Water and Wildlife
You drink it. You cook with it. You bathe with it. You play in it. How often do you stop and think about it? If you're like many Americans, you probably don't give water much thought. But today is a good day to change that.
People and wildlife depend on water to live, but if we don't make efforts to conserve and protect this valuable resource, we may be putting all living beings at risk.
Wildlife and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers
America's wildlife needs healthy aquatic ecosystems to survive. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is the nation's largest water management agency and is responsible for many water projects. While many water projects have helped promote the nation's economic development, too many have not produced the benefits promised and needlessly harm wildlife and wild places at enormous taxpayer expense.
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is responsible for:
- 1,481 projects under construction
- 926 coastal and inland harbors
- 11,000 miles of commercial navigation channels
- 8,500 miles of levees and floodwalls
- 276 locks at 230 sites
- 383 major lakes and reservoirs
- 75 hydropower facilities
The National Wildlife Federation works to ensure the Corps keeps in mind wildlife, plants and fish when planning, constructing and operating projects. Find out how some controversial Corps projects are affecting these animals:
Black Bear
The Corps has proposed a number of projects in the Lower Mississippi Delta region that threaten important habitat for black bear. These ill-conceived projects suffer from a host of environmental and economic problems. However, NWF and other organizations have shown that there is a better way to accomplish the project goals with less environmentally impact and at far less cost.
Mallard
A large concentration of mallards fly along the Mississippi River corridor during their annual migrations. Arkansas' White and Cache River National Wildlife Refuges are home to the largest concentration of mallards in North America making their annual visit. Corps projects threaten the habitat of this popular duck and could hurt the region's multi-million dollar eco-tourism and recreation industries.
Piping Plover
The Corps is combating mother nature along the nation's coasts by dredging and pumping millions of cubic yards of sand to try to keep beaches stay put. It is an expensive, and at best temporary, "solution" to beach erosion as waves and wind continue to pound the shore. The process of pumping and bulldozing the sand can damage the habitat of shorebirds like the threatened piping plover, as well as sea turtles and other marine life.
Chinook Salmon
For salmon making their way up river to spawn, dams are a huge barrier to survival. We're spending millions of dollars each year on failing attempts to save salmon and steelhead, such as barging and trucking the fish around the Corps dams on the Lower Snake River, even though partially removing the dams would be more economical and effective. Removing dams and replacing them with energy efficiency measures could create thousands of jobs in the Northwest.
Bald Eagle
The Corps maintains a system of 37 locks and dams for barges on the Upper Mississippi and Illinois Rivers. The navigation system and levees have destroyed important habitat for fish, which is a major source of food for the bald eagle. In the uppermost reach of the Mississippi, the Corps maintains 3 locks and dams, despite nearly non-existent barge traffic. Without these 3 locks and dams, critical habitat for the bald eagle and the fish it eats could be restored.
These are just a few of the animals that are affected by Corps water resources projects. The National Wildlife Federation's report called Crossroads: Congress, The Corps of Engineers and the Future of America's Water Resources (Adobe PDF document, 3 Mb) outlines some of the most damaging projects and provides recommendations for greening the Corps.
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