Bringing Rivers Back to Life

A healthy river can increase property values, boost recreational opportunities, attract tourists, reduce water pollution, and protect people and property from flooding. But dams, levees and other man-made structures disrupt the natural functions of rivers, leaving many of them lifeless or cut off from their communities. To ensure safer and healthier communities, American Rivers is championing sustainable approaches to river management that restore natural river functions, floodplains and wetlands. By providing communities with technical and financial assistance and advocating for federal policy changes, we help turn rivers from afterthoughts to community assets.

Stream Barrier Removal

American Rivers works with communities that are grappling with decisions about stream barriers and their impact to public safety, the local economy and the environment. Our work largely focuses on the removal of obsolete dams and the replacement of culverts. Through establishing diverse and locally-based partnerships we successfully demonstrate the ecological, social and economic benefits of restoring rivers through the removal of stream barriers. We also enable communities to share their success stories with others, to show how quickly a river can heal and how local businesses and property owners, as well as fish and wildlife, thrive when rivers are restored.

Our team provides a diversity of river restoration expertise. From law and policy to Geomorphology and engineering, we are well-equipped to provide sound, practical advice to communities nationwide. We also provide financial assistance through two grant programs for community-based river restoration; one is nation-wide and another is specific to Pennsylvania. Our staff is currently available to assist river restoration efforts in the Northeast, Mid-Atlantic, Pacific Northwest and California.

From on-the-ground restoration to state and federal policy, American Rivers works to improve the regulatory, financial, and political climate for restoring our nation’s rivers. We lead or participate in numerous policy initiatives to increase river restoration, pursue new river restoration funding opportunities, and play key roles in public-private task forces that are working to increase river restoration.