List of dam removals in the United States
This is a list of dams in the United States that have been removed as physical impediments to free-flowing rivers or streams. Dams are not included if they have instead failed, or if they have been decommissioned but not yet removed. Dam removal takes many forms, and some removals may leave structures behind or alter the natural course of a river.
According to the non-profit advocacy organization American Rivers, 1,951 dams were removed in the United States between 1912 and 2021. The peak year was 2018, which saw 111 removals. Pennsylvania removed 364 dams in this period, more than any other state. Mississippi is the only state with no documented dam removals.[1]
Major removals
Completed removals
Dam | Dam height | Watercourse | State | Removal completed | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Lewiston Dam | 39 ft (12 m) | South Fork Clearwater River | ID | 1973 | The dam was built in 1927 as a hydroelectric facility, but lacked fish ladders. Upon completion of the Lower Granite Dam and its reservoir, the lack of gradient on the river made it obsolete. Its removal improved salmon runs on the river. |
Grangeville Dam | 56 ft (17 m) | ID | 1963 | This 440 ft (130 m) long arched concrete hydroelectric dam was constructed by the Washington Water Power Company in 1911. A wooden fish ladder had been installed but it collapsed in 1949. The dam was removed in the interest of fish passage and since the hydropower facilities had become obsolete. The dam was destroyed by dynamite at 6:35 PM on August 19, 1963, following two prior detonations that day which had failed to collapse the structure.[2] At the time, the dam was the largest ever to be removed, a record which stood for decades.[3] | |
Edwards Dam | 24 ft (7.3 m) | Kennebec River | ME | 1999 | Built in 1837, the dam blocked access to Atlantic Salmon and American Shad. This was a landmark case in which a U.S. federal agency, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, required the decommissioning and removal of a dam against the operator's wishes. |
Cuddebackville Dam | 6 ft (1.8 m) | Neversink River | NY | 2004 | Built in two portions dating from the 1820s (for water diversion into a canal) and 1915 (for hydroelectric power), the dam had been abandoned since 1945. The dam was removed in October 2004 by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, in a novel partnership with the Nature Conservancy, to benefit the aquatic life in the area, specifically the Dwarf Wedge Mussel and the American Shad. |
Marmot Dam | 50 ft (15 m) | Sandy River | OR | 2007 | The removal of this dam by Portland General Electric has been extremely successful at improving access for Pacific Salmon and steelhead to the upper Sandy River watershed up into the Mount Hood Wilderness. |
Fossil Creek Dam | 25 ft (7.6 m)[4] | Fossil Creek | AZ | 2008 | Built in 1916, this dam supported hydroelectric power production. In 2008, the dam was removed to restore flow, travertine deposition, and native fish populations.[5] |
Milltown Dam | 21 ft (6.4 m) | Clark Fork River, Blackfoot River | MT | 2008 | Dam held startling levels of toxic sediments from 100 years of mining and logging. Removal improved water quality, trout habitat, and the general ecological condition of the watershed.[6] |
Gold Ray Dam | 35 ft (11 m) | Rogue River | OR | 2010 | |
Gold Hill Dam | 14 ft (4.3 m) | 2008 | |||
Savage Rapids Dam | 39 ft (12 m) | 2009 | Built for agricultural water diversion, it was removed by the Bureau of Reclamation due to its out-dated facilities and non-functioning fish ladders that prevented fish migration past the dam. | ||
Elk Creek Dam | 80 ft (24 m) | Elk Creek (Rogue River tributary) | OR | 2008 | |
Condit Dam | 123 ft (37 m) | White Salmon River | WA | 2011 | The dam blocked access for Pacific Salmon and steelhead runs on 33 miles (53 km) of river. PacifiCorp proposed to remove the dam, rather than paying for fish passage upgrades. Removal was proposed in 2006, but actions from Skamania and Klickitat counties held up the process. In fall 2008, salmon were trucked up above to dam to allow them to spawn higher up the river. In October 2011, PacifiCorp contractors used explosives to blow a 15-foot (4.6 m) hole in the dam to drain its reservoir and allow young salmon to enter the Columbia River and head to sea. |
Elwha Dam | 108 ft (33 m) | Elwha River | WA | 2012 | The largest dam removal project in history is the Elwha Ecosystem Restoration project on the Olympic Peninsula of Washington. Starting in 2012, and finishing in 2014, the 108 ft (33 m) Elwha Dam and the 210 ft (64 m) Glines Canyon Dam were removed to restore stocks of Pacific Salmon and trout species to the Elwha River watershed. The removal of these blockades allows migratory salmon to travel past the dam sites and upriver, an event that has not occurred since the dams' creation in 1913. After spawning there, the salmon die and their carcasses decompose, releasing marine nutrients laid down in their bodies as they fed in the open ocean. This reintroduction provides a valuable research opportunity for interested parties.[7] Since the dam removal, reservoir beds that looked like moonscapes have returned to vibrant rich habitat. Within a year of the Elwha Dam removal, an increase in salmon-derived nutrients was documented in the American dipper.[8] |
