The lower Duwamish, which is now listed as an endangered waterway, flows into Elliott Bay.
The lower Duwamish, which is now listed as an endangered waterway, flows into Elliott Bay, pictured above. MAX HERMAN / SHUTTERSTOCK.COM

In case you needed further proof that the Duwamish River is in need of some serious help, the waterway, which is the lower end of the Green River, came in at #5 on this year's American Rivers' 10 most endangered rivers list. "The national conservation group says the issue it wants addressed is outdated dams that lack passage for endangered fish," KPLU reports.

Here's what American Rivers has to say about it:

The Green-Duwamish River flows from the Cascade Mountains north of Mt. Rainier, winding through farmland and the Seattle-Tacoma metropolitan area, before reaching Puget Sound. Decades of pollution, floodplain development and harmful dam operations have taken their toll on the river and its salmon and steelhead runs. Two key actions this year can put the river on the rebound: the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers must build a long-delayed system for young salmon and steelhead to migrate downstream past a large dam, and governments at all levels must work collaboratively to manage the river for the benefit of salmon and communities.

What the conservation group doesn't mention is the impact on Seattle's Duwamish people, who are not federally recognized. The Duwamish protested on the river last year when the Port of Seattle allowed Shell Oil's Arctic drilling fleet to park in the waterway at Terminal 5. Here's what Sydney learned from the Duwamish kayaktivists:

The Duwamish, a canoe people, fished and traveled in the Duwamish River for thousands of years. The last five miles that empty into Elliott Bay are so industrially polluted that they're now collectively considered a superfund site, a designation given to the most contaminated areas in the United States.

The Environmental Protection Association has said it could cost $342 million to clean up the superfund site. The pollution has had a real impact on the Duwamish culture, too.

"Us kids were told never to touch the water because it's so polluted. ... We can't get clams or fish or anything that the tribe used to be able to get on the waters," Jonnica Royal, 17, told Sydney during the Shell protests.

And from where is some of that pollution coming? There's a good chance it's from Monsanto. The City of Seattle sued the infamous agrochemical corporation earlier this year, accusing them of fouling the Duwamish River with polychlorinated biphenyls, a known cancer-causing agent. Naturally, Monsanto denies the claim.