WEBVTT Kind: captions Language: en 00:00:00.710 --> 00:00:05.790 [Music playing] 00:00:05.790 --> 00:00:08.180 position:58% Faith: So we're standing really close 00:00:08.180 --> 00:00:10.320 to where the dam was removed, the 00:00:10.320 --> 00:00:14.050 Simkins dam on the Patapsco River, 00:00:14.050 --> 00:00:16.880 close to Ellicott City in Maryland. 00:00:16.880 --> 00:00:19.060 It's one of the four dams on the 00:00:19.060 --> 00:00:21.490 position:59% Patapsco, two of which have been taken 00:00:21.490 --> 00:00:23.940 position:61% out recently. I have some of the people 00:00:23.940 --> 00:00:26.740 position:59% standing here with me that were key to 00:00:26.740 --> 00:00:30.370 position:61% having this happen. Serena, what's some 00:00:30.370 --> 00:00:36.550 position:80% of the history here, why this dam could be removed? 00:00:36.550 --> 00:00:38.910 position:59% Serena: We're actually, like you said, 00:00:38.910 --> 00:00:41.810 position:58% there are found dams on the Patapsco. 00:00:41.810 --> 00:00:42.990 The dam upstream of this, the Union 00:00:42.990 --> 00:00:44.930 position:58% dam, was actually under consideration 00:00:44.930 --> 00:00:46.280 position:59% for removal by the Maryland Department 00:00:46.280 --> 00:00:47.950 position:58% of Natural Resources. It was the only 00:00:47.950 --> 00:00:49.430 dam that was reached by hurricane 00:00:49.430 --> 00:00:52.320 position:61% Agnes, in the 1970s, so that particular 00:00:52.320 --> 00:00:53.840 position:56% one was one that had already been in 00:00:53.840 --> 00:00:56.930 position:61% the works for several years. Downstream 00:00:56.930 --> 00:00:59.070 position:59% of this, the Bloede dam, is also owned 00:00:59.070 --> 00:01:00.580 position:59% by the Department of Natural Resources 00:01:00.580 --> 00:01:02.030 position:56% and there have been about ten people 00:01:02.030 --> 00:01:03.310 position:56% that have died at that structure. So 00:01:03.310 --> 00:01:06.430 position:59% it's a real safety hazard. So the park 00:01:06.430 --> 00:01:08.580 and DNR, have a vested interest in 00:01:08.580 --> 00:01:11.310 seeing that dam removed as well. 00:01:11.310 --> 00:01:12.420 So really what you had was this 00:01:12.420 --> 00:01:13.390 position:56% privately owned dam in the middle of 00:01:13.390 --> 00:01:16.970 position:58% it. Luckily, the mill associated with 00:01:16.970 --> 00:01:19.460 the dam, which most recently 00:01:19.460 --> 00:01:21.920 manufactured recycled cardboard, 00:01:21.920 --> 00:01:27.150 position:59% actually burnt mostly down in 1995. So 00:01:27.150 --> 00:01:29.100 the dam was currently serving no 00:01:29.100 --> 00:01:32.400 position:58% function. Again, it could have broken 00:01:32.400 --> 00:01:35.430 position:59% up the potential for contiguous set of 00:01:35.430 --> 00:01:37.150 removals. So we approached the 00:01:37.150 --> 00:01:39.460 position:61% landowner and wondering if he'd give us 00:01:39.460 --> 00:01:41.280 position:56% permission to just yank the dam out. 00:01:41.280 --> 00:01:43.810 And he was very supportive of doing 00:01:43.810 --> 00:01:46.500 position:59% that. And all that kind of came on the 00:01:46.500 --> 00:01:48.400 top of the fact that the Maryland 00:01:48.400 --> 00:01:49.860 position:59% Department of Natural Resources, their 00:01:49.860 --> 00:01:51.170 position:58% fisheries department, have been doing 00:01:51.170 --> 00:01:53.090 position:61% monitoring on the Patapsco, at the fish 00:01:53.090 --> 00:01:54.870 position:61% ladders that were on all these dams and 00:01:54.870 --> 00:01:56.900 position:61% had been able to document the fact that 00:01:56.900 --> 00:01:58.270 the ladders that were here were 00:01:58.270 --> 00:01:59.940 position:58% actually ineffective for passing some 00:01:59.940 --> 00:02:01.810 of the target species like alewife, 00:02:01.810 --> 00:02:04.030 position:61% blueback herring, and American eel. And 00:02:04.030 --> 00:02:06.740 position:59% so, what better way to pass these fish 00:02:06.740 --> 00:02:08.710 than removing the dam. 00:02:08.710 --> 00:02:12.010 position:59% Faith: Matt NOAA played a