau of Reclamation plans to dam near Durango, Colo., under the
Animas-La Plata water project. Says American Rivers staffer Pamela
Hyde, “The dam is an uneconomical and unfeasible project, and we
need people to tell our government that we don’t want our money
wasted.” The 55-page North America’s Most Endangered and Threatened
Rivers of 1995 is available for $10 through American Rivers, 801
Pennsylvania Ave, S.E., Suite 400, Washington, D.C. 20003,
(202/547-6900).
This article appeared in the print edition of the magazine with the headline Rivers in jeopardy.
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