More Projects Return America's Rivers to Their Natural State

By Jeff DeLong
USA Today
October 6, 2009

On a desert river east of Reno, experts are laboring to correct well-intended mistakes of the past.

The $7.8 million restoration of the Truckee River at Mustang Ranch — the former site of Nevada's first legal bordello — is one of several projects ongoing nationwide in which millions are being spent to restore rivers to their natural state.

Projects are also underway in Florida, Utah and Texas to return natural bends and wetlands to places where the government took them away decades ago in efforts to avoid flooding.

Other river restoration projects in Oregon, California and Maine are designed to repair ecosystems affected by hydroelectric projects or to accommodate agriculture.

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