Environmentalists celebrate Millstone River dam demolition

Mike Deak
Courier News and Home News Tribune
Jim Waltman, executive director of the Stony Brook-Millstone Watershed Association, holds a model of a shad that may be returning to spawn in the Millstone River after the demolition of the Weston dam.

MANVILLE - The Millstone River is "very much alive," and it will stay "on the road to a full recovery," thanks to the demolition of the Weston mill dam.

Removal of the 112-foot dam, which has spanned the river between Manville and Franklin for more three decades, will begin next week, the culmination of a decade-long effort by the Stony Brook-Millstone Watershed Association, federal and state agencies to have the 5.5-foot high dam removed.

"This is a key piece in restoring the ecological integrity of the Millstone River," said Jim Waltman, executive director of the watershed association. "We're thrilled to help returns runs of fish that have been lost for nearly three centuries."

"It's a slice of nature that has been lost for 300 years," he added at a news conference Thursday on the banks of the river.

The Weston mill dam on the Millstone River between Manville and Franklin will be removed next week.

Removal of the dam will allow shad to migrate to their spawning grounds in the river, Waltman said. The dam blocked their passage.

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"The fish can not stand up and walk around the dam," said Olaf Jensen, a professor in the Department of Marine and Coastal Sciences at Rutgers.

Even in the late 1700s, after the dams on the Millstone River were built, local residents noticed that shad were no longer in the river, Waltman said.

"Who hears the fishes when they cry?" Waltman said.

Jensen, who has been studying fish in the Raritan and Millstone basin, said 20 species of fish have been found in the Raritan River near the Interstate 287 bridge near the Bound Brook and Bridgewater border.

The dam removal will add about 4.5 miles of spawning ground for the shad and other fish in the river south to the Blackwells Mill Dam, which may be the next dam to be removed.

The dam removal will also improve safety for recreational users of the river.

"It would be easier to paddle on the river," Waltman previously said. "The river is unbelievable. It's spectacular."

The return of the shad sounded appetizing to U.S. Rep. Leonard Lance (R - District 7), who said that enjoys shad roe wrapped in bacon.

Lance congratulated the watershed group and government agencies for working together on the project. "We in New Jersey recognize the importance of conservation," he said.

A vegetarian for 25 years, Assemblyman Andrew Zwicker (D-District 16) said he doesn't care about catching and eating shad, but he cares about their spawning grounds being restored.

"We are doing something good today," he said.

Somerset County Freeholder Mark Caliguire said the dam removal is essential to maintaining the quality of drinking water the American Water Company draws from the river a few miles upstream from the dam.

Manville Mayor Richard Onderko said the removal of the dam is "a great day for Manville."

Manville Mayor Richard Onderko said the removal of the dam is "a great day for Manville."

Onderko, who worked with closely with the watershed group, said Maville should be "kept in focus because we have a lot of need for flood mitigation."

Three Raritan River dams — the Robert Street and Calco dams in Bridgewater and the Nevius Street dam in Raritan Borough — have been removed to help the migration of fish.

"Dams on rivers hold back the water causing water to warm up mixes with nutrients in the water leading to lower oxygen levels and polluting our rivers," said Jeff Tittel, executor director of the New Jersey Sierra Club. "This also causes harmful algae blooms. By removing dams, we allow the river to return to its natural free flowing state improving water quality and reducing pollution."

The Island Farm Weir, another dam located at the confluence of the Raritan and Millstone rivers, is equipped with a fish ladder. It is not a candidate for removal because the area it impounds supports intakes operated by the New Jersey Water Supply Authority.

A dam at Weston may have been built as early as 1740 and provided water power for Van Nest's Mill, which was the site of a Revolutionary War battle in January 1777. The mill remained standing until 1982 when it collapsed into the river and later burned.

The current dam was built in the 1930s

The dam removal is part of the cleanup of the American Cyanamid Superfund site in Bridgewater,

Though the dam removal has no direct connection with the former 575-acre industrial site where 800,000 tons of chemical waste were buried from 1915 to 1999, the federal National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), the United States Fish and Wildlife Service, and the state  Department of Environmental Protection proposed the removal of the dam as part of a natural resources damages settlement as part of the Cyanamid cleanup.

The Cyanamid site is on the banks of the Raritan River, into which the Millstone flows. Federal law allows "restoration actions" to compensate for any potential "injuries" to natural resources caused by contamination, even if they are not adjacent to the site.

A  rock causeway will be built Friday to support equipment on the river bottom. The dam removal is scheduled for Monday when heavy machinery will drill the dam and remove chunks of concrete.

Staff Writer Mike Deak: 908-243-6607; mdeak@mycentraljersey.com