part on this 00:02:12.010 --> 00:02:15.610 position:61% as well. What is some of the background on their role? 00:02:15.610 --> 00:02:17.700 position:56% Matt: Sure, I'm part of the National 00:02:17.700 --> 00:02:19.570 position:58% Marine Fisheries Service part of NOAA 00:02:19.570 --> 00:02:23.680 position:59% and we have an interest in marine fish 00:02:23.680 --> 00:02:25.090 position:58% that Serena was just describing these 00:02:25.090 --> 00:02:26.770 position:58% diadromous fish. They spend some part 00:02:26.770 --> 00:02:28.770 position:58% of their lifecycle in fresh water and 00:02:28.770 --> 00:02:30.760 position:59% some of their life cycle in the ocean. 00:02:30.760 --> 00:02:33.190 position:59% And so they need to travel between the 00:02:33.190 --> 00:02:35.030 position:61% two. And we have a fish passage program 00:02:35.030 --> 00:02:36.360 position:59% as part of our restoration center that 00:02:36.360 --> 00:02:37.830 provides funding and technical 00:02:37.830 --> 00:02:39.220 assistance to try and get these 00:02:39.220 --> 00:02:40.630 position:59% projects done. So that's basically our 00:02:40.630 --> 00:02:43.170 position:56% role how we've been a funder and and 00:02:43.170 --> 00:02:46.820 position:75% folks like myself, we give technical assistance. 00:02:46.820 --> 00:02:50.100 position:58% We give funding for implementation as 00:02:50.100 --> 00:02:53.650 position:56% well as, especially in this case, we 00:02:53.650 --> 00:02:58.130 position:56% fund monitoring of project results – 00:02:58.130 --> 00:03:00.020 for lots of reasons. Obviously, you 00:03:00.020 --> 00:03:01.200 position:58% want to know the effectiveness of the 00:03:01.200 --> 00:03:04.810 position:61% project for the fish passage. But these 00:03:04.810 --> 00:03:07.380 position:59% projects have also other implications. 00:03:07.380 --> 00:03:10.120 position:56% For example, in this case, we have a 00:03:10.120 --> 00:03:15.040 position:59% large accretion of sand behind the dam 00:03:15.040 --> 00:03:17.840 position:58% that we released through the removal. 00:03:17.840 --> 00:03:19.730 We don't always release sediments 00:03:19.730 --> 00:03:21.400 accreted behind the dam when we do 00:03:21.400 --> 00:03:22.820 removals, but that's increasingly 00:03:22.820 --> 00:03:25.750 becoming a – I don't know about a 00:03:25.750 --> 00:03:29.700 position:61% preferred – but an appealing technique. 00:03:29.700 --> 00:03:31.400 position:59% Because it can be a lot less costly if 00:03:31.400 --> 00:03:33.100 the sediments are cleaned. But, 00:03:33.100 --> 00:03:36.340 position:58% obviously, downstream interests, both 00:03:36.340 --> 00:03:39.570 living, biotic, aquatic resources, 00:03:39.570 --> 00:03:41.520 floodplain animals and whatnot and 00:03:41.520 --> 00:03:43.730 humans, go through human life and 00:03:43.730 --> 00:03:46.510 position:59% property have interests downstream. So 00:03:46.510 --> 00:03:48.130 we have a strong interest in 00:03:48.130 --> 00:03:50.500 position:61% understanding in detail, the effects of 00:03:50.500 --> 00:03:54.820 position:58% that kind of sediment load and so, as 00:03:54.820 --> 00:03:56.660 position:58% you'll hear, I'm sure, from these two 00:03:56.660 --> 00:03:58.960 position:59% more about those efforts to learn more 00:03:58.960 --> 00:04:01.560 details about those impacts. And 00:04:01.560 --> 00:04:04.500 position:59% importantly, the recovery rates of the 00:04:04.500 --> 00:04:07.030 position:67% downstream reach of those kinds of impacts. 00:04:07.030 --> 00:04:08.480 position:58% Faith: That's great. We have a lot of 00:04:08.480 --> 00:04:10.530 position:59% sediment. What's the story behind this 00:04:10.530 --> 00:04:13.110 dam, especially sand—Allen your 00:04:13.110 --> 00:04:16.180 position:56% background is in looking at physical 00:04:16.180 --> 00:04:18.880 position:58% processes and how rivers change, what 00:04:18.880 --> 00:04:23.220 position:77% do you expect to see as the sediment is released? 