America's Most Endangered Rivers - (Page 26) NUMBER 4 N E W YORK , CA N A D A St. Lawrence River TH R E AT : OU T D AT E D D A M M A N A G E M E N T P L A N Summary The great St. Lawrence River provides drinking water, scenic beauty, recreation and economic opportunities for millions of people in the United States and Canada. But an outdated management plan created half a century ago has harmed the river’s health and is threatening its lucrative tourism and recreation economy, and quality of life. For the first time in 50 years the management plan is up for revision. The International Joint Commission (IJC), an independent, bi-national organization established by the Boundary Waters Treaty of 1909, must choose a plan that will restore the river’s health and benefit its many communities. The River Forming the border between Canada and the northeastern United States, the St. Lawrence River flows 744 miles from Lake Ontario into one of North America’s largest estuaries, the Gulf of St. Lawrence. The river has an enormous drainage area — 518,996 square miles — and forms the outflow for the Great Lakes, the world’s largest freshwater system. The river is known throughout the Northeast as one of the great freshwater sport fishing grounds for pike, bass and muskellunge, and also hosts a commercial fishery for American eel, the harvest of which has dramatically declined in recent years due to eel population losses. In fact, the American eel has recently been considered a candidate for listing under the Endangered Species Act, in large part due to the impact of dams and other habitat destruction. The river is home to many other endangered and threatened species such as the lake sturgeon, Eastern sand darter and peregrine falcon. The St. Lawrence River has served as a major transportation corridor for more than 200 years. Today, the ST. LAWRENCE RIVER AT-A-GLANCE RIVER LENGTH: 744 miles WATERSHED AREA: 518,996 square miles NUMBER OF CITIES WITH POPULATION GREATER THAN 100,000: 10 cities DID YOU KNOW? The St. Lawrence River drains the planet's largest freshwater body, the Great Lakes. A M E R I C A’ S M O S T E N DA N G E R E D R I V E R S ™ : 2 0 0 8 E D I T I O N | S T. L AW R E N C E R I V E R W W W. A M E R I C A N R I V E R S . O R G SAVETHERIVER.ORG http://www.americanrivers.org
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