I would encourage everyone to have a river they consider their own. We all need a river that we connect to, dream of and spend time on. The National Wildlife Federation (NWF) and their work to protect wildlife, waterways, and wetlands puts them front and center in regional efforts across the Gulf to protect and conserve rivers. Rivers are essential to the culture, traditions, and history of the Gulf Coast.

If I were to choose my river, the river of my life, it would have to be Florida’s Withlacoochee River, and the journey it takes from the Green Swamp to the Gulf.

I spent my childhood on and near it, and returned to live near it for the last 20 years. My family and I have paddled it, fished it, swam in it, camped along it and hiked alongside it. Its dark, tannic-stained waters call me home whenever I can join them.

In my 20s and 30s, I had a brief dalliance with the Hillsborough River, another magnificent Florida river. Both the Hillsborough and the Withlacoochee are born in Florida’s liquid heart, the Green Swamp. The Green Swamp covers more than 500,000 acres and gathers regional rainfall to create several of Florida’s most magnificent rivers.

Rain falls in the Green Swamp, water gathers in small streams, and two rivers are born from the same birthplace. One flows north, over 150 miles, seeking the Gulf. The other flows south for roughly 60 miles, seeking Tampa Bay. Both hold the secrets and magic of wild Florida.

I fell in love with my wife, Becky, on the Hillsborough River. We took a late-night paddle in the Narrows, just upstream of Lettuce Lake and as a cacophony of frogs and gators called around us, I realized that when you meet someone who will paddle into the darkened night with you, you hold on tightly to them. Almost 30 years later, we are still together.

If all of us had a river we called our own, perhaps we could reverse decades of questionable environmental policy that guides how we manage rivers in Florida. Perhaps we could treasure rivers for the true, transcendent, invaluable natural resources they are.

I do sympathize with those who manage rivers in Florida. It is a hard job. I often ponder if a simple change in paradigms might make their work easier.

Water management districts manage rivers in Florida with a concept called “minimum flows and levels.” This means that requests made with a permit can lead to increasing water withdrawals from rivers until significant harm occurs to those waterways—or other natural systems of the area.But a true lover of those rivers, someone with a sense of connection to them, might argue we need to rethink this and seek maximum flows and levels. How can we manage withdrawals and water levels to ensure that maximum ecological function and robust long-term health is the goal for our sacred rivers? Water for rivers first, water for withdrawal applicants second.

This weekend, my family and I are camping along the Suwannee River. The Suwannee is one of the longest flowing rivers in Florida, and one of the last truly great free-flowing rivers left in the Gulf South. Gulf Sturgeon travel this river. It connects the Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge in southeastern Georgia, 246 miles to the Gulf just north of Cedar Key. This is a true river of great value to the people and wildlife who depend on it.

Spend some time to ponder which river truly speaks to your soul. Which river flows through you and leads you to a deeper connection to all things wild along the Gulf? When you find that river, explore it and conserve it. Support NWF’s efforts to conserve rivers and wildlife across the Gulf. Fight for them. You will never regret it.

An edited and abridged version of this blog post appeared in Florida Atlantic University’s “The Invading Sea” Journal. Joe Murphy is a lifelong and native Floridian from Florida’s Nature Coast along the Gulf, and a former Wildlife Policy Specialist for NWF’s Gulf Program. Joe contributes these blog posts to NWF as an alumnus and supporter. You can follow Joe on Instagram @naturecoastjoe.

La deteriorada infraestructura del oleoducto de 71 años representa un riesgo para la cuenca del Bad River que podría enfrentar un derrame. Esta es una permanente amenaza para el agua potable de la que dependen 40 millones de personas en la región, incluyendo a los miembros de la tribu nativa americana Bad River Band del lago Superior Chippewa en Wisconsin y de la comunidad indígena Bay Mills en Michigan, cuyas tierras fueron invadidas por la petrolera violando sus derechos y soberanía.

En respuesta a la demanda interpuesta por la tribu Bad River Band en 2019, Enbridge, propuso construir un desvió del oleoducto de 66 kilómetros, alrededor de la reserva de la tribu nativa americana, en la región de los condados de Ashland y Iron. Miembros de la tribu nativa americana Bad River Band, junto con ambientalistas y más 150,000 ciudadanos, piden desmantelar por completo el oleoducto debido a los riesgos que este proyecto representa para el agua fresca, las tierras nativas americanas y los ecosistemas locales.

