Report: Minnesota, Wisconsin rivers among most endangered

ST. PAUL, Minn. — A new report from an environmental advocacy group lists two rivers in Minnesota and one in Wisconsin as among the most endangered rivers in the country.

Minnesota Public Radio reports that American Rivers annually publishes a list of the 10 most at-risk rivers in the U.S. The group considers a waterway's significance and the magnitude of the threats it faces.

This year's list ranked the Kawishiwi River in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area as the third most endangered in the nation. An 8-mile stretch of the Mississippi River in Minnesota is ranked sixth. The Kinnickinnic River in northwestern Wisconsin comes in at No. 10.

Olivia Dorothy is the associate director for the Upper Mississippi River basin at American Rivers. She says the rivers face decisions that could change their ecosystems and how communities use them.