Writer Akiko Busch joins us to tell us about her new book, “From the Millpond to the Sea,” a personal narrative that considers the ecological, social, and human interests around dams in New York's Hudson River Valley.
Sixty-seven tributaries flow into the Hudson River watershed, and over half are impeded by some sixteen-hundred-plus dams. Vestiges of early American infrastructure, most have outlived their purposes.
Busch says they restrict biodiversity; obstruct fish migration; raise the temperature of impounded water; and trap sediment, creating artificial flow patterns.
Focusing on four key sites in the watershed, “From the Millpond to the Sea” advocates for their removal and the reconnection of free-flowing waterways and in doing so considers three options: maintenance, neglect, and removal.
