Latest news with #NationalWildandScenicRiver
San Francisco Chronicle
11-06-2025
- Politics
- San Francisco Chronicle
One way Trump's DOGE cuts could actually help environmentalists in the West
No big government infrastructure project made an imprint on the landscape and economy of the West more than the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation's 20th century dam-building spree, which peppered 490 dams across the country, created an agricultural civilization dependent on federal hydrology civil engineering and brought about a welter of environmental difficulties after drying up dozens of once-healthy rivers. Today, the agency claims a $1.4 billion budget to maintain its fleet of aging dams. It was perhaps inevitable that the Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, would seek to cut it down. Approximately 400 workers at the bureau — including dam tenders, emergency management specialists and hydrologists — received 'reduction in force' letters in March, raising fears that poorly monitored dams could fail, creating catastrophic flooding. This, just five weeks after President Donald Trump stoked fears of mismanagement by ordering billions of gallons of water released from two Central Valley dams, against the objections of officials, water experts and farmers. Turmoil in the federal dam management system represents potential disaster but also a prime opportunity: It offers environmentalists an opening to make a vigorous case for dam removal — a move that could save costs and please business interests while achieving a longstanding goal of getting rid of the most harmful and obsolete blockages on Western rivers. At Fossil Creek in the high country of north-central Arizona, a gorgeous waterfall now tumbles near headwaters where an Arizona Public Service hydroelectric dam stood until 2005. Ask people swimming below the falls where the dam was located, and you'll get some puzzled looks. 'There was never any dam here,' said one, unaware he was standing right next to its remnants, masonry concealed under travertine deposits that give it every appearance of a natural falls. Arizona built the dam in 1916 to run the ore-crushers at nearby copper and gold mines at Jerome and Crown King. Eventually, the dam also powered streetlights in Phoenix. But by the end of the century, the river had been killed and the antique plant was providing only .002% of Arizona Public Service's revenue. So the utility company took 14 feet off the top of the dam and let Fossil Creek flow, and a once-dead waterway sprang back to magnificent life. By 2009, Congress was impressed enough by the transformation to designate this once-tired industrialized trickle a National Wild and Scenic River. Twenty years after the removal, rare species like the Chiricahua leopard frog, southwestern willow flycatcher and yellow-billed cuckoo thrive in pools near the banks. Young cottonwood trees are growing. Algae are reblooming. About 500,000 dams stand in the United States today, and 90,000 of them are more than 25 feet high. The biggest are in the West, but obsolete remnants of 19th century and 20th century industrialization also litter New England and other Eastern regions. These dams have served many purposes — turning mill wheels, impounding water for crops, preventing floods, generating electricity and giving livestock a drink — but scientific consensus now holds that they do more collective damage than good. The stagnant pools, mounds of underwater silt, mosquito-breeding artificial ponds and detritus of long-shuttered factories do little to enhance the ecosystem or the landscape. But removing even useless dams is a complicated and often maddening process, according to Dartmouth College geography Professor Francis Magilligan. In some cases, it is unclear who owns a dam or has jurisdiction over it. Local groups may consider a dam a historic site. And even though it is almost always cheaper to remove a defective dam rather than repair it, the process involved can stymie those efforts. Only about 2,200 dams in the U.S. have been successfully removed, Magilligan notes. Decommissioning Fossil Creek was possible because it presented a unique political case. Many people at Arizona Public Service felt proud of the dam and the plant, and resisted shutting it down. Even though it was practically an antique, the flume leading down from the dam to the Childs and Irving power plants was still helping generate 4 megawatts of electricity (enough to power about 1,000 homes) and making about $500,000 per year for the Fortune 500 company. But the company was Arizona's largest utility and a powerful lobbying force in the state Legislature with a long-term interest in good public relations. There was also a personal quirk. Bill Post, the CEO of the utility's parent company, happened to be childhood friends with the outspoken environmentalist Robin Silvers, co-founder of the Center for Biological Diversity. Silvers appealed to Post's outdoorsman side in making the case for Fossil Creek. Over the objections of colleagues, Post approved the dam removal as a goodwill gesture and a concession to Silver's lobbying just before it was up for relicensing by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission. The greatest environmental threat at Fossil Creek now comes not from stagnant water or unhealthy biomes but from a crush of human sunseekers and water hounds in the summer who create traffic and litter. Scientists are looking at the long-term implications of shutting down the dam, assessing the movement of the 90-year silt buildup behind the dam walls, and the potential reentry of nonnative fish like bass and sunfish. And Fossil Creek is not the only recent high-profile test case for Western dam removal. A coalition of Native tribes in California convinced Berkshire Hathaway Energy to transfer ownership of four dams on the Klamath River to a nonprofit organization to oversee their dismantling in the name of rehabilitating a salmon fishery. Not that science is a major concern of the federal government right now. Trump administration officials have proposed expanding the capacity of the Shasta Dam to hold back more of the McCloud River in Northern California. However, if DOGE is truly interested in saving money instead of making blind layoffs, it will take a serious look at a dam removal program and sell it to the public as a cost-cutting measure, ironically making the 'drill, baby, drill' Trump administration a champion of riparian health.
