In July 1, 1999, a crowd gathered on the banks of the Kennebec River in Maine to watch the making of history. That day, the Edwards Dam, built across the river at Augusta in 1837, became the first operating hydroelectric dam in the nation to be removed. Church bells pealed and spectators cheered as the first river water rushed through the dam’s breach, opening a new future, not just for the Kennebec, but for rivers everywhere. By the spring of 2000, thousands of alewives were coursing past Maine’s capital, followed by striped bass, sturgeon, and later by Atlantic salmon and shad. People took to the river too, putting in canoes and kayaks to paddle a stretch flowing freely for the first time since Thoreau wandered the woods of Maine.
For the last two decades, paddlers, anglers, and conservationists, together with scientists, government agencies, utility companies, and property owners have been working to restore the rivers they love. Thanks to their efforts, more than 400 dams in the United States have been removed, and scores of new river management agreements have been forged to benefit both fisheries and recreation. As hydropower dams come up for relicensing (most hydropower dams not owned by the federal government are licensed by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission for periods of 30 or 50 years), river enthusiasts of all stripes are working to ensure healthier flows and remove the dams that pose hazards to people and the environment. About 500 such licenses are due for review between 2000 and 2010. Dams have now been removed in more than 40 states and the District of Columbia. For the first time in our nation’s history, the rate of dam deconstruction exceeds the rate of construction.
The impact of the Edwards Dam removal continues to be felt. “The response on the Kennebec was so quick and effective that the Edwards Dam really sent a message that for many dams on the Atlantic coast and in New England the benefits of removal are so large in relation to the costs,” says Bruce Babbitt, former Secretary of the Interior in the Clinton administration.
Colonial settlers in the Northeast were the first to build dams in the country, in order to power grist mills and sawmills, so it seems fitting that New England should also produce the agreement that laid the groundwork for restoring rivers after years of hydropower generation had taken its toll.
“The Deerfield River Settlement Agreement set a national precedent,” says Ken Kimball, AMC’s Director of Research. Concluded in 1994, the agreement was the culmination of efforts begun by whitewater paddlers to ensure reliable releases from the river’s hydropower dams and to protect one of Massachusetts’ coldest and cleanest rivers. AMC took a leadership role, working with New England Power, conservationists, anglers, and boaters, says Kimball. In addition to guaranteed whitewater flows, the agreement provides fish passage-the Deerfield is known for its trout and is targeted for salmon restoration-and protection of over 18,000 acres of river land. “This was one of the first times,” says Andrew Fahlund of American Rivers, “that anglers and boaters found common cause, established strong alliances with government agencies, and worked with the power company to achieve conservation goals.” The Deerfield agreement, he says, established a model of negotiation that’s proven key to river restoration efforts ever since.
“The river’s changed dramatically since the agreement,” says Bruce Lessels, owner of Zoar Outdoor in Charlemont, Mass., who’s been paddling the Deerfield for 20 years. “In the ‘80s, the releases were really unreliable. Probably less than 20 people a year paddled here. Now,” he says, “it’s over 50,000 a year.”
“These groundbreaking efforts actually began with people sitting around a kitchen table,” says George May, conservation chairman of the Merrimack Valley Paddlers, who’ve been instrumental in New Hampshire river restoration.
In that group’s sights was the West Henniker Dam on the Contoocook River, a popular whitewater paddling run that winds through the picturesque town of Henniker in southern New Hampshire. As May describes it, the defunct 100-year-old mill dam created “a very nasty boil in the river” that was extremely hazardous to paddlers. Repairing the dam to state safety requirements would have cost more than taking it down. So when funds for removal and habitat restoration were made available with no cost to the town through a broad coalition of groupsÐincluding AMC, Merrimack Valley Paddlers, American Whitewater, Trout Unlimited, New Hampshire Fish and Game, and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service-the town opted for removal, which took place in 2004.
“This effort was led primarily by the Class IV boaters,” says May, “but it’s created a put-in for a Class II lower stretch of river. Before there was virtually no access for flat-water paddlers. It involves more people with the river.” With this stretch of river free of a dam for the first time since the 1700s, New Hampshire Fish and Game reports improved habitat for trout and other game fish, important to a state whose revenue from fishing exceeds $100 million annually.
Some 80 miles north, the Bearcamp River flows out of the White Mountains and tumbles through a gorge bubbling with Class IV rapids near the town of South Tamworth. For nearly 75 years, a dam had blocked the river there, impeding the migration of native brook trout and landlocked Atlantic salmon. “The dam hadn’t served a purpose in decades and had become a safety hazard,” explains Stephanie Lindloff, who worked on the project while serving as river restoration coordinator for the state of New Hampshire. Now the river flows freely from its headwaters for 28 miles, and whitewater habitat for both native fish and kayakers has been restored.
Dam good paddling. Photo by Bruce Lessels.
