Published

2 years ago

January 12, 2024

Alice Rush

In 1968, the U.S. government passed the Wild and Scenic Rivers Act, designating the first eight free-flowing rivers as protected — the Rio Grande, Rogue, Clearwater, St. Croix, Eleven Point, Idaho’s Salmon and Wolf Rivers.

Today, there are 226 wild and scenic rivers and streams covering more than 13,4000 miles in the national Wild and Scenic Rivers System. In partnership with the public, the U.S. Forest Service works to protect the water quality and free flowing nature of these waterways, as well as safeguard them from development, overuse and other destructive impacts.

Here are some of the country’s most spectacular wild and scenic rivers you might want to explore on your next outdoor adventure.

Snake River, Wyoming, Idaho & Washington

*Whitewater rafting on the Snake River near Jackson, Wyoming. christiannafzger / iStock / Getty Images Plus*

Designated as a Wild and Scenic River in 2009, the Snake River flows 1,078 miles through the mountains, valleys and grasslands of Washington, Idaho and Wyoming, where it originates. It flows through Yellowstone National Park, as well as the cities of Idaho Falls, Twin Falls, Boise, Jackson and Lewiston, with spectacular views from the Hells Canyon gorge.

“While cruising my motorcycle down through the Hell’s Canyon area of the Snake River on a hot summer day, I literally felt like I was being poured into one of the most memorable and vivid displays of nature’s beauty that I can remember. The canyon walls, steep elevation changes and the winding road itself made for a magnificent and memorable experience, and I remember thinking to myself as I roared down the road, ‘This is exactly why I ride,’” Harley rider and nature enthusiast Patrick Roat told EcoWatch.

The Snake River empties into the Columbia River — which forms the border of Oregon and Washington — and is its largest tributary. While it was once the spawning grounds of over two million wild steelhead and salmon, these species are now threatened or extinct in the Snake River and its tributaries. Their biggest threat are four dams — built in the 1960s and ’70s — upstream of the lower 48 states’ biggest freshwater salmon habitat.

A federal court-ordered review was done by the government in 2016 of whether to keep the outdated dams in place, and the decision was to keep them intact.

“As scientists, tribes, and fishermen all warned, these four dams decimated the Snake River’s salmon and steelhead. The four dams transformed the Lower Snake River into a series of warm, shallow lakes where predators, dam turbines, and hot water kill too many migrating salmon,” Columbia Riverkeeper wrote.

The lives of Snake River steelhead and salmon begin in the mountains of Washington, Oregon and Idaho, before the young fish head to the ocean. They spend several years there before traveling the more than 900 miles to the Salmon River’s headwaters in Idaho. There they spawn at the highest elevations of any steelhead or salmon on Earth.

“The Snake cuts through my hometown of Idaho Falls. I love that river and the falls — once natural but now a source of hydroelectricity. I remember Terry Tempest Williams saying something about how the kind of water we grow up around profoundly affects us, imprints itself upon us. She was talking about the Great Salt Lake, but I was thinking while she was talking about my Snake. I grew up admiring that river but also fearing her, like a wild and strong mother. She mesmerized me and terrified me. On the surface the Snake is so seemingly placid, but she’s also fast. And underneath, there is so much happening because of the rocky river bottom, the pull of the undertows,” writer and teacher Carissa Neff told EcoWatch.

When visiting the Snake River region, you can expect to see plenty of wildlife, including moose, elk, pronghorn, mountain goats, American beavers, North American river otters, marmots and coyotes. Approximately 300 bird species grace the skies of the area around the river, from eagles and osprey to the great gray owl, peregrine falcon, calliope hummingbird and trumpeter swan.

There are a variety of campgrounds along the river, including the Miracle and Banbury Hot Springs, which feature geothermal hot springs, a massage center and kayak rentals.

Rogue River, Oregon

^{Juliana Statius Muller rowing a purple whitewater cataraft on the Rogue River. John Jones}

At 215 miles long, the lower portion of Oregon’s Rogue River was one of the original Wild and Scenic Rivers Act designations of 1968. The wild and scenic Lower Rogue River runs 84 miles from the Applegate River mouth — about six miles from Grants Pass — to the Lobster Creek Bridge.

The Rogue originates in the Cascades on Mt. Mazama’s western slopes — not far from Crater Lake National Park — before emptying into the Pacific at Gold Beach. The river is famous for its whitewater rafting and salmon and steelhead runs.

A war between white settlers who had come to the region during the Gold Rush and members of the Takelma, Athabaskan and Oregon Shasta Native American Tribes resulted in Tribal members being forced from their land onto reservations in 1856. Their descendants are members of today’s Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde and Siletz.

In addition to Chinook and coho salmon, green sturgeon, steelhead and cutthroat trout, the Rogue is home to Roosevelt elk, black bears, otters, black-tailed deer, American beaver, ospreys, green herons, great blue herons, red-winged blackbirds, Steller’s jays, woodpeckers, Canada geese, kingfishers and bald eagles.

Among the many hiking options along the river, the 40-mile Rogue River National Recreation Trail will take you along its wild and scenic section from Grave Creek to Big Bend. Along the trail you will have opportunities to encounter spectacular waterfalls, wildlife, wildflowers and historical sites.

Other trails along the Rogue River include the 1.1-mile Redwood Nature Trail loop that begins near Brookings, Oregon; the 9.5-mile Wagner Butte Trail — an out-and-back hike near Ashland; and the moderately difficult 0.8-mile out-and-back National Falls Creek Trail near Prospect, Oregon.

The Wild Rogue Wilderness canyon that surrounds the river gives watershed protection for its wild and scenic portion, which features vertical cliffs with sharp-edged ridges. Here you’ll find striking geological formations, old-growth forests and pristine meadows with wildflowers like redwood sorrel, wild ginger, mock orange and red flowering currant.

*The Rogue River in Oregon. alacatr / iStock / Getty Images Plus*

Large cedar, Shasta red fir and white fir trees hug the upper portion of the river, while broadleaf evergreens, a variety of conifers and deciduous trees grow further downstream. The whole Rogue River canyon is populated by enormous Douglas fir, ponderosa pine, Jeffrey pine, oak, manzanita and madrone trees.

Another of the many wonderful things about the wild and scenic section of the Rogue River is that — in addition to many unmarked, established campsites — camping is allowed anywhere along the river that is “physically suitable for your group,” according to the Bureau of Land Management.

“Around the second half of October each year, the Wild and Scenic section of the Rogue River might include some fun Halloween surprises – in the form of cute miniature pumpkins. The pumpkins start appearing on mid-channel rocks on both sides of the river between Alameda campground and Foster Bar. I have yet to see who places the pumpkins, but it is really fun to see a little pumpkin on a rock in the middle of a rapid, right where you need to make a move with your oars,” adventurer Sarah Strock told EcoWatch.

McKenzie River, Oregon

*The McKenzie River in Willamette National Forest, Oregon. Prisma by Dukas / Universal Images Group via Getty Images*

My favorite river in Oregon, the stunning McKenzie River was given wild and scenic status in 1988. It originates in the Central Cascade Mountains at Clear Lake, flowing southwest through Willamette National Forest.

The cool, clear McKenzie runs beneath cedar, pine and maple trees. And on sunny days, the dappled river flows over the millennia of cobbles and hardened lava of the ancient riverbed.

The upper portion of the McKenzie River Basin was shaped by volcanic activity and lava flows that formed waterfalls, pools and whitewater. Clear Lake was carved out by a basaltic lava flow, and lava flows also created the river’s Koosah and Sahalie waterfalls. These aspects of the river provide magnificent views for hiking and kayaking, as well as extraordinary whitewater rafting.

The McKenzie is home to a host of fish species, including wild spring Chinook salmon and native rainbow, cutthroat and bull trout.

The McKenzie River National Recreation Trail offers 26 miles of spectacular “easy” level hiking for all ages and recreational opportunities along the river, including 11 trailheads, campgrounds and views of Tamolitch, Koosah and Sahalie Falls.

Close to the McKenzie River National Recreation Trail is the McKenzie Bridge Campground, which offers 20 campsites tucked beneath western red cedar and Douglas-fir trees, all with river access.

Klamath River, Oregon & California

*Tourists paddle along the Klamath River in traditional canoes handcrafted from redwood trees. Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times*

Another magical Western U.S. waterway — added to the National Wild & Scenic Rivers System in 1981 — is the Klamath River. The 257-mile blue-green river originates on a plateau in South-Central Oregon, east of the Cascades. Underground springs swell from cracks in the volcanic rock, feeding the river. Other sources include the Williamson, Sprague, Wood and Sycan rivers, Upper Klamath Lake and the region’s wetlands and marshes.

