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
Cleanup the Coal Ash!
April 24, 2013 | Most Endangered Rivers, Water Pollution
Thirteen years ago, when my husband and I built our house on Mountain Island Lake, I thought the smokestacks of Duke Energy’s Riverbend Steam Station were nothing more than an eyesore. Over these past 13 years, a lot has changed. I’ve given birth to two children, watched my mother battle cancer, and then battled it myself. Spurred by those life-changing events, I’ve become more educated and aware about what is going on around me. I now know that Riverbend doesn’t just mar my lake view. It jeopardizes our entire community.
Read more »Sulfuric Acid Can Really Ruin a Vacation
April 24, 2013 | Most Endangered Rivers, Water Pollution
Many of us fondly remember the children’s book Paddle to the Sea, in which a native boy carves a toy model of an Indian in a canoe and sets it free to travel from Lake Nipigon through Lake Superior to the St. Lawrence Seaway. I was captivated by the adventures along the way – wild animals, sawmills, ship’s locks, forest fires, shipwrecks – but the story was also my introduction to the concept of watersheds.
Read more »Response to Duke Energy’s Statement on the Catawba River Coal Ash Ponds
April 24, 2013 | Most Endangered Rivers, Water Pollution
It is our understanding that Duke Energy issued a preemptive statement on April 16, 2013 in anticipation of American Rivers’ designation of the Catawba River as one of America’s Most Endangered Rivers®. Rick Gaskins, Executive Director and Catawba Riverkeeper, provides a section-by-section response to Duke’s statement below in italics.
Read more »Don’t Suck the Plover Dry
April 23, 2013 | Most Endangered Rivers, Water Supply
Today, the stories of the Little Plover are about a “river in peril” plagued with dry-ups and the dying of its native brook trout. The river's very existence is threatened by uncontrolled, excessive pumping of groundwater. The groundwater that gives this river life also ensures the survival of other threatened Wisconsin lakes and rivers.
Read more »The Story of the San Saba River
April 23, 2013 | Most Endangered Rivers, Water Supply
The San Saba River rises in the rocky, semi-arid hills and mesas of western Texas and flows easterly toward the Highland Lakes above Austin. It also packs far more adventurous history than most rivers.
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