Tippets: Reconnecting Rivers, Lake Michigan’s King Salmon, How Dams are Removed, Young Fish and Microbeads

June 8, 2016 By: Erin Block

  • Stemming from the famous sentence penned by Norman Maclean, Jeff Opperman writes about the importance of free-flowing rivers. “A better phrase may be: and fish still run through it. For if the fish are moving through that means your river remains connected to the rest of the landscape, up and down. It captures whether a river is all it once was or, more importantly, all that it could be.” Via National Geographic.
  • Over the past few years, population of king salmon in Lake Michigan have drastically decreased. “While invasive species like the zebra and quagga mussel have diminished the food supply for King Salmon, a large part of the population decline was by design.” This piece by Phil Schwarz examines the issue via ABC News.
  • Removing a dam is more complicated than just blowing it up. A recent piece on American Rivers examines how dams are removed. “The truth is that, when it comes to dam removal and river restoration, explosives are used only on rare occasions and largely to help dismantle the structure and make excavation easier.”
  • New research has discovered that larval fish eat plastic microbeads, often found in soaps and hair products, which stunts their growth and makes them more vulnerable to predators. The study is published in the journal Science.