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.