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In 2002, The Nature Conservancy and the Army Corps of Engineers formed a partnership to restore and preserve rivers across the country. Under the Sustainable Rivers Program, the Conservancy and the Corps work together to improve dam management in order to protect the ecological health of rivers and surrounding natural areas while continuing to provide services such as flood control and power generation. Currently, the Sustainable Rivers Project is working on 11 rivers with 26 dams that flow through 13 states. This partnership has demonstrated that science-guided adjustments to dam operations can improve river health while maintaining other valuable economic services.
This request for an authorization of $125 million annually would expand the Sustainable Rivers Program to the more than 600 Corps-managed dams across the nation. Of those funds, $25 million would be made available for dam flow redesign and implementation of new flow requirements to enhance natural conditions in rivers while maintaining operations. The remaining $100 million would be used for property acquisition in floodplains, with a 35 percent non-federal match, in order to enhance more natural water flows and reduce flood risks to communities by conserving and restoring floodplains. These funds will improve the health of tens of thousands of river miles across the nation by using science to help guide adjustments to dam operations and restore associated floodplains to better protect water quality, fish and wildlife, and habitat while preserving other benefits that dams provide to society such as flood protection, hydroelectric power, water supply, and recreation.
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