The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the country’s dam-building agency, sounded like it knew what it was talking about in 2002. After spending six years and $30 million, the agency confidently recommended not breaching four fish-killing dams on the Lower Snake River. But now, backed by 15 years of data primarily from the Corps itself, […]
Rivers & Lakes
Posted inArticles
When our river turned orange
Nine things you need to know about the Animas River mine waste spill.
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California drought renews push for water storage projects
A long-standing proposal to enlarge Shasta Dam gets a boost from the Bureau of Reclamation.
Posted inAugust 3, 2015: Outflanked
Does the fate of the silvery minnow foretell the Rio Grande’s future?
Biologists go to great lengths to keep the fish alive, but it’s nearly extinct in the wild.
Posted inAugust 3, 2015: Outflanked
Tracing the Yampa River where it flows free
Review of “Colorado’s Yampa River” by John Fielder.
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Colorado’s water plan: an end to mega projects?
The latest draft of the plan sets strict guidelines for approving new diversions over the Rocky Mountains.
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Whitewater parks: an unlikely drought bailout
Expensive artificial wave features can ease dry times for river economies.
Posted inJuly 20, 2015: Shredded
Misadventures in packrafting
Is the new sport just an expensive way to get into trouble on the river?
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Old mines still plague Montana’s Clark Fork
Why one of the nation’s largest Superfund river sites can’t address pollution from abandoned mines.
Posted inJune 8, 2015: Tree of Life
A bull trout reintroduction in Oregon proves what’s possible
The ambitious effort brings a threatened predator back to the Clackamas watershed.
Posted inJune 8, 2015: Tree of Life
New perspective from Edward Abbey on the river
Review of ‘The Hidden Canyon: A River Journey’ by John Blaustein
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More waterways likely protected under new EPA rule
The controversial Clean Water Act rule protects tributaries with any sign of water, no matter the flow.
Posted inMay 25, 2015: Monument Man
On New Mexico’s Gila River, a contentious diversion gets the go-ahead
Questions remain of how much water it will yield and whether local farmers can afford to buy it.
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Gov. Brown slashes Sacramento Delta environmental protection
California tunnel plan also introduces water uncertainties for farms and cities.
Posted inApril 27, 2015: Lost frontier
A plague on the Klamath River
The race to prevent a repeat of the West’s worst salmon-kill.
Posted inApril 27, 2015: Lost frontier
Tribal fishing on the Klamath River
Photographs of sturgeon, steelhead, salmon and lamprey fishing.
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Idaho’s Panther Creek comes back from the dead
Two decades after restoration began, life returns to a stream sterilized by mining.
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Colorado’s snow is dust-free for the first time in a decade
But conditions are still prime for early snowmelt and summer drought.
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Tribal water compact moving through Montana legislature
But the bill stirs up longstanding criticism of basic tribal sovereignty.
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Should the Bureau of Reclamation be abolished?
Former Reclamation Commissioner Daniel Beard tells how defunct water policy, and the bureau itself, contribute to drought.