American Rivers gets $1 million to improve waterways
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American Rivers will use a $1 million grant from the Richard King Mellon Foundation to remove unneeded dams and restore rivers and streams in western Pennsylvania and Georgia.
The national river conservation organization will use $600,000 to identify three to five dams for removal in the Laurel Highlands, French Creek watershed in northwestern Pennsylvania and western and central northern tier counties collectively known as the "Pennsylvania Wilds."
"The specific projects have not been identified yet," said Lisa Hollingsworth-Segedy, associate director for River Restoration in American Rivers western Pennsylvania field office.
"We're going to be looking at projects on a watershed basis and making selections based on where we can get the biggest environmental gains," she said.
Ms. Hollingsworth-Segedy said American Rivers will partner with other conservation organizations for the river restoration work and seek additional foundation funding for the dam removal work, which will cost "several million dollars."
Those organizations include the Foundation for Pennsylvania Watersheds, the French Creek Valley Conservancy, the Western Pennsylvania Conservancy, the Laurel Highlands Conservation Landscape Initiative, local watershed groups and county conservation districts.
"We want to build on work that's already being done and been done by various groups," Ms. Hollingsworth-Segedy said. "And in cultivating specific projects, it's important to have a willing dam owner."
There are approximately 7,000 dams in Pennsylvania, many of them in poor condition, no longer useful and blocking fish migration, she said.
About 75 percent of those dams, many of them small, are privately owned.
In Georgia, American Rivers will spend $400,000 in the Flint River watershed to restore natural water flows and lead a long-term river protection strategy to benefit local communities.
First Published August 4, 2011 12:00 am
