Back in April, American Rivers "the only national organization standing up for healthy rivers" announced its annual list of America's Most Endangered Rivers. And you'll be amazed at the conditions of some of the rivers. How can we kayak if there's no water in a river like in the Santa Fe River in New Mexico? Or enjoy the beauty of the Chuitna River in Alaska if millions of waste from a proposed mine is dumped into it? Read the entire list and see if your favorite or local river is represented. If it is, what are you going to do about it?

#1 Santa Fe River (New Mexico): Spring runoff in the Santa Fe River this year is giving residents a taste of what it used to be like to have a living river in the heart of their city, and what it could be like again. Much of the year, the Santa Fe suffers from the biggest threat any river could face a complete lack of water. While Santa Fe Mayor David Coss has promoted a visionary, plan to restore water to the river, the city still has not taken important steps to make that vision a reality. Until that happens, the Santa Fe River spends most of the year as a dry, weed-choked ditch, and is America's most endangered river in 2007.

#2 San Mateo Creek (California): Natural treasures should be enjoyed, not buried under millions of tons of concrete. While that might seem like common sense, it apparently isn't to California's Transportation Corridor Agencies (TCA), which are bulldozing ahead with plans to build the new Foothill Transportation Corridor South (FTC-South) right over the San Mateo Creek. The road will wreck a long section of the creek, cut off access to more than half of California's fifth most popular state park, and could doom the world-famous surf at Trestles beach. All this for a road that experts agree is unlikely to do anything to alleviate traffic problems in Southern Orange County.

#3 Iowa River (Iowa): Iowans are proud of their state's high rankings for education and livability compared to other states, but on a crucial aspect of the Clean Water Act the state lags far behind the rest of the nation. Iowa has failed to adopt adequate clean water rules thirty years after passage of the Act that set a baseline and keep water quality from getting worse. If this baseline isn't enforced, the state will continue to issue permits that allow increased pollution in the Iowa and other rivers. Faced with a growing load of sewage from both humans and livestock, it is no wonder that the Iowa River is one of the Most Endangered Rivers in America for 2007.