Thoreau's Old Enemy Is Finally Coming Down — and the Herring Are Flooding Back
Dam removals are bringing fish back across the northeastern United States
Since 1912, more than 2,300 U.S. dams have been removed, most in the past 25 years, and 2024 alone reconnected over 2,500 miles of waterways. While the Klamath and Elwha projects draw headlines, most removals happen in the Northeast, where thousands of obsolete mill dams still block fish. On New Hampshire's Bellamy River, biologist Nathan Furey uses PIT tags to track whether alewives can navigate the rapids left behind — and the fish are returning.
We're in this dam-removal renaissance, where we're losing barriers faster than we're putting them up for the first time in history.
- goda90
A rewilding organization bought some forest land, downstream from a dam, that used to get seasonal flooding before the dam was built and made an agreement with the dam operators to do artificial seasonal flooding via ditches they dug. The flooded forest has the effect of providing fish nurseries so hatchlings have a chance to hide and grow before the water recedes and they have to return to the river.
I think it's a testament that human activity and nature don't have to be all or nothing, but we need to consider and mitigate the impact of our actions and always leave space for nature.
- glenstein
More good news: after years of fighting, Brookfield Renewable agreed to sell four dams on the Kennebec River which will let Atlantic Salmon go back up river to their spawning territory. This just happened in 2025 and could be a bigger breakthrough than the massive alewife restoration that the article mentions.
My understanding is that the first few victories on this were very very hard but it seems to have created a precedent and a growing example emulated across the country.
https://themainemonitor.org/dams-sale-salmon-return-kennebec...
- twright
This sounded familiar and then I realized I had read the same article a few weeks ago. This is some strange syndication I would propose changing the link to this one: https://biographic.com/death-by-a-thousand-dams/ it’s also way better layout and fewer ads.
- hinkley
As the article alludes, the blueprint/precedent for this kind of work was set in the Klamath river basin in western Oregon. The local tribes deserve a tip of the hat for pushing through the lobbying and suits to get this process started.
And a hat tip to all of the people who made the projects as successful as they have been in saving fish populations. IIRC, they ran into some surprises with volunteer fish which reduced the amount of hatchery fish they anticipated needing.
- m_herrlich
Good for the fish but as winters get warmer these dams will be useful to store rain that doesn't stay put in the mountains as winter snow. This might mean more summer droughts. Also a nice clean source of power. I would rather see fish ladders.