BOZEMAN, Mont.-
A conservation group is calling an 80-mile stretch of the Yellowstone River in Park County the second "most endangered river" in the United States because of development and bank stabilization projects.
The Bozeman Daily Chronicle quoted the organization American Rivers as saying that development in the Upper Yellowstone River's flood plain poses a risk to new homes and the wild quality of the waterway.
"The Yellowstone River is a national treasure, but building these homes right on the river sets the table for massive bank stabilization and flood control projects in the future, and wrecks the very reason people want to live there in the first place," Rebecca Wodder, president of American Rivers, said in a statement.
The report urges the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and Park County officials to guide development in a way that protects the river and avoids putting people in harm's way.
The list isn't a ranking of the nation's worst or most polluted waterways, but rather it identifies rivers where decisions in the coming year could determine their futures, the group said.
The other rivers making the 2006 list are, beginning with the most endangered: the Pajaro River in California; Willamette River in Oregon; Salmon Trout River in Michigan; Shenandoah River in Virginia and West Virginia; Boise River in Idaho; Caloosahatchee River in Florida; Bristol Bay Watershed in Arkansas; San Jacinto River in Texas; and the Verde River in Arizona.
