Dam removal making progress
FORT COVINGTON — In a few weeks, the dam that has blocked the Salmon River for nearly a century will be gone and the water, and fish, will have an open flow to Canada.
Removing the Fort Covington Dam has been an eight-year process, though the demolition itself began two weeks ago. A marathon of grant-application writing and environmental studies kept the town board and its partners busy for nearly a decade before the jackhammers could come in to do the dirty work. The project will have lasting benefits for the town, officials say.
"Though we think of this as a dam removal project, the real goal of this project is the restoration of the river upstream," said James G. MacBroom, vice president of Milone & MacBroom, the engineering company for the demolition. "This will improve the town's quality for years to come."
With the dam removed, the town may become more appealing for people to live in, Supervisor Patricia J. Manchester said. The project will open up opportunities for kayaking, fishing and other recreation.
The town board decided to demolish the dam rather than leave it as it was, repair it or remove parts of it. It was part of a power project, but the generating station was demolished decades ago, rendering the dam useless. Taking it down eliminates the risk of accidents to people on or around it, as well, according to Daniel J. Kwasnowski, environmental planner and project founder.
"This river has pretty good flow," Mr. Kwasnowski said. "When this is done, you'll be able to canoe from Malone to Canada in high water."
Mr. Kwasnowski and the town board teamed up to get rid of the dam in 2001. Since then, they have been busy writing grant applications to fund the $1 million project, with the help of American Rivers, a nonprofit organization. Most of the money went for environmental studies and to move a water main that serves the western part of town. The price tag for the demolition is only $200,000, according to Stephanie D. Lindloff, the senior director of the River Restoration Program at American Rivers.
Once the dam is gone, there will be more environmental studies to monitor fish populations. It is likely to help both lake sturgeon and American eels, according to Mr. Kwasnowski. Lake sturgeon are threatened, and there were unsuccessful efforts to list the eels as endangered a few years ago.
Changes and improvements to the river will not happen overnight, however.
"It's going to take a few years for the river to balance itself out," Mrs. Manchester said. "We'll have to have some flooding and some ice moving through, but the river will take care of itself."
