"The sound of the hydraulic hammer, to me, is one of the best sounds in the world," said Beth Lambert, head of the Massachusetts Division of Ecological Restoration. "When you hear that hammer, you know that another dam is coming down, and the river will recover its health."There are over 3,000 dams in Massachusetts.
"We have trout upstream of the dam, trout downstream of the dam, that are sort of like families that have been isolated in different countries that can’t cross the border for years," said Ian Cooke, executive director of the Neponset River Watershed Association. Cooke and his organization were key in rallying community support to remove the dam, which cost about $2 million.
"One of the things that dams like this, especially small dams, cause is artificial warming of the water," said Chris Hirsch, the state’s project manager for the Norwood dam removal."And trout and other cold water animals require very cold, highly oxygenated water.""Cold water streams used to be very common in the greater Boston area," he added."But unfortunately, because of development, damming and climate change, they're becoming increasingly rare.
"Now just multiply that by 3,000 across the commonwealth, and you can see what a cumulative impact these dams have on public safety and the environment," she said.to power small mills. Today, some are owned by the state, some by cities and towns, and some by private owners.In the western part of the country, where most dams are used for hydropower or irrigation, there isBut in Massachusetts, some advocates think the state is not moving fast enough in its dam removal efforts.
"It's an anachronism. It's serving no purpose," she said."It's really harming fish populations and native ecology, and a very basic part of river restoration is removing blockages on them."fish returning from the ocean encounter as they make their way up the main stem of the Charles River, looking to spawn.able to cross"We know the fish populations overall are just a fraction of what they were historically before colonization of this area," Norton said.
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Source: Nature - 🏆 64. / 68 Read more »