Many of you know how much I want to see low head dams replaced with a safe alternative.  The best I've seen (and personally experienced) is the rock arch dam conversion developed by Luther Aadland of the Minnesota DNR.  I recently heard that Des Moines Water Works engineers may have ruled out such a structure because of lack of permanence.  The rock dams built in Iowa may be unsuitable, but the rock arch dams in MN and ND are permanent.  I have a testimonial from the director of parks in Wahpeton ND that shows just how much better the rock arch dam is . . .

Gerry:

Sorry about the delayed response - I was out-of-town this week. Great to hear that you have made some progress on retrofitting lowhead dams.

I look forward to the day when the Red River is restored closer to its original state and fish can migrate throughout the North Dakota-Minnesota boundary and not be blocked by  manmade dams that now serve no purpose. 

The last Fargo-Moorhead dam is being retrofitted at this time and then they hope to address two lowhead dams south of Fargo-Moorhead.

There has been no deterioration of the rocks used to retrofit the lowhead dam at the Kidder Recreation Area.  The main rocks used are so large that it is hard to foresee their placement being rendered useless by fallen trees and ice.  When there is ice, the water flows are typically high and well over the level of the rocks.  Ditto fallen trees, which normally happen during flooding situations.  The rocks are placed to direct the water flow and reduce damage on both banks, whereas previously the lowhead dam was creating considerable erosion damage on both sides.

 

I would be happy to help you any way possible, but I'm just a layman when it comes to river ecology and there would be better resources, including Luther Aadland (Luther.Aadland@dnr.state.mn.us), who designed the rock retrofit and has probably researched what the Waterworks engineers are saying.

 

Bob Bachman, Fargo RiverKeepers can be reached at rkeepers@i29.net.  He helped orchestrate the first lowhead dam retrofit project on the Red River in Fargo-Moorhead and has continued to work on subsequent projects.  There were quite a few drownings