It had been more than a month since Tropical Storm Irene when I returned to kayak my favorite whitewater rivers in Vermont: the Middlebury and the New Haven. The massive flows from Irene moved some small rocks around, but in most places the overall character of the these rustic rivers remained the same, even after the storm. Sadly that is not true about sections of the rivers near roads where in the name of “repair” bulldozers literally flattened the rivers, excavating giant boulders, dredging gravel, and leaving the once vibrant river an unrecognizable shell. Rapids that used to be complex, multi-tiered stretches, supporting important habitat had transformed into homogeneous flat spots.

The untouched segments of river far from the road looked very different from the dredged and flattened stretches that destroyed not only a magical recreation space but crucial fish habitat as well. The contrast was stark and disturbing.  The river tamed unwillingly and transformed into little more than a pipe, losing its resilience, beauty, and health.  I thought again how important it is to protect these valuable and magical places.

Returning to these spots reminded me of the beatings we continue to inflict on our local waters: from stormwater and nutrient pollution to the destruction of fish habitat as we recover from Irene.  Our precious river ecosystems deserve better.  We can learn from their ability to heal after a hurricane.  We can stop treating our rivers like pipes and sewers and tell our friends, neighbors, and elected officials “enough is enough.” It is crucial that we do not ignore science and continue to reverse decades of recovery in our rivers.  We can contact our local town officials and request that they take a step back and seek expert advice before digging into your local river. The more actions we take as individuals, the more we can collectively do the work that will allow our rivers to heal.

Yesterday, National Public Radio reported on a severe toxic algae bloom that is plaguing a popular lake in Oklahoma.

The algae in Oklahoma was spurred by familiar factors – lower water levels in the lake due to higher  water consumption by people, hotter conditions and low rainfall attributable to climate change, and nutrient pollution swept into the lake by stormwater runoff from the surrounding land area.

What was new was to hear public officials acknowledge that the lack of clean water is hurting the local economy and impacting people’s health.

As NPR Reported:

“ Across the state, the lack of water has even cut into tourism. Low water levels in northeast Oklahoma’s Grand Lake resulted in a spike of toxic levels of blue-green algae.

Gov. Mary Fallin says this hit just as visitors were arriving for July 4 celebrations.

It took a toll on businesses and tourism at the lake itself,” Fallin says. ‘Some of the businesses I talked to at Grand Lake told me they saw a 50 percent drop in the number of people who were coming into their businesses.’”

As the CLF Scoop reported earlier this summer, U.S. Senator Jim Inhofe got sick after swimming amid the toxic blue-green algae in Grand Lake, and pinned his own illness on the algae.  Inhofe is known as one of the staunchest anti-environmentalists in Congress, and has opposed regulation to address climate change.  The Senator himself reportedly admitted the irony, suggesting that “the environment was fighting back.”

CLF hasn’t been sitting on the sidelines like some.  We’re fighting back against the sources of toxic algae blooms in New England – polluted stormwater runoff, inadequate management of sewage, and carbon dioxide emissions that accelerate climate change.  Reversing the devastating toxic algae blooms that regularly shut down bays along Cape Cod, Lake Champlain, New Hampshire’s Great Bay, Narragansett Bay in Rhode Island, and elsewhere throughout the region is a top priority for CLF.

Unfortunately, it has taken a crisis to convince some elected officials what CLF has known for years.  Clean water generates economic growth, health, and tourism, while creating outdoor spaces that nurture our spirit.

We’re proud to announce that our annual “State of the Region” issue of Conservation Matters has arrived. Learn about four areas of advocacy in which CLF has experienced great success over the last year, from public transportation and fisheries management to kicking New England’s coal habit and tackling the nutrient pollution that is threatening some of our region’s most vital water bodies. Bonus feature: Get up to speed on the great work that our non-profit affiliate, CLF Ventures, is doing in the public sector.

Download the PDF.