Yahoo
02-06-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
$3 million awarded for Forest Legacy project north of Zion National Park
The U.S. Department of Agriculture has awarded $3 million for a Forest Legacy project in Washington County during its latest round of funding. Dubbed the 'Zion Connectivity Project' due to its proximity to Zion National Park, the project aims to preserve forested areas from potential fragmentation or development through conservation easements. According to the USDA website, a conservation easement 'allows the land to remain in private ownership while ensuring that its environmental values are retained.' Natalie Conlin, the Forest Legacy program manager for the Utah Division of Forestry, Fire and State Lands, said the location of the project, combined with its wildlife assets and numerous springs, garnered strong support. The Division of Forestry, Fire and State Lands will use the funding to purchase conservation easements in two properties totaling 766 acres. Landowners receive economic compensation to keep their forests as forests. 'Thanks to the efforts of these private landowners and The Conservation Fund, protecting this important forested area was recognized as a priority to the national program,' Conlin said. The land in the Zion Connectivity Project is home to California condors — the largest land bird in North America. After becoming extinct in the wild in 1987, the condors were placed in a captive breeding program and later reintroduced, reaching a total population of over 500 today, both captive and free-flying across the different location. The presence of the California condor in southern Utah makes this area a critical habitat for its preservation. Additionally, the project contains 4 miles of streams, including a half-mile segment of the La Verkin Creek, a tributary to the Virgin River, which was designated as a National Wild and Scenic River in 2009. La Verkin Creek provides direct benefits to six native fish species, including the federally endangered Virgin River chub and woundfin, as well as the state-listed Virgin spinedace and flannelmouth sucker. As part of the Upper Virgin watershed, preserving this area ensures wildlife will continue to have access to these stream flows and ponds during their migration from lower desert elevations. Both conservation easements are crucial for the local wildlife habitat. The project site links nearby big game migration corridors, offering summer range for deer and elk, and provides year-round habitat for black bears and dusky grouse. The project area includes old-growth ponderosa pines that are unique to this region. These ancient trees offer food and nesting cover for wildlife and possess resistance to wildfires. Alongside two other Forest Legacy projects (Zion Overlook and Viewtop) and protected lands La Verkin and Taylor Creek BLM Wilderness Area, the Zion Connectivity Project will form a 1,752-acre link of protected lands north of Zion National Park.
Yahoo
06-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
The Nature Conservancy, TPWD announce purchase of Heath Canyon Ranch
May 6—AUSTIN — The Nature Conservancy in Texas (TNC) and Texas Parks and Wildlife Department (TPWD) are pleased to announce the purchase of Heath Canyon Ranch, a 671-acre property located just outside Big Bend National Park. TNC purchased the property, which will be managed by TPWD as part of the Black Gap Wildlife Management Area (WMA), for nearly $1.2 million with funding from Horizon Foundation, WoodNext Foundation, Texas Parks and Wildlife Foundation and Meta Alice Keith Bratten Foundation. "We are thrilled that the property is now in the hands of TPWD, and that this beautiful location along the river will continue to be available for the enjoyment of Texans and visitors alike while ensuring the protection of the habitat for wildlife to thrive," said Suzanne Scott, State Director for The Nature Conservancy in Texas. The acquisition of Heath Canyon Ranch is a significant step toward ongoing conservation efforts to protect vulnerable ecosystems across West Texas while also providing Texans with access to park lands for recreation. "We are fortunate to have TNC as a conservation partner and through their generous support, TPWD is able to grow our public lands footprint," said Alan Cain, TPWD Wildlife Division Director. "The Heath Canyon addition will expand outdoor recreational opportunities from river access, to hiking, wildlife viewing and public hunting. We are excited for Texans to enjoy this unique property." Located between Big Bend National Park, Black Gap WMA, other state-owned lands and the nearly 10,000-acre Brushy Canyon Preserve, Heath Canyon Ranch once created a considerable gap in a vast area of protected lands. Its purchase preserves a tract of high quality, relatively unaltered wildlife habitat surrounded by other protected areas. This place of high ecological diversity serves as a refuge for a variety of species, including more than 250 plant species — several of which are found nowhere else on earth. The property also includes 1.2 miles of river frontage on a stretch of the Rio Grande that flows year-round and is an important site for public access to protected lands in the area. The ranch is the only take-out point for the popular Boquillas Canyon multi-day river trip through Big Bend National Park and one of the only river access points for the remote and scenic Lower Canyons of the Rio Grande — Texas' only designated National Wild and Scenic River. TPWD and NPS plan to establish a long-term natural resource management plan and a system for providing sustainable low-impact public access. "Black Gap WMA looks forward to continuing to work with all our neighbors and partners that helped with this purchase and can't express enough how excited we are to acquire this property," said Travis Smith, TPWD Black Gap WMA Biologist. "This is an amazing addition to the WMA and will not only ensure river access for future generations but protect a very unique habitat." Jeff Francell, Associate Director of Land Protection for The Nature Conservancy in Texas, shared, "As a former river guide, I am extremely pleased that The Nature Conservancy, along with Texas Parks and Wildlife Department and several private foundations, were able to work so quickly to secure the property, funding and long-term management of this critical natural resource and public access point to the Wild and Scenic Rio Grande River." TNC, TPWD and NPS have a long history of working together to accomplish large-scale land and water protection in the Big Bend area, including the expansion of the national park. This project has helped further successful conservation work in a region that hosts one of the nation's most important ecosystems and contains immense biological and cultural resources.
