By John Brum
Why is it that members of the Warren Dam Preservation Trust continue diverting the issues associated with the Warren dam? To date, efforts have failed in securing state and federal funding. More importantly, the Agency of Natural Resources (ANR) has stated in no uncertain terms that it will not approve renovating the dam. Nevertheless, the trust has circulated a petition to set aside $3,000 of the Warren town budget for dam preservation. When it comes to the Warren dam, the facts are very clear. Rebuilding, preserving and conducting repairs to the dam will never take place. And, even if the ANR authorized it, the state won’t fund it, the federal government won’t fund it, private parties won’t fund it and Warren taxpayers won’t fund it. So then, who would fund it?
Enough with the failed dam efforts – because “it is all about the river, not the dam.” We have a river in chaos and few folks have recognized this and few folks are talking about this. I think that it’s about time to speak for the river.
As was clearly stated in recent Valley Reporter Opinions written by Chris Kirchen and Clark Amadon, the solutions are clear. In written documents from the Agency of Natural Resources and experts in the fields of hydrology and river management, the facts, options and solutions are clear. Plain and simple, the dam will never be rebuilt.
With few exceptions, dams across the United States are being removed unless they play a critical role in hydroelectric power production. Why are dams being removed? Because they undermine the fragile river ecosystems they were designed to impede. Rivers need to run freely without impediments that block or slow their work. Rivers are the lifeblood of a watershed and anything that prevents the watershed from draining creates a myriad of problems clearly represented by those currently observed in the Mad River above the Warren dam and below.
The Mad River is a complex throughput and primary artery that carries the water and valuable sediments and nutrients drained from our watershed north to the Winooski River and Lake Champlain.
When comparing the Mad River watershed of 50 years ago to the watershed of today, they are dramatically different. The size of the watershed may be the same, but the amount of development that has taken place over the past 50 years has changed the landscape of the watershed. Most notably is the significant increase in the number of impervious surfaces (due to new subdivisions with new homes, dirt roads that are now paved, updated infrastructure and drainage improvements and new parking areas, to name a few) that increase water runoff which ultimately ends up in the Mad River. The Mad River carries much more water today than ever before and exponential amounts during high water events – well beyond its channel capacity.
There isn’t a homeowner upstream (or adjacent to) the Warren dam who hasn’t suffered property and/or home damage and monetary loss from recent high water events. Why? Because we have a dam in place that decreases the speed of water, raises the height of water and decreases the overall efficiency of the river, especially during high water events.
And it appears that members of the Warren Dam Preservation Trust have made the choice (10 years and counting) to ignore the river in favor of a deteriorating dam that continues to undermine the important work of the Mad River ecosystem – the lifeblood and main artery of our watershed.
Above the dam, riverbanks continue to erode, rock and gravel bars continue to expand in all directions, fish continue their decline to such a degree that fishing, unless with a fine fish net, no longer exists. I haven’t seen trout in the river above the dam in years. Organisms up and down the food chain have also disappeared. Think about it – if the river can no longer do its work, neither can the organisms that benefit from the river. The biodiversity of the Warren Village river ecosystem has been disrupted and fragmented by the dam. And we are all OK with this? I’m not OK with this nor are the organisms that have been negatively impacted, if they had a voice.
There comes a time when all parties involved need to make the right decision on behalf of the Mad River. Unfortunately, the river seemingly has no voice in the ultimate outcome. But then again the river does have a voice – just look at the bank erosion, lack of noninvasive bank vegetation, lack of fish, increase in rock and sediment bars, lack of swim holes or swim holes that are now filled with rock and sediments and excessive sedimentation behind the dam (that could replenish eroded banks downstream) that hasn’t been properly managed in decades. Collectively, these visible aspects point to a river crying out for help. Why aren’t we listening to the river?
As a homeowner of one of the oldest homes in Warren Village, I have a deep respect for historic value. I love Warren and the greater Mad River Valley. I love watching the Mad River flow by my home. I’ve been traveling here for over 40 years and the Mad River Valley is such a special place. Anyone who lives here or travels here probably shares my feelings.
But there comes a time when we must move on from what is to what will be – quite possibly, to a new beginning that will provide new nourishment and increased biodiversity to our river ecosystem and new vitality to Warren Village and the greater Mad River Valley.
With this said, I urge members of the Warren Dam Preservation Trust to start speaking for the river. The Mad River is crying out for help and you are not listening. Let’s do the right thing for the river and leverage any available state and federal funding to remove the dam so that our river can continue to do its important work – work that was started thousands of years ago, when the river flowed without human discourse, when the river flowed without human intervention and when the river flowed without personal agendas that continue to further delay the important work the Mad River has yet to do.
I urge you to shift your thinking and do the right thing because “it is all about the river, not the dam.”
John Brum is a resident of Warren.
