The Oakland Dam is removed from the North Branch of the Susquehanna River in Pennsylvania in September 2023.
Courtesy of Endless Mountains Heritage Region
The Chesapeake Bay region opened more than 300 miles of rivers and streams for migratory fish in 2022-2023, a tenfold increase from the preceding two-year period.
Thirteen dams were taken down during that span, but more than two-thirds of the total mileage came from the demolition of the Oakland Dam on the Susquehanna River in Pennsylvania. Another key removal was the Wilson Creek Dam on the Lackawanna River in Virginia.
“In addition to restoring native and recreational fisheries, these projects can improve wildlife habitat along stream corridors and reduce long-term maintenance needs of aging infrastructure, flooding and public safety hazards to local communities,” said Ray Li, a fishery biologist with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
The Chesapeake Bay Program, a state-federal partnership that administers the estuary’s cleanup, announced the figures on Oct. 15.
In 2014, the Bay Program set a goal of opening 1,000 miles of fish passage by 2025. After that target was reached in 2016, the partnership aimed to open 132 stream miles every two years. That goal is expected to be met.
Volunteers from the James River Association join the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and Virginia Department of Forestry to install plants along Flowerdew Hundred Creek where an ineffective culvert was removed to promote fish passage.
James River Association
The draft of the updated Chesapeake Bay Agreement, set to go into effect next year, would raise the target to 150 miles every two years.
Biologists say that giving migratory fish access to upper reaches of rivers and streams helps reconnect them with their historical spawning grounds. Among the species that benefit: alewife, herring, shad, brook trout and American eel.
In addition to dam removals, fish passage can be achieved by installing fish ladders to carry aquatic life past barriers.