EASTON, Pa. — There isn’t much life left behind a century-old dam on the Bushkill Creek, tucked in the woods at the back of the city’s recycling center, Kristie Fach said Tuesday.
“It almost has a bathtub effect behind it,” said Fach, director of ecological restoration for Wildlands Conservancy. “It’s wide, and the water is very stagnant. Temperatures are higher. There's more sedimentation behind the dam.
“Here, you don't have the capacity for flooding. It wasn't built for flood storage.”
In an effort to restore the creek, environmental and county officials this week began dismantling the dam.
“We’re restoring the natural conditions, which means lower temperature and improved water quality, better stormwater function and connectivity for fish and other organisms."Kristie Fach, director of ecological restoration for Wildlands Conservancy
The latest in a string of dams on the Bushkill Creek to be removed, officials said improving the health of the creek will not only be beneficial to local wildlife, but also will improve outdoor experiences for residents who walk the Karl Stirner Arts Trail.
“We’re restoring the natural conditions, which means lower temperature and improved water quality, better stormwater function and connectivity for fish and other organisms,” Fach said.
“There are really good benefits when you're talking about stream health, but also for the community — using the trail, using the creek.”
Environmental, stormwater issues
This is the third dam to be removed on the Bushkill in the past year and the fifth in the past half-decade.
It’s part of a larger, decades-long project to restore the creek, which begins at the foot of Blue Mountain in Bushkill Township and flows 16 miles south to its confluence with the Delaware River.
Its watershed encompassed 80 square miles.
“A lot of the dams were built for past industrial use and the mills are no longer there. But the dams are still there and creating a lot of environmental issues and a lot of stormwater issues, too.”Kristie Fach, director of ecological restoration for Wildlands Conservancy
In addition to the conservancy, project collaborators include the Delaware River Basin Commission and Lafayette College.
The dams, once used for water-powered mills, have fallen into disuse and disrepair — and are doing more harm than good.
“My understanding is this dam has been here for more than a century, part of the paper mill,” Fach said. “A lot of the dams were built for past industrial use and the mills are no longer there.
“But the dams are still there and creating a lot of environmental issues and a lot of stormwater issues, too.”
And, in 2005, there was a coal ash slurry spill at a power plant on the Delaware River about 10 miles north of the city. A nearly $1 million mitigation settlement was reached, with funding earmarked to remove the dams and restore freshwater mussel populations.
“The dams are barriers to fish swimming upstream,” Dru Germanoski, a geology professor at Lafayette, said.
Germanoski said the city’s shad ladders don’t work.
“Freshwater mussels can’t swim upstream — they hitch a ride on the gills,” he said. “They filter-feed and clean the water.”
'First time in over a century'
With the dams removed, fish and eels, as well as hitchhiking mussels, will be able to make their way from the Atlantic Ocean to the Delaware River and finally up the Bushkill Creek.
“It’s the first time in over a century that there's a connection, which is pretty cool,” Fach said.
The first dam was demolished in July at the creek entrance behind Don Juan Mexican Grill, 300 N. Third St., on land owned by the college.
A second dam, owned by Simon Silk Mill, was removed that summer.
The cost to remove all three was more than $1 million, through partners and conservation grants, Fach said.
“It’s important that we support our municipalities in expanding and improving their recreational properties and open space. The [coronavirus] pandemic has shown us how crucial parks and trails are to both the health and well-being of our residents and our wildlife.”Northampton County Executive Lamont McClure
Northampton County officials in June 2022 announced $100,000 for the project through Livable Landscape Grants after receiving a unanimous vote from the county’s Parks, Recreation and Open Space Advisory Board.
“It’s important that we support our municipalities in expanding and improving their recreational properties and open space,” county Executive Lamont McClure said in a news release at the time.
“The [coronavirus] pandemic has shown us how crucial parks and trails are to both the health and well-being of our residents and our wildlife.”
But there’s more work to be done.
Conservancy officials plan to remove a fourth dam and install instream habitat at its Binney & Smith Preserve.
‘The creek’s flowing again’
Germanoski on Tuesday stood on a rock near the base of the steep embankment near the front of the dam.
A camera slung around his neck, he watched as an excavator crawled from the muddy bank behind the dam and into the water.
The excavator operator plunged a hydraulic pick into the water and the ground beneath it and pulled the hulking machine towards the dam.
Once settled, with the creek's cold, running water nearly at the height of the cabin, the operator lifted the pick and plunged it into the dam over and over with a jarring screech.
“It’s remarkable, to look at this landscape,” Germanoski said, pausing as the machine crunched through the dam. “A hundred years ago, it looked very different.”
“We’re just trying to make it what it was over a century ago.”Kristie Fach, director of ecological restoration for Wildlands Conservancy
It’ll take about two weeks to fully remove the dam, Fach said, but the work to stabilize and restore the banks, including planting a pollinator habitat, is expected to take all summer.
“But this, this is the part where it's the immediate change — the creek’s flowing again,” Fach said as the volume of water toppling over the dam began to increase.
“We’re just trying to make it what it was over a century ago.”
