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Article: Where have all the rivers gone?(Cover Story)
- Article from:
- World Watch
- Article date:
- May 1, 1995
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 1995 Worldwatch Institute. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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SOME OF THE EARTH'S MAJOR ARTERIES ARE NOW SO CONSTRICTED THAT THEIR LIFEBLOOD NO LONGER REACHES ITS NATURAL DESTINATION. THE RESULT IS A MASSIVE FAILURE OF ECOSYSTEMS AND ECONOMIES.
In 1922, American naturalist Aldo Leopold journeyed by canoe through the great delta of the Colorado River. What he reported seeing there was a verdant waterscape, where for millennia the river had been depositing its rich silt and building up a diverse ecosystem before entering the Sea of Cortez - known north of the border as the Gulf of California. He saw deer, quail, raccoon, bobcat, vast fleets of waterfowl, and even the great jaguar, el tigre - "the despot of the Delta." The ...