skip to main content
skip to newscasts

Monday, September 25, 2023

Public News Service Logo
facebook instagram linkedin reddit youtube twitter
view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

Nevada organization calls for greater Latino engagement in politics; Gov. Gavin Newsom appears to change course on transgender rights; Nebraska Tribal College builds opportunity 'pipelines,' STEM workforce.'

view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

House Republicans deadlock over funding days before the government shuts down, a New Deal-style jobs training program aims to ease the impacts of climate change, and Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas appeared at donor events for the right-wing Koch network.

view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

An Indigenous project in South Dakota seeks to protect tribal data sovereignty, advocates in North Carolina are pushing back against attacks on public schools, and Arkansas wants the hungriest to have access to more fruits and veggies.

River Watchers Use 'Old' Technology to Renew Ecosystems

play audio
Play

Friday, May 19, 2023   

Environmental advocates in Montana are using an older form of technology in new ways to improve the quality of the land near river beds, and also slow erosion.

It's called biotechnical stabilization and it involves using environment-friendly materials adjacent to riverbeds to slow floodwaters, for example. At the same time, it creates an ecologically supportive environment for vegetation to grow.

Mike Sprague - CEO of Livingston, Montana-based Trout Headwaters - said using this method allows the soil to remain stable and vegetation to take root.

"Biotechnical stabilization is a way of kind of fixing the soil with materials, fabrics and other types of materials," Sprague explained, "to support that soil in such a way that then, all of that can then be revegetated. All that area that might have been erosional can be revegetated."

The technology dates to the 1930's.

But Sprague said Trout Headwaters is trying to help it make a comeback - not only in Montana, but in other areas with sensitive waterways, including the Mississippi delta, in cooperation with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

Sprague said for decades, landowners have resorted to low-tech methods - like dumping boulders and huge amounts of rock in rivers and streams, to slow them down in an attempt to hold their soil in place during a flood - but always with bad results.

"This idea that we can simply take steel or large rock and dump it in these rivers and maintain our shoreline, our bank line, our property," said Sprague, "these efforts, these attempts are failing day after day, after day, after day. There are better alternatives."

Sprague contended that biotechnical stabilization will see new life with the success his group is having in Montana and other sensitive habitat areas, and will have more proof as the number of extreme weather events causes record flooding.




get more stories like this via email

more stories
Peter Sussman is among three patients with disabilities who have asked to intervene in a lawsuit challenging California's End of Life Option Act. (Nancy Rubin)

Health and Wellness

play sound

California's medical aid-in-dying law is back in court. Three patients with disabilities and two doctors are asking to intervene in a lawsuit …


Environment

play sound

A new federal jobs program aims to mobilize tens of thousands of young Americans to address the growing threats of climate change. The American …

Social Issues

play sound

Little Priest Tribal College in Winnebago says its student body and campus are growing - and so are its options for people to study in STEM fields…


The Student Assistance Program in some Ohio schools connects students with tools in order to remove obstacles to learning, and is now incorporating mental-health resources. (Rosalie Murphy/Kent State NewsLab).

Health and Wellness

play sound

By Nathalia Teixeira for Kent State News Lab.Broadcast version by Nadia Ramlagan reporting for the Kent State-Ohio News Connection Collaboration…

Social Issues

play sound

Maine's new Office of Affordable Health Care holds its first public hearing this week, and people are being strongly encouraged to participate…

According to the Prison Policy Initiative, about one in five of the young people held in juvenile facilities is awaiting trial and has not been found guilty or delinquent. (Adobe Stock)

Social Issues

play sound

The number of children locked behind bars in Alabama has declined, but their advocates said more needs to be done to create alternatives to …

Social Issues

play sound

This coming Saturday, North Dakotans will get a chance to see how election workers go to great lengths to ensure a safe and secure voting process…

Social Issues

play sound

It's Hispanic Heritage Month, and one Nevada organization wants Latinos to realize the power they can have when they are more politically engaged…

 

Phone: 303.448.9105 Toll Free: 888.891.9416 Fax: 208.247.1830 Your trusted member- and audience-supported news source since 1996 Copyright © 2021