The Klamath River Basin stretches through parts of six Oregon and California counties and has been the territory of several Native American Tribes — including the Shasta, Hupa, Klamath, Yurok and Karuk — for thousands of years. The river’s once-plentiful salmon were harvested by the Tribes sustainably using weirs.

There are currently dams on the Klamath River that block salmon habitat and create water quality issues, but they are scheduled to be removed, and one has already been taken down. In addition to coho and Chinook salmon, the glittering river supports populations of steelhead trout whose populations have been cut by approximately 95 percent.

“Four dams along the Klamath River, which runs from Oregon into northwestern California, are scheduled to be removed in 2023 and 2024 – Copco No. 1, Copco No. 2, Iron Gate, and JC Boyle. These dams total 400 vertical feet and choke fish passage along hundreds of miles of waterways, making this a historic opportunity and one of the largest dam removal projects to date. And construction has started!” the American Rivers said.

Some of the more than 430 species of wildlife — including 263 types of birds — who call the Klamath River Basin home include elk, antelope, pronghorn, black bears, cougars, mule deer and river otters. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, as well as the states of California and Oregon, have designated dozens of these species “at risk” or “of concern” due to shrinking populations and habitat loss. As the largest freshwater wetlands found west of the Mississippi, the basin is essential for the region’s fish and wildlife.

The Klamath River rushes through several wilderness areas and national forests on its journey west and south, including Klamath National Forest in Oregon and Six Rivers National Forest in California.

This wild and scenic river has hundreds of trail miles to hike — including the nine-mile Klamath River Trail loop and the Pacific Crest Trail, which crosses the river near the town of Seiad Valley, California — as well as five wilderness areas nearby.

The post 4 Must-See Wild & Scenic Rivers in the U.S. appeared first on EcoWatch.

https://www.ecowatch.com/wild-scenic-rivers-us-ecowatch.html

Green Living

Earth911 Inspiration: Love of Nature Transcends

Published

1 day ago

May 29, 2026

Alice Rush

This week’s quote is from Jimmy Carter, the 39th president of the U.S., philanthropist, and environmental advocate: “Like music and art, love of nature is a common language that can transcend political or social boundaries.”

Earth911 inspirations. Post them, share your desire to help people think of the planet first, every day. Click the poster to get a larger image.

This poster was originally published on February 7, 2020.

The post Earth911 Inspiration: Love of Nature Transcends appeared first on Earth911.

https://earth911.com/inspire/earth911-inspiration-love-of-nature-transcends-jimmy-carter/

Green Living

Outdoor Projects You Can DIY for Almost Nothing

Published

2 days ago

May 28, 2026

Alice Rush

It always strikes us as amusing how many DIY projects you see online that seem to require more time and more money than it would take to simply buy the thing they’re trying to DIY in the first place. Are we missing the point?

We think that doing things ourselves and taking back the power to create instead of simply consuming is absolutely vital to the green movement. But if you don’t already have the materials and spend a lot of money purchasing craft supplies, does it really make sense to DIY?

These eight projects are true do-it-yourself masterpieces. One-of-a-kind outdoor projects you can make for almost nothing, with supplies you most likely already have or can easily pick up second hand for a song. Roll up your sleeves and let’s get started!

1. Teapot/Teacup Bird Feeder

Idea and photo credit: Dinah Wulf, DIY Inspired

Do you have one of Grandma’s old tea sets lying around that doesn’t quite fit into the sleek modern aesthetic you’ve been cultivating? Put it to great use by feeding the birds in your area — in style.

Thrift stores are always awash in old china, so if you don’t already have the old tea set, consider going wild and spending a few bucks for this DIY delight. You’ll find blogger Dinah Wulf’s instructions for the teacup bird feeder at DIY Inspired.

Safety note: Use sturdy twine or cord — not chain — to hang the feeder. Birds can catch their toes in chain links, which causes serious injury. The National Audubon Society also recommends cleaning seed feeders every two weeks (more often in hot, humid weather) by scrubbing with soap and water and soaking in a 50-50 vinegar-water solution to prevent the spread of avian disease.

