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Showing posts with label river. Show all posts
Showing posts with label river. Show all posts

4/22/24

Coastal Lake and River Trails

Historic Cultural and Culinary Traditions along America’s Waterways
There are many points of interest in the United States; we have selected anchor locations from which you can best base your travel movements, mindful that you are likely to visit three to four places in a compressed period of time, typically 7 to 10 days, and experience multiple interests that range from cultural to culinary, wellness and the environment.

Northeast Atlantic
The Hudson Valley extends 150 miles above the tip of Manhattan. Designated as a National Heritage Area, the valley is steeped in history, natural beauty, culture, food and farmers’ markets.
The Delaware rises in two branches and flows 419 miles – 674 Km – into Delaware Bay. Its watershed drains an area of 14,119 square miles - 36,570 km2 - in the five Atlantic Coast States of New York, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Delaware and Maryland. 
The Hudson and the Delaware were originally called the North and South Rivers
The Susquehanna River is 464 miles (747 km) long and is the longest river on the US East Coast. With its watershed, it is the 16th-largest river in the United States, and the longest river in the continental United States without commercial boat traffic today. In the Canal Era, navigation improvements were made to enhance the river for barge shipping by water on the Pennsylvania Canal.
The Lower Potomac, Anacostia, Patuxent and Wicomico rivers are among the major waterways in the region, but hundreds of smaller streams, creeks and rivers abound providing numerous opportunities for recreational boating.




Mid America
The Upper Mississippi is the portion of the river from Lake Itasca, Minnesota to Cairo, Illinois - 2000 km (1250 mi) where it joins the Ohio River. In terms of geology and hydrography, the Upper Mississippi River valley likely originated as an ice-marginal stream during the Nebraskan glaciation.
The Missouri is the longest river in North America, rising in the Rocky Mountains and flowing east and south for 2,341 miles - 3,767 km - before connecting with the Mississippi north of St. Louis.
The First Westward leg of the Pony Express was a Ferry across the Missouri River
American South
The Lower Mississippi River flows downstream from Cairo, Illinois and the confluence with the Ohio River, for 1600 Kilometers – 1000 miles – to the Gulf of Mexico. It is the most heavily traveled component of this river system. Unlike on the upper rivers, there are no locks and dams on the Lower Mississippi. The river is, however, constrained by levees and dams that control flooding and secure the navigation channel for barge traffic.
The Ohio River is formed by the confluence of the Allegheny and Monongahela Rivers in Pittsburgh. From there, it flows northwest before making an abrupt turn to the southwest at the Ohio, West Virginia and Pennsylvania border. The Ohio then follows a roughly west-northwest course until Cincinnati, before bending southwest for the remainder of its journey through the US Midwest and joining the Mississippi at Cairo, Illinois.
Ohio means the Good River in Iroquoian



The Rio Grande rises from south-central Colorado and flows to the Gulf of Mexico, acting as the border between Mexico and the United States; it is the fourth longest river system in North America.
The Rio Grande Flows for much of its Length at High Elevation
US West
The Colorado River flows from the Rocky Mountains through the Grand Canyon to the Gulf of California. With dramatic canyons and whitewater rapids, the Colorado is a vital source of water for agricultural and urban areas.
The Imperial Valley is the most Productive Winter Agricultural Region in the United States
The Platte River originates in Nebraska and is a tributary of the Missouri and Mississippi Rivers
The South Platte is the Principal Source of Water for Eastern Colorado
The American River runs from the Sierra Nevada to the San Joaquin Valley, eventually emptying into San Francisco Bay and the Pacific Ocean.
The Willamette River Valley basin contains two-thirds of Oregon's population and is one of the most fertile agricultural regions in North America, hence the destination of many 19th century pioneers traveling on the Oregon Trail. The river supports 60 fish species, including salmon and trout.
The Columbia is the largest river in the Pacific Northwest; its watershed extends into seven US states and a Canadian province. The river's heavy flow gives it tremendous potential for the generation of electricity with 14 Hydroelectric Dams.

The Best Way to Travel is in the Company of People that Live and Work in the Places You Visit

11/15/16

Streams Lakes Rivers and Tidal Waters Quality Planning



Your Community Water Quality Plan should list all of the waters significant enough to have a name and their quality condition expressed as: 
Excellent waters are fit for all human uses and can support sensitive fish and other aquatic creatures; 
Good waters can support a high number of game fish but not highly-sensitive organisms;
Fair waters support few game fish and are not suitable for swimming;
Poor quality waters support only the most pollution-tolerant organisms. 
Quality Considerations are based on Fish and other Biological Samplings
Watershed Land Use can be related to quality issues such as: forest covered watersheds are usually of excellent quality; a mix of forest and farms with good soil-water conservation practices produces good quality waters; a mix of farms, forest and suburban development yields fair quality waters; intense suburban-urban development usually results in poor water quality.

Watershed Percentage covered by buildings, streets, parking lots and other impervious surfaces also relates to aquatic resource quality as: excellent less than 5% impervious area; good less than 10% impervious area; fair less than 15% impervious area; and poor greater than 15% impervious area.
In addition to current quality, your plan should show how the health of named streams, rivers, lakes, reservoirs and tidal waters will change with anticipated growth. This can be determined by estimating how watershed impervious area changes with future growth.
Development Driven Aquatic Resource Damage can be prevented if the runoff from all new impervious surfaces drains with effective best management practices BMP. Waters degraded by past development can be restored if existing impervious areas are redeveloped with highly effective BMPs. The plan should describe the steps taken to ensure that all future development will fully utilize these highly-effective BMPs or explain why not. It must also set forth actions that restore fair or poor quality waters to a good condition.
Actions may include: retrofitting existing impervious surfaces with highly-effective BMPs, upgrading wastewater treatment plants and fixing sewers prone to overflows.  Only after these three steps are taken should in-stream restoration or tree planting be considered.

Frequently Asked Questions does the plan provide:
criteria for assessing the impact of past and anticipated growth
current quality of all named waters within the planning area
the quality of all named waters with anticipated growth
recommended actions for poor or fair quality waters in terms of:
restoring the waters to a good condition and the factual basis for the effectiveness of each action
the quality of named waters with anticipated growth
If all named waters are of good to excellent quality both presently and with anticipated growth then the score for this quality of life factor is 5 or A.
A New Plan for Your Area if your current plan is about to expire or rates poorly based on the Quality of Life Growth Management system, we can assist you in carrying out the outlined steps and/or conduct a community workshop and assist you in formulating a planning strategy for your community.




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