Si el proyecto se lleva a cabo, la construcción de un desvío del oleoducto impactará a cientos de arroyos debido a la excavación de zanjas, perforaciones y rellenos. Esto incluye a los pantanos Kakagon-Bad River, un complejo de humedales único que alberga el lecho natural de arroz silvestre más grande de la cuenca de los Grandes Lagos. Los miembros de Bad River Band han cosechado arroz silvestre durante siglos aquí. Estos humedales son el hábitat de aves migratorias y otras especies y, además, han sido reconocidos y designados como sitios Ramsar en virtud de la Convención de Ramsar, un acuerdo internacional que proporciona un marco para la conservación de los humedales.    

A pesar del amplio rechazo al proyecto propuesto por Enbridge, el Departamento de Recursos Naturales de Wisconsin aprobó un permiso para el desvió de la Línea 5. Esta decisión es un peligroso retroceso para el futuro de la economía de energía limpia y la seguridad de la vida silvestre y plantea serias preocupaciones para la integridad ecológica y cultural de la región.

El riesgo de una catástrofe ambiental aumenta cada día mientras este oleoducto sigue operativo. Un derrame tendría consecuencias irreversibles para la cuenca del río Bad River, la vida silvestre, las tribus nativas americanas y todas las comunidades que dependen del agua limpia de los Grandes Lagos. 

Aquí hay más información sobre la Línea 5 en español. Mira el documental Bad River de Mary Mazzio.

Lee este blog en inglés.

The Bad River basin is at risk of an oil spill due to this 71-year-old pipeline’s deteriorating infrastructure, creating an ongoing threat to the drinking water on which 40 million people in the region depend. The pipeline invades the lands of the Bad River Band of Lake Superior Chippewa tribe in Wisconsin and the Bay Mills Indian community in Michigan, and violates their rights and sovereignty.

Proposed Diversion

In response to a lawsuit filed in 2019 by the Bad River Band tribe, Enbridge proposed building a 41-mile diversion of the pipeline around the tribe’s reservation in Ashland and Iron counties. Members of the Bad River Band tribe, along with environmental advocates and more than 150,000 citizens, have called for the entire pipeline to be dismantled, citing the risk this project poses to freshwater sources, Native American tribal lands, and local ecosystems.

The construction of a pipeline diversion will impact hundreds of streams due to trenching, drilling, and filling if the project is carried out. This includes the Kakagon-Bad River sloughs, a unique wetland complex that supports the largest natural wild rice bed in the Great Lakes basin. Members of the Bad River Band have harvested wild rice for centuries here. These internationally-recognized wetlands are the habitat for migratory birds and other species and have been designated as Ramsar sites under the Ramsar Convention—an intergovernmental convention on wetlands that provides a framework for wetland conservation.

Despite widespread rejection of Enbridge’s proposed project, the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources approved the permit for the Line 5 diversion. This decision marks a dangerous step backward for the advancement of clean energy and wildlife conservation and raises serious concerns for the  health of the communities and ecosystems in this region.

With each passing day that this pipeline is operating, the risk of an environmental catastrophe increases. A spill would have irreversible consequences for the Bad River basin, wildlife, Native American tribes, and all communities that depend on clean water from the Great Lakes. 

• Watch Mary Mazzio’s documentary on the Bad River.

To read this blog in Spanish, click here.

Three centuries ago, many wet meadows of western Montana would erupt into a blanket of blue and violet blooms each spring. This showy display was the flower of common, or blue, camas, which was and remains a culturally and nutritionally important plant to Indigenous peoples across the western United States. Camas is also valuable to many wildlife species.

To make them edible, Indigenous peoples cooked the camas plant’s bulbs in pits for days at a time. Bulbs were eaten in soups, or dried and ground to create a sweetener or flour to make bread-like foods. Camas was sustained and enhanced through the use of ceremony, fire, weeding out of undesirable species, and seasonal harvesting.

Elk, deer, and moose graze on the camas leaves each spring, and burrowing animals feast on the bulbs. Pollinating insects and camas plants share a mutually beneficial relationship, as the plant relies on insects for pollination, and insects rely on the plant’s nectar and pollen. 

Preferring a moist environment in early spring, common camas thrives in wet meadows and prairies, floodplains, moist hillsides, and streamside areas. If there is ample moisture come springtime, camas will reliably push out its bluish-violet flowers. But, without these conditions, the camas bulbs remain dormant underground, patiently waiting for the right moment to send forth their beautiful blooms.

Despite its name, common camas is no longer as prevalent in the Northern Rockies.

Part of the reason camas is harder to find is because of the way Montana’s riverscapes and prairies have changed. Over the years, agriculture, road networks, and land development have drained and otherwise altered wet meadows, taking away vital camas habitat.

Fortunately, partners are working together to restore riverscapes and wet meadows in Montana. In 2015, The Nature Conservancy (TNC) acquired over 117,000 acres in southwestern Montana’s Gold Creek watershed, and soon began working on meadow restoration in partnership with the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes (CSKT). TNC and CSKT are working on a years-long effort towards enhancing native grassland communities, as well as restoring camas to meadows.

