A Fight Over Dam Decommissioning

More small river dams are being torn down around the U-S. In
fact, a recent report by conservation groups says several states in the
upper Midwest are leading the way at getting rid of dams that no longer
produce electricity. Environmentalists say tearing down thestructures
helps water quality. But some people who live near the dams feel like
they’re losing an old friend. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Chuck
Quirmbach prepared this report:

Transcript

More small river dams are being torn down around the U.S. In fact, a recent report by conservation

groups says several states in the upper Midwest are leading the way at getting rid of dams that no

longer produce electricity. Environmentalists say tearing down the structures helps water quality.

But some people who live near the dams feel like they’re losing an old friend. The Great Lakes

Radio Consortium’s Chuck Quirmbach prepared this report:


(sound of rushing water)


“This is an excellent example of the state of many of the dams across Wisconsin and the fact they

are rapidly deteriorating.”


Stephanie Lindloff is standing on top of the Franklin Dam in Sheboygan Country. The rural area’s

about fifty miles north of Milwaukee. The Franklin Dam is about two stories high and half a

football field long. It was built in the 1850’s, to power a grist mill. But the mill is long gone.

And now, on its way to lake Michigan, the Sheboygan river pours through a small hole. That’s

slowly draining the impoundment, or lake behind the dam. Stephanie Lindloff says the hole is a

sign of advanced aging.


“This dam in particular, not unlike a lot of dams around the state, had a gate that was boarded up

and the wooden boards were what was holding the water back in the end of June, two lowermost

boards cracked and water started seeping out of impoundment… wasn’t an emergency situation, but

nonetheless there was a break in the dam.”


Lindloff is with the environmental group, The River Alliance of Wisconsin. She estimates it would

cost at least 350,000 dollars to fix the Franklin Dam. It might take only one-fourth of that

amount to tear it down. Besides saving money, Lindloff says removing the Franklin Dam would also

make the Sheboygan River healthier.


“Scientists agree dams devastate river systems. They continue to block natural functioning of

rivers, impact water quality, they block fish migration and spawning grounds.”


Lindloff says ten miles of the Sheboygan River and river shoreline could be improved if the

Franklin Dam comes out. But some people who live along the small lake are sounding off about the

proposed teardown.


“I mean the dam’s solid. It’s built solid.”


Kris Wilkins believes the Franklin Dam merely needs some repairs. She loves the small farm she has

along the lake, and has even taken to raising geese.


(sound of geese)


Wilkins predicts that removing the dam would drastically cut the size of the lake and harm the

value of her property.


“It’s gorgeous out here, we have all kinds of wildlife: green herring, blue herring, our geese,

fox, woodchucks all around, it’s just nature all the way.”


Wilkins and several of her neighbors are trying to create a lake district. That’s where local

people could assess themselves a tax to raise some of the money to fix the dam. The group’s

leader, Don Last, says he’s prepared to hike his own taxes.


“It’s really the only alternative we have to find the funds and possibly get matching money to

restore and maintain.”


But some wonder if the small number of folks in this rural township can raise enough cash. They

won’t get any help from the dam’s owner, which is the Franklin volunteer fire department. The

department no longer gets its firefighting water from the lake, and fire officials say they have

no money for dam repairs. A state bailout is unlikely too.


If the Franklin Dam comes down, it would join about fifty other Wisconsin dams that have been

removed in the last twenty years. Ohio and Pennsylvania have also taken out a sizeable number of

the old structures. Steve Born is a regional planner at the University of Wisconsin – Madison.

He’s written nationally about dam removals. Born says the entire Great Lakes region can benefit,

as long as officials keep a check on contaminated sediments that may have built up behind the

dams.


“There has to be provisions for either draining the impoundment… dredging these… moving them

to safe landfill sites… neutralizing them in some way. But they can’t be allowed to just

disperse throughout the system.”


Born is an advisor to trout unlimited, which is another of the groups pushing for dam removals. If

state and local governments go about removing dams carefully, Born and others will welcome the

site of more free-flowing streams.


(sound of stream)


For the Great Lakes Radio Consortium, I’m Chuck Quirmbach in Sheboygan County, Wisconsin.

Federal Proposal May Drown Farmland

It doesn’t happen very often, but for the last year, a republican
governor, the farming community, and environmentalists have been working
together to protect endangered wetlands, by taking certain farmlands out
of production. But now, a new federal proposal could be separating the
groups. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Jonathan Ahl has the story:

Wetlands Sedimentation a National Problem

Conservation agencies are having a tough time correcting one of the
worst problems in some on the most sensitive areas. The Great Lakes
Radio Consortium’s Lester Graham reports on the damage sediment and silt
have on wetlands: