Enviros Seek Protection for 404 Aquatic Plants, Animals in Southeast

"Environmental groups have petitioned the Obama administration to add 404 species from rivers in the southeastern United States to the Endangered Species List.

Those plants and animals will go extinct unless their ecosystems are protected, the Center for Biological Diversity and other environmental groups argue in the petition filed yesterday.

Dams and water diversions are changing rivers' water levels, while logging, farming and wetlands development are removing buffers that once protected rivers from run-off pollution, said Noah Greenwald, director of the center's endangered species program."

Patrick Reis reports for Greenwire April 21, 2010.