 “The many meadows in the Gold Creek and nearby watersheds are prime places for blue camas and native grassland restoration,” said Steven Kloetzel, Western Montana Land Steward for TNC, “Historically, the nearby and now-developed Potomac Valley was called ‘Camas Prairie’ and was one of the principal camas gathering places in western Montana for many Tribes. Restoring meadows where we can will enhance traditional Tribal cultural uses and treaty rights, as well as natural habitats for many species.”

This restoration work didn’t happen overnight; for about five years, TNC, in partnership with CSKT, has been completing projects like weed spraying, planting camas and seeding native grasses, removing encroaching conifer species, and stopping vehicle access into meadows to encourage native vegetation growth. After seeing the progress TNC made, in 2021, the Bureau of Land Management contacted TNC, the National Wildlife Federation, and other partners, to work towards stream restoration in tandem with plant restoration efforts in the Gold Creek Watershed.

“Gold Creek’s history–both old and new–has left it in the perfect position for us to do restoration at this scale. From historic land use, a century of aggressive corporate logging, and the Bureau of Land Management recent acquisition of part of the watershed, this area is well primed for investment. Gold Creek has Canada lynx, wolverine, grizzly bears, westslope cutthroat trout, and bull trout, which all rely on this place and the water it provides,” Shelby Weigand, riparian connectivity manager for the National Wildlife Federation said, “People want to do restoration in this area.”

The restoration projects support camas habitat and provide other benefits by reconnecting streams with their floodplains, which slows and spreads out water allowing it to maintain wet habitat and support stream flows later in the season. Healthy riverscapes often have multiple flowing channels and riparian wetlands. Much of the time, beaver dams play a role in storing water in the floodplain and in shallow aquifers. Stream restoration projects also improve the quality of habitat for willows and aspen, native trout, and other wildlife. 

Claire Romanko, a restoration specialist for the BLM’s Missoula Field Office, remembers when she first visited the Gold Creek watershed in 2021. “I walked through the woods from the road, started walking across the meadow, and tripped over the creek because it was completely covered in non-native grasses,” Romanko said. The stream had become so channelized and diminished; it was hardly detectable.

Read part two and three of this series.

Rose Vejvoda (She/her/hers) is a graduate student at Northern Arizona University, where she is a candidate for a Professional Master of Science in Climate Science and Solutions, and a graduate certificate in Greenhouse Gas Accounting. Rose received her undergraduate degree from Montana State University where she studied English Writing, and Sustainability Studies. She has a passion for using effective storytelling to build relationships, uplift local communities, and help people feel connected to the natural world. Rose wrote this story while she was a Freshwater Ecosystems Intern at Natural Resources Defense Council.

In a story that echoes the decline of other legendary western salmon fisheries over the last century, every species of migrating fish in the river immediately began to plummet toward extinction. Dramatic and rapid decreases in salmon not only devastated the overall health of the watershed but the longstanding traditions of Native American tribes in the area as well.

The Lower Elwha Klallam Tribe, the largest on the Olympic Peninsula, has relied on this river for tens of thousands of years as a source of nutrition, livelihood, and trade. Even more important: Salmon form the foundation of many of their cultural beliefs. The “Elwha people,” as the Tribe is known, never approved of the construction of the dams and have been leading the effort to remove them and restore this watershed for ages.

In 2014, everything changed when growing pressure led to the removal of two dams. 

Freed from the constraints of two giant cement walls, the Elwha River and its migrating fish have run free in its entirety, flowing 45 miles from its source high in the Olympic Mountains all the way to the Pacific Ocean.

Ten years after I first learned of this river, I finally had the opportunity to take a walk along three miles of its recently-restored banks to the Glines Canyon Overlook. It used to be accessible by car, providing National Park visitors an awe-inspiring glimpse of humanity’s ability to control mighty rivers behind massive dam walls. Now, visitors overlook the remains of Glines Canyon Dam, surrounded by educational signs about the significance of its removal — a signal of how our societal relationship with rivers is changing.

These dams stood for a century, but by removing them, the region collectively decided to write a new story for their river. Instead of accepting the tremendous loss of a healthy ecosystem and the benefits it provides, the community chose to rewrite the story of the river and to invest in resilience. Not only did salmon and steelhead quickly rebound from perilous lows, but the entire web of life surrounding the river also rebounded. America’s only aquatic songbird, the American dipper, has returned to the area in record numbers. A rush of new sediment expanded estuary habitat along the coast: Shorebirds, crabs, clams, oysters, and insects are thriving. In the floodplain, alder, cottonwood, maple, and willows have moved back, taking advantage of the rich, restored riverside habitat.

