Give A Dam

What did the fish say when he hit the brick wall?

Dam!

Classic joke and illustrates a good point. When you dam rivers, fish can't go where they prefer. When you consider anadramous species like steelhead and salmon where they start in rivers to spawn, move to the lakes to grow, and return to the rivers the impact of a dam is tremendous. In many river systems, like the AuSable, this journey is artifically shortened by a dam that prevents migration.

But there's more bad stuff that dams cause. One of the best simple discussions I've seen is here.

Why bring it up? As infrastructure budgets are shrinking at local, state, and Federal levels many communities are considering removing dams rather than investing in repairs that will lead to more repairs in the future. If you're in a community where this is happening, if you're interested in healthy rivers, it may be worth your while to get involved.

-Sean-