eco Newswire Updates On Critical Environmental And Access Issues from the ACA Conservation and Public Policy Department. American Heritage Rivers Announced A year and a half after generating praise and controversy for launching its American Heritage Rivers Initiative, the Clinton Administration has announced the designation of 14 American Heritage rivers. "This is an historic announcement," says Rebecca Wodder, president of American Rivers, a Washington, D.C.-based river conservation organization. "This is the first program of its kind to recognize that protecting rivers not only protects the valuable natural resources of rivers but also helps rebuild the economic base of the communities that have grown up beside them," The American Heritage Rivers are: Blackstone and Wooonasquatucket Rivers (MA, RI); Connecticut River (CT, VT, NH, MA); Cuyahoga River (OH); Detroit River (MI); Hanalei River (HI); Hudson River (NY); Lower Mississippi (LA, TN); Upper Mississippi River (IA, IL, MN, MO, WI); New River (NC, VA, WV); Potomac River (MD, PA, VA, WV, DC); Rio Grande River (TX); St. Johns River (FL); Upper Susquehanna and Lackawanna Rivers (PA); and Willamette River (OR). --dj Raiding the Land and Water Conservation Fund First the House Republicans proposed zeroing out the Land and Water Conservation Fund (LWCF) in their FY99 Budget proposal. Then the Chairman of Interior Appropriations Subcommittee, Rep. Ralph Regula (R-OH), decided to withhold $699 million in LWCF spending that was approved last year. And, the latest assault on the nation's principle source of funding for increasing parks, forests and wilderness is from a surprising adversary: Teaming With Wildlife supporters. After finding no political support for a 5 percent excise tax on outdoor gear, the International Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies and the National Wildlife Federation have decided to raid offshore oil and gas lease money that funds LWCF. "I was hired to rob a bank and I don't care whose bank I rob," Teaming With Wildlife lobbyist Tommy Boggs told National Journal. Two bills have now been proposed that woulld shift more than $400 million per year from LWCF to fund state fish and game programs. Environmentalists worry that these proposals, by taking dollars away from LWCF, will undermine the nation's ability to meet federal, state and local land acquisition needs for protecting wildlife habitat and open space. --dj Getting Chummy on the Chattooga On the Chattooga River in Georgia, two local developers must have taken a course called "How to Loose Friends and Irritate Enemies." Knowing that the Forest Service had been eyeing a privately owned parcel of land along the West Fork of the Wild & Scenic Chattooga, the developers purchased the property then announced intentions to build condos and a golf course, blocking paddlers' access to the West Fork. Many river advocates believe it to be no more than a "greenmail" scheme--a plan to force the Forest Service into paying an exorbitant price to purchase the property. In May the U.S. Attorney's Office challenged the right of the developers to block navigation and obtained a court order that temporarily protects the public's right to use the river. This drew a swift reaction from the developers, who began bulldozing and cutting down trees to impede access. They even went so far as to throw fish food at people floating by in rafts. Ironically, the people in one of those rafts turned out to be the staff of the U.S. Attorney's office. Being pelted with fish food will most likely provide the U.S. Attorney office with the necessary motivation to vigorously pursue the case. --dj Grand Canyon Quieter Paddlers on the Grand Canyon this summer noticed the canyon surprisingly quieter. Not because rapids and stomachs still didn't churn, but because one-third of all traditional motor-powered commercial rafts--as part of a phase-out agreement with the National Park Service-- converted to low-noise, low-emission motors. "Commercial outfitters began charting a new course to restore natural quiet in the Colorado River," says Mark Grisham, Executive Director of the Grand Canyon Outfitters Association. "The outfitters worked closely with the Park Service to operate in a way that benefits both the environment and the public." The new motors are 40 percent quieter and 35 percent more fuel efficient than traditional outboard motors. The voluntary transition of all motorized rigs--estimated to cost $1.5 million--is expected to take place by 2001. "Outfitters 'voluntarily' adopting the new low-noise motors demonstrates their commitment to restore natural quiet and clean air to the Grand Canyon," says Robert Arnberger, superintendent of Grand Canyon National Park. --edb Tracking Sediment Flows Ever wonder how much sediment is traveling with you as you paddle your favorite spring waterway? Ever wonder how much silt is in that pot of river-water coffee? Thanks to John Hopkins University scientist Peter Wilcock, a river's sediment flow can now be tracked as easily as its cfs. In a recent issue of the journal Science, Wilcock, a professor in the Department of Geography and Environmental Engineering, announced a simple technique to estimate the flows of sediment caused by everything from development to forest fires. The technique divides sediment into two categories: sand, with grains smaller than 2 mm; and gravel, with grains larger than 2 mm. The outcome is based on a waterway's percentages of these sizes of sediment, which travel at different rates of speed and can be measured easily. "We needed a theory that could be supported by a practical amount of field observation," says Wilcock. "This technique will enable river managers to determine how quickly sediments can be swept downstream and how quickly the riverbed will return to a healthier condition." --Joe Carberry Kittatinnny Canoes Holds Ninth Annual River Cleanup The "Kittatinny Canoe Volunteer Navy," a group of 614 river-cleaning volunteers, gathered in July at Dingmans Ferry, Pa., to clean up the Delaware River. This was the ninth year of the four-day On and Under the Delaware River Cleanup, sponsored by outfitter/retailer Kittatinny Canoes. More than 20 tons of trash were collected over the 70-mile stretch from Ten Mile River access in New York to the Delaware Water Gap in New Jersey--including 534 tires, 798 pounds of aluminum cans and five tons of scrap metal. Total tonnage increased from last year's cleanup, partly because of the recovery of a 1962 pickup truck (Kittatinny's mechanic paddled out with an acetylene torch to dismantle it). The cleanup has removed more than 150 tons of trash over the past nine years. Volunteers were provided with canoes, transportation, campsites, breakfast and a barbecue dinner all four days of the event. For information on next year's war on trash, contact Kittatinny Canoes at (717) 828-2338. --ahb

