Third Southeastern Dam Removal Handbook Completed!
Read more about GA-ACT team member Lisa Perras Gordon’s work to complete the third of three dam removal handbooks in southeastern states – it all started right here in Georgia!
Fish show up after infrastructure ‘glow-up’
Written By Anna Rehkopf (U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service) Across the country, people are working to transform and replenish the landscape—creating opportunities to connect with nature and improving safety around tributaries. In some ways, we are attempting to turn back the hand of time. We want to give nature a chance to be itself again. When we remove a dam, or take out other barriers along a waterway, we give nature a chance to revert to its true form, to…
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Seeks Project Applications for $38 Million in Fish Passage Funding
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is seeking project applications for $38 million in fish passage funding. Projects will be part of a five-year, $200 million Bipartisan Infrastructure Law investment to restore aquatic ecosystems, through the National Fish Passage Program. Selected projects will address outdated, unsafe or obsolete dams, culverts, levees and other barriers fragmenting our nation’s rivers and streams. Learn more here: https://fws.gov/service/us-fish-and-wildlife-service-seeks-project-applications-38-million-fish-passage-funding
The ‘drowning machine’: Aging ‘low-head’ dams dot Kentucky and the US, killing hundreds
Sarah Hume For the Courier Journal Holbert’s death was one of the hundreds of cases of Americans who have died after getting sucked into a “low-head” dam, a style used in the late 1800s to power mills and distilleries.More than 10,000 were built around the nation and remain in place. They are not very tall, which gives them their name, reach from bank to bank and can be difficult to see from upstream. Many are no longer needed, but they…
Dozens of Georgia dams don’t have critical safety plans in case of breach, investigation finds
With all of this rain and flooding in Florida, Channel 2 Action News has learned dozens of privately owned Georgia dams are missing critical safety plans to protect residents in case of failures. Channel 2 investigative reporter Ashli Lincoln found out that the state took enforcement action against nearly 70 dam owners, and neighbors may have no idea they’re downstream from a potentially deadly dam. See more here: https://news.yahoo.com/dozens-georgia-dams-don-t-220740189.html
Free the Flow
A Grassroots Movement Wants to See Two Iconic Southern Rivers Running As Nature Intended Tugalo Dam was completed in 1923 and, according to Georgia Power’s 2019 Integrated Resource Plan, is nearing the end of its useful life. The dam’s operating license isn’t set to expire until 2036, but in September of 2021 Georgia Power filed a request to amend its operating license. This amendment proposes to modernize the dam to the tune of 24 to 30 million dollars, thus extending…
BioScience Article: Birds Follow Flyways,Fish Navigate Swimways
A new article, published in BioScience, argues we can use the concept of “Swimways” to protect migratory corridors for fish, the way international flyways have been protected for birds. Read the full article here: https://academic.oup.com/bioscience/article/72/2/116/6521755
Restoring Aquatic Connectivity
Article by GA Chapter of the American Fisheries Society on the Mill Creek Culvert Replacement. All around the world conservation groups, government agencies, academic institutions, and private companies are working together in efforts to restore aquatic connectivity and reduce habitat fragmentation by razing dams and restructuring road-stream crossings. Georgia has its fair share of aquatic connectivity projects. We have seen the removal of dams on the Chattahoochee River in Columbus and the removal of White Dam in Athens. One project…
Taking the Mystery Out of Removing or Modifying Georgia’s Obsolete Dams
By Sara Gottlieb, Director of Freshwater Science & Strategy, The Nature Conservancy Over the past year, a team of contributors sponsored by the GA-ACT collaborated to write the Handbook for the Removal or Modification of Obsolete Dams in Georgia. Developing this handbook brought together experts from a variety of agencies, regulatory authorities, academic institutions, engineering firms and other conservation organizations toward a shared goal – this process helped built trust between entities with varied perspectives and missions. As co-lead of the…
New handbook guides obsolete dam removals
June 18, 2020 by Kristen Morales, UGA When the University of Georgia set about to remove White Dam, an outdated dam on the North Oconee River, the process involved more than moving heavy concrete. It also required cutting through piles of red tape and layers of approvals. But in the end, the project proved to be a valuable example of how landowners, agencies and nonprofits can work together for a shared end goal: a healthier river. Now, the multi-agency team that cut…
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