Columbia Lake dam Removal

[Integracingsr]

Due to all of the sediment that is behind the dam, is stream restoration a part of the plan?

[Bucksnbows]

11 minutes ago, Integracingsr said:

Due to all of the sediment that is behind the dam, is stream restoration a part of the plan?

Columbia Lake dam?  Yes.  I am not involved as a contractor with that project on the Paulinskill, but was on the task force and still receive the emails.  

[3Blade]

1 hour ago, Bucksnbows said:

Yes, began on the 4th I believe.  

Naysayers of dam removals will say things like, "all that is left will be a mud pit".  That is true, but only for a matter of weeks.  Here's a perfect example.  This is the former Beisler Lake on upper Spruce Run Creek, a dam my firm is in the process of removing.

 December 2017 immediately after water lowering and fish capture (and transfer) and that former lake bed today:

Will an area like that retain water after heavy rains or become "swampy"?

[Bucksnbows]

28 minutes ago, 3Blade said:

Will an area like that retain water after heavy rains or become "swampy"?

Until the plant roots get deeper and we plant native trees and shrubs in the former lake, it will be a bit swampy after a heavy rain.  But each day it acts more and more like upland habitat and the water flows into the channel and downstream.  Some of the area is still very wet and you need to watch where you walk.  Again, it is far better than last December when you would sink above your knees.  Now I just sink a couple of inches at most.  

[3Blade]

Thanks for the info that is interesting.

[Bucksnbows]

7 minutes ago, 3Blade said:

Thanks for the info that is interesting.

As lakes go, this one is not very old.  It was built in 1975.  The stream - Spruce Run Creek - is very small in this area, so it doesn't have a ton of sediment in it from the stream.  Most of the sediment is just decayed leaf matter from 42 or so years of accumulation.  Sediment stability is key in dam removals.  We don't want big releases downstream in our part of the country, and removal plans are all centered around the amount and location of those sediment layers.   

[3Blade]

10 minutes ago, Bucksnbows said:

 Most of the sediment is just decayed leaf matter from 42 or so years of accumulation.  Sediment stability is key in dam removals.  We don't want big releases downstream in our part of the country, and removal plans are all centered around the amount and location of those sediment layers.   

Sounds like you know a thing or two on this topic

I will assume an  area like this with all that decayed leaf matter should be a very nutrient rich area that should benefit the vegetation and wildlife

Edited June 7, 2018 by 3Blade

[Bucksnbows]

15 hours ago, 3Blade said:

Sounds like you know a thing or two on this topic

I will assume an  area like this with all that decayed leaf matter should be a very nutrient rich area that should benefit the vegetation and wildlife

Yup, I was involved in one way or the other with just about every dam removal in the state over the last 10 plus years.  My firm is currently working on 4 dam removals in NJ which is the only state we do that work in.  We have a great engineering partner in Equity Environmental Engineering which we need with dam removals. 

Planting the former lake bed or river impoundment after a dam is removed is never a problem getting things growing because of all of the fine sediments on the bottom.  But if there is too much sediment to tie up on site, it needs to be trucked out.  If you know of the Warren Glen Mill dam, a 35' tall dam that used to fuel the paper mill on the Musky just above route 519, that dam is holding back more sediment than could fit inside the Empire State Building (yes, calculations were done).  That sediment will need to be dredged over multiple years until the dam can be removed at some point.  The river is backed up .8 miles above that dam and is considered "fully impacted by sediment".   That means it no longer accumulates any sediment but rather all sediment now flows over the dam and continues downstream.  Think of how much that is when a dam is 35' tall and over 300' wide and backs up (at an angle) for 8/10 of a mile.       

[Bucksnbows]

You can see the layers of sediment here, and this dam was only built in 1975 and impounds upper Spruce Run Creek where the stream averages less than 6' wide which means it doesn't carry the sediment load way up there in the watershed that it would further down.   What you are seeing is called a headcut, and it is the stream working through those sediments because, in this case, the stream is not yet back in its original channel.  That part will come next for this particular project.  Then we remove the dam next year and reconnect the stream above the dam to the intact stream below.  Instead of the bass and sunfish that inhabitat this 7 acre lake up until last December, yesterday I saw dace which are a stream/river species that require cold water.  So some functions of this stream are already healing themselves.   

[Integracingsr]

That's great stuff.  Sounds like you've got a really great job Bucksnbows.  Seems very rewarding.

[Bucksnbows]

27 minutes ago, Integracingsr said:

That's great stuff.  Sounds like you've got a really great job Bucksnbows.  Seems very rewarding.

Most days it doesn't even feel like a job.  But I endured 21 years of corporate America before changing careers, so that makes it even sweeter. 

[MGHunter66]

Most days it doesn't even feel like a job.  But I endured 21 years of corporate America before changing careers, so that makes it even sweeter.  [emoji4]

21 years of corporate...ugh. Glad to hear about this dam, i was talking with Barbara at the Nature Conservancy and she is going to take me up next week to check it out. I put the bug in her ear about the headgates dam below the confluence


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Bucksnbows]

4 minutes ago, maximus66 said:

21 years of corporate...ugh. Glad to hear about this dam, i was talking with Barbara at the Nature Conservancy and she is going to take me up next week to check it out. I put the bug in her ear about the headgates dam below the confluence


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Barbara is a get-it-done kind of person!  Please tell her I said hello and invite her to stop by and see our work on the Musky the following week (week of the 18th).  I just posted about that project to give others a heads up about the river being muddy during our 4 day project.   

[MGHunter66]

Barbara is a get-it-done kind of person!  Please tell her I said hello and invite her to stop by and see our work on the Musky the following week (week of the 18th).  I just posted about that project to give others a heads up about the river being muddy during our 4 day project.   

Yes she is a gogetter, will gladly say hello for you and let her know about viewing the Musky


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Bucksnbows]

Topic moved to Conservation from Lounge.