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Bye Bye Big Hungry Dams – by John Pilson
Two very old and dilapidated dams on the Big Hungry River are coming down! Thanks to funding from U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service and the state’s Division of Water Resources, and at a total cost of now over $1 million, the Big Hungry River will flow unimpeded once again. The dams themselves, and the logjams and massive sediment loads behind them, will all be removed — and work began this month on the lower dam. While sure to be messy at first, ultimately this is good for the river’s intended role, good for fish and aquatic organisms, and good for whitewater paddlers. The Gamelands staff are very much in favor of it, and so are the fishermen.
Log jam at lower dam by Ted Cookson
Built in 1911 and 1913, the two dams provided electric power to the surrounding area for an unknown number of decades, but have long since been out of service and in disrepair. While the work to remove them will attempt at being surgical in removing the sediment, the concrete, and the logs, no doubt some sediment will escape downstream. It will likely be several large rain events and the healing powers of time that finally restore the area to its more natural riverbed. The local press has covered the dam removal with two articles in Blue Ridge Now, one from November 2012 and one from February 2015, and see this AW dam removal page for Big Hungry for a bit more information and a topographic map.
Lower deconstruction, logs-out by Cliff Dean
The largest of many small tributaries of the Green River, the Big Hungry River drains 19 square miles and feeds the Green at the beginning of the Green River Narrows. The last couple miles of Big Hungry make for a nice but short Class III-IV whitewater run which sees very little use overall, and is highly rain dependent, but a fun little run when you can catch it. Also, it only runs when no one would want to fish the creek, so no conflicts would exist on that front. Big Hungry boaters can either then hike out on the Narrows put in trail or continue downstream for likely a high water run on the Narrows. Not much for whitewater exists upstream of the upper dam on Big Hungry, but paddlers will be able to walk up from the road and put on at the top of the slide where the upper dam is and continue down from there, with no portaging required anymore at the lower dam site. Hot tip: An opportunity exists for a volunteer-prone local boater to take over the stewardship of and improve the AW Big Hungry page. While removing the dams adds a small bit of whitewater to a decent run, it’s also part of a resurgence of interest and overall use of the Gamelands.
Lower deconstruction, concrete-out by Cliff Dean
Both of the dams are within the Green River Gamelands, a 14,000+ acre tract of beautiful land managed primarily for wildlife conservation and management….meaning fishing and hunting. The Gamelands also now allows mountain biking on its trails, and is seeing increasing use by hikers and cyclists as well as paddlers, too. Part of the reason for increased recreational use is thanks to the Green River Games, which organized trail improvement work and partnered with Gamelands staff. More trail improvements and better access points are part of the new Gamelands management plan for the long term, and this great resource will be used by more and more people over time. Seeing the dams on Big Hungry come down is a small but great addition to the evolution of the area —- and all parties involved are glad of it!!!
by John Pilson
Stephen Hughes, base of upper dam by Chris Roberts
Linkies:
AW Green Narrows page: http://www.americanwhitewater.org/content/River/detail/id/1080/
AW Big Hungry page: http://www.americanwhitewater.org/content/River/detail/id/3862/
AW Big Hungry dam page: http://www.americanwhitewater.org/content/Photo/detail/photoid/879790/
Blue Ridge Now article (Nov. 2012): http://www.blueridgenow.com/article/20121110/ARTICLES/121109733/1151?p=all&tc=pgall
Blue Ridge Now article (Feb. 2015): http://www.blueridgenow.com/article/20150215/ARTICLES/150219912/1151?p=all&tc=pgall&tc=ar
Green River Games: http://greenrivergames.com/