Supplement

Prioritizing Public Access after Dam Removal

Rendering of a proposed installation at the removal site of a dam - paying homage to the dam while improving ecological conditions

When dams are being considered for removal that are owned by state or local governments, there may be the possibility that removal can provide new public spaces adjacent to the river. These public spaces can provide public access to the river such as new walking trails, boat ramps, or fishing docks and help create or maintain a sense of place even if the landscape is changing. Landscape architects on the project team can work with the community to envision and design the future of public access to the surrounding landscape. On some sites that are being considered for removal, the dam may be perceived as an important part of the local landscape and cultural history. There are design strategies that can help maintain a sense of place and/or preserve portions of the historic structures while restoring a free-flowing river.

  • A portion of the dam structure can be preserved on either side of the river channel to mark the historic location of the dam.
  • The location of the dam can be marked with a piece of public art that can tell the history of the dam and site.
  • The river can be diverted around the dam, but the structure can be preserved.
  • Water features can be added that maintain the acoustic and aesthetics of the waterfall.
  • The area that was the impoundment can be maintained as a wet meadow to ensure views across the historic impoundment are maintained.
  • A trail at the historic elevation of the impoundment can be installed to mark its historic location.
  • Other features can be added that maintain the aesthetics of the dam and public access can be provided in the area surrounding the dam.

Following are diagrams showing speculative ideas for how to design a site post dam removal.

EXISTING CONDITIONS: Diagram of Existing Conditions – Dam and impoundment before removal.

PUBLIC OPEN SPACE: The area that was the impoundment can be a new public space and maintained as a wet meadow to ensure views across the historic impoundment are maintained.

FISHING ACCESS: Fishing docks or rocks can be installed along river to improve fishing access and improve recreation.

PATHS: Path can mark the location of the historic impoundment or provide trails to acccess the floodplain.

PUBLIC ART: Public Art sculptures can be installed to mark the historic location of the dam.

PUBLIC GATHERING SPACE: River can be diverted around the historic dam. A public gathering space can be constructed adjacent to the historic structure and a water feature installed to maintain the aesthetics of the waterfall.

HISTORIC STRUCTURE: A portion of the dam can remain to mark the historic location and honor the history of the dam.

OVERLOOK: An overlook can be constructed on top of the historic dam structure to provide views of the river.

About

The Dam Atlas is a guide for communities to understand, evaluate, and make decisions about historic dams.

 

New England is home to more than 14,000 dams, many of which are small, “legacy” structures built over a century ago. Most no longer serve their original industrial purposes and are reaching the end of their useful lives, raising concerns about safety, maintenance, and ecological impacts. These aging dams can threaten downstream communities, especially as climate change brings more frequent and intense storms. While dam removal is often advocated for ecological, economic, and safety reasons—such as restoring fish passage, water quality, and sediment flow—many communities feel a strong attachment to their local dams. Dams and their impoundments have become part of the landscape, local history, and sense of place, sometimes even serving as town landmarks or symbols of cultural identity.

The goal of this website is to share this work and support communities who are making decisions about the future of a dam. Decisions about dams are inherently complex and require the consideration of ecological, social, safety, and economic trade-offs. While there are many great resources and publications for proponents of dam removal, this website aims to provide an unbiased source of information on the ecological and social considerations associated with dam decisions. Rather than advocating solely for removal, the goal of this approach is to bring a community into an open conversation to think creatively about the future of a dam. While this may seem counterintuitive if your role is to advocate for dam removal, engaging communities in an open but structured discussion about the future of a dam has the potential to lead to better environmental outcomes and a community that has more ownership, connection, and sense of stewardship over their river. In addition, this approach has the potential to address what are often perceived as unequal power dynamics between dam removal proponents and the local community, which has led to projects stalling or failing in the past.

This website consists of four main sections: The first chapter, “Understanding Dams,” introduces key ecological, social, infrastructural, and economic factors that are important to consider for the management of dams at the individual and watershed scale. The second part, “Scenarios & Case Studies,” looks at various alternatives for the future of a dam and presents a series of case studies of projects throughout the region. The third chapter, “Making Decisions,” shares methods, ideas, and tools for how to engage in conversations about the future of a dam. The last section, the Interactive Dam Atlas, was developed in collaboration with faculty from the University of Rhode Island and helps to visualize and build a geographic understanding of dams in the Narragansett Bay and Rhode Island coastal watersheds.

While this Dam Atlas is focused on dams in the Narragansett Bay and coastal watersheds of Rhode Island, the metrics calculated in the GIS analysis can be applied to other watersheds, and the decision-making tools are not region-specific. By sharing our methods and the open-source decision support toolkit, the aim is to help support practitioners and communities that are looking for ideas, methods, and techniques for having discussions about the future of a dam. We encourage others to use, test, modify, evolve, and share these methods. Ultimately, the goal is for this work to contribute to a “library of approaches” that are openly shared to build knowledge and techniques to support collaborative environmental decision-making around dams.

Credits

This project is a collaboration between The Rhode Island School of Design and The University of Rhode Island with generous funding from the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service, the National Science Foundation, Rhode Island Sea Grant, and the Blackstone Watershed Collaborative.

Content by Emily Vogler, Website by Tanager Creative, Interactive Map Design by Tanager Creative, Interactive Map Design and Development by Rubén Rodríguez

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