Jessie Thomas-Blate
Coordinator, Most Endangered Rivers
Department: Conservation
Area of Focus: Jessie works with our staff and partners to develop our Most Endangered Rivers Program and annual report.
Background: Jessie joined American Rivers in 2010. Prior to that she worked for the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission as their Habitat Coordinator. There she played a fundamental role in the establishment of the Atlantic Coastal Fish Habitat Partnership. Jessie also did an internship at the Natural Resources Defense Council where she focused on the reauthorization of the Endangered Species Act.
Education: B.S. in Biology from Mary Washington College, and M.S. in Natural Resources from Delaware State University
Favorite River: Rappahannock River
Blog Posts By This Author
A Miner’s Take on Mining the Boundary Waters
May 8, 2013 | Most Endangered Rivers, Water Pollution
My wife, Pat, and I stopped by the South Kawishiwi River last week. The river current is starting to take out the ice in the narrows, and in a few days we'll have a canoe in the water again.
We see evidence of exploratory drilling for copper-nickel mines, but spring load limits are on some of the roads so we won't see the big rigs moving for a few days. So far, the drilling has confirmed that the Duluth Complex is a low grade ore body in a high grade environment— Superior National Forest.
Protecting Special Places is Important for Local Businesses
May 1, 2013 | Most Endangered Rivers, Water Pollution
The resort lies across the river from the Twin Metals sulfide metal mining exploration area, which caused the Boundary Waters to be declared one of America’s Most Endangered Rivers® of 2013. Visitors do not come here to listen to the drone of drills and heavy equipment going on across the lake in an area considered “ground zero” for sulfide mining exploration.
Read more »How Much Does Central Wisconsin Suck?
April 30, 2013 | Most Endangered Rivers, Water Supply
Plover is a quiet, beautiful town of about 12,000 people that was a great place to grow up as a kid. I remember swimming, canoeing, and exploring the wildlife of the Little Plover River during the endless days of summer vacations. In the 1980's, when I was 12 years old, everything seemed perfect. The A-Team was on television, the movie Top Gun had just been released, and I got to roast marshmallows down by the river on the weekends, listening to the frogs “ribbit” in the dark as my sister and I made s’mores.
Read more »Maintain Protections for the Merced River
April 29, 2013 | Floods & Floodplains, Most Endangered Rivers, Wild and Scenic Rivers
Highlighting this remarkable network as the most iconic river of the Golden State, the Merced tumbles out of Yosemite Valley and into the Sierra foothills— its protection the result of a popular groundswell and decisive congressional agreements in both 1987 and 1992.
Escaping the rancor that typifies political debates today, this system of protected waterways has never faced a serious effort to undermine its meaning or effectiveness. Until now.
Read more »Don’t Damage the Wild and Scenic Merced River
April 29, 2013 | Most Endangered Rivers, Floods & Floodplains, Wild and Scenic Rivers
Based on our 40 years of experience fishing and paddling the Merced River, we fully agree with American Rivers on including the Merced River as one of America’s Most Endangered Rivers® of 2013. The Merced Irrigation District’s (MID) proposal would raise the storage reservoir (in the wettest years) by 10 feet, and flood part of the Merced that is protected by the Wild and Scenic Rivers Act.
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