Our Nation’s Lakes, Rivers Need Protection, Too

By CHARLES GAUVIN

Recently the Zion National Park in southern Utah closed parts of the park as a result of huge wildfires. Just last month, thousands of residents and vacationers in Lake Tahoe were evacuated for the same reason. June’s historic floods in Oklahoma, Kansas and Texas were responsible for the deaths of more than 100 people and the damage tens of millions of dollars in property. Already, Las Vegas, Phoenix and cities across the West are setting record temperatures.

As millions of Americans spend their summer vacations exploring our nation’s lakes, rivers and woodland areas, many recognize that these events are not isolated incidents but are a result of global warming changes, long-predicted by scientists.

Many politicians see that these events are consistent with scientists’ warnings. Democratic and Republican presidential candidates alike are proposing solutions to the problem. In addition, Congress is considering multiple bills that would curb greenhouse gas emissions. But with a congressional eye on minimizing the causes and addressing the social and economic effects of climate change legislation, little attention has been directed toward minimizing the effects of global warming on our country’s lands, waters and its fish and wildlife resources.

That’s a mistake. By protecting, reconnecting and restoring already impaired natural systems, we can help them to recover their natural resiliency while also better protecting human communities from the effects of the warming climate — of the forest fires, floods and droughts that are here and will become more prevalent.

Scientists predict that over the next 50 years, July air temperatures across the country could increase 5.4 degrees Fahrenheit. That alone could profoundly harm trout and salmon. Without corrective action, U.S. Forest Service and university scientists project that well over half of the wild trout populations in the Appalachian Mountains and 60 percent of wild trout in the Intermountain West could be lost as a result of global warming. In the Pacific Northwest, already hard-pressed wild salmon populations could decline by 40 percent. Trout and salmon are indicators of the health of our lands and waters. It’s not just about the fish — communities will also be harmed by the increased occurrence of floods, fires and drought.

The challenge for Congress is to take advantage of the growing public awareness and concern about global warming, and to implement a coherent strategy that helps our lands and waters withstand the effects of a warming climate. Here’s how:

Protect the highest quality habitats for fish, wildlife and water resources. Publicly owned parks, forests, rangelands and refuges are the water towers of the nation. Protecting National Forest roadless areas, for example, serves to reduce water filtration costs for downstream communities and at the same time provides thermal refuges for fish and wildlife. Private ranchlands harbor important river reaches and big game habitats, many of which are threatened by development. Identifying and working with private landowners to protect high conservation value landscapes makes sense for both people and wildlife.

Reconnect rivers to floodplains and higher elevation streams to lower elevation lands. Obsolete dams, inefficient irrigation systems and state water laws that discourage water conservation all can be corrected to provide opportunities to conserve sources of drinking water for people while improving the likelihood that fish and wildlife can survive global warming.

Allowing tributaries to flow into rivers, and giving rivers access to floodplains is not only good for fish and wildlife; it is good for people, too. A fully reconnected river system means that surface waters will recharge and replenish underground aquifers — important sources of municipal drinking water. And healthy river systems minimize the potential for downstream flooding and improve soil productivity for people whose livelihoods depend on the land.

Engage communities in land and water restoration. In one generation, America has evolved from a nation where 60 percent lived in a rural society to where 80 percent of Americans now live in cities or suburbs. Climate change provides an important opportunity to remind us that we are still rooted in the health of our natural resources — where our food comes from, the origins of the power that heats our homes and where we get the fuel for our automobiles.

Engaging communities in restoration activities such as energy conservation, tree planting, open space preservation, and community planning will markedly improve the likelihood of survival for fish and wildlife through a warming climate. As a result, it will also improve the quality of life for Americans and reconnect communities to the lands and waters that sustain them.

If we somehow stopped all the causes of global warming today, we still would face a generational challenge of addressing the effects of a warming climate on human communities, as well as fish, wildlife and water resources.

While reducing greenhouse gas emissions remains a critical priority for Congress, in the final analysis, if we fail to protect, reconnect and restore the health of our lands and waters through climate change legislation, we may inadvertently fail our communities, too.

Charles Gauvin is the president and CEO of Trout Unlimited, 1300 North 17th Street, Suite 500, Arlington, Va. 22209; Web site: www.tu.org.