Standing at the overlook for the world’s largest river restoration project to date, I was surprised to see huge sections of the dam still standing, shocked by its sheer immensity. While I could toss a ball across the narrow canyon, looking down at where the dam wall used to be made my stomach curl — a whopping 210 feet to the rapids that had reemerged below. Yet, I can’t help but be inspired by the people who dedicated their lives to restoring this river – never once doubting that it could be healed.

As a Southwesterner with a parched heart, I know the vital importance of healthy rivers and the lush life they support. I know that the Elwha’s story of restoration and resilience doesn’t have to be unique — we can use it as a road map to protect other rivers teetering on the brink.

Much like the Elwha, we need to examine the story of the lower Snake River and act quickly. Fifty years ago, the U.S. government built four dams along the lower Snake River in eastern Washington to connect the small town of Lewiston, Idaho to the Pacific Ocean via barge. Similar to the Elwha, salmon and steelhead returns immediately began to plummet toward extinction and in 1993, thirteen different runs were listed as endangered.

Just like the Elwha, regional tribes have been fighting to free the lower Snake River and hold the government accountable for their promise of providing abundant harvestable salmon runs for decades. Conservation organizations and the fishing community have also been vocal advocates for restoring a free-flowing Snake. Unfortunately, just as concerns about water quality and flood control drove opposition to restore the Elwha, concerns about energy production, transportation, and impacts to farmers have introduced formidable barriers to restoring the lower Snake River. 

The Elwha illuminates that these challenges can be overcome, that we can shift the story. The future can be prosperous for both people and wildlife if we act intentionally and with urgency. Just as tribes, community members, municipalities, and agencies came together to find innovative solutions to address the varied and valid concerns about removing the Elwha dams, we can find comprehensive solutions on the lower Snake. We can develop innovative energy systems using wind and solar, systems that will provide more energy than the lower Snake River dams generate. We can invest in rail and road improvements to allow farmers to access markets without using barges. We can negotiate ways to ensure that river users are not impacted by dam removal. It is all possible if we work together.

Unlikely partners continue to express interest in finding a common ground solution, but only Congress will be able to determine the fate of lower Snake River salmon. In 1992, Congress signed “The Elwha River Ecosystem and Fisheries Restoration Act,” giving the Department of Interior green light to restore the Elwha River and its native anadromous fisheries. We need our regional congressional delegates to pave the way for similar legislation — authorizing a comprehensive package of projects that restores a lower Snake River that works for fish, farmers, and fishing communities.

The time has come to write a new story for the lower Snake River. Instead of a story of loss, we can write a story of community collaboration for restoration and recovery. We can write stories of resilience for our rivers: resilient fish, watersheds, and communities. We can write a story about how we found solutions to hard problems and saved ourselves along the way.

The Elwha provides the roadmap — let’s put it to work and let it guide us.

Restoring the lower Snake River is important for wild salmon’s survival. Act now to save our wild salmon. Take Action!

Betsy Emery is the Advocacy and Campaign Manager at National Wildlife Federation’s Oregon affiliate: Association of Northwest Steelheaders

Double trouble has salmon in hot water

Salmon are already struggling with the negative impacts of the lower Snake River dams. However, it’s not just the powerhouse interaction and turbines that threaten their passage. The large slack water pools of slow-moving water stall the salmon’s outgoing migration toward the ocean. What should be a four-day journey can now take Snake River salmon more than 40 days, as the fish try to find a current to take them downstream.

Spawning upstream, salmon run into double trouble: barriers and warming waters. The longer passage is compounded by warming waters, so warm they become fatal, significantly reducing salmon survival. This became abundantly clear in summer 2015 when 96% of endangered adult Snake River sockeye salmon died during their long upriver migration through the lower Columbia and Snake Rivers. These fish cannot survive the combined effects of barriers, hot air, and warm water, low flows, and the additional heating caused by mainstem dams and associated reservoirs.

Climate change is exacerbating existing elevated temperature problems, and the severe problems faced in 2015 will increase in frequency. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) scientists have determined that Snake River sockeye are extremely vulnerable to climate change, due in part to their 900-mile long migration through exceptionally warm reaches of the Snake River. Other salmon species are also suffering. This problem, first recognized in the 1990s, still remains largely unmitigated and will get worse as the climate continues to warm.

It’s time for a collaborative course of action

The science is indisputable: With limited resources in the existing hydro-system to cool the river, the restoration of the lower Snake River is the only action available that can substantially cool mainstem water temperatures long-term. However, all available information to date about the court-ordered National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) review now being conducted indicates that federal agencies will not propose a plan to adequately address this critical issue. Minor tweaks are not an option, as suggested last spring in the wholly inadequate dam management options in the Columbia River System Operations Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS).