00:04:23.220 --> 00:04:24.930 position:58% Allen: Well, what's important is that 00:04:24.930 --> 00:04:26.400 rivers are in an equilibrium, with 00:04:26.400 --> 00:04:30.040 position:59% sediment, slope and water, and when we 00:04:30.040 --> 00:04:31.960 position:58% remove a dam we have the potential to 00:04:31.960 --> 00:04:35.230 change any of those factors. Now 00:04:35.230 --> 00:04:38.830 position:77% sediment moves as bedload and suspended sediment. 00:04:38.830 --> 00:04:41.740 position:92% Faith: So like in the water and on the bed of the channel…? 00:04:41.740 --> 00:04:43.410 position:56% Allen: Right, so we have sand behind 00:04:43.410 --> 00:04:45.200 the dam to move along the bed or in 00:04:45.200 --> 00:04:47.630 suspension. The release of that 00:04:47.630 --> 00:04:49.250 position:59% sediment has the potential to actually 00:04:49.250 --> 00:04:51.760 position:56% change the channel morphology. So we 00:04:51.760 --> 00:04:53.200 need to understand how that 00:04:53.200 --> 00:04:55.110 position:58% potentially could happen and how that 00:04:55.110 --> 00:04:57.580 position:61% can affect habitat. So we're interested 00:04:57.580 --> 00:04:59.460 position:61% in both understanding bedload transport 00:04:59.460 --> 00:05:01.860 position:59% as a result of removal, as well as the 00:05:01.860 --> 00:05:04.320 position:58% finer material in suspension that has 00:05:04.320 --> 00:05:07.410 position:59% the ability to bury the habitat, or go 00:05:07.410 --> 00:05:11.350 position:58% downstream and affect Chesapeake Bay. 00:05:11.350 --> 00:05:13.060 Faith: So, as part of it, so we're 00:05:13.060 --> 00:05:15.170 position:61% looking at effects both upstream of the 00:05:15.170 --> 00:05:17.070 dam too and how much a sediment is 00:05:17.070 --> 00:05:19.950 position:56% coming out and where it's all going. 00:05:19.950 --> 00:05:21.970 position:61% And that takes some for that to happen, 00:05:21.970 --> 00:05:24.240 position:61% right; it doesn't all go out in one big 00:05:24.240 --> 00:05:26.430 pulse of release kind of thing. So 00:05:26.430 --> 00:05:32.960 position:59% Graham, McCormick Taylor is doing some 00:05:32.960 --> 00:05:35.590 position:59% of the work, what's kind of a scale of 00:05:35.590 --> 00:05:37.220 what you have to do to be able to 00:05:37.220 --> 00:05:39.880 monitor some of those changes? 00:05:39.880 --> 00:05:41.250 Graham: Well, we've established a 00:05:41.250 --> 00:05:42.840 position:59% series of 31 different cross sections, 00:05:42.840 --> 00:05:45.320 position:61% extending from about a mile upstream of 00:05:45.320 --> 00:05:47.300 position:61% the dam, all the way down, pretty close 00:05:47.300 --> 00:05:52.830 position:59% to the mouth near the inner Harbor. So 00:05:52.830 --> 00:05:56.320 position:58% it's going to include facies mapping, 00:05:56.320 --> 00:05:57.730 position:58% where we're going to actually map the 00:05:57.730 --> 00:05:59.140 position:61% river – the way the river looks so that 00:05:59.140 --> 00:06:00.950 position:56% we can tell before and after the dam 00:06:00.950 --> 00:06:02.390 removal, what the bed of the river 00:06:02.390 --> 00:06:03.990 position:61% looks like. We're also going to be able 00:06:03.990 --> 00:06:05.490 position:61% to quantify the amount of sediment that 00:06:05.490 --> 00:06:07.360 position:59% is being deposited in these areas, and 00:06:07.360 --> 00:06:09.070 the amount of sediment that's been 00:06:09.070 --> 00:06:10.510 released from the dam. 00:06:10.510 --> 00:06:12.080 Faith: You're kind of tracking it 00:06:12.080 --> 00:06:13.700 position:59% through… and how long are you going to 00:06:13.700 --> 00:06:15.160 have to do that for? 00:06:15.160 --> 00:06:16.640 position:70% Graham: That's going to go on for five years. 00:06:16.640 --> 00:06:17.720 Faith: Five years? 00:06:17.720 --> 00:06:19.090 position:58% Graham: We're going to do a series of 00:06:19.090 --> 00:06:20.560 position:56% six different surveys, twice a year, 00:06:20.560 --> 00:06:22.760 and then following one larger storm 00:06:22.760 --> 00:06:25.440 event. Hopefully a hurricane. 00:06:25.440 --> 00:06:28.320 position:70% Faith: Great. Yes, a lot of different pieces. 00:06:28.320 --> 00:06:33.200 [Music playing]