Protecting Rivers & Your Clean Water
April Showers Bring May...
Fay Augustyn, Conservation Associate
May 10, 2013 | Climate Change, Floods & Floodplains, Water Supply
Who doesn’t remember the little saying from our childhood, “April showers bring May flowers?” I sure do, but I’m not so sure that the next generation will. My spring memories are full of raincoats and galoshes followed by walking barefoot through flowerbeds full of blooming peonies, irises and roses. This spring however, had a less traditional weather path, with April and May chalk full of blizzards, floods, wildfires, and drought.
Read more »New WRDA, Same Old Congress
Eileen Fretz, Flood Policy Director
May 8, 2013 | Floods & Floodplains
This week, the Senate is debating a bill called the Water Resources Development Act (WRDA), S 601, that will tell the Army Corps of Engineers what water infrastructure to build on our nation’s rivers and coasts. WRDA is usually a long list of flood control, navigation, water supply, ecosystem restoration projects that Congress wants built, but, the earmark ban means Members have had to find more creative ways to bring home the bacon.
Read more »Cities and States Are Staying Afloat by Preparing for Rising Seas
Fay Augustyn, Conservation Associate
May 2, 2013 | Climate Change, Floods & Floodplains
After what seems like a never-ending winter, there are many things that I’m looking forward to about the approach of summer: sunshine, warm weather, outdoor patio dining, and beach vacations. But for the millions of people who live along the Gulf and Atlantic coasts, summer also marks the beginning of hurricane season. Last year, Superstorm Sandy slammed into the northeastern seaboard, destroying lives, homes, and businesses and in the process racking up $50 billion in damage.
Read more »Maintain Protections for the Merced River
Jessie Thomas-Blate, Coordinator, Most Endangered Rivers
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
Jessie Thomas-Blate, Coordinator, Most Endangered Rivers
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.
Read more »Don’t Bury My River
Jessie Thomas-Blate, Coordinator, Most Endangered Rivers
April 26, 2013 | Most Endangered Rivers, Floods & Floodplains
My wife and I started visiting the Lazy River Acres area in Knox County, Nebraska in 1971. We bought property adjacent to the Missouri River and built a house in 1977. Since that time, our family has enjoyed the quiet company of the Niobrara and Missouri Rivers.
Read more »As Flooding Risks Rise, Communities Can Take Steps to Prepare
Fay Augustyn, Conservation Associate
April 24, 2013 | Floods & Floodplains, Climate Change
Across much of the Midwest, rising waters and flash flooding are threatening public safety, homes and businesses, farmland, and commerce and transportation. Torrential rains late last week sent many rivers over the tops of their banks in Michigan, Wisconsin, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, and Missouri. In Illinois alone, 44 counties have been declared state disaster areas. As towns begin to clean up the debris and damage, the threat of more rain could pose additional flooding risks and as floodwaters make their way downstream, other communities could be in jeopardy.
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