Northwest residents and business owners want to chart a new course for Lower Snake River dams to save endangered salmon. So do our regional governors. Gov. Jay Inslee noted the DEIS plan falls short of Washington’s expectations to restore salmon and calls for an “active, collaborative, and visionary regional conversation.” Oregon Gov. Kate Brown stated the proposed plan “will not meet the expectations and needs of the citizens of Oregon and the region, nor provide adequate protection for salmon and steelhead …” She added: “This vision of the future can only be realized with leadership from and strong collaboration with the four states (Oregon, Washington, Montana, and Idaho).

We must restore the Snake River, combined with existing or modified cold water releases. No other action or actions can significantly lower summer water temperatures in the lower Snake and Lower Columbia Rivers long-term. The most exciting news is that scientists, Govs. Inslee and Brown, and Washington’s Department of Ecology are converging on this issue.

Tell Congress to invest in and restore the Snake River to create a healthy, intact river system that works for people, for fish, and for wildlife.

Take Action!

The whole is greater than the sum of its parts. Or, as National Wildlife Federation’s Chief Program Officer often says, “Our brand is collaboration.” Working together for greater results is a driving force in our work—and inspires an exciting new partnership with the Healthy Headwaters Alliance.

Together, we’re focused on building resilience back into forests in the American West through watershed restoration and source water protection, as well as protecting and enhancing the riparian corridors that provide “ribbons of life” in the arid West.

In the western United States, riparian areas comprise less than 1 percent of the land area, but they are among the most productive and valuable parts of the landscape—providing essential habitat for over 80 percent of wildlife species, including corridors that allow animals to move between areas necessary for their survival.

The Healthy Headwaters Alliance is a powerful network of water utility executives, public resource managers, scientists, community and water justice leaders, and conservation advocates. Building on a shared commitment to equitable, science-based actions, this visionary new partnership will foster a strategic expansion in efforts to protect water in the West for people and wildlife.

Our collaboration is gaining immediate traction with Laura Briefer, director of Salt Lake City Public Utilities, and Healthy Headwaters Alliance leadership team member.
“Working together, we can accelerate our efforts toward healthy forests, healthy water, healthy people,” Laura said. “We’ll be moving immediately toward our next phase, which will take a broader collaborative approach with the larger National Wildlife Federation network to systematically incorporate wildlife habitat integrity, public health, and water equity into the goal of healthy headwaters protection.”

Building on experience, charting a new course

What does this partnership bring to the National Wildlife Federation’s Western Water Program? An established track record and a powerful team of water leaders ready to develop and share solutions for water challenges across the region. For the last 10 years, the Healthy Headwaters Alliance has been incubated by Carpe Diem West, a nonprofit focused on water and justice.

By moving to the National Wildlife Federation, Healthy Headwaters gains the ability to scale up and expand support for innovative regional initiatives that address compelling issues affecting western forest and water health.

Urban and rural communities alike depend on water flowing from our National Forests. The work of Healthy Headwaters leaders ensures healthier and more secure water supplies. Restoration work on our national forest headwaters provides jobs and skills training in rural communities. Mitigation of catastrophic wildfires results in less smoke, debris flows, and fewer displaced residents.

Bold steps, an exciting new direction

As the Federation builds out our Western Water Program, we are also excited to announce the launch of the Healthy Headwaters-aligned Upper Rio Grande Riparian Corridors Initiative.

This new regional project will engage diverse local partners to develop an action plan and build momentum for protecting and restoring high-priority riparian systems to promote habitat connectivity and wildlife corridors.

The dynamic program design builds on our existing Connected Corridors initiative and adds new components to address the critical riparian corridors in this region using a two-prong approach. First, by identifying key strongholds and pinch points in the region’s riparian network, we will identify priorities for where conservation efforts could enhance the functionality of the network. At the same time, we’ll chart a course for targeted and strategic partnerships and actions that will address the question of how to most effectively enhance protection and restoration of that network.

With this program expansion, the National Wildlife Federation is better able to achieve a major strategic objective of Water for Wildlife—connecting public land and water management, building climate resilience; improving stream flows, enhancing ecosystem restoration, and connecting vital riparian corridors.

These initiatives will complement and bolster the Federation’s existing advocacy for beaver restoration in public lands headwaters and salmon recovery in the Columbia River Basin, and supporting Colorado River Tribes to advance their vision for the river. Thanks to the Federation’s unique structure, ranging from grassroots advocates to national policy experts, this work includes local, regional, and national initiatives.

