1968’s groundbreaking legislation to protect rivers was a good start but falls short of what’s needed
Joe Whitworth is author of QUANTIFIED: Redefining Conservation for the Next Economy (Island Press), a patented inventor, and President of The Freshwater Trust. He lives in Portland, Oregon.
The free-flowing whitewater of the Rogue River will get your attention fast, and with my first rapid in 1998, I immediately knew why 90 miles had been protected by Congress. On October 2, 1968, in response to an era of frenzied dam development, Lyndon B. Johnson signed the Wild & Scenic Rivers Act to “preserve certain rivers with outstanding natural, cultural, and recreational values in a free-flowing condition for the enjoyment of present and future generations.” This effectively gave the force of law to these values as counterweight to the cost-benefit analyses that had invariably favored damming river systems for irrigation (in the West) or flood control (in the East). The Act signaled the end of an era, and hinted at the beginning of a new one.
A collection of movie stars, authors, and sports heroes who vacationed there helped put the Rogue among the first eight rivers designated under the Act. And today, the thousands who paddle, fish, sleep next to, and hike alongside this river every year tell the story of its beauty and significance still 50 years later — but only part of the story.
In 40 of our 50 states, nearly 13,000 miles across 203 rivers are deemed “Wild & Scenic” and thus protected from dams and certain development. But what these and the many adjacent miles are not immune from are problems that hinder water quality, such as upstream contamination, irrigation withdrawals, nutrient-heavy runoff and lost fish habitat.
Today, 173 of the 203 rivers that have “Wild & Scenic” sections also have sections designated as impaired under the Clean Water Act — unable to meet its fishable, swimmable, drinkable standard. A full one fourth of the actual wild & scenic miles are impaired.