More Motors in the Boundary Waters

--dj

Dam Removal a Reality on Washington's Elwha?

The Elwha River is the largest river in northwest Washington's Olympic Peninsula. With a 48-mile drainage headwatered in Olympic National Park's rain-drenched highlands, it has all the hallmarks of the steep, foamy chutes for which the Northwest is famous: lots of water, a pulse-pounding 35-foot-per-mile gradient over its last 17 miles, and a deep canyon through old growth forests flanked by mile-high peaks.

But you won't find much about the lower Elwha in Pacific Northwest river lore. The last time anyone could run its full length was before Hypalon and plastic were even invented. The Elwha is one of the West's lost rivers, chopped to pieces by a pair of hydroelectric dams, built between 1914 and 1927, five miles and 13 miles from the sea. Today, one outfitter runs 2.5-hour float trips on a stretch of Class II+ water between the two dams, and a few kayakers backpack their craft higher up the drainage into the Olympic National Park wilderness, but the dams are a sufficient deterrent to send most river runners elsewhere.

Now the Elwha could be returning to the ranks of runnable rivers. In a landmark deal brokered by environmentalists, business leaders and elected officials in the early 1990s, the dams' owner agreed to sell the structures for $29.5 million, and the government agreed to begin removing them soon after acquisition. River runners, of course, are only incidental beneficiaries to this deal. The real power player had fins, and is on the brink of being listed under the Endangered Species Act. At the turn of the century, the Elwha supported one of the Northwest's great salmon runs. Fish weighing up to 100 pounds forged their way upstream in numbers that may have been as high as 400,000. Then the lower dam was built without a fish ladder. The second dam added insult to injury, lying within the boundaries of the present-day national park. Today, only a few thousand hatchery fish return to the lowermost Elwha each year. The dams were built to supply hydropower to a paper mill in nearby Port Angeles. The mill, concerned that a court order may someday force it to remove the dams and foot the bill for river restoration, now views them as a liability it would be happy to unload on the government. Other local business leaders see continued private ownership of the dams as a threat to the mill's 300 jobs and $5 million payroll.

With the backing of all parties, in 1992 the dam removal deal was enacted into federal law, pending completion of a series of studies (finished in 1996). But the project languished while a budget-minded Congress declined to appropriate the necessary funds. This spring, Senator Slade Gorton (R-WA) interceded, introducing a bill intended to secure funding for the project. But Gorton--not a fan of dam removals--conditioned his support on obtaining legislative assurance that no dams on the Snake or Columbia rivers--in the opposite corner of the state--would be torn down without Congressional approval. Worse, his bill would suspend dam-related enforcement of the Endangered Species Act on those two rivers.

Eric Espenhorst, a policy associate at Friends of the Earth's Seattle office, calls Gorton's attempted trade-off "unnecessary and obstructive." And Orville Campbell, hydropower manager for Fort James Corp., which owns the Elwha dams, feels that it risks putting the Elwha deal on hold while Congress wrestles with an unrelated political hot potato. "This new element could introduce a standoff," Campbell says. "We don't get the restoration of the Elwha and Gorton doesn't get any assurances for the Columbia."

If the dams ultimately come out, it's not clear what kind of paddling experience will become available. Because the dams were built in tight gorges that might contain dangerous drops, David King, owner of Olympic Raft & Guide Service, is cautious when asked what type of runs might be opened up. Based on old photos, he speculates that the whitewater could be anything from Class III to Class V, but notes, "It could be Class VI." He also points out that existing access sites will be left high and dry when the lakes are drained, and lake-bottom sediment could produce unstable embankments and shifting channels.

Brian Winter, Elwha project manager for Olympic National Park, is more optimistic. He's seen the same photos King has seen, and says they show no "unimaginable" rapids. "Fish got up it easily," he adds. He's also aware of the desire for road access to the newly freed river. "That came out loud and clear," he says, promising that the National Park Service will work with the state to provide access. Sediments, he says, will be a temporary problem (although the studies he cites deal principally with their impact on salmon and municipal water supplies, not rafting). If water flows are average, he says, fine particles and clays will be gone in two years. Sand and gravel will take somewhat longer.

River guide King may be unsure of the river's rafting future, but he's a strong Elwha booster. The scenery, he says, is remarkably varied, alternating between narrow canyons and broad, glacier-carved valleys. "I've done a lot of rivers around the West," he says, "and there are not many that are more beautiful. The views are magnificent. You're looking at glaciers and snow-capped peaks less than five miles from the upper reservoir. If they take [the dams] out it would be an awesome river."