Coldwater Fisheries Coalition

Dam Removal

Background: A copy of a memo from Bill Hubbard, dated 2/6/2000

Currently there is a group involved with  Federal Emergency Management Agency, FEMA, EPA, Corps of Engineers, US FWS, NH F&G, Dept.Env.Services. Also CCA-NH, Nancy Girard from CLF and a woman from Conn.River Watershed Council. The group is now "NH Dam Removal Committee" . The entire meeting was for the Feds to tell us how much money they have to remove dams! It amounts to hundreds of millions of $ and they need a mechanism to spend it.

The prototype group will be patterned after groups in Pennsylvania and
Maine. The Maine group is called F.I.S.H. Fish is a non-profit corp set up to
receive gifts and purchase dams using federal money. Then, it files for the required permits to demolish them! It works because, as private dams, the red tape is tremendously reduced and the the feds. are not actually removing the dams, only financing it.

In Maine, F.I.S.H. removed 8 dams last year and has 16 scheduled for
removal this spring and summer. Edwards Dam was not their doing but some of them were involved.

In the next month or two you will hear a lot more about dam removal in
New Hampshire and before years' end, we should see a number removed.
This is the most exciting conservation measure I have ever witnessed.

Can you imagine the Army Engineers enthused and excited about removing dams_ They are and we will. According to DES, who are putting together a short list of dams to remove; their are more than 3,100 dams in New Hampshire. Over 150 are in violation of their permits and must be rapaired or removed this year. Many dam owners would welcome a chance to relieve their liability and will transfer the dams to a non-profit for removal. Thats being done now in ME, PA and NorthCarolina. 
I'll keep you posted, but this will all be public in about a month.
Bill Hubbard

UPDATE: Below are notes from the last meeting of the River Restoration Task Force (Formerly Dam Removal Committee. This is moving along nicely and I will keep all posted as things develop. After the May meeting we should be ready to bust some dams). - Bill Hubbard

River Restoration Task Force

Meeting Notes

The task force meeting was held at the Office of Emergency Management on February 15, 2000. John Shaunessey of OEM laid out the issues of importance to his agency and the reasons for their interest in participating.

Discussion then started with the Department of Environmental Services, who presented a comprehensive database of dams which had been identified. Grace Levergood proceeded to highlight specific dams which DES had reviewed as potential candidate removals. Particularly noted was the dam in the Bearcamp River in Tamworth. Another site which is more difficult would be the Phillips dam on the Exeter River in Brentwood.

The group had an extensive discussion of establishing the planning process and a "plan" for statewide implementation. Further discussion surrounded around establishing priorities for dam removal, and methods by which that would be accomplished, either through county-wide, river or watershed approaches.

Ultimately, it was suggested that the Department of Environmental Services present their database to the Fish and Game Department who would forward the materials out for a regional review by their biologists and other appropriate staff. Fish and Game would be assessing based on river restoration and habitat concerns, wild stock and other priority programs within the Department. John Warner from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service would participate as well. Once that review had been completed, Fish and Game's pared down list wold be forwarded back to Grace and Jim Gallagher (Dam Division) and then onto Jim McCartney, so that Jim could then assess the list for recreational characteristics and, perhaps, those rivers under the designated rivers program that may have already been scrutinized and had assessments made.

Once these initials screens had been reviewed, the entire list would then once again be forwarded over to the Office of Emergency Management so that John Shaunessey could review the suggested sites from his hazard mitigations screen. Integral to this discussion is the dam division's evaluation of the structure and hazards that exist. The parties agreed to accomplish this initial assessment by the end of April so that information could be reported back at the May 2nd meeting of the River Restoration Task Force. Current applications before DES on the Ashuelot River were discussed. McGoldrick is pending and Homestead has not been submitted. The Department of Environmental Services has offered that it has been charged with streamlining the process for reviewing dam removals under their regulations and are currently working on a policy to this end. As the evaluation process unfolds, those individuals in the group that are interested in continuing the discussion on funding have agreed to meet at the Office of Emergency Management at 1:00 p.m. on Friday, March 24th, to discuss funding.

I trust that this synopsis captures the essence and direction that the group decided to take at the close of our meeting on the 15th.
NLG