U.S. creates first 'National Blueway'

It may not be quite as busy as the Interstate Highway System on Memorial Day weekend, but this week America christened another kind of interstate transportation network — even though it has existed for thousands of years.The National Blueways System, formally created Thursday by Interior Secretary Ken Salazar, aims to protect and popularize the country's rivers by taking a holistic approach to conservation. Unlike the current patchwork of federal protections, which typically only cover certain segments of a river, a national blueway will include the entire river "from source to sea," as well as its surrounding watershed.Salazar kicked off the program in Hartford, Conn., giving him an apt backdrop for another announcement: The 410-mile Connecticut River will become America's first national blueway, along with its 7.2 million-acre watershed (see map below) that stretches into Connecticut, Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Vermont...more

 

I started to say "what will they think of next"...but I'm afraid to think about it.