Tell us what you think at e-info@clf.org.

Want to get a copy of Conservation Matters delivered right to your door? Become a member of CLF.

See more issues of CM >

There is no greater honor than to be recognized by your peers for the important work that you do. CLF’s Clean Water and Healthy Forest program director, Christopher Kilian, received such an honor last week at the Charles River Watershed Association’s annual meeting, where CRWA presented him with the 2011 Anne M. Blackburn Award. The award is “presented annually to an individual who has made significant contributions over a career that have resulted in singular improvements for the Charles River, its watershed and our natural environment.”

CLF is extremely proud of the clean water work that Chris and his team have done and continue to do in collaboration with CRWA and numerous other watershed partners. You can read more about this award-winning work elsewhere on our web site (e.g., cleaning up polluted highway runoff and polluted runoff from parking lots and other commercial development, and securing an agreement to prevent super-heated water discharges into the Charles from a nearby power plant). Here, however, I want to share with you some inspiring excerpts from the speech Chris delivered to an appreciative audience at the award ceremony:

We must all stand up for the basic notion of equal access to justice, including the courts, to vindicate the public interest in a healthy environment. I applaud CRWA for its willingness to stand up for clean water, including in the courts when necessary.

But the words of the law ring hollow unless they are connected to people and a place. No organization is more effectively connected to a place on earth than CRWA. Here on the Charles, my own evolving sense that an urban river can be a thriving ecological system and community amenity has been further inspired by the decades of incredible work of CRWA. CRWA’s ideal of blue cities where clean, healthy waters are present even in the densest urban areas, is a vision that is changing the world. Instead of dangerous dumping grounds, our urban waters will cool us as we safely swim in the summer, feed us as we catch fish and shellfish with our children, leave us awestruck in the presence of habitat for nature’s great bird migrations and creatures great and small, and provide a needed release as we sail, boat, and enjoy these great natural amenities.

Some, even government leaders in Massachusetts, say our work to protect clean water is done. They say that clean water is not worth the cost. They say removing raw sewage from our waters (a job that still remains unfinished) is all that the Clean Water Act demanded.  This cannot be the case. It cannot be that the Charles will suffer a fate overrun with toxic metals, raw sewage, and toxic blue green algae blooms. I am confident that with all of you, with CRWA, and CLF working together our waters will not be left degraded. Thank you to CRWA’s supporters, please continue your support. Our work is more important now than ever.

Over the last several months the documentary Bloom: The Plight of Lake Champlain has been shown to capacity audiences around Vermont, from the State House to the Echo Lake Aquarium and Science Center.

Now the movie, which powerfully brings home the effect of too much phosphorous pollution on Lake Champlain, will be part of the Green Mountain Film Festival in Vermont.

Bloom, which features CLF Vermont Director Chris Kilian, will be shown at Montpelier’s Pavilion Auditorium at 6:15 p.m. Thursday, March 24^th and will be followed by a panel discussion which will include CLF Lake Champlain Lakekeeper Louis Porter.

The documentary combines narration, interviews and footage to convey both the severity and significance of the problem of uncontrolled algae and weed growth in Lake Champlain, and the need to quickly find effective solutions.

Bloom: The Plight of Lake Champlain
Thursday, March 24, 6:15 p.m.
Pavilion Auditorium
Montpelier, Vt.

MONTPELIER, VT January 24, 2010 – The Conservation Law Foundation (CLF) has issued the following statement in response to today’s decision by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to withdraw its approval of Vermont’s 2002 water quality plan for Lake Champlain. The decision comes almost two years after CLF first challenged EPA’s approval of the Plan in federal court.

