Why I like American Rivers
From a recent (opportunistic) press release (because floods are usually followed by a flurry of infrastructure projects):
Throughout much of American history, rivers have been treated as problems that must be “solved” through large scale and expensive engineering projects. As a result, rivers have been clogged with dams, straightened and channelized, cut off from their floodplains and even buried underground. But these approaches have often exacerbated the very problems they were meant to solve, and have saddled communities with long-term costs they cannot afford. Despite spending more than $25 billion on federal levees and dams, our nation’s flood losses continue to rise.
“American Rivers is committed to helping Massachusetts bring flood management into the 21st century,” said Stephanie Lindloff, river restoration program director for American Rivers. “Levees and other structural solutions will continue to be part of the flood management strategy in some communities that must protect existing development within floodplains, but the real answer to long-term safety and well-being lies in working with nature, not against it.”