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--~-~----- -- ~ . Page 2 WRW washn x x x late A Capitol Hill staffer told WRW that AR was asked to testify on CAP and to discuss water policy generally because AR has put together a solid professional staff and because the National wildlife Federation, largest of the environmental lobbies, recently phased out its water division. When this WRW editor visited AR's Capitol Hill headquarters office here last month to find out first-hand why this relatively new environmental lobby was suddenly a factor in shaping water policy, the word was out that AR's Norcross would be on the tube that night talking about a new urban river bill that AR helped draft which will soon be introduced. MEMBERSHIP SURGES WITH MORE ACTIVITIES, HIGHER BUDGET AR has grown from a seed group of 33 river enthusiasts with a $5,000 budget in 1973, to a membership of 7,000 with a professional staff of seven and a budget of $860,000 in 1987, to a membership of more than 15,000 today with a professional staff of 11 and a budget of $2.3 million. Its goal is "to protect and restore America's river systems." It has a functional headquarters office here in a nondescript building about eight blocks from the U.S. Capitol. According to Scootch Panko- nin, a former member of the AR board of directors, AR recently added a l4-member advisory scientific and technical committee "that is first- rate." Of the 13 scientists on the committee, seven are from the West. Annually AR holds a news conference in mid-year and announces the most endangered rivers for the year, either because of degradation or because of potential harm from mining projects or hydroelectric develop- ments, which AR abhors. The three top endangered rivers for 1993 were the Rio Grande in Colorado, New Mexico, Texas, and Mexicol the Columbia/ Snake River system including the Yakima tributary in Washington, Oregon, Idaho and Canada, and the Everglades in Florida because of degradation and a sharp decline in fish species. WRW asked Pontius on Jan. 10 to name the half-dozen rivers, particularly in the West, which suffer most from degradation at the present time. Still tops, he said, are the Rio Grande, which is a cesspool of pollution from industrial plants and from untreated sewage along the Mexican borderl the Columbia because of con- tinued decline in the native salmon populationl the Everglades, due to pollution from agriculture and animal waste and declining bird popula- tionsl the Gila-San Pedro River System in Arizona, which is the only river system in the country that has already lost or is about to lose all of its native fish speciesl the Rogue-Illinois in Oregon because overcutting old growth forests in the area has wiped out much of its native salmon populationl the Platte in Nebraska and portions of other tributaries to the Missouri River because of loss of migratory birdsl and the Los Angeles River in California due to channelization. And the half dozen rivers in the West in the best shape? WRW asked Pontius. AR concentrates on the basket cases. But after thinking the question over, Pontius named among the healthiest and most beautiful rivers in the West today as the Clavey River in the high Sierra in Cal- Hornial 40-Mile River in Alaskal the Selway and Middle Fork of the Salmon in Idahol the Upper Black River and Arivaia Creek in Arizonal and the South Fork of the Flathead and Smith River in Montana. The AR Board of Directors decided in 1992 to adopt a five-year plan focusing on watershed protection and restoration. AR's current priori- ties are focusing on in-stream flows and riparian areas, protection of nationally significant rivers and endangered aquatic and riparian spe- cies, hydropower reform, emphasis on Western water and in-stream flows, clean water protection and urban rivers. (more)