The Musconetcong Watershed Association began the effort in 2012, with paperwork leading to the start of demolition. Watch video
Four years in the making, the removal of the Hughesville Dam on the Musconetcong River is scheduled to begin Thursday, the Musconetcong Watershed Association announced Monday.
The 15-foot-high Hughesville Dam at the border of Pohatcong and Holland Townships is scheduled for demolition, starting Thursday, June 16, 2016, according to the Musconetcong Watershed Association. (Courtesy photo | For lehighvalleylive.com) The dam no longer serves its purpose of generating hydropower, with a flow that fluctuates seasonally and is too weak to meet modern needs, said the association. The dam's owner, International Process Plants and Equipment Corp., asked for help with removal in 2012 from the association.
Dams are removed to cut potential liability for the owner, due to accidents or even a failure of the dam during a storm, and to improve the ecology of a waterway.
Estimated to cost about $1.5 million, removal of the Hughesville Dam will be the watershed group's fourth dam removal on the Musconetcong since 2008, beginning with the Gruendyke Dam on the border between Hackettstown and Mount Olive Township, Morris County.
Removed since then have been the Seber Dam, also along Hackettstown, in 2009; and the Finesville Dam and remnants of the Riegelsville Dam, both in 2011.
The Hughesville Dam spans the Musconetcong between Pohatcong and Holland townships, and the project has required a collaboration between the watershed association, supported by the Musconetcong River Restoration Partnership, and property owners, municipalities, engineers and contractors.
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Partners on the effort include the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection Office of Natural Resource Restoration and Division of Fish and Wildlife.
The effort has entailed a lot of paperwork, in addition to fundraising that netted a federal grant of $1.05 million two years ago.
"Removing the dam is the easy part," Beth Styler Barry, the watershed association's executive director.
Tri-State Dredging is scheduled to begin Thursday removing sediment trapped upstream of the dam, a process projected to take three to four weeks.
Breaching the dam, construction of grade controls and bank stabilization will be done by RiverLogic Solutions and is to begin during the second week in July. Work on the project is expected to continue until late September, though weather could affect the schedule.
Funding for the project came from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, state DEP, FishAmerica Foundation/National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association, Corporate Wetlands Restoration Partnership, Conservation Resources Inc. and Watershed Institute.
The watershed association says its partners on the project got involved to improve waterways for kayakers, canoeists and other users; to bolster water quality and to open up the river for fish, including American shad that may come up from the Delaware River.
Looking ahead, the association is working on removing the Warren Glen Dam, the biggest on the Musconetcong.
"That'll take a lot of partners and a lot of funding," Styler Barry said. "We'll see what happens there."
Kurt Bresswein may be reached at kbresswein@lehighvalleylive.com. Follow him on Twitter @KurtBresswein. Find lehighvalleylive.com on Facebook.