Snake, Missouri rivers most endangered                       4/22/00
By Libby Quaid
Associated Press

WASHINGTON — Freshwater species in North America's rivers are disappearing as swiftly as those in tropical rainforests because of decades of dam building, digging of navigation channels and construction of floodwalls and levees, the environmental group American Rivers said.
   The group planned today to name a dozen rivers as the nation's most endangered. Last month, American Rivers announced its No.1 most endangered, the Snake River in Washington state.
   The Missouri River is second on the list, which will be released today during a series of news conferences across the nation.
   Dams have an impact on four of the top five rivers on this year's list. The Snake's designation was based on four dams built in the 1970s that have brought salmon runs to the brink of extinction.
   The plight of three species along the Missouri prompted American Rivers and another group, Environmental Defense, to announce plans last month to sue the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers over dam operations and channelization.
   The species are two endangered shorebirds, the least tern and piping plover, and the pallid sturgeon, an ancient shark-shaped fish with an armor-like shell.
   "America's native fish are homeless in most parts of the country," said Rebecca Wodder, American Rivers' president.
   "We have straightened the curves, blocked the flows and hardened the banks of thousands of miles of waterways, wiping out habitat and making it difficult for our nation's rivers to support native fish and wildlife," she added.
   The other dam-threatened rivers, the group said, were the Ventura River in California and Ti-State River Basins of Alabama, Florida and Georgia. Maine's Presumpscot River also shows up on the list.
   David Tuft, spokesman for the National Hydropower Association in Washington, D.C., faulted American Rivers for oversimplifying the issue "This is a complicated, difficut problem that's facing the region," he said.
   Along the Missouri, the corps in recent weeks delayed implementation of its new river management plan, citing concerns about the same endangered species.
   The plan for controlling the flow of the 2,500-mile waterway was to have taken effect this month, but the corps announced Thursday it has been postponed until the fall.
   Paul Johnston, a corps spokesman in Omaha, Neb., said recently the agency will consult with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service on restoring endangered species.
   The Fish and Wildlife Service has expressed concern that the Missouri River management proposal would threaten those species.
   The Fish and Wildlife Service said the key problem has been the corps' leveling of flows, eliminating high water during the spring and supplementing naturally reduced flows each summer.
 

List of threatened rivers
The top 10 list of endangered rivers, as compiled by American Rivers, a conservation group:

1. Snake River in Washington state. Dams threaten salmon.

2. Missouri River in Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota, Nebraska, Iowa, Kansas and Missouri. Dams and channels hurt river.

3. Ventura River in California. Dams hurt river.

4. Copper River in Alaska. Proposed logging road threatens salmon runs, birds, grizzly bears and other wildlife.

5. Alabama, Coosa and Tallapoosa rivers in Georgia and Alabama. Dams and Atianta sprawl threatens water supply and quality.

6. Coal River in West Virginia. Coal mining threatens waterway.

7. Rio Grande in Colorado, New Mexico, Texas and Chihuahua and Coahuila, Mexico. Water diversion and over-consumption, flood control projects, land development and pollution threaten the endangered silvery minnow.

8. Mississippi and White Rivers in Minnesota, Wisconsin, Illinois, Missouri, Kentucky, Tennessee, Arkansas, Mississippi and Louisiana. Flood control and navigation has eliminated habitat for fish, birds and mussels.

9. North Fork Feather River in California. Hydropower dams harm fish, wildlife and recreation.

10. Clear Creek in Texas. Flood control proposal would destroy Houston bayou.

11. Green River in Colorado and Utah. Dams threaten fish.

12. Presumpscot River in Maine. Dams threaten fish.

13. Clark Fork in Montana. Proposed mine threatens fish and wildlife.