Mt Holyoke – Environmental Leadership Series INTENT: to create a series that educates students (across the disciplinary spectrum) about important environmental issues, but that also has an aspirational/mentoring quality to it 11/13/07

Speaker: Laura Wildman Associate Director River Science American Rivers

Dam Removal: A History of Decision Points Abstract: The issue of dam removal is not as new and radical as some today might suspect. The roots of the current controversy surrounding the removal of dams extend deep into our past, a past speckled with battles waged by local townsfolk to stop the construction of a particular dam. Over time, our perspectives have changed, as dams have become a familiar part of our landscape. Now, it seems, it is the dam and not the free flowing river that people remember and to which they attach sentimental value. In the end any battle to remove a dam today or in the future is just a continuation of a discussion initiated when the dam was first proposed. We are but one discussion in a long series of decision points regarding the management of the rivers the continued need for specific dams. What decision we make now, through carefully balancing today’s issues, will directly effect the battles or need for battles in the future.

Along with my own history of decision points that lead me here.

20 minute talk Dam Removal: A History of Decision Points

Laura Wildman, PE Director of River Science American Rivers Northeast Field Office Glastonbury, CT

www.americanrivers.org 860-652-9911 Earliest Maps of New England American Indian River Use

Current Fish Trap

The Fair Lawn/Paterson Fish Weir, NJ

Indians Fishing Celilo Falls Columbia River Gorge 1937 American Indian River Names Emphasizing fishing, falls or type of flow

Penobscot: “the rocky part”, the “descending ledge place” or a place "where the white rocks are"

Presumpscot: the “river of many falls.”

Androscoggin: "the high fish place“

Merrimac: "swift stream"

Naugatuck: "lone tree by the fishing place"

Cobbosseecontee: “the place where sturgeon abound”

Neversink: “continuously flowing” or “mad river” or “place of big rock”; also name of town submerged by the Neversink Reservoir

Lower Shannock Falls Dam Project, RI Early Colonial River Use The Dam Building Era

Cuddebackville Dam - Neversink

Billington Street Dam

Billerica Dam Middlesex Canal Mill – Mechanical Power Navigation Canals

Tingue Dam Edwards Dam

Industrial Hydroelectric Flood Control/Water Supply History of Decision Points

"…mere Shad, armed only with innocence and a just cause…I for one am with thee, and who knows what may avail a crow- bar against that Billerica dam?" Henry David Thoreau 1839

"For generations, a painful and expensive controversy has existed in relation to [the Billerica Billerica Dam Dam], and if [not removed now], Concord River, MA the children and children's children of these parties will be 1710 – Constructed cursed with strife and contention". 1711 – 1st Law Suit 1722 – Dam Removed – Rebuilt – Henry French pleads with the Removed by Force - Rebuilt Massachusetts Legislature, 1861 1798 – Law Suit 1860 – Law Suit 2003 – Still Discussing the dam's fate. Phoenix Pioneer 1868-1955 Arizona Dam Engineer 1898-1965 1893 on the first survey of the Chief designer & construction Roosevelt Dam site supervisor on the Salt River Project “Rolly is a fella you can ride Fought Arizona’s Colorado flow the river with” battle against California

Engineer Specializing Ex-Director Pomperaug in Dam Removal & River Watershed Coalition Fish passage And avid fly fisherman for American Rivers My Own History of Decision Points

• Kid in a basket pack before I could walk

• University of Vermont – Switched from Mechanical to Civil Engineering • First Job – Disillusioned Engineer • Second Job – 1st River & Fish Project • Consulting Engineer – Working only on River Restoration • American Rivers – Dam Removal Expert & Director of River Science •Yale – Masters in Environmental Management • Teaching at Yale & Univ. of Wisconsin • Involvement in National Scale Efforts to Implement Change (ASCE/EWRI, AFS, ASDSO, Aspen Institute, press, lecturing) • Involved in >100 Dam Removal Efforts Hoping to leave Free Flowing River at Dynamic Equilibrium

Spawning Habitat

Reservoir Downstream - Decreased Water Quality (decreased circulation) - Traps Sediment - Water Quality is Reduced - Pollutants Accumulate (concentrate) -Traps Debris - Altered Flow Regime - Oxygen Depletion (may become anoxic) - Blocks Nutrient Transport - Temperatures modified - Reservoir Stratifies(loss of turbulent flow) - Algae Blooms - Sediment Starved - Increased Temperatures - Blocks Fish Passage - Riverbed Degrades Increased - Nutrient Starved Evaporation Debris Jam

epilimnion metalimnion DAM! hypolimnion

Habitat/Substrate Impounded Buried by Sediment Sediment Dam

Original Bed Profile

CONNECTIVITY OF A RIVER Normal Flow

LATERAL LINEAR

GROUNDWATER INTERFACE

SLIDE MODIFIED FROM: LUTHER AADLAND, MN DNR CONNECTIVITY OF A RIVER Flood Flow

LATERAL EXPANSION

SLIDE MODIFIED FROM: FLOODPLAIN LUTHER AADLAND, MN DNR IMPACTING OUR RIVERS

Disruption of SLIDE MODIFIED FROM: Transport LUTHER AADLAND, MN DNR Processes Habitat National Inventory of Dams Fragmentation • 78,747 Dams >25 ft w/ 15ac-ft capacity or >6ft w/ 50ac-ft capacity at a very • ~99,000 Dams regulated by states & in the USFWS Barrier Database large scale! • Several Million Dams Status Report on the Nation’s Floodplain Management Activity, 1989 (includes an estimated 2.5 million NRCS dams built as of 1977)

Hazard Classifications • High Hazard • Significant Hazard • Low Hazard

Slide source: modified from Michael Grounds ASDOS 2006 presentation on Dams Safety Performance Measures and NID CULVERTS STREAM PAVING LEVEES & FLOODWALLS

Pequonnock River Concrete Apron, CT

Jacob’s Pond Culvert, MA

Trout Brook, CT

OVER-ALLOCATION Ipswich River runs dry while sprinklers are run in the rain , MA HYDRAULIC BARRIERS EXCESSIVE SEDIMENT

TIDE GATES BRIDGE APRONS

Habitat Number of Barriers? Fragmentation • Several Billion? No one Knows! at a very • All Rivers Now Fragmented by Barriers large scale!

Slide source: modified from Michael Grounds ASDOS 2006 presentation on Dams Safety Performance Measures and NID

Children's Children Cursed with Strife and Contention

Winnemem Wintu Tribe war dance to protest Shasta Dam Another Decision Point: The Balancing Act