We are also excited to welcome a new member to the team to help accomplish these ambitious goals: Alex Puglisi has begun work in June as the Federation’s Western Water Project Manager, from his Santa Fe, New Mexico base. Alex brings experience working with tribal, municipal, and state agencies focused on water and environmental restoration.

Help support our work for the West’s waters and the wildlife that depend on them.

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Researchers from the University of Wisconsin-Madison teamed up with colleagues from Kansas State University and the University of California-Davis to analyze how the federal program that requires the use of corn ethanol and other biofuels in our gasoline is impacting the environment. They came up with some groundbreaking – and concerning – results.

Ethanol Production Drives Water Use

Considering some of these findings begins to paint a picture of just how much water ethanol production has been sucking up:

• In 2012 – in the midst of a devastating drought – some ethanol refineries in arid states (Arizona, Idaho, Wyoming) were producing ethanol from corn that had required more than 2,000 gallons of irrigated water for each gallon of ethanol produced. Several others (in California, Nebraska, and Oregon) required more than 1,000 gallons of water per gallon of ethanol if made from locally irrigated corn.
• Additional cropland, incentivized by the federal ethanol mandate, used 16.7 billion gallons per year of more water (from any source) than the grasslands and natural vegetation that would have been there without the biofuel demand.
• Irrigated farmland over the Ogallala Aquifer – a critical water resource that feeds one-fifth of the agricultural production in the Great Plains – increased from 2000 to 2017, and the increase sped up following creation of the mandate in 2007.

Ethanol’s Connection to Water Scarcity

It has been more than 10 years since the Renewable Fuel Standard was created, and in that time there have been mounting reports on a variety of aspects linked to the growing demand for corn and soybeans to produce fuel, culminating in last summer’s massive report from the Environmental Protection Agency to Congress outlining the negative environmental impacts of biofuel production. The report focused on how the additional crop demand led farmers to plant a lot of new acres – primarily of corn – and how that meant less wildlife habitat and water filtration, and more application and erosion of chemical fertilizers that end up polluting our waterways.

The new research adds necessary context and depth to that body of knowledge, but they also point to a new problem: thirsty new corn acres in arid regions of the country are adding to the already highly strained water resources in many places.

Take, for instance, ethanol plants in places like Arizona and Idaho. You would not normally think of Arizona as a corn growing state. But for an ethanol production plant to be economical, it typically has to source its corn from within about a 50-mile radius. Otherwise, the cost of transporting the corn long distances outweighs the benefit of converting it to fuel and selling it.

What you get as a result is something like Pinal Energy, a small ethanol refinery just south of Phoenix. Even though it is situated right next to the Sonoran Desert National Monument, the plant is surrounded by crop fields that require lots of water to grow. In fact, an analysis by the University of Wisconsin found that the plant was surrounded by some of the most water-intensive ethanol feedstock in the country, requiring 2,667 gallons of irrigation on the surrounding corn fields to produce just one gallon of ethanol. In contrast, it typically requires between one and 2.5 gallons of water to refine a gallon of gasoline. If the irrigation rate in 2012 were constant and the plant sourced all its corn from nearby fields, this one facility would require more than 133 billion gallons of irrigation every year to meet its operating capacity of 50 million gallons of ethanol.

The U.S. Geological Survey estimates that in 2015, Maricopa County where the plant is located consumed 1.2 billion gallons of water for irrigation every single day, which would mean 438 billion gallons a year. Therefore, at 2012 irrigation rates, Pinal Energy could be sucking up one-third of all of the irrigation in the county, helping make it the largest irrigated county in the state, and one of the largest in the entire country.

Compare this to the USGS estimate that one adult typically uses 80-100 gallons of water a day. Using the high, end of that range, corn for the Pinal facility guzzles as much water as 3.6 million people! That’s about the size of the population in Oregon or Oklahoma.

Heading north, southeast Idaho is one of the most heavily irrigated regions of the country, growing an array of crops including the famous potato. The county drawing the second-largest amount of water for irrigation in the state is home to the Magic Valley plant owned by Pacific Ethanol. It ranks second in the University of Wisconsin’s irrigation intensity ranking for current plants (the No. 1 facility in Wyoming has gone out of business), requiring 2,022 gallons of irrigation on the surrounding corn fields for each gallon of ethanol they could be used to produce. At its capacity for 60 million gallons of ethanol per year, its use of 121 billion gallons of irrigation water each year account for 34 percent of that county’s irrigation consumption at 2012 rates. That’s the amount of water that every person in Idaho and neighboring Montana and Wyoming use in a year.