Glines Canyon Dam | 210 ft (64 m) | 2014 | |||
Great Works Dam | 20 ft (6.1 m) | Penobscot River | ME | 2012 | Removed as part of the Penobscot River Restoration Project.[9] |
Veazie Dam | 20 ft (6.1 m) | 2013 | |||
Brown Bridge Dam | 46 feet (14 m)[10] | Boardman River | MI | 2012 | Removed as part of the Boardman River Dams Ecosystem Restoration Project after hydropower from the dams was decommissioned in 2005. |
Boardman Dam | 56 ft (17 m)[11] | 2017 | |||
Sabin Dam | 34 ft (10 m)[12] | 2018 | |||
San Clemente Dam | 106 ft (32 m) | Carmel River | CA | 2015 | The dam was deemed unsafe in 1992 by the Department of Water Resources. It was no longer serving its use by supplying water to the Monterey Peninsula and blocked steelhead from spawning upstream.[13] |
Planned and proposed removals
Dam | Height | River | State | Removal timeframe | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Copco Number 1 Dam | 132 ft (40 m) | Klamath River | CA | 2024 | After more than 20 years of advocacy from the Un-Dam the Klamath movement, four dams on the Lower Klamath River are expected to be removed by 2024.[14] |
Copco Number 2 Dam | 2023 | ||||
Iron Gate Dam | 173 ft (53 m) | 2024 | |||
John C. Boyle Dam | 68 ft (21 m) | OR | 2024 | ||
Matilija Dam | 198 ft (60 m) | Matilija Creek | CA | ||
Rindge Dam | 100 ft (30 m) | Malibu Creek | CA | 2025–2035 |
By state or territory
Alabama
Connecticut
Delaware
Florida
Georgia
Idaho
Louisiana
Maine
Maryland
Massachusetts
New Hampshire
New Jersey
New York
North Carolina
Ohio
Dam | Dam height | Watercourse | Removal completed | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|
Pinery Feeder Dam | Cuyahoga River | 2020 | [15] | |
Brecksville Dam | 8 ft (2.4 m) |
Oregon
Dam | Dam height | Watercourse | Removal completed | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|
Marie Dorian Dam | 8 ft (2.4 m) | Walla Walla River | 1997 | The dam blocked passage to Pacific Salmon and steelhead into the Blue Mountains from the Columbia Basin. |
Rhode Island
South Carolina
Tennessee
Vermont
Virginia
West Virginia
Wyoming
Washington, D.C.
Completed removals
Dam | Dam height | Watercourse | Removal completed | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|
Island Woolen Mill Dam | Baraboo River | 1972 | Opened 120 miles (190 km) of a Wisconsin River tributary to fish and wildlife.[16] | |
Reedsburg Woolen Mills Dam | 1973 | |||
Wonewoc Dam | 1996 | |||
Waterworks Dam | 1998 | |||
Oak Street Dam | 2000 | |||
LaValle Dam | 2001 | |||
Linen Mill Dam | 2001 |
Planned removals
Dam | Height | River | Removal timeframe | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|
Junction Falls Dam | Kinnickinnic River | 2023–2040 | In 2018, River Falls, Wisconsin, approved the removal of two little-used dams in the city. This would return the Kinnickinnic River to a free-flowing state and restore the city's namesake falls.[17] | |
Powell Dam | 2025–2040 |
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Removed dams in the United States.
References
- "Free Rivers: The State of Dam Removal in the United States" (PDF). americanrivers.org. American Rivers. February 2022. Retrieved 17 January 2023.
- Winter, Brian D. (April 1990). "A Brief Review of Dam Removal Efforts in Washington, Oregon, Idaho and California" (PDF). National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Retrieved 8 September 2023.
- McCully, Patrick (1996). "Getting Old: Dam Aging and Decommissioning". International Rivers. Zed Books. Retrieved 8 September 2023.
- Springer, Abe; Ledbetter, Jeri. "Fossil Creek". azheritagewaters.nau.edu. Arizona Heritage Waters. Retrieved 17 January 2023.
- Marks, Jane C.; Haden, George A.; O’Neill, Matthew; Pace, Cinnamon (November 2010). "Effects of Flow Restoration and Exotic Species Removal on Recovery of Native Fish: Lessons from a Dam Decommissioning". Restoration Ecology. 18 (6): 934–943. doi:10.1111/j.1526-100X.2009.00574.x. S2CID 21724032.
- "Milltown Dam & Reservoir". www.missoulacounty.us. Missoula County, MT. Retrieved 17 January 2023.
- "Salmon Populations". Archived from the original on 2009-01-07. Retrieved 2008-11-03.
- Crane, Misti (December 28, 2015). "River ecosystems show 'incredible' initial recovery after dam removal". phys.org. Retrieved December 28, 2015.
- "Penobscot River Restoration Project". 25 September 2013. Retrieved 3 May 2020.
- "Brown Bridge Dam Failure Report". www.michigan.gov. Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy. June 2014. Retrieved 17 January 2023.
- "Boardman Dam in Grand Traverse County, MI". The Record. April 7, 2021. Retrieved 17 January 2023.
- "Sabin Dam in Grand Traverse County, MI". The Record. April 7, 2021. Retrieved 17 January 2023.
- "Carmel River diverted to demolish San Clemente Dam". SFGate. 15 December 2014. Retrieved 2016-03-02.
- Flaccus, Gillian (26 February 2022). "Major hurdle cleared in plan to demolish 4 Klamath River dams". opb. Retrieved 16 January 2023.
- "Dam Removal". Cuyahoga Valley National Park. National Park Service. December 14, 2022. Retrieved 17 January 2023.
- "Running Free, The Baraboo River Restoration Story" (PDF). Retrieved 2021-12-19.
- Seitz, Grey (4 November 2022). "Federal funds could quicken Kinnickinnic River dam removal". www.stcroix360.com. Retrieved 16 January 2023.
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