Ellen Wohl's passionately written book provides its readers with a historical overview as well as an analysis of the current state of rivers in the USA. Giving numerous examples, she exposes the reckless usage in the past of these rivers with little concern for their intrinsic natural values, and in doing so is well aware of the necessity to look beyond the obvious characteristics of a river to its more complex ecosystem context of form and function. Central themes are historical sins committed by the mining industry in the processes of colonizing and developing the country, through industrial and agricultural pollution, and through the mismanagement of river flow. Legislative reactions in order to alleviate impacts have been slowly developed, thereby holding back recovery. Clearly, American rivers suffer even today from a multitude of environmental disturbances and in some respects they are in a worse condition than ever through the proliferation of new chemicals. Growing concern about the state of the rivers led to legislation beginning with the Rivers and Harbors Bill 1824, and the 1849 and 1850 Swamp Acts, which unfortunately counteracted the intended protection against floods; it is now well understood that swamplands mitigate flooding. Successive governmental legislation and mitigation plans have had very costly consequences and resulted in mixed success at best. The concluding parts of the book deal with restoration and rehabilitation of rivers. Here, frightening examples of ‘improvements’ of streams and rivers exemplify the mismatch between management and river ecosystem needs. A cry for competent management of these wounded rivers and for introducing restoration science and its growth concludes the book.
It is not explicit who are the intended readers of Disconnected Rivers but clearly a broad readership is addressed, ranging from those who appreciate rivers for their contribution to scenic beauty and recreation (most) to those who see rivers as a convenient tool to get rid of wastes or as crucial for the generation of hydropower. Readers of the book will become increasingly aware that everybody has an important role to play in changing the state of American rivers for the better.
The main tenet of the book is the notion that rivers are harmed essentially because we do not understand how they work. Ellen Wohl's mission is clearly to act as an eye opener. This is accomplished by revealing numerous historical mistakes made by the European Americans, in particular, with their belief in human dominance over nature exemplified in a series of strong regional impacts across the nation. The charges are massive and the book is eerily written in the tradition of Rachel Carson's Silent Spring, but also follows up on Wohl's own book, Virtual Rivers (2001). The broad selection of impacts, for example placer mining, pollution and erosion, all point in the same direction of use and abuse, in the past as well as in the present with persisting legacies and today's new threats. The charges rest on solid ground; throughout the book there are ample references in support of the claims presented. The message is clear: the only way of solving the problems is via measures informed by science.
This is not simply a book about rivers; rivers are the systems used here to indicate that the entire lifestyle is unsustainable. In response to multiple small-scale investigations showing grim consequences of chemical pollution to human health, Professor Wohl asks why there is not a ‘collective outrage over what can only be termed an epidemic of cancer in the industrial world’, and argues convincingly for more extensive studies linking cancer incidence to environmental contamination.
The book is easy to read, with technical details generally explained in plain and clear language, and is very well produced. A note here is warranted: the referencing with endnotes following most paragraphs is somewhat awkward. This makes the text less cluttered but, unfortunately, it is tricky to find out exactly who is cited for what, because there are generally multiple referenced works for each note. Furthermore, this sometimes makes it difficult to distinguish the author's own statements from those being cited. Illustrations and photos are sketchy, but clear and to the point, the latter not overly well reproduced but cleverly selected, providing interesting glimpses of historical activities of an industrial nature along rivers.
The American dipper is suggested to be an indicator of river health, like the miner's canary. Sure enough, the presence of dippers is a trustworthy sign that a river is in good shape having a fair supply of aquatic insects, but their absence is more problematic. For one, dippers are only found in western North America and could thus only work as an indicator inside this region. Readers may erroneously suspect that an absence of dippers in suitable streams, such as in the Appalachians, could be due to pollution when the explanation is more likely related to biogeography. For other information on the dippers I missed reference here to work by Stephanie Tyler and Stephen Ormerod (for example the excellent book The Dippers, published by T. & A.D. Poyser in 1994, which synthesized dipper ecology taking a global perspective).
The author gives a broad and informative account of the various impacts in a trustworthy but at the same time personal manner, including intriguing anecdotes from her own childhood. She not only deserves respect and credit for her important compilation of history, but also for stressing that the abuse of rivers is as much a current problem as something caused by ignorance in the past. The tools needed to reverse the unsatisfactory development are available today, the scientific evidence is unequivocal, yet wrong decisions in terms of management and legislation are still the rule. This is the frustrating truth.
