By ecoRI News staff
BRADFORD, R.I. — Work crews recently began carving a temporary bypass channel around the Bradford Dam on the Pawcatuck River in preparation for the structure’s removal next month. The dam will be replaced with a more natural step-pool design, allowing more fish to swim upriver to their traditional breeding grounds and eliminating the risk of flooding from a catastrophic dam failure.
Bradford Dam is a 6-foot-high, 200-foot-wide structure built in the mid-1800s to support a riverbank mill. The mill has been idle for many years, and the dam has since fallen into disrepair, losing chunks of rock downstream in several recent major storms. In its current state, the dam restricts the movement of migratory and resident fish and is at risk of failing and causing a major flood during another powerful storm, according to the Rhode Island chapter of The Nature Conservancy (TNC).
The dam’s removal is part of an effort to open up the 31-mile-long Pawcatuck River and associated wetlands for migrating American shad, alewife, blueback herring, American eel and sea-run trout. Removal of the dam will improve connectivity for all of these species, many of which have historic breeding grounds that lie farther upstream, according to TNC.
The step-pool design will also include a 10-foot-wide channel allowing canoes and kayaks to pass easily through the area. It will eliminate an onerous portage for paddlers almost immediately downstream of the popular boat launch at Bradford Landing.
U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service Northeast regional director Wendi Weber said the removal of the Bradford Dam will reduce local flooding and eliminate the risk of dam failure in future storms.
“Healthy rivers are lifelines for communities in the Northeast, providing recreation, water quality, strong economies and other benefits,” Weber said. “By connecting and opening waterways like the Pawcatuck River, we’re helping wildlife thrive and creating more resilient communities for people.”
Before the dam itself can be removed, crews must clear the work area next to the river to make way for a bypass channel. The channel, along with temporary cofferdams, will divert water away from the dam, leaving it accessible for demolition. The clearing, demolition and eventual restoration of the area are being performed by SumCo Eco-Contracting of Salem, Mass., with engineering assistance provided by Fuss & O’Neill of Providence.
The $1.8 million project is being overseen by TNC and is supported by $821,000 in federal funding for Hurricane Sandy recovery and resilience projects. The funds are part of a $1.98 million cooperative agreement between TNC and the Service for the Pawcatuck River, which included the removal of the White Rock Dam and improvements to the Potter Hill Dam fishway. Additional funding was provided by the Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management and the Rhode Island Coastal and Estuary Habitat Restoration Fund.
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