Trashpaddler: Above and Below a Contentious Dam

With the Talbot Mills Dam (photo above) in the news of late, I decided to paddle down the Concord River this past Monday and visit the dam which is presently under discussion for removal. Started in the early morning to beat the heat and took a look at the higher than usual water level (for late July) at the Route 225 bridge before heading downriver...

Passed under several bridges before reaching the narrowest section thru Fordway Bar...

...and shortly thereafter the (perhaps not long for this world) Talbot Mills Dam...

A view of the dam from the small park on the river's east side (Talbot Mills to west)...

The dam's original purpose was providing water power for the mills and source-water for the Middlesex Canal. Both functions are no longer required.

I returned to the area yesterday and resumed my journey from a boat launch below the dam. The view looking upriver to the dam from below...

This black-crowned night heron watched over the eddy near the boat launch...

Both the river and current spread out further downriver...

...with many riverside hibiscus in full bloom...

A white-tailed deer seemed curious...

Several railroad bridges cross the river just before reaching the end of navigable water. This steel one carries freight trains while the wooden trestle beyond was long ago abandoned..

Navigable water for me ends just past the Lawrence Street bridge at the Centennial Island Dam...

Muldoon Park is just above this spot and has a boat launch where folks can either take out or put in. I turned about here and headed back upriver to the Talbot Mills. After exiting the water I drove over to the dam for a closer look. Dams at this location have been contentious since the late 1700's when farmers some 20 miles upriver reported their riverside hay meadows often being flooded. Legal battles ensued for many years. At one point the farmers seemed to finally prevail only to have upriver dams release stored water in order to help the Talbot Mills. One exasperated farmer, Col. David Heard of Wayland, MA, is said to have proclaimed the farmers' valley is "damned at both ends and cursed in the middle" according to Brian Donahue in his article "Damned at Both Ends and Cursed in the Middle": The "Flowage" of the Concord River Meadows 1798-1862. The farmers ultimately lost and today many of those once flooded meadows are part of the Great Meadows National Wildlife Refuge.

The present reasoning for removing the Talbot Mills Dam is stated clearly by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service as follows: "This is the largest dam removal ever in Massachusetts, opening 135 miles of habitat, including 260 acres of lakes and ponds, spawning, rearing and thermal refugia habitat for native fish species. This dam removal will reduce flooding, improve water quality, and improve recreational boating."

A December 2016 Concord River Diadromous Fish Restoration Feasibility Study prepared for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts by Gomez and Sullivan Engineers provides additional details.

However, as this sign at the dam shows, not everyone is supporting the removal project...

Thus the fate of the long contentious dam is up in the air leaving me to wonder which way the Talbot Mills weathervane will end up pointing...

I support the dam's removal believing the benefits of removal far outweigh any negative effects.

Between my two days on the Concord River I visited the Nashua River last Wednesday launching from the Oxbow N.W.R. in Harvard, MA and finding lots of shady spots as I worked my way upriver. While the shade was welcome, the huge numbers of small and very fast mosquitoes were not. This seems to be the summer of their dreams...