Lake Champlain Chapter removes dam, opens brook trout habitat

Ausable River at the Quarry Dam location after deconstruction (Photo Bill Wellman).

By Rich Redman 

Quarry Dam was an old concrete/timber-crib dam located on the West Branch of the Ausable River, approximately four miles east of Lake Placid, N.Y.  

The dam’s history is lost in the mists of time, but it was probably built to help loggers move logs down the river in the annual log drives. The dam, useless as it was, had several deleterious impacts on the river and on the brook and brown trout that inhabit it. It trapped and warmed water behind it, obstructed the normal movement of sediments, and inhibited fish passage, resulting in decreases in genetic availability.  

Retired DEC Fisheries Manager Bill Schoch, aware of the need to remove the dam, initiated this project with the Lake Champlain Chapter of Trout Unlimited.   

The Chapter, a keen foe of dams as part of its mission to restore waterways, enlisted the help of other essential partners in the endeavor to remove the dam. Those partners included the Ausable River Association, the Essex County Soil and Water District and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.  

Essential funding was provided by the Lake Champlain Basin Program and the chapter also received a grant from Trout Unlimited's Embrace a Stream program. Assistance from the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation was crucial, as the dam was located on State Forest Preserve land and thus subject to rigorous land use restrictions.   

Selection of an experienced contractor was a key to the overall project success, as the streambed and dam were recalcitrant players in this drama. Mike Ward of Ward Logging completed the construction work.  

Despite equipment failures and unusually hard concrete, the job moved along at a rapid pace. All of the dam was removed, rubble taken from the site, the entrance road vegetation replaced and the entrance sealed with all players completely satisfied with the project.  

Rich Redman is the president of the Lake Champlain chapter of Trout Unlimited.