Facilities in California and Oregon also had very high irrigation requirements on the surrounding fields, surpassing 1,300 gallons of irrigation per gallon of ethanol. Refineries in Nebraska and Texas, while not quite the water guzzlers as their peers, do sit over the Ogallala Aquifer which is critical to America’s grain, cotton, and beef production and is being tapped at highly unsustainable rates.

Another UW analysis looking at the Ogallala Aquifer, specifically, showed that conversion of land into irrigated agriculture accelerated once the ethanol mandate spurred a jump in ethanol production. An increase in water use followed. The average amount of irrigated fields in the seven years following creation of the RFS was 9.75 percent higher than the average in the 7 years prior to the program. The year with the most irrigated land in the 7 post-RFS years saw 7.1 percent more irrigated land than the highest year pre-RFS.

Water – and Wildlife – in a Changing World

Clearly, ethanol production is not solely to blame for the West’s struggles with water availability. But, this new data paints a clear picture of how ethanol facilities can have outsized local impacts in areas that are already dealing with water scarcity, making it even harder for farmers, their communities, and the wildlife that also depend on scarce water resources to cope with shortages and adapt to the variations brought on by climate change.

As we’ve reported, our western water is already stretched thin and under increasing demands due to a warming climate and its impacts on mountain snows, spring runoff, and late-season water availability for native fish. Innovative water conservation campaigns range from incentives for lawn removal to water leases to convert agricultural irrigation water to instream flows for fish and recreation.

As described by National Wildlife Federation’s Sarah Bates, some cities require conservation offsets for new construction for “water-neutral” growth. In other words, westerners are stretching their limited water as far as possible.

In light of these initiatives and the growing concern over water in a warming West, it defies logic to have a federal mandate that drives up water consumption.

Today’s flooding will soon give way to tomorrow’s dry conditions, meaning wells all across the West will start pumping to feed corn headed to ethanol plants. It is time for policy makers to ask if that is the best use of those water resources.

The National Wildlife Federation has continually pressed the EPA to change its implementation of the biofuel mandate, and earlier this year sued the agency for failing to follow the law to protect wildlife. We were also supportive of bills introduced in the House and Senate last year that would shift the emphasis of the law away from fuels made from resource-intensive corn and soy, and instead favor more sustainable alternatives.

Take action: Call on Congress to stop to the destruction of our scarce, remaining grasslands:

Take Action!

In short, western rivers work hard and are under enormous pressure from warming temperatures and increasing demands. As highlighted in a new report and interactive map released by the Center for American Progress (CAP), nearly half of all river miles in the West have been modified from their natural state (dammed, diverted and otherwise altered), leaving modern day rivers as “fragmented and impaired versions of their former selves.”

This alarm is hardly new–Marc Reisner alerted millions to the folly of development without regard to natural limits in his 1986 book, Cadillac Desert: The American West and its Disappearing Water, and scientists have been telling us for the past decade that water is the delivery mechanism for climate change in the West–but CAP’s scorecard provides a sharp reminder of the extent of this development and the urgency of addressing harmful impacts.

The National Wildlife Federation’s strategic plan recognizes these threats and articulates actions we’re taking to restore aquatic ecosystems, secure sufficient streamflows for fish and wildlife, and address impacts of water development projects. Our agenda is ambitious, as is justified by the scale of the challenges we are facing.

Here are a few examples of how we are working with diverse partners to address the risks and impacts to western rivers:

– Pursuing long-term solutions to the decline of salmon and steelhead impacted by hydroelectric development in the Columbia River basin, including the options of removing the four most destructive dams on the Lower Snake River.

– Advocating for restoration of beavers in western headwaters, the high-elevation tributaries that provide water to larger rivers. Beavers’ dam-building activities slow down rainwater runoff and snowmelt, replenishing groundwater and providing essential streamflows during the dry months in late summer and fall to sustain year-round habitat for fish and wildlife. As an added benefit, these delayed flows help farmers and boaters downstream.

– Supporting legal protection for sensitive headwaters in National Forests–including collaborative solutions such as the Mountain Accord which includes wilderness designation in the Wasatch Mountains supported by Salt Lake City utilities and other diverse stakeholders.

– Protecting and restoring streamflows through science-based policy reform through the Texas Living Waters Project, a partnership between NWF, Sierra Club and Galveston Bay Foundation.

While the CAP report paints an alarming picture of altered rivers in the West, it is important to recognize that the same human ingenuity and ambition that created these problems can be redirected to solving them.

For example, Montana’s Blackfoot River, cited in the report for its heavily altered tributaries, is home to the Blackfoot Challenge, a conservation-landowner collaborative that has achieved substantial restoration of land and water over the past 25-plus years of hard work.

Similar stories of innovative partnerships are featured in Climate Chaos and Local Resiliency: Water Solutions in the American West, a report of the Carpe Diem West water leadership network, of which the National Wildlife Federation is an active participant.