“Today’s decision by the EPA to re-examine Vermont’s water quality plan for Lake Champlain is the key to bringing the Lake back to health,” said Louis Porter, CLF’s Lake Champlain Lakekeeper. “The EPA has reviewed the existing pollution budget and concluded, correctly, that there has not been enough improvement in the health of Lake Champlain under the current plan. Now, with a new administration in Vermont and a new water quality plan on the way, Vermont can begin a new, science-based approach to cleaning up Lake Champlain and making sure it remains a safe and enjoyable resource for swimmers, boaters, anglers, and the more than 200,000 people for whom it provides drinking water.” More >

In an effort to clean up the Charles River—and as the result of years of CLF advocacy—residents in Bellingham, Franklin, and Milford, MA may soon be obligated to comply with a proposed EPA mandate to reduce phosphorus runoff by 65 percent. As with most important initiatives to restore our environment, implementing this program will cost money, and there are constituencies opposed.  This Milford Daily News article chronicles some of the factors at stake and how residents have reacted to the news.

What’s most exciting about the public dialogue is to see that the discussions have advanced to real thinking about HOW to finance cleanups through stormwater utilities and other fee structures for reducing polluted runoff.  In Massachusetts, polluted runoff is the number one cause of water pollution.  Conversations about how to secure dedicated funding to solve the problem have generally only happened in a few communities under enforcement orders. They had to sort out issues of what’s fair, what’s practical, and what’s most palatable to residents in order to finance the fixes.  Now we’re seeing similar discussions in more communities where new stormwater regulations are proposed. These communities can serve as a model of forward-thinking investment in the clean waters that are critical to a thriving New England.

Learn more about CLF’s work to restore and protect New England’s waterways.

October 8 is the deadline to adopt a mile of New England’s shoreline and we’re counting on you to make a difference.

Even if you never heard the term “nutrient pollution” before, you may have seen its devastating effects on the New England waters that you treasure. Slimy algae blooms and fish kills are two of the more visible consequences of too much nitrogen and phosphorus in the water. And the effects you can’t see are the most troubling: massive areas under the glistening waters of our fragile bays and lakes where no living thing can survive. This man-made problem is a solvable one and the key to our success is you!

By adopting a mile (or more!) of shoreline, you are giving CLF the ability to rescue our most precious waters. Please symbolically adopt a mile today:

Adopt 1 mile of Narragansett Bay for just $10

Adopt 1 mile of Cape Cod’s Coastline for just $10

Adopt 1 mile of Lake Champlain’s Shore for just $10

Adopt 1 mile of the Great Bay Estuary for just $10

Adopt 1 mile of Maine’s Coastline for just $10

Like you, I am frustrated by the dramatic and entirely avoidable scourge of nutrient pollution that is wreaking havoc on our most precious waters throughout the region, including Lake Champlain, the Great Bay Estuary, Cape Cod, Maine’s Coast and Rhode Island’s Narragansett Bay.

This week, CLF made big news by seeking stricter controls on nitrogen pollution (a form of pollution caused by inadequately treated wastewater) in the massive Millbury, MA wastewater treatment facility know as the Upper Blackstone Water Pollution Abatement District. Each day, this facility discharges more than 50 million gallons of nitrogen-laden water into the Blackstone River, which flows south through Massachusetts and eventually into Rhode Island’s Narragansett Bay.

The impacts of the nitrogen pollution in Narragansett Bay have been devastating. We’ve seen toxic algae blooms, widespread loss of eel grass meadows–critical habitat for fish and other marine life–and even massive fish kills. Rhode Island’s Department of Environmental Management estimates that one of the larger kills in recent memory left approximately one million dead fish on the state’s shores.

It doesn’t have to be this way–and fortunately, the problem of nutrient pollution is solvable. But the fight to tighten pollution controls at the Upper Blackstone and across the region won’t be easy, and that’s why we need you on board. Today, before midnight, you can make a difference by adopting a mile of shoreline for just $10.

