Watershed manifesto

We have not cared well for our rivers. America contains over 3.2 million miles of rivers, of which only 2% are untouched by humans. We have impoverished a riverine network that supports a greater diversity of species than any other temperate region on the planet. Citing history, science and ecology, Ellen Wohl delivers a passionate wake-up call to preserve our watery lifelines, urging us to view holistically the connections between rivers and landscapes.

She begins by introducing the basic physical, chemical and biological processes of rivers, and then addresses the effects of settlement, expansion and disastrous federal attempts to manage, and later rehabilitate, complex watersheds. A chilling series of maps and graphs underscore the pervasive poisoning of our land by agro-chemicals and pollutants, buttressed by case studies of such vanishing icons as the American alligator, the ancient paddlefish, great salamanders and song birds. It’s an exhaustive, thoughtful, gut-wrenching book. We ignore what she tells us at our peril.

-- Susan Dworski