We applaud the Center for American Progress for compiling important and timely information in this report, and we look forward to addressing these challenges with long-term solutions that will benefit the fish, wildlife and people of the American West.

Fast Facts: Western Rivers

• 140,000 river miles in the West have been damaged by human uses.
• The average length of a river in the West has been reduced by 84 percent due to dams and other obstructions.
• 82 percent of major rivers have been disrupted and damaged by human development.
• Watersheds in the West with the most rivers support 717 percent more outdoor recreation spending than those with the fewest rivers.
• Rivers that run through protected lands in the West are on average 50 percent more natural than rivers that flow through unprotected areas.

Learn more at Disappearing Rivers

It’s likely that North America was once home to 100-200 million beavers, who literally shaped the landscape in which they lived. Intensive trapping starting in the 1700s reduced these numbers dramatically, and today there are only about 10-15 million beavers in this historic range.

As described in a recent story in National Wildlife magazine, attitudes toward beavers are changing, as evidenced by a growing number of river restoration projects that include human-built structures mimicking beaver activity, as well as reintroduction of beavers to some portions of their historic habitat. Expanding beaver habitat is good for our rivers and an essential component of building cost‐effective, durable watershed resilience in a warming West.

There’s even evidence that beaver activity can reduce nitrogen levels in river systems–potentially helping to address a major source of water pollution in areas with heavy agricultural runoff.

While we often think of beavers as mountain animals, their range extended far onto the plains. Today biologists seeking to recover the Greater Sage-Grouse are installing beaver mimicry structures in order to restore wet, green places that benefit the sage-grouse and other wildlife on the sagebrush steppe.

Restoration

The National Wildlife Federation is working with diverse partners to build acceptance of beavers and to restore beaver habitat and beaver populations for the benefit of fish, wildlife and people. In cooperation with Clark Fork Coalition and with support from the Montana Wildlife Federation, the Lolo National Forest, Montana Department of Fish, Wildlife and Parks, The Nature Conservancy and the Wildlife Conservation Society, NWF organized and hosted a workshop titled Riparian Restoration in Western Montana: The Role of Beavers in October 2017.

Leading up to this event, we promoted the benefits of beaver activity through a variety of outreach activities with our partners. NWF’s Regional Wildlife Biologist Andrew Jakes shared his expertise about beavers in an interview and at a public event that drew an overflow crowd at a Missoula brewery.

The day-long workshop featured presentations by a range of both academic and field experts on the use of beavers and beaver mimicry structures to restore riparian areas on degraded tributary streams, recharge aquifers and improve late-season streamflows. Researchers addressed fishery biologists’ concerns about the impacts that beavers have on stream temperature and fish passage. The takeaways? Beaver structures actually lower stream temperatures by holding water underground; and native fish are well adapted to navigate through beaver dams.

The workshop also included lively dialogue and discussion among federal and state fish, wildlife and land managers, trappers, private landowners, conservation partners like Trout Unlimited, the Montana Watershed Coordination Council, and other local and regional groups around the benefits of and barriers to beaver expansion in Montana.

The workshop was followed by a day-long field trip to the Upper Blackfoot River Valley to observe functioning beaver dams on private land and learn first-hand about strategies for managing beaver activity in conjunction with other land uses. Landowner Paul Roos engaged participants in dialogue about his efforts to work with beavers to restore incised streams and improve fisheries and riparian habitat on his ranch. Expert Amy Chadwick described factors she considers when planning and installing beaver mimicry structures.

Building Like a Beaver

In this video, Wyoming Game and Fish filmed installation of beaver mimicry structure on private land using techniques learned in a workshop sponsored by the Sage Grouse Initiative. All materials were sourced nearby, and the volunteer crew took about five hours to complete the project.

Installation of beaver mimicry structures (also known as beaver dam analogues or BDAs) helps raise water tables and enhance vegetation by “getting in the way of water,” in he words of Jeff Burrell of the Wildlife Conservation Society.

Often beavers will repopulate an area with such structures and take over maintenance. With or without beavers, these simple methods provide immediate and lasting benefit to riparian habitat.

Thanks to Jeremy Maestas (Natural Resources Conservation Service) for sharing this example.

What’s Next

NWF is committed to expanding beaver habitat and beaver population numbers in close cooperation with partners including those gathered for this event. Follow-up activities will include public education and outreach, on-the-ground demonstration projects and sharing lessons of successful beaver restoration in other western states. NWF will be an advocate for management practices that recognize and help recover the beaver as an essential part of the western landscape.

Stay tuned and sign up now for more information on beavers–our valued watershed partner!

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