Your donation will help push our clean water advocacy forward, not just in Rhode Island, but across the region. Just last month, CLF filed suit against the EPA for not fulfilling its duties under the Clean Water Act to permit and regulate the wastewater discharges on Cape Cod. In NH, as a direct result of CLF’s advocacy, the Great Bay Estuary has been officially designated as “impaired” under the Clean Water Act, affording it greater, much-needed protection from continued nitrogen pollution and the 20 wastewater plants in the area. Our advocates are on the ground taking the forceful legal action required to tackle this growing problem.

You may have never heard the term nutrient pollution before. But by adopting a mile of shoreline and making a difference in our clean water advocacy, let’s hope you never hear it again.

Sincerely,
John Kassel
President
Conservation Law Foundation

P.S. Today is the day. With only a few days left to act, please make a difference by adopting a mile of shoreline for $10 before midnight on October 8.

Dear CLF Supporter,

New England’s waters are in crisis. Nutrient pollution is a huge problem for our region; inadequately-treated wastewater, fertilizer-laden runoff from industrial farms, roadways, and sprawl development are fueling deadly algae blooms in some of our most cherished waters—like Lake Champlain, Long Island Sound, Cape Cod’s bay and estuaries, and the Great Bay, located between New Hampshire and Maine. These algae blooms suffocate and kill fish, shellfish and other aquatic life, creating vast “dead zones.”

Nutrient pollution is bad news. But there is a silver lining to this scummy, man-made problem: It’s solvable. For years, CLF has been working to reverse nutrient pollution in waters throughout New England. And there’s even more good news; today, you have the opportunity to make a REAL impact on nutrient pollution by symbolically adopting a mile of shoreline for $10:

Adopting a mile of shoreline may seem like a drop in the bucket, but it gives CLF and our advocates the resources we need to tackle and solve this problem; it is the very underpinning of our most crucial clean water work.

When you adopt a mile of shoreline for $10, you will fund:

• Lake Champlain LakeKeeper Program: CLF’s LakeKeeper, affiliated with the Waterkeeper Alliance, is the eyes and ears of Lake Champlain, dedicated to protecting this irreplaceable natural treasure. Part watchdog, part scientist and part public advocate, the LakeKeeper engages citizens, businesses and state and local authorities in doing their part to keep Lake Champlain clean.
• Clean Water Enforcement: All over New England, violation of water quality regulations is rampant, resulting in severely degraded waterways. Due to a combination of lax government oversight and insufficient resources, clean water can no longer be taken for granted. This is especially true in low-income communities, which bear a disproportionate burden of water pollution. CLF is putting feet on the ground to hold polluters accountable, wherever they are, for compliance with clean water laws in an effort to restore vital water quality to all New Englanders.
• Nutrient Pollution Advocacy: Nutrient pollution is a relatively recent, man-made scourge—an insidious by-product of industrial agriculture and wastewater treatment operations—that is threatening New England’s great salt and freshwater bodies. It is also entirely solvable. CLF is tirelessly pursuing up-to-date, science-based limits on how much nitrogen and phosphorus can be discharged without sacrificing water quality and stricter controls at the source to keep the pollutants out of our waterways.

Nutrient pollution is a solvable problem and CLF is securing important victories all across our region. In Vermont, as a result of CLF’s advocacy, the city of South Burlington voluntarily cut in half the nutrient pollution that could be discharged into Lake Champlain from its sewage treatment plant. In Massachusetts, the EPA introduced controls for nitrogen in the 2008 permit for the Upper Blackstone Water Pollution Abatement District, over the objections of the district. The permit was recently upheld despite continued pressure from the district. The bottom line: Nutrient pollution, with your support, is a problem that we can solve!

Unfortunately, the clock is ticking. Literally. We are quickly approaching the point of no return for some of our region’s more fragile waterways. We need you to act now, before our October 8 deadline, to reverse nutrient pollution in New England. It takes just $10.

Today, you can make a real difference in New England’s nutrient pollution crisis by adopting one mile (or more!) of shoreline. We’re counting on you.

Sincerely,

Chris Kilian

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