American Rivers

06/19/2026

? 🤔 The Lumber River's dark, tea-colored waters wind through wetlands and forested floodplains, providing wildlife habitat, natural flood protection, and drinking water for thousands of people.

The Lumber River—also known as the Lumbee River—is a nationally significant blackwater river flowing for 133 miles through southeastern North Carolina into South Carolina. Its dark, tea-colored waters wind through wetlands and forested floodplains, providing wildlife habitat, natural flood prote...

06/19/2026

Floodplains play a vital role in keeping rivers healthy and reducing flood risk to our homes, farms, and city streets. These rich ecosystems are also among the most biodiverse habitats on Earth. And among the most threatened.

🌾 Our floodplain restoration work:

A floodplain is the wide, flat land beside a river or stream — and it plays a vital role in keeping rivers healthy and reducing flood risk to our homes, farms, and city streets. These rich ecosystems are also among the most biodiverse habitats on Earth. And among the most threatened. In their natu...

06/19/2026

On June 19, 1865 along the shores of Galveston Bay in Texas, freedom arrived.

Two and a half years after the Emancipation Proclamation, Union troops brought news that slavery had ended. It was along this coastal waterway that liberation, long delayed, finally flowed into the lives of more than 250,000 enslaved Black Texans.

Rivers are much more than just waterways — they hold our past, present, and future. Today, we observe Juneteenth as a day of learning and service, and a reminder that clean water, safe communities, and healthy rivers must be for everyone.

06/18/2026

Healthy rivers power wildlife, recreation, clean water, and local economies. Our new report is a case for lasting Wild and Scenic Act protections for nearly 100 miles of eastern Idaho’s South Fork Snake River, Teton River, and more.

🔍 Check it out:

The South Fork Snake River, the Teton River, and select tributaries managed by the Bureau of Land Management’s Upper Snake FieldOffice represent some of eastern Idaho’s most significant remaining free-flowing river resources. Building upon the BLM’s 2009 Eligibility Report and incorporating up...

06/18/2026

How do we get from dry, degraded, and dewatered to lush, wet meadows that feed our precious rivers and support fish and wildlife?

The restoration work done by American Rivers, Yosemite National Park, and partners in Ackerson Meadow does just that, providing multiple benefits for climate resiliency, water quality and supply, flood attenuation, carbon sequestration, and biodiversity.

New short film “Restoring Mountain Meadows” dives into the work to restore California’s iconic meadows! We’ll take you uphill into the Sierra Nevada and deep into the restoration work that is healing one of the most biodiverse regions on Earth.

🌾🎥 Watch the full film: https://www.americanrivers.org/restoring-mountain-meadows/

06/18/2026

🌊 For National Rivers Month, we want to celebrate the common belief that Life Depends on Rivers®.

This year has been a challenging year for rivers, with many threats putting clean water and ecosystems at risk. That’s why it's more important than ever to recognize and celebrate the progress we make together:

Summer is here! That means longer days for fishing, hiking, kayaking, swimming – more daylight for all of your favorite river activities. Summer is my favorite time of year. To me, nothing compares to creating memories with friends and loved ones during group paddles and river hangs. Even alone, j...

06/17/2026

American Rivers California Regional Director, Dr. Ann Willis, on restoration at Great Valley Grasslands State Park:

“By reconnecting this reach of the San Joaquin River to its historic floodplain, we are restoring important ecological functions that benefit both wildlife and communities.”

🌾 Read more:

The project is “a glimpse of what the natural landscape looked like in the Central Valley a millennium ago.”

06/17/2026

There are over 90,000 inventoried dams—and up to 400,000 dams total—in our country. Up to 85% of them are outdated, unnecessary, and even dangerous. That’s why American Rivers and partners have a goal of removing 30,000 dams by 2050:

Damming rivers and blocking their natural flows has destroyed the habitat that fish, birds,  and wildlife need to nest, feed, reproduce, and thrive. Habitat degradation is the #1  cause of extinctions. And as they age, dams put people in harm’s way of catastrophic flooding.  Damming more rivers...

06/17/2026

The Navajo Nation has seen a multitude of proposals for Pumped Storage Hydropower projects over the last 8 years, including ones that would have affected the Little Colorado River.

The latest project near Kayenta, AZ has had its preliminary application accepted, opening a 60 day comment period. Regional Diné-led organizations are raising their concerns about the project – one of which is the possibility of drilling ancient groundwater to fill the projects' reservoirs.

American Rivers has expressed concerns with the impacts of pumped storage hydropower projects on Tribal lands and throughout the water-stressed Southwest for years and will continue to work to support local communities and their efforts to protect their watershed and drinking water.

Learn more:

06/16/2026

? 🤔 While urbanization and agriculture have drastically diminished the San Joaquin River, it remains the primary source of water for over 30 million Californians, as well as farms and endangered ecosystems.

San Joaquin River Originating in the Sierra Nevada, the San Joaquin River historically sustained tule elk, bald eagles, grizzly bears, and countless chinook salmon. While urbanization and agriculture have drastically diminished the river, it remains the primary source of water for over 30 million...