2. Gardening Tool Storage

DIY rake gardening holder — Idea and photo credit: Beth Logan, Artstuff Ltd.

What on earth do you do with those rusty-as-heck, old-school garden rakes hanging around your garage? Well, if you’re any sort of DIY genius, you press them into service as a gardening tool holder.

The original inspiration for this project came from Beth Logan at Artstuff Ltd., whose blog has since gone offline. For a current walkthrough, see the Repurposed Rake Tool Rack tutorial at DIY n Crafts (project #14 in their roundup of 25 ways to reuse old garden tools). The concept is embarrassingly simple — remove the rake handle, mount the head tines-out on a fence or garage wall, and use the tines themselves as hooks for trowels, gloves, and pruners — but eye-catching enough to make you look like a DIY pro.

3. Bottle Tree

A bottle tree, image courtesy of Felderrushing.blog

Do you like wine? No, I mean do you really like wine? Do you want a reason to drink more of it? And does your garden need a cute border? This sustainable, upcycled garden border may be just the project for you. You might have to expand your drinking list to include bottles of various shapes, sizes, and colors — but variety is the spice of life.

When friends ask how you managed to collect so many bottles, just laugh gaily and then distract them with your dainty teacup bird feeder. The bottle tree tradition itself runs deep — Mississippi garden writer Felder Rushing traces the practice back through African American Southern folk art and, by his own research, as far as ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia. See his bottle tree gallery and history for inspiration, or jump straight to his how-to guide for building one out of a cedar snag, rebar, or just about anything else.

4. Colorful Outdoor “Tiles”

Painted Patio Tiles — Idea and photo credit: Elsie Larson, A Beautiful Mess

If your backyard isn’t perfectly landscaped and manicured, with an impeccably tiled “outdoor living space,” don’t despair. You can use up all those half-empty paint cans and create a Pinterest-worthy colorful backdrop for evenings spent clustered around a fire or barbecue.

Pop a few coats of paint on cement tiles and you have a one-of-a-kind flooring solution. If you rent, the same effect could be achieved on a more temporary basis by letting the kids go wild with sidewalk chalk and create a mosaic masterpiece. Check out Elsie’s Painted Patio Tiles at A Beautiful Mess for the back story on this DIY idea. (Heads up: the original author noted she had to touch up the paint each spring in Missouri winters — a porch and patio floor enamel will hold up better than wall paint.)

5. Home Sweet Gnome

Idea and photo credit: Jennifer Pilcher, Snapguide

Okay, this one might be the least practical idea of the bunch, but that may be why I love it oh so much. If you have a stump in your backyard and you’re not willing or able to pay the truly insane amount it costs to have it ground down and removed, how about making it into a little gnome home? This is the perfect outdoor project if you have small children in your life.

Construct the trappings of a little house — door, windows, winding garden path — from found objects or natural materials, and affix them to the stump. Bonus points if you don’t tell the kids about this particular DIY project and allow them to simply stumble upon it one day in the garden. My mind would have been blown if I had come across one of these as a seven-year-old. For a step-by-step build, see this Gnome Tree Stump Home tutorial on Instructables.

Safety note: Don’t use an angle grinder to gouge windows or doors into a stump. Use a chisel and mallet for shallow detail work, or attach decorative pieces (driftwood, bark, polymer clay) to the outside instead.

6. Mosaic Stepping Stones from Broken China

Every household eventually accumulates a small graveyard of chipped mugs, a single survivor from a four-piece dinner set, or a beloved teapot with a hairline crack. Rather than tossing them — broken ceramics generally aren’t accepted in curbside recycling — embed them in concrete stepping stones for a garden path that’s genuinely one of a kind.

This pairs beautifully with the teacup project above: any teacups that don’t make it past Project #1 (you will break a few) can come back as paving. The DIY mosaic stepping stones tutorial at Gardening.org walks through the full process — breaking ceramics safely inside a drop cloth, sizing pieces to half-inch to one-inch fragments, pressing them into wet concrete, and sealing the surface so sharp edges don’t cause injury underfoot. Basic mold options include an old cake pan, a plastic plant saucer, or a purpose-built stepping stone form from a craft store.

Safety note: Wear safety glasses and heavy gloves when breaking ceramics. Once cured, run a finger over the surface to check for protruding edges and file or sand any down before placing the stone where bare feet might land.

7. Vertical Pallet Herb Garden

Shipping pallets are one of the world’s most abundant near-free materials. Small businesses, garden centers, and feed stores often have stacks of them out back, and asking politely beats the alternative of seeing them landfilled. Mounted vertically against a sunny wall or fence, a pallet becomes a stacked planter that holds enough herbs to keep a kitchen in basil, thyme, parsley, and chives all season.

Grit Magazine published a clear how-to for a vertical pallet planter — line the back and sides with landscape fabric or heavy plastic to hold soil, fill through the slats, and plant each gap as its own row. The gaps act as natural divisions, so different herbs don’t fight for the same root space.

Safety note: Use only heat-treated pallets for anything edible. Look for the IPPC stamp with the letters HT (heat treated) and avoid any stamped MB (methyl bromide — a fumigant restricted under the Montreal Protocol). Unstamped pallets are unknowns; skip them for food crops. The same heat-treated pallets are fine for ornamental flowers either way.

8. Punched Tin Can Lanterns

Steel food cans — soup, tomato, coffee — are one of the most recyclable materials on Earth, but the recycling-then-buying-something-decorative loop has plenty of slack in it. With nothing more than a hammer, a few nails of varying sizes, and the freezer, an empty can becomes an outdoor lantern that throws constellation patterns across a patio at dusk.

HGTV’s tin can lantern tutorial covers the trick that makes this project work: fill the can with water and freeze it solid before punching, so the ice supports the can wall and prevents denting. Sketch your pattern on paper, tape it to the frozen can, punch through with a nail at each marked dot, and let the ice thaw. Drop in a battery tealight (much safer outdoors than a real flame) and group them along a walkway or down the center of an outdoor table.

The Point of All This

None of these projects requires you to buy more than a tube of waterproof adhesive, a bag of concrete, or maybe a stepping stone mold. The materials — chipped china, leftover wine bottles, empty cans, a forgotten pallet, an old rake — are already in your house or someone else’s. That’s the point. The greenest project is the one that uses what already exists, and the best part is that yours will look like nobody else’s.

Editor’s Note: This article, originally authored by Madeleine Somerville on June 17, 2015, was updated with corrected links and new ideas in May 2026.

The post Outdoor Projects You Can DIY for Almost Nothing appeared first on Earth911.

https://earth911.com/diy/outdoor-projects-you-can-diy-for-almost-nothing/

Green Living

Best of Sustainability In Your Ear: Author Nadina Galle on The Nature of Our Cities

Published

3 days ago

May 27, 2026

Alice Rush

More than half the world’s population—4.4 billion people—live in cities today. That number is expected to rise to 80% by 2050. Our guest, Nadina Galle, is a trailblazing ecological engineer and author of The Nature of Our Cities. She is an ecological engineer who studies the intersection of nature and technology in urban environments. Nadina developed the concept of an Internet of Nature (IoN) that uses tools like artificial intelligence, automation, and sensors to support and enhance ecosystems within cities. Nadina’s book offers a transformative perspective on how urban spaces can be reimagined in the face of climate change and sprawling development. She shares the inspiring story of the Groene Loper project in Maastricht, Netherlands, where soil sensors were deployed to monitor tree health. The results were remarkable, with trees supported by this technology growing up to three times larger than those without it. This is a powerful example of how technology can not only protect trees but also transform urban spaces into healthier, greener environments.

Nadina Galle, an ecological engineer and author of *The Nature of Our Cities*, is our guest on .

From fire and the wheel to the reinforced concrete frames that define modern buildings, we are surrounded by technology. We tend to forget that technology emerged in response to nature — too often, we treated nature as the enemy, the chaos to be contained instead of recognizing that nature’s cycles and changes are the harmony we need to join to sustain society. The loss of any semblance of natural patterns, which ultimately leads to the depletion of the resources necessary for life, has inevitably led to the collapse of previous major civilizations. Modern society has more runway than previous societies because we have created a global economy, but that risks an even greater fall for our species when the ecological underpinnings of our prosperity collapse. The Nature of Our Cities, is a powerful, straightforward, and emotionally resonant book to help you think through your role and choices in the restoration of nature. You can find it on Amazon or Powell’s Books.