Disconnected Rivers: Linking Rivers to Landscapes

by Ellen E. Wohl

This important and accessible book surveys the history and present condition of river systems across the United States, showing how human activities have impoverished our rivers and impaired the connections between river worlds and other ecosystems.
Ellen Wohl begins by introducing the basic physical, chemical, and biological processes operating in rivers. She then addresses changes in rivers resulting from settlement and expansion, describes the growth of federal involvement in managing rivers, and examines the recent efforts to rehabilitate and conserve river ecosystems. In each chapter she focuses on a specific regional case study and describes what happens to a particular river organism—a bird, North America’s largest salamander, the paddlefish, and the American alligator—when people interfere with natural processes.

320 pages, Hardcover

First published November 1, 2004

Reviews

[Glenn · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a fantastic book that makes you want to punch generations of ignorant frontiersmen, miners, farmers and engineers of the past and present in the face for their vast destruction of landscapes. Wohl covers a wide range of topics over the past few centuries and updates the readers on the current state of river restoration and rehabilitation efforts. She is clearly one of those special human beings that is exerting a lot of effort to bring her accumulated knowledge of a suite of scientific fields to a public that typically is not privy to such information. Great read (especially for the non-hydrologist).

[Jason · Rating 3 out of 5]

Presents a pretty good history of rivers in North America and how we managed to wreck them. A lot of information in the book I already knew, but I think this book would be good for others interested in learning more about our rivers and streams.

[Thor]

Neither reviewed nor rated because this is a scholarly read for me.