SAN JACINTO RIVER MAKES MOST ENDANGERED LIST

By Ella Tyler

American Rivers, a national non-profit organization dedicated to protecting and restoring healthy natural rivers, has named the San Jacinto River as one of America’s Most Endangered Rivers of 2006. It is ninth on a list of ten rivers.

The river is best known as the site of the battle of San Jacinto, fought 170 years ago today. This is the battle in which Texan forces defeated a Mexican army and secured Texas’s independence.

The headwaters of the San Jacinto are near Huntsville. The river is dammed to create Lake Conroe and Lake Houston and then flows through much of eastern Harris County. It joins the Houston Ship Channel before flowing into Galveston Bay along the southeastern edge of the county.

The river is endangered by unregulated sand mining at its headwaters. Companies peel off huge swaths of forest to dig out the sand below, increasing sedimentation in the river and erosion of the river’s banks.

In addition to the river’s historic importance, the San Jacinto creates the western boundary of the Big Thicket, and the river and its tributaries still nurture the remnants of the region’s bottomland hardwood forests.

Lake Houston is a major source of water for Houston, and sediment from sand mining ends up in the lake and other area reservoirs, reducing the supply of clean drinking water.

The annual Most Endangered Rivers report highlights rivers having the most uncertain futures rather than the worst chronic problems. The report presents alternatives to proposals that would damage rivers and opportunities for the public to take action on behalf of each listed river. The San Jacinto was nominated for inclusion on the list by the San Jacinto Conservation Coalition and the Legacy Land Trust.

American Rivers and the two local nominating groups called on the Texas Legislature to develop effective sand mining regulations that require a buffer between water bodies and mining operations and additionally require reclamation measures after mining operations have ended.

The groups also asked Congress to fund acquisition of a key piece of the remaining bottomland hardwood forest along the river.

Wendee Holtcamp, founder of the San Jacinto Conservation Coalition, said, “The inclusion of the San Jacinto River on this list gives us the opportunity to change the course of the river’s future.”

The other rivers on this year’s list are the Pajaro River (California), Upper Yellowstone River (Montana), Willamette River (Oregon), Salmon Trout River (Michigan), Shenandoah River (Virginia and West Virginia), Boise River (Idaho), Caloosahatchee River (Florida), Bristol Bay (Alaska), and Verde River (Arizona).

The full report is available at http://www.americanrivers.org/endangeredrivers or http://www.sanjacinto.cc.