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Dam removal has been proposed as an effective method of river restoration, but few integrative studies have examined ecological responses to the removal of dams. In 1999, we initiated an interdisciplinary study to determine ecological responses to the removal of a 2 m high dam on lower Manatawny Creek in southeastern Pennsylvania. We used an integrative monitoring program to assess the physical, chemical, and biological responses to dam removal. Following removal in 2000, increased sediment transport has led to major changes in channel form in the former impoundment and downstream reaches. Water quality did not change markedly following removal, probably because of the impoundment's short hydraulic residence time...
Categories: Publication; Types: Citation
More and more low-head dam structures have deteriorated in recent years. Unlike the large dam, the geomorphological and ecological impacts of a low-head dam removal have not been quantified with insufficient monitoring data on pre- and post-removal. Therefore, this study intends to identify the low-head dam removal impacts on geomorphology and riparian vegetation based on previous studies. The characteristics of stored sediment in the impoundment play a critical role for geomorphological responses on a low-head dam removal creating a knickpoint and promoting a headcut migration. These geomorphological changes often form a new floodplain and create enough room for riparian vegetation establishment. The river geomorphology...
Categories: Publication; Types: Citation
Dam removal is often proposed as way to restore ecological integrity to rivers and streams, but ecological responses to dam removals are poorly understood, especially for downstream benthic communities. We examined the responses of benthic macroinvertebrate and algal assemblages in downstream reaches to the removal of a small, run-of-river dam on Manatawny Creek, Pennsylvania. Benthic macroinvertebrates, algae, and habitat characteristics were monitored upstream and downstream of the dam for 4 mo before removal, 3 mo after partial removal (i.e., when the impoundment was largely eliminated but sediment remained trapped behind the remaining structure), and 12 mo after complete dam removal. Macroinvertebrate density,...
Dam decommissioning has become an important means for removing unsafe or obsolete dams and for restoring natural fluvial processes, including discharge regimes, sediment transport, and ecosystem connectivity [Doyle et al., 2003]. The largest dam-removal project in history began in September 2011 on the Elwha River of Washington State (Figure 1a). The project, which aims to restore the river ecosystem and increase imperiled salmon populations that once thrived there, provides a unique opportunity to better understand the implications of large-scale river restoration.
Categories: Publication; Types: Citation
Dams affect river systems in a myriad of direct and indirect ways including disrupting the flow of water, energy, sediment, nutrients, and biota (e.g., Hammad 1972, Petts 1980, Williams and Wolman 1984, Cushman 1985, Bain et al. 1988, Ward and Stanford 1989, Benke 1990, Ligon et al. 1995). These changes impact lotic fish communities both through habitat alteration and fragmentation (Hayes et al. in press). Habitat alteration occurs upstream and downstream of dams, but in fundamentally different ways. Upstream from dams, the flow of water, sediment, and nutrients is slowed, creating impoundments and converting lotic habitat to lentic habitat (Petts 1980, Ward and Stanford 1989). This decreases habitat suitability...
Categories: Publication; Types: Citation
A substantial increase in fluvial sediment supply relative to transport capacity causes complex, large-magnitude changes in river and floodplain morphology downstream. Although sedimentary and geomorphic responses to sediment pulses are a fundamental part of landscape evolution, few opportunities exist to quantify those processes over field scales. We investigated the downstream effects of sediment released during the largest dam removal in history, on the Elwha River, Washington, USA, by measuring changes in riverbed elevation and topography, bed sediment grain size, and channel planform as two dams were removed in stages over two years. As 10.5 million t (7.1 million m3) of sediment was released from two former...
The Secor dam was a low-head dam that was 17m wide and 2.5 m tall on the Ottawa River in Toledo, Ohio. The dam was removed for liability reasons and to facilitate improvements in water quality and fisheries habitat on November 19, 2007. This study documents the fluvial response of dam removal using: (1) repeated high resolution channel surveying with a total station, (2) differential GPS measurements of bedform migration, (3) bedload sampling using a Helley-Smith bedload trap, (4) multiple cores and (5) grain size analyses of the channel substrate. The research also examined the applicability of the conceptual channel evolution model of Doyle et al. (2003) and the predictive success of Dam Removal Express Assessment...
Categories: Publication; Types: Citation
A monitoring study was conducted on the Sandusky River, in north-central Ohio, to characterize changes in water quality and quantity before and after the removal of a low-head dam (St. John). Short-term time series of flow and turbidity were taken during the dewatering and the removal of the dam in order to determine sediment loads. High resolution spatial data, based on vertical profiles and longitudinal surveys, were collected before and after the removal to determine changes in temperature, dissolved oxygen (DO), pH, turbidity, specific conductivity, and oxidation-reduction potential (ORP) in the 18 km reservoir. Surface water samples were collected upstream and downstream of the dam before and after removal...
Categories: Publication; Types: Citation
In 2009 and 2010, drift samples were collected from six sites on the lower Sprague and Williamson Rivers to assess drift patterns of larval Lost River suckers (Deltistes luxatus) (LRS) and shortnose suckers (Chasmistes brevirostris) (SNS). The objective of this study was to characterize the drift timing, relative abundance, and growth stage frequencies of larval suckers emigrating from the Sprague River watershed. These data were used to evaluate changes in spawning distribution of LRS and SNS in the Sprague River after the 2008 removal of Chiloquin Dam. Drift samples were collected at four sites on the Sprague River and one site each on the Williamson and Sycan Rivers. Data presented in this report is a continuation...
Categories: Publication; Types: Citation
A key issue faced in dam removal is the rate and timing of remobilization and discharge of stored reservoir sediments following the removal. Different removal strategies can result in different trajectories of upstream sediment transport and knickpoint migration. We examine this issue of for the Marmot Dam removal in Sandy River, Oregon, USA using both physical experiments and field studies accompanying removal of the dam in October 2007. The physical experiment was designed to provide insights on how and if the position of a cofferdam notch will affect how reservoir sediments are remobilized, with the goal of minimizing the volume of sediment stranded in terraces. Data and observations indicate that at lower failure...
Categories: Publication; Types: Citation
Following the industrial revolution and the urbanization of America, dams became prominent features of the country’s landscape in the 19th and 20th centuries. Dams interrupt the natural connectivity of lotic systems by severing the flow of water, sediment, nutrients, energy, and biota between the upstream and downstream segments of streams and rivers. Removing dams and restoring streams to a more natural, free-flowing state is assumed to benefit aquatic organisms inhabiting the system. Despite the large number of dams being removed across the United States, few of these projects have focused on the effects of dam removal on biotic assemblages. The Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission has developed an active dam...
Categories: Publication; Types: Citation
Pacific lamprey Entosphenus tridentatus are declining in the Columbia River Basin and larval lamprey use of large, mainstem river habitats is unknown. Their use of shallow depositional areas associated with tributary inputs is equally unknown. We used a deepwater electrofisher to explore occupancy, detection, and habitat use of larval Pacific lamprey and Lampetra spp. in the lower reaches and mouths of the Klickitat, White Salmon, and Wind rivers, tributaries to Bonneville Reservoir and the Columbia River. We repeated similar work conducted in 2011. Specifically, sampling in 2011 in the White Salmon River and mouth took place prior to the breach of Condit Dam and subsequent release of sediments from Northwestern...
Categories: Publication; Types: Citation