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These are the White Bluffs on the Columbia River, near Richland, Wash., on the Hanford Reach, the last free-flowing stretch of the Columbia. Environmentalists are opposed to development of the land above the bluffs, fearing irrigation water would undermine the bluffs.AP Photo/Louie Balukoff

Group releases endangered rivers list

Web posted April 7, 1998

 Endangered rivers

WASHINGTON -- From hydroelectric dams in the Pacific Northwest to chicken farms near the Potomac River, a conservation group Monday cited a growing list of threats to some of the nation's most famous waterways.

American Rivers picked the last undisturbed stretch of the Columbia River in Washington state to head its 13th annual list of the 20 most endangered rivers in the nation.

``We continue to abuse our rivers -- by damming, draining, straightening and polluting them -- all the while weakening their ability to sustain fish and wildlife,'' said Rebecca Wodder, president of the group based in Washington, D.C.

The Columbia's 51-mile Hanford Reach, one of the longest undisturbed U.S. river stretches, continues to produce the region's strongest chinook salmon runs while fish populations crash in other dammed stretches of the Snake and Columbia river system.

Sen. Patty Murray and Rep. Norm Dicks, both Washington Democrats, have introduced legislation to designate the Hanford Reach a National Wild and Scenic River to protect it against farming and potential development. American Rivers advocates creation of a 90,000-acre refuge.

``This spectacular stretch of the river is the crown jewel of the Columbia River,'' said Lorraine Bodi, co-director of American Rivers' Northwest office in Seattle.

Sen. Slade Gorton, R-Wash., who opposes federal designation of the river, said the reach faces no immediate threat. He advocates local control of the river and said the group's list was based on politics.

``To say that this pristine stretch of the Columbia River is `endangered' shows that the American Rivers group is clearly not interested in preservation but rather they are trying to advance their own political agenda,'' Gorton said Monday.

Others on the list of rivers that the group says are endangered by pollution, commercial development and other threats include the Missouri, the Chattahoochee River in the Southeast, the Potomac and Pocomoke rivers in Maryland, Passaic River in New Jersey, Blackfoot River in Montana, Kern River in California, Apple River in Wisconsin and Pinto Creek in Arizona.

Animal manure and other farm runoff pose threats to the Pocomoke, Chattahoochee, Apple, Potomac and Kansas rivers, among others, the group said. Almost half a million animal factory farms are producing 130 times the waste of the human population.

``Factory hog and chicken farms are a growing national blight on our nation's rivers,'' Wodder said. ``Waste from one of these factory operations is equal to that of a medium-sized city -- a city with no sewage-treatment plant.''

Endangered rivers

The conservation group American Rivers released its annual list of the 20 most endangered rivers in North America. Here is the list of rivers, the states and other localities in which they are found and the threats they face:

1. Hanford Reach of the Columbia River in Washington; agricultural development, nuclear waste contamination.

2. Missouri River in Montana, North Dakota, Nebraska, Iowa, Kansas and Missouri; dams, channelization.

3. Pocomoke River in Maryland; factory poultry farms.

4. Kern River in California; small hydropower dams.

5. Blackfoot River in Montana; gold mine.

6. Colorado River Delta in Baja California, Mexico; overuse of water.

7. Chattahoochee River in Georgia, Alabama and Florida; development, polluted runoff, sewage overflows.

8. Lower Snake River in Washington; dams.

9. Apple River in Wisconsin and Illinois; factory hog farms.

10. Pinto Creek in Arizona; copper mine.

11. Wolf River in Wisconsin; zinc, copper sulfide mine.

12. Potomac River in West Virginia, Virginia, Maryland, District of Columbia and Pennsylvania; factory poultry farms and cattle feedlots, development

13. Rogue-Illinois river system (including Elk Creek and Rough & Ready Creek) in Oregon; dams, nickel laterite mine.

14. Taku River in Alaska and British Columbia; copper, gold mine.

15. Crooked Creek in Arkansas; in-stream gravel mining.

16. Passaic River in New Jersey; contaminated sediments.

17. Mattaponi River in Virginia; dam and reservoir.

18. Walla Walla River in Oregon and Washington; agricultural pollution, low flows, channelization.

19. Uinta River in Utah; dam.

20. Kansas River in Kansas; agricultural and municipal pollution.