Albemarle-Pamlico Sounds
Restoration - APNEP Anadromous Fish Habitat/Dam Removal Projects
Category: Submerged
Cost: Cherry Hospital Dam: $69,000; Quaker Neck Dam: unknown; Rains Mill
Dam: $67,000
Description: Three dams in the Neuse River Basin of North Carolina were
removed to improve the spawning opportunities for fish that migrate up inland
waters before returning to the ocean. The Division of Water Resources of the
N.C. Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) has been the lead
agency in planning the removal of all three dams.
Carolina Power & Light Company (CP&L), owners of the Quaker Neck Dam on the
Neuse River, voluntarily agreed to let the state dismantle the dam in 1997 to
improve fish migration patterns as far inland as Raleigh. This public-private
partnership agreement opened almost 1,000 miles of additional spawning grounds
to migrating fish. The highly publicized removal was hailed nationwide as the
first voluntary removal of a dam in the country for strictly environmental reasons.
The Cherry Hospital Dam, a small earthen and steel dam 135-feet wide and seven
feet high, was removed in 1998. It was built by the state about 50 years ago
to impound water for use by nearby Cherry Hospital. A few years ago, the hospital
began buying its water from the City of Goldsboro and the dam was no longer
needed. Removal of the Cherry Hospital dam opened 21 miles of the Little River
and 33 miles of tributaries to the fish species that migrate from the ocean.
Fish species that will benefit from the removal of the Cherry Hospital Dam are
American shad, striped bass, short-nosed sturgeon, Atlantic sturgeon, hickory
shad and alewife. The removal of the dam marked the second time in six months
a North Carolina dam has been marked for removal for environmental purposes.
In 1999, the 71-year-old Rains Mill Dam in Johnston County fell to U.S. Marine
explosives, opening spawning areas along the Little River to several fish species.
The 250-foot wide cement Rains Mill Dam, located at the bridge on N.C. Highway
1002 near Princeton, was built in 1928 by a local farmer to support a gristmill
built at the edge of the dam. The Rains Mill Dam project has involved participants
from DENR and the Coastal America Partnership that includes the U.S. Army Corps
of Engineers, the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service and the U.S. Fish & Wildlife
Foundation.
Outcome: According to the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, the removal of
the Cherry Hospital dam, although not as major as removal of the Quaker Neck
Dam, is another step to improve the migration abilities of fish that come inland
to spawn. Initial inventories of fish catches along the Neuse River since the
Quaker Neck Dam came down are encouraging and it appears that spawning fish
have already traveled up the Neuse River to its upper tributaries. The removal
of the Rains Mill Dam also offered much needed protection to tar spiny mussels
and dwarf-wedge mussels.
Contact: Guy Stefanski, APNEP Program Director, NC Division of Water
Quality - Planning, 1617 Mail Service Center, Raleigh, NC 27699-1617, Phone:
(919) 733-5083 ext. 585, Fax: (919) 715-5637, guy_stefanski@h2o.enr.state.nc.us
Citation: Information not
provided.
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