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Featured image: Washington States’s now removed, Nooksack Dam. Image from NOAA. 

2020 marks another milestone in the movement to free America’s rivers from derelict and non-economically viable dams. In 2019, a record 90 dams were removed, 2020’s efforts added another 69 (nice) dams taken down, connecting 624 more miles of rivers.

From American Rivers:

Sixty-nine dams were removed in 2020, revitalizing local economies and communities and restoring fish, wildlife and river health. Communities in 23 states, working in partnership with non-profit organizations and state and federal agencies, removed the dams to reconnect 624 upstream river miles.

“While this past year was full of challenges, restoring vibrant, free-flowing rivers has been a source of strength and progress for communities nationwide,” said Brian Graber, senior director of river restoration for American Rivers. “Local partners, engineers and construction crews worked under extraordinary circumstances to complete these projects, delivering a wide range of benefits to their rivers and communities.”

On the Middle Fork Nooksack River near Bellingham, Washington, removing a water diversion dam and installing a new water intake opened 16 miles of habitat for salmon, restored cultural resources, and ensured a sustainable supply of clean water for the city. The project, an effort of American Rivers, the Nooksack Indian Tribe, Lummi Nation, City of Bellingham, Paul G. Allen Family Foundation and others demonstrates the power of public-private partnership and innovative solutions to infrastructure challenges.

More than 90,000 dams block rivers in the U.S. Dams harm fish and wildlife habitat and ecosystem health and can pose safety risks to communities. The failure of Michigan’s Edenville Dam  in May 2020 was the latest high profile example of the threat that aging, outdated dams pose to public safety. A recent UN report highlighted the growing risk of aging water infrastructure.

American Rivers is calling on the Biden-Harris administration to invest in river health, local economies and public safety, by prioritizing dam removal and river restoration. In the 2021 Blueprint for Action, American Rivers highlights urgent actions the administration should take to advance dam removal and river restoration, including:

• Funding barrier removal to improve habitat, connectivity, water quality and public safety.
• Developing a schedule for reviewing the operation of federally owned dams.
• Developing accurate budget projections that reflect the true costs of maintaining and operating federal water infrastructure.
• Facilitating dam removal and river restoration through the hydropower relicensing process.

American Rivers’ report, Rivers as Economic Engines, outlines how investing in water infrastructure and river restoration creates jobs and benefits the economy. For example, according to a study by the University of North Carolina, the ecological restoration sector directly employs approximately 126,000 workers nationally, and supports another 100,000 jobs indirectly, contributing a combined $25 billion to the economy annually.

“It is time for transformational solutions that strengthen communities, improve public health, address longstanding injustices, and boost our economy. Equitable investment in clean water and healthy rivers is vital to a better future,” said Graber.

On a much larger scale than the projects featured on the 2020 list, Congressman Mike Simpson (R-ID) recently shared a vision for infrastructure investments in the Pacific Northwest that includes removal of four dams on the lower Snake River, which would be the biggest river restoration effort in history. While details need to be addressed before legislation can be enacted, Congressman Simpson’s proposal illustrates how river restoration can be part of transformational solutions that include clean energy, agriculture, job creation and economic revitalization.

In 2020, dams were removed in the following states: California, Connecticut, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Montana, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Texas, Vermont, Virginia, Washington and Wisconsin

A total of 1,797 dams have been removed in the U.S. since 1912. The states with the most dam removals in 2020 were Ohio (11), Massachusetts (6) and New York (6).

Learn more:

• View the national map of dam removals
• Access the American Rivers dam removal database
• Take action to support federal investment in river restoration

From AFFTA:

The American Fly Fishing Trade Association and the AFFTA Fisheries Fund (jointly AFFTA) released a report, “Recommendations to Improve the Health and Sustainability of America’s Marine Fisheries.” The report, developed by a blue-ribbon panel comprised of fishery scientists and managers, provides a focused set of recommendations and lays out the steps needed to enact bold federal fisheries management and marine conservation efforts guided by the best available science.

The effects of climate change and overfishing are among the principal threats to fisheries that AFFTA and the fly fishing industry have long fought to address. The blue-ribbon report provides a comprehensive and systematic approach that, if implemented, will strengthen marine fisheries conservation and management, support more abundant recreational fisheries, and lead to more abundant marine fisheries in all U.S. ocean waters.

The number of people participating in recreational fishing is growing. According to a special report released in 2020 by the Recreational Boating and Fishing Foundation and the Outdoor Foundation, from 2018 to 2019, the number of people fly fishing grew by 100,000, bringing the total number of participants to a record 7 million. With states reporting substantial increases in the number of recreational fishing licenses sold during the pandemic, these figures are expected to increase when 2020 data is studied. In 2018, the industry generated $1.172 billion, a 31% increase over the prior year.

“Marine fishing is a growing sport whose popularity continues to soar as more people are turning toward the great outdoors to find solace in nature and ways to recreate responsibly,” said Ben Bulis, president of AFFTA. “We must take action to protect our marine fisheries and restore habitats. If there are no fish, there’s no fishing.”

“Proposals to better manage ocean resources are almost as many as the seas are broad,” said AFFTA’s Fisheries Fund Executive Director Whitney Tilt. “This report identifies a set of targeted solutions to strengthen marine fisheries conservation for the benefit of the marine environment as well as the commercial and recreational industries that depend on it.”

The blue-ribbon report organized policy solutions under three key categories: recover imperiled and overfished species, manage for abundant recreational fisheries, and address key threats to sustainable fisheries. A brief summary appears below.

Recover Imperiled & Overfished Species

1. Continue to implement the conservation requirements in the Magnuson-Stevens Act
2. Extend proven conservation requirements to fisheries managed by the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission
3. Recover wild salmon and steelhead in the Pacific Northwest
4. Manage for Abundant Recreational Fisheries
5. Manage for abundance in U.S. recreational fisheries
6. Ensure forage fish are managed in a way that acknowledges their role as a food source
7. Improve the accuracy, timeliness, and compatibility of data collection in recreational fisheries

Address Key Threats to Sustainable Fisheries

7. Protect wild fish populations from industrial finfish aquaculture

8. Give managers tools to adapt to climate change impacts in the oceans Improve habitat protection and increase habitat restoration

The full AFFTA Fisheries Fund report is available at https://afftafisheriesfund.org/new-index-1