Destruction of a 130-foot long dam in Henniker began today amid a crowd of supporters.
The project will remove the 68-year-old dam and re-open fifteen miles of the Contoocook to fishermen and boaters.
NHPR's Rachel Estabrook has the story.
(water sound)
Cool flowing water, kids playing along the riverbanks, sun breaking through the clouds. And the roar of a jackhammer.
(jackhammer)
White chunks of concrete fly off the top of the West Henniker Dam while debris mixes with the riverwater and rushes away.
Grace Levergood describes the process.
She�s the Dam Safety Engineer for the state Department of Environmental Services.
TAPE: This is the downstream reach of the river and we�re approaching the spillway of the dam. The DES Dam Maintenance Crew has built a pad and they�ve driven the excavator out on it, and on the tip of the excavator they�ve got this hammer that they�re gonna hydraulically activate and it�s gonna start chippin� away at the concrete spillway.
Levergood says it�ll be at least a month before the dam is completely gone and could involve some controlled blasting.
Ultimately a fifteen-mile stretch of the Contoocook River will re-open.
It is the culmination of a four-year project to improve recreation in the area.
A 1999 DES inspection revealed the dam had several safety problems that the town needed to address.
Those repairs would have cost Henniker a total of 200 thousand dollars.
That�s a lot of money for a dam that hasn�t produced electricity for more than 20 years.
The town opted to explore other possibilities, ultimately electing the dam�s total destruction.
This fate pleases particularly the area�s fishermen and recreational boaters.
Nancy Gero of Raymond is the president of the Merrimack Valley Paddlers, and she says the dam was a danger for kayakers.
TAPE: I�ve heard stories about having to rescue people who have gotten, you know, maybe unaware of the dam and have gotten stuck in the recirculation and the fire department would have to come get them out. But there�s no getting out on your own.
John Warner of the US Fish and Wildlife Service is also happy.
He says taking the dam down will improve trout fishing downstream.
TAPE: this is a fairly important reach for trout fishermen. There�s a state-designated special trout regulation area upstream of the dam, and by removing the dam it should extend the range of good trout habitat downstream to include the area through where the dam is to this bridge where we�re standing.
Support for the project came mostly from outdoor enthusiasts like Warner and Gero, whose organizations donated 160 thousand dollars to thoroughly fund the removal.
This is the fourth dam that has been taken down by the New Hampshire DES� River Restoration Program.
Officials are now eying the foundation of an old paper mill farther down on the Contoocook, aiming to remove it by the end of the year.
For NHPR News, I�m Rachel Estabrook