REMOVE KEEP DAM DAM Applied Ecology Reseach Institute Hadley Elementary School Kennebec Coalition Eco.-Justice Working Group National Council of Chu Trout Unlimited - New York Council Audubon Society of Connecticut Hands Across the River Coalition Low Impact Hydropower Institute Ellenville HS Tug Hill Commission Audubon Society of Connecticut (Greenwich) Henry Kendall Foundation MA Executive Office of Environmental Affairs Energy Times Magazine Tug Hill Tomorrow Land Trust Blackledge River Watershed Committee high school of commerce Maine Audubon Society Environmental Advocates U.S. Army Corps of Engineers branford river project Hoosic River Watershed Association Maine Coast Heritage Trust Environmental Advocates of New York University Corporation of Atmospheric Research (UC Center for Coastal and Watershed Systems Housatonic River Restoration Maine League of Conservation Voters Environmental Advocates of New York USDA Columbia Canoe Club Housatonic River Restoration Maine Rivers Environmental Background Information Center Water Keeper Alliance Community Unity Housatonic River Walk Maine Rivers Friends of the Buffalo River Waterfront Corridor Initiative-City of Buffalo Connecticut Bass Chapter Federation Housatonic Valley Association Maine Rivers Friends of the Hudson Waterkeeper Alliance Connecticut Fly Fisherman's Association Ipswich River Watershed AssociationNortheastMaine Rivers PartnersFriends of Wertheim Waterkeeper Alliance Connecticut Forest and Park Association Jones River Watershed Association Marine Law Institute University of Maine School O Glynwood Center Watershed Agricultural Council Connecticut River Assembly Lampson Brook Watershed Association Natural Resources Council of Maine Great Lakes United Wegman's Food Markets Connecticut River Gateway Commission League of Environmental Voters Natural Resources Council of Maine Great Lakes United West Branch Conservation Association Connecticut River Salmon Association MA Dem Natural Resources Council of Maine Great Lakes United Westchester Land Trust Connecticut River Watch Program MA Department of Environmental Protection Natural Resources Council of Maine Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America Westchester Rivers Connecticut Waterfowl Association MA Dept Env Protection Pemaquid Watershed Association Group for the South Fork Western New York Land Conservancy Connecticut-Rhode Island Coastal Fly Fishers MA Riverways Programs Penobscot River Restoration Project Hackensack Riverkeeper, Inc. White Water Challengers Farmington River Anglers Association Mass. Watershed Inititiative Pleasant River Association Harlem River Conservancy Winnakee Land Trust Farmington River Club Inc. Massachusettes Audubon Society Presumpscot River Watch Hudson River Environmental Society Zoar Valley Paddling Club Farmington River Watershed Association Massachusetts Association of Conservation Commissi Trout Unlimited - Maine Council Hudson River Foundation Zoar Valley Paddling Club FOLK-Legacy Records Inc. Massachusetts Audubon Society University of Maine Hudson River Greenway Communities Council American Fisheries Society -- Southern New England Friends of the Connecticut River Massachusetts Bass Anglers Sportsman Society USFWS Hudson River Sloop Clearwater Audubon Society of Rhode Island Housatonic Coalition Massachusetts Environmental Education Society Waldo Independent Hudson River Sloop Clearwater Inc. Buckeye Brook Coalition Housatonic River Commission Massachusetts Riverways Program Appalachian Mountain Club Hudson River Valley Greenway Communities Council Coventry Bass Anglers Housatonic Valley Association Massachusetts Sierra Club Audubon Society of New Hampshire Izaak Walton League - New York State Division Environmental Council of Rhode Island Long Island Sound Watershed Alliance Massachusetts Watershed Coalition CDM Kootenai Fly Fishers Friends of the Blackstone Mill River Watershed Association Merrimack River Watershed Council, Inc. Center for Environmental Education Lake Erie Alliance Kickemuit River Council Natchaug River Alliance Millers River Watershed Association CMA Engineers Lower Esopus River Watch Narragansett Bay Commission Naugatuck River Watershed Association Mystic River Watershed Association Coldwater Fisheries Coalition Inc. Mad River Club Narrow River Land Trust Naugatuck RIver Watershed Association Mystic River Watershed Association Inc. Ducks Unlimited - North Atlantic Flyway and Ohio McCann Erickson Narrow River Preservation Association New Haven Riverkeeper Nashua River Watershed Association Friends of the Winnipesaukee River Mercer HR Consulting Nature Conservancy - RI Field Office Niantic River Watershed Association Neponset River Watershed Association Ledyard Canoe Club Metropolitan Canoe and Kayak Club Pawtuxet River Authority Pequabuck River Watershed Association New England FLOW Merrimack Valley Paddlers Mohawk Canoe Club Pokanoket Watershed Alliance Pomperang River Watershed Coalition, Inc. New England FLOW New England Environmental Voters Mohawks Agree on Safe Health Rhoad Island Bass Chapter Federation Quinnipiac River Watershed Association North and South Rivers Watershed Association New Hampshire Bass Chapter Federation National Religious Partnership for the Environment Rhode Island School of Design Riverfront Recapture Inc. Oceanus New Hampshire Rivers Council Natural Resources Defense Council River Rescue Rivers Alliance of Connecticut Old Swamp River Watershed Association New Hampshire Rivers Council Natural Resources Protective Association Runnins River Task Force SAVE THE SOUND INC Organization for the Assabet River New Hampshire Wildlife Federation Nature Conservancy Neversink River Program Save the Bay Save the Sound Inc. (Long Island Sound) Organization for the Assabet River NH Dept. of Environmental Services New Jersey Bass Chapter Federation Save the Bay Side by Side Community Charter School Palmer River Association Pemigewasset River Council New York Bass Chapter Federation Sierra Club - Rhode Island Chapter Thames Valley Trout Unlimited Chapter Parker River Clean Water Association Piscataquog Watershed Association New York City Friends of Clearwater Thames Science Center The Dibner FundNOAA – NMFParker Habitat River Clean Water AssociationConservationPiscataquog Watershed Assoication New York Department of Environmental Conservation Times2 Academy Trout Unlimited Pascommuck Conservation Trust Public Service of New Hampshire New York League of Conservation Voters Trout Unlimited - Massachusetts/Rhode Island Counc Trout Unlimited - Connecticut Council plainville water & sewer dept Seacoast Anti-Pollution League New York Rivers United US Navy Trout Unlimited --Massachusetts Connecticut Council Regional EnvironmentalRiverwa Council ys Society for the Protection of New Hampshire Forest New-York Historical Society Wood-Pawcatuck Watershed Association Westminster School Restore Olmsted's Waterway Coalition Society for the Protection of NH Forests Niagara River Citizens Action Committee Woonasquatucket River Greenway Project Wildlife Society - New England Chapter Saugus River Watershed Council St. Paul's School NINE Mile Creek Conservation Council Woonasquatucket River Watershed Council Alewife/Mystic RiverConnecticut Advocates SaugusDEP River Watershed Council Strafford Rivers Conservancy North River Friends of Clearwater Audubon Society of the Green Mountains American Farmland Trust NE Region Save the Harbor/Save the Bay Student Conservation Association Northern New York Paddlers Battenkill Canoe Ltd. Appalachian Mountain Club Sawmill River Watershed Alliance Trout Unlimited - Ammonoosuc Council NY Sea Grant Battenkill Watershed Council Appalachian MountainNH Club Dept. of EnvironmentalSmitty Cycles ServicesUNH Environmental Research Group NYPIRG Bonnyvale Environmental Education Center Atlantic Center for the Environment Suasco Watershed Coalition Upper Valley Sierra Club Nypirg Straphangers Campaign Connecticut River Watershed Council Audubon SocietyVT of Massachusetts Agency ofSudbury Natural Valley Trustees Resources Waterline NYS-DEC Connecticut RiverFest Back River CommitteeVT Agency ofSudbury Natural Valley Trustees Resources 10th Worthy OIN Family Services Conservation Law Foundation Back River Protection Association Sudbury-Assabet-Concord Rivers Watershed Associati Action for Long Island Sound Partnerships for Parks, Waterways and Trailways Conservation Law Foundation Berkshire EnvironmentalMain Actione Team RiversSWAMP Adirondack Land Trust/Nature Conservancy People Against the Hawkinsville Dam Dept of Enviro Conservation Blackstone River Watershed Association Taunton River Watershed Alliance Adirondack Mountain Club New York-New Jersey TRAI Retired Military Environmental Law Center Blackstone River Watershed Awareness Taunton River Watershed Alliance Adirondack Paddlers River Project, NYC Forest Watch Campaign Trout UnlimitedTEN Mile River and Mt. Hope/Narragansett Bay Water African Methodist Episcopal Church Riverkeeper Friends of the Mad River Canoe River Aquifer Advisory Committee The Bioengineering Group Inc. Akwesasne Local Working Group Riverkeeper, Inc. Friends of the Ompompanoosuc Charles River Watershed Association The Landcaster County Conservancy Akwesasne Task Force on the Environment Riverlovers Friends of Winhall River Charles River WatershedThe Association Nature ConservanTighe & Bond Consulting Engineerscy American Fisheries Society -- New York Chapter Riverstone Holdings LLC Green Mountain Club Chelsea Greenspace and Recreation Committee Trout Unlimited - Massachusetts/Rhode Island Counc American Wilderness Campaign Rochesterenvironment.Com Green Mountain Forest Watch Chicopee River Watershed Council Trust For Public Land Antiochian Orthodox; Kids Against Pollution Saratoga County Land Conservancy Institute for Sustainable Communities Cobbler's BrookCT Stream TeamRiver WatershedUrban Harbors Institute UmassCouncil Appalachian Mountain Club NY Chapter Save Open Spaces Lake Memphremagog Watershed Association College Park Committee for A Better Environment USGS Atlantic States Legal Foundation, Inc. Save The River Lewis Creek Association Connecticut RiverUS Valley ActionFish Program & WildlifeWare River Preservation Society Audubon International SBC Warburg Dillon and Read L.L.P. Mad River Recreation Paths Connecticut River Watershed Council Westfield River Canoe Club Audubon Society of New York State Scenic Hudson Missisquoi Riverkeepers Deerfield River Compact Westfield River Watershed Association Auriga Music Publishing Scenic Hudson Montpelier River Projects Deerfield River WatershedUS GeologicalAssociation Yurko &Survey Salvesen, P.C. Battenkill Conservancy Schenectady County Environmental Advisory Council Mt. Mansfield River Watch Dept. of Environmental Management ZOAR Outdoor Bay Improvement Group Schoharie Land Trust Nature Conservancy - VT Field Office Dept. Og/Gyn Umm Allagash Alliance Beacon Sloop Club Sewing and Alterations Northeast Center for Social Issue Studies Econologistics Gulf of ME CouncilAmerican Fisheries Society -- Atlantic Internation Boquet River Association SG Cowen Securities Corp. Passumpsic River Network Environmental League of Massachusetts Androscoggin River Watershed Council Bronx River Restoration Project Shawangunk Valley Conservancy Passumpsic Valley Land Trust Executive Office of Environmental Affairs Atlantic Salmon Federation Brooklyn Sloop Club Shorewalkers Poultney River Committee Flyfishing ForumAtlantic SalmAtlanticon Salmon Federation Federation Burke's Bytes Sierra Club - Atlantic Chapter Poultney River Watch Framingham Advocates of Sudbury River Atlantic Salmon Federation Butler Capital Corporation Sierra Club - Northeast Region Quaker Earthcare Witness Franklin Regional Council of Governments Borestone Mountain Education Center and Wildlife S Carantouan Greenway Sierra Club Rockland County Streams and Wetlands Coordinator Richmond Land Trust French River WatershedNatural Association ResoCityurce of Portland MaineCouncil of MaineCatskill Center for Conservation and Development Somers Land Trust River Watch Network Friends of Fish Brook Damariscotta River Association Central New York Whitewater Club St. Lawrence University Save Everyone's Wells River Friends of Mill RiverMaine Dept. ofDowneast Marine Salmon Federation Resources Chenango Land Trust St. Lawrence Valley Paddlers Seventh Generation - Black River Friends of Parker River National Wildlife Refuge Downeast Salmon Federation Church of the Brethren St. Regis Mohawk Tribe Sierra Club - Vermont Chapter Friends of the Muddy River Friends of Acadia Citizens To Preserve the Hudson Valley SUNY Student Sterling Falls Gorge Natural Area Trust Friends of the MysticAr Rivermy Corps Friendsof ofEngineers Sebago Lake City of New York/ Parks and Recreation The Catskill Center Vermont Agency of Natural Resources Friends of the Williams River Friends of the Acadia City of Rochester (NY) Parks & Recreation The Moore Charitable Foundation Vermont Bass Chapter Federation Fund for Public Interest Research Friends of the Androscoggin Clean Water Education Program the town of East Meadow Vermont Land Trust Goodwin ProcterNY LLP Rivers UnitedFriends of the Presumpscot River Coalition on Environment and Jewish Life Thousand Islands Land Trust Vermont Law School Green River Watershed Preservation Alliance Friends of the Presumpscot River Eco.-Church Circles Project Tompkins Co. Planning Dept. Vermont League of Conservation Voters Groundwork Lawrence Friends of Union River Vermont Natural Resources Council The Condit Dam Removal As preformed by Middle School Students & directed by Art for The Sky Reclaiming Our Rivers