By Corrie Miller, Friends of the Mad River executive director, and the board of directors
The timber crib dam and its upstream mill pond in Warren Village are a connection to our past – they are a reminder of the stoic nature and hardworking craftsmanship of our early 20th-century ancestors and of the industries that initially shaped our community and connected us so closely with the Mad River. Sadly, the Warren dam also causes a suite of negative impacts to human and aquatic life around the river – it blocks fish movement and heats the water above normal temperatures, it causes upstream flood hazards and downstream erosion hazards that impact private landowners and it poses a general risk to public safety.
The Warren dam’s story has changed along with the changing times – the original dam was built to harness the river to operate mills and the dam was reconstructed in the 1970s and then powered a small hydroelectric generator. Today, however, there is no longer a viable economic driver for the dam’s continued use and it has fallen into disrepair. Likewise, changing times have brought an evolving relationship between people and rivers – early settlers endeavored to control the river’s power but we’ve since learned that our communities are typically better off when we work with, instead of against, natural systems. Furthermore, our scientific understanding of the impacts dams cause on natural and human communities has advanced as we’ve witnessed flooding, erosion and habitat degradation firsthand. With the Warren dam’s intended purpose obsolete and state laws in place to protect a free flowing river for the public benefit, we must now ask ourselves if the dam’s cost to our river community outweighs its benefit.
For 25 years, Friends of the Mad River (FMR) has been committed to thoughtful and active stewardship of the Mad River and its 144-square-mile watershed. Our watershed conservation work in collaboration with landowners, business owners and municipalities has always been driven by our dedication to ensure that the resources which our community values can also benefit current and future generations of people and wildlife who call the Mad River Valley home.
Therefore, as we deliberate watershed management decisions, we carefully consider wide-ranging community benefits. The case of the Warren dam is no different. The 1998 flood caused monumental damage to Warren Village and an opportunity for reflection. Since then, Friends of the Mad River board and staff members have carefully considered the values the Warren dam offers the community as well as the risks and problems it creates and have talked with people who love the dam as well as those who have been negatively impacted by it. We have also conducted our own research and engaged scientists and the public in learning about the dam’s impact on habitat, river geomorphology and people. Having carefully weighed the costs and benefits, we feel strongly that the time has come to say a heartfelt goodbye to the Warren dam. In 2004, when there was funding and a removal plan in place, FMR supported removing the dam. Now the issue is once again before the Warren community. Our position is reinforced by events of the past decade and our recommendation holds.
The scientific data clearly show that the Warren dam diminishes aquatic wildlife habitat and reduces the geomorphic stability of the Mad River. The most pressing issue for the community, however, is that the dam increases flood and erosion hazard in the village. Removing the dam (a constriction to the river channel) would lower 25- and 100-year flood heights upstream of the dam by between 3 and 4 feet (according to a 2013 DuBois & King study), allow debris and ice easier passage, reduce streambank erosion downstream, require first responders to put themselves in harm's way less often and minimize damage to private property. Removal of the dam would afford the river and debris more space under the covered bridge because there wouldn’t be any accumulated sediment backing up behind the dam.
As FMR understands it, Vermont’s Agency of Natural Resources (ANR) is resolute that the existing dam is damaged beyond repair and that state law will not allow a dam to be rebuilt at this location because it could not meet the conditions set forth in state law. Specifically, 10 V.S.A. § 1023 requires that any change: “(1) will not adversely affect the public safety by increasing flood or fluvial erosion hazards; (2) will not significantly damage fish life or wildlife; and (3) will not significantly damage the rights of riparian owners.” In other words, ANR’s engineers and scientists consider a dam in this location to have harmful effects on flooding, fish and wildlife and private property and, therefore, will not permit a rebuild.
Because the dam cannot legally be rebuilt, the Warren Village Dam Preservation Trust, as owner of the dam, seems to be left with a choice between either of two routes – to intentionally remove the dam or, by doing nothing, to let it break apart over time. Intentional dam removal projects are happening all over Vermont and the country with positive results for people and planet. In most cases, the landowners and a team of municipal, state, federal and nonprofit partners work together to find funding (which is available for this type of project), to engineer the project such that impacts on surrounding private property and infrastructure are mitigated and then to remove the dam. While letting the dam crumble on its own will result in the same benefits as intentional removal over the long term, it leaves the community at risk in the meantime and leaves surrounding landowners paying the bill if streambank or infrastructure stabilization is needed when the dam eventually breaks apart completely.
Friends of the Mad River would look forward to working with the trust should they decide to intentionally remove the dam. The balance has tipped and a free flowing river is the right choice. Warren’s cultural history is one of innovation and forward thinking. The time has come to embrace this aspect of the town’s past while looking forward toward a future where we acknowledge all that we’ve learned, where we work with the river instead of against it and where we embrace the fact that our livelihoods here in the Mad River Valley are intertwined with the river’s health.
