Need inspiration for a new you in the New Year? Check out these extreme aquatic makeovers
We all know the format: a surprise intervention, a transformative regimen, a jaw-dropping reveal. It’s the makeover show, and though it can be a bit of a guilty pleasure to watch unsuspecting strangers have their wardrobes, homes, and lifestyle choices scrutinized before our eyes, it can also be pretty inspiring. Nothing says “change is possible” like a side-by-side comparison of before-and-after photos.
With the new year (and its resolutions) upon us, we will all be looking for extra motivation to pull off feats of personal transformation. But you can put down the remote. There are inspiring makeovers happening throughout the region that you can see in person.
They are aquatic makeovers — targeting outdated road-stream crossings that are both eyesores, and hazards. These makeovers aren’t led by lifestyle gurus, but by teams of biologists, engineers, and planners who are working together to make streams in your community look and function better, for public safety and for fish passage.
That’s because upgrading culverts lets rivers and streams flow freely under roads, preventing the dangerous flooding and erosion that occurs during heavy precipitation events when water gets backed up behind artificial constrictions in a natural channel. Free-flowing streams also support migratory fish and freshwater mussel species — like alewife, blueback herring, American shad, American eel, and dwarf wedgemussel — that need to move up and downstream to complete their life cycles. It’s a win-win for people and wildlife because it makes commuting safer on roads and in streams.
In just the last fiscal year (October 2018 through October 2019) the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and its partners worked together to complete 58 projects that addressed barriers or restrictions on waterways — both outdated culverts and obsolete dams — reconnecting more than 1,500 upstream miles of rivers and streams and nearly 260 acres of wetlands. What’s more, the Service’s Wildlife and Sport Fish Restoration Program supported efforts by six states to improve aquatic and terrestrial connectivity with funding from the State Wildlife Grant program. Ranging from dam removal to design review for road-stream crossing upgrades, these projects show that with vision, commitment, and friends who have your back, transformation is possible. Here are a few projects to be inspired by:
Allegany State Park, New York
The partners: New York State Department of Environmental Conservation, and New York State Office of Parks, Recreation, and Historic Preservation
The problem: A roundish 48-inch wide culvert beneath a horse and snowmobile trail was rusted out on the bottom, and ended in a four-foot drop onto rocks. An unhappy ending for native fish, including wild brook trout, attempting to swim through.
The solution: Partners installed a stunning 20-foot wide bottomless arch culvert made of structural plate aluminum on new concrete footings, providing safe passage for fish swimming through, and peace of mind for visitors galloping over the top.
Upper Sunday River, Maine
The partners: Maine Department of Inland Fisheries & Wildlife, Androscoggin River Watershed Council, Trout Unlimited, Project SHARE, and the Sunday River resort
The problem: A “behemoth” of an old log-driving dam (built by loggers to hold back water that could be released strategically when they needed to push logs downstream) in a remote headwater reach of the Sunday River was difficult to access, and even harder to remove because of the size and embeddedness of the logs.
The solution: Over the course of three summers, work crews used chain saws, grip hoists, and hand tools to chip away at the giant logs and restore natural flow to the picturesque stream. If you’re wondering how removing a dam from a stream in the middle of nowhere benefits people, ask a trout fisherman.
Jordan’s Point Park, Lexington, Virginia
The partners: Virginia Department of Game & Inland Fisheries,and the City of Lexington
The problem: More than a century old, and replete with cracks, voids, and leaks, the Jordon’s Point Dam on the Maury River was a scary sight. Not only because of the danger the deteriorating structure posed to the public, but because of what it would take to remove it: the dam was 10-feet high, more than half the length of a football field, and shadowed by eight concrete piers in the active channel downstream that once supported a railroad bridge.
The solution: The partners constructed a rock causeway to allow heavy equipment to approach the dam and safely remove the structure, which they did after waiting out the high water brought on by an unusually wet spring. In addition to connecting more than 1,000 miles of important aquatic habitat in the river watershed and creating new opportunities for recreation through this project, the town uncovered some local history: two old millstones and the remnants of an old wooden crib dam upstream. They salvaged some of the timbers for interpretive display.
To see more inspiring examples of aquatic makeovers supported by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in 2019, check out: https://medium.com/usfishandwildlifeservicenortheast/a-year-of-clearing-the-way-for-communities-and-wildlife-b31e6646be9
