Excerpts from the Globe’s environmental blog.
There is strength in numbers, and during these tight budget times, advocates for many of the nation’s large waterways are banding together to lobby Congress on issues ranging from development to water quality.
Last week, supporters of nine waterways, including Narragansett Bay and other southern New England waters, joined America’s Great Waters Coalition, which already has 10 members.
“We have come a long way to address the traditional water-quality problems and industrial pollution from cities, but we still have tremendous problems,’’ said John Torgan, Narragansett Baykeeper for Rhode Island-based Save the Bay. He said nutrient pollution and storm water runoff are just some of the problems. “We are finding new challenges.’’
The coalition was launched 18 months ago as organizers watched funding disappear for water issues — but also noted the success people in the Great Lakes region had in getting Congress to set aside $475 million for those water bodies’ restoration.
“That was the inspiration,’’ said Peter Alexander, director of the Northeast Great Waters Coalition. “And now we have 19 great waters representing approximately 35 states — it adds a considerable amount of clout.’’
In its first year, Alexander says, the coalition has worked with Congress to advance dozens of restoration measures, argued for improvements in water projects, and worked on a court brief that highlights the impact of manmade climate change on water resources.
Today, Alexander sees the biggest challenge as water quality and habitat restoration, saying if the country fails to address significant problems from fisheries to sewage discharges there will be “dramatic economic costs.’’
But it will not be easy to get money for restoration. For example, a Gulf of Maine study noted there should be a $3 billion investment to ensure a healthy Gulf ecosystem.
The new designees include New York/New Jersey Harbor Estuary, Delaware River, Albemarle-Pamlico Sound, Ohio River, Missouri River, Colorado River, Rio Grande, and Galveston Bay.
They join the original 10 designees: Great Lakes, Gulf of Maine, Lake Champlain, Chesapeake Bay, Puget Sound, San Francisco Bay, Coastal Louisiana, Everglades, Mississippi River, and Long Island Sound.
BETH DALEY
Restoring Eel River When the news is filled with civil wars, natural disasters, and nuclear crises, I’m on the lookout for stories of renewal and hope.
The restoration of Plymouth’s Eel River is just that: A partnership of multiple groups came together to restore 40 acres of wetlands, plant more than 24,000 trees, remove dams, and expand culverts in an attempt to restore the river’s headwaters to their natural state.
The land, which had been cranberry bogs, is now protected open space with public walking trails, a new footbridge, fishing, and bird-watching. Volunteers, including a Boy Scout troop, helped to plant some of the 17,000 Atlantic white cedars in the headwaters bogs.
The cedars are a rare wetland species, because of development in their limited habitat. The cedars are not the only thing that has returned to the area; in upper parts of the river, scientists have found spawning brook trout, a species that has not been seen there in about 150 years.
The project was the result of a partnership between many groups, including the Town of Plymouth, the Nature Conservancy, American Rivers, and the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection.
Dara Olmsted 
