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Local experts don’t seem too concerned the St. Lawrence River has been named one of the 10 most endangered rivers in the U.S. because it has adapted well over time.
“The river isn’t even what it was 15 years ago, so if your definition of endangered is relative to what the natural state was . . . then definitely, it’s in the endangered status.,” said Dr. Jeff Ridal of the St. Lawrence River Institute of Environmental Sciences. Nonetheless, he says the river is still a fairly reliable source of drinking water, fish and a good setting for recreational boating.
According to the Associated Press, environmentalists would rather see the waterway return to a more natural water cycle, as it was before hydroelectric dams were built, but Ridal said that’s an unrealistic and potentially dangerous expectation.
“Lake Ontario would become destabilized if a more natural plan was put in place,” Ridal said. “Steps would have to be taken to stabilize the shoreline first.”
Elaine Kennedy, a Cornwall environmental advocate who participated in a recent study of the river by the International Joint Commission (ICJ) – an independent U.S.-Canadian agency that regulates transboundary waters – to regulate water levels along the St. Lawrence and on Lake Ontario, added that staging a return to the natural water flow would entail removing all the dams on the river, a completely unrealistic expectation because of modern power demands.
Furthermore, Ridal criticized expectations such as those of river guide Bruce Hazen, who bemoaned the decrease in the river’s fisheries compared to almost 30 years ago when he could catch 40 walleyes in a day. Ridal said the days of plentiful fish shouldn’t have been taken of advantage then and won’t return again.
“You have to ask yourself, is catching that number of fish in a day sustainable?” Ridal said. “What the public sees as healthy is not necessarily what a biologist sees as healthy.”
The endangered river list, released Thursday by American Rivers, followed the unveiling of the new plan by the ICJ three weeks ago. Much like the original plan outlined in 1956, the amendment shares the goal of reducing the occurrence of extreme high and low water levels.
Scientific research has shown the current plan to have significantly decreased the diversity of plant species in river wetlands and affected populations of fish and other wildlife.
Ridal said the introduction of newer, exotic species such as zebra mussels and the bloody red shrimp have and potentially could upset the food chain.
Toxic substances such as DDT and PCB continue to be a threat to the river, but Ridal said considerable progress has been made in “turning off those taps as best we can,” but there are always new contaminants getting into the water.
Kennedy says the new plan does give more consideration to environmental factors, but acknowledges the river will never return to its natural state.
“One of the things (the ICJ) hopes to do is help coastal wetlands by, when we are in a high period, let it stay high for a while,” Kennedy said. “When we’re in a low period, let it stay low for a while; give a bit of change to those coastal wetlands.”
She said the paths of fish and water creatures, such as the American eel, has been seriously impeded.
In lieu of removing a dam to aid them, Kennedy is pleased to see efforts such as putting up eel ladders and hopes the new plan can alleviate the problems of the old plan, including strategies to protect spawning areas.