Written by Michael Hasson
The word recreation typically brings to mind pictures of leisure and relaxation. Recreation is often thought to be self-serving and beneficial in and of itself, with few larger positive impacts. At a talk given on Monday night, however, Professor Daniel McCool of the University of Utah showed why recreation is paramount to maintaining healthy ecology and clean water.
One of the first examples that he gave was the Embrey Dam on the Rappahannock River in Virginia. This dam was originally put in place in order to generate hydroelectric energy. However, by the mid-2000s, it had become derelict and no longer served any purpose. Despite not functioning as intended, it continued to prevent fish from swimming upstream. According to Professor McCool, due to the extensive damming of rivers along the eastern seaboard, Atlantic salmon are no longer a viable commercial fishery.
In order to combat this dam that was severely hurting the local ecology, locals formed a community action group called Save the Rappahannock. In an anecdote, Professor McCool said that this group invited a senator in charge of water rights in the area to come fish below the dam. After trying, unsuccessfully, to catch anything below the dam, locals explained that there were no fish there because of the blockage. After experiencing the negative effects of the dam personally, this senator pushed forward a bill to destroy the dam. The connection between recreation and the revival of healthy waterways was a constant theme throughout the talk, with several other stories similar to that of the Rappahannock. Among others were dams along the Penobscot River in Maine, the Bear River in Utah, and the White Salmon River in Washington state.
These water issues are becoming increasingly more pertinent in the western United States, where cities like Las Vegas and Los Angeles were built without a readily available water source. Simply diverting water from rivers—the decade-old solution for providing water to these cities—is no longer working. When rivers like the Colorado and Rio Grande run dry before reaching the ocean, there are serious ecological consequences.
Professor McCool’s primary solution to this issue is promotion of river recreation. In an age of vicarious adventure through movies and video games, McCool stated that it is essential for young people to form bonds with rivers in order to create motivation to save them. This will help to promote healthy environments and economies, as rivers can generate significant amounts of tourism.
In closing, Professor McCool left us with the powerful statement: “We all live downstream.” With 83 percent of rivers in the United States having been altered through dams, recreation provides a motivation to promote healthy ecosystems and economies.