Conserving the St. Lawrence River

While our class focuses on conservation issues within the Adirondack Park, we often overlook the problems that arise when trying to protect areas outside of the Blue Line. The St. Lawrence River, which intersects upstate New York and Canada, has recently been titled one of the 10 most endangered rivers in the country (Botero, 2016). The river’s fate currently lies in the hands of U.S. and Canadian government leaders, where it has been languishing for the past two years. The St. Lawrence River is an incredibly unique, biodiverse and currently polluted ecosystem whose future depends on drastic, international government action.

                  The St. Lawrence River is a unique freshwater ecosystem that nearby American and Canadian settlements have greatly impacted. The St. Lawrence River is one of the largest rivers in the world, linking the Great Lakes to the Atlantic Ocean (Save The River). As the only natural outflow to the Great Lakes, the health of the St. Lawrence is directly tied to the health of the Great Lakes (Save The River). The Upper St. Lawrence River forms a unique island paradise known as the Thousand Islands, consisting of 1,864 islands, which provide a variety of habitats supporting all kinds of plants and wildlife (Save The River). The River is also home to extensive wetlands, which provide filtration for run-off, flood retention, and nursery grounds for key species (Save The River). However, the construction of the Moses-Saunders dam has altered water-levels in the River, causing the loss of 64,000 acres of wetlands and the loss of 70% of the pike population (Botero, 2016). Pollution and run-off has also become a huge problem for the River; industrial and urban waste runs off from surrounding cities, and it is even legal for boaters to dump raw sewage into the river (Botero, 2016; Save The River). 

                  The conservation plan to protect the St. Lawrence River must go through a very different governmental process than conservation plans in the Adirondacks. The plan, titled Plan 2014, has already passed through most legislative steps of both the U.S. and the Canadian government (Botero, 2016).  The plan works to prevent further pollution and restore the water levels closer to the river’s natural conditions (Botero, 2016). However, the plan has languished in government limbo for almost two years, awaiting the signature from the U.S. Secretary of State and the Minister of Foreign Affairs in Canada (Botero, 2016). With those two signatures, the plan could go into place and begin the second largest restoration in the U.S., only behind the restoration of the Everglades (Botero, 2016). What struck me about this conservation issue is how different it is from the Adirondacks; for conservation plans to be passed in the Park, the majority of New York State citizens must approve amendments to the New York constitution. Here, the fate of the entire St. Lawrence River falls into the hands of only two people.

Sources

Botero, Julia.  St. Lawrence River Makes List of 10 Most Endangered U.S. Rivers. North Country Public Radio; April 12, 2016. Web. Accessed April 18, 2016.

St. Lawrence River Ecosystem. Save The River; n.d. Web. Accessed April 18, 2016.