Tonights Starting Topic: 1/31/09

[Woodland Rivers]

River Dams: Remove them or let them be?

Don't think there is a single answer to that. I know on the Paw Paw the dam in Watervliet has made the 1/4 mile or so below pretty good fishing.

[Woodland Rivers]

Could you please expand on an explanation or reason for this? Thank you!

It seems in most instances I have heard of that these dams are keeping a number of different species from being able to reaching spawning areas necessary for reproduction. Based on this limited info I vote remove them.

There is no easy answer to this question as each dam is unique to it's function. Hydroelectric dams are a"green" power source and I feel they should remain. In light of today's need to become more reliant on domestic power sources these dams need to keep working and maybe even become more efficient in generating electricity.
Dams that are in place for flood control can be evaluated on a case by case basis. Any that aren't necessary for flood control should be removed. Dams that are in place to impound water for drinking need to be left in place as this precious commodity will become more necessary as the population grows.
Lastly, I feel that any dams that need to be replaced as they age should be, by law, required to have fish ladders if they are in the way of current or historic fish migrations.

Tippy Dam and others that let the water through from the bottom of the impoundment should be left in place. The water they let through is cold water and will keep the coolwater fish around. The dams that let water over the top of the dam dumping the warm water from the surface of the lake, should maybe be taken out. The dam on the pigeon river that killed thousands of trout when some idiot opened it....... remove it and fine the $@% outta the person that did it.

I say remove them all!...

Let the fish swim!

Down with Dams!

David

There is no easy answer to this question. Dams that are used to supply Hydro Electric power should be designed with fish ladders to allow fish to travel to the spawning areas if possible. Here in Ohio theres a dam on the Grand River at Harpersfield that was built to supply water power to a Mill that is no longer there but the dam remains. This dam and others like it should be removed to allow fish to move upstream to spawn. We don't have many large rivers connected to Lake Erie and by removing the dam at Harpersfield it would open the whole river and its tribs to steelhead movement adding many, many more miles of water that the fish would be able to run.

I know you can look at it alot of ways,but look at what the sediment is doing to the spawning grounds to some of these fish. Especially in the lower river system. One example the BETSIE, use to be a great fishery but the problems they have been having with that little dam, has cause some major problems. Starting to get better now, but how many years did it take ?