by Jaymi Heimbuch, San Francisco, California on 10.21.11
http://www.treehugger.com/files/2011/10/national-geographic-boundless-rivers-highlights-conservation-efforts-brothers-john-and-frank-craighead.php?campaign=th_rss&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+treehuggersite+%28Treehugger%29&utm_content=Google+Reader
Picture: This picture shows the Allagash River. It is protected by the Wild and Scenic Rivers Act.
Summary:
You hear about pollution all the time, yet you never really hear about how it is being solved. The Wild and Scenic Rivers Act preserves certain rivers with outsanding natural and recreational values. It was signed into law in 1968 by President Lyndon Johnson. The act protects over 200 rivers. The rivers are in 39 states and in Puerto Rico. The act does allow for new rivers to be added. Even though 200 rivers seem like a lot of rivers to be protected, that is only 0.35% of all the US rivers.
Opinion/ Reflection:
There is not a big river in Hatboro that is protected. However, there is a creek in Hatboro that is used as a dumping ground. I believe that if the main rivers are anywhere near as bad as this it is an amazing thing to have a conservation act to protect rivers. We've seen how the watere cycle effects life and how much water we need to survive so I believe we should protect as much water as we can.
Questions:
1.) What else can we do to preserve rivers?
2.) What would be the effect on the environment if all the rivers were protected?
3.) If we do protect all the rivers, could it endanger any wildlife?
4.) If there is a way to protect more rivers, would it involve volunteers being forced to spend their time there or everyone to pay more money?
Also if anyone needs an article for their future posts http://www.rivers.gov/ is a good site but it doesn't add to my ereader, if anyone knows how to get it to work let me know please =)
ReplyDeleteI think we should definitely be doing more to protect rivers and important bodies of water. It just takes one person to create the movement, and then other people will join. For example, if someone was trying to preserve Pennypack Creek, I know a lot of people that would want to help. But to protect every body of water in the US, or even anywhere close to that; in the Scenic Rivers Act, only 0.35% of the national rivers were protected.
ReplyDeleteHowever, I think if we somehow did protect ALL the rivers, the impact on the environment would be enormous. Many, many animals lives would be saved and improved. The quality of our drinking water would go way up, and we would all be much healthier.
The conservation of some of these big rivers is clearly needed. Fresh water is a necessity for our survival. Polluting in useful fresh water is wrong of us and were only hurting our own resources. Protecting rivers could be very crucial in the long run, and i feel like more and more rivers should be added to the conservation list. There's a creek under a bridge near my house and if the rivers look anything close to what the creek looks like, serious action needs to be done to help clean our waters.
ReplyDelete1)What are the different we can clean our water
2)Does this water have any effect on the water we drink
3)Why has their only been .35% of water put under protection? we need these rivers to survive
I think it's crazy that they need a conservation act in order to protect the rivers, but it's great that they are being protected. I just don't understand why businesses and people want to pollute the water around them. Many people must not get educated enough on the dangers and possible outcomes from polluting the water. It is hard to preserve a river without scientific research. Scientists can add minerals or vitamins to make the water clean, but without help from people, it would never be enough.
ReplyDeleteWhat makes a river eligable for protection?
I never knew about that there were acts to help preserve rivers in the United States. I personally think that's a good idea on our part. I feel the only down fall of this, is that it doesn't apply to all of the rivers. I do understand where they are coming from because we do want to preserve our large rivers like the Susquehanna or the Delaware, but what about the ones like Diane said. What about the small creeks that have such value to those in the community? I think we should keep on trying to preserve our rivers as much as we can, but also try to help preserve lakes and creeks in communities that mean something to them.
ReplyDeleteQuestions :
1) Do we ever take samplings from rivers and compare which one is cleaner and healthier to maybe to watch over the rivers that maybe aren't as clean?
2)Besides the large rivers everyone is aware of, are they taking in thought to protect other rivers too?
3)How come this is never in the news? I feel that if this is a big issue in preserving rivers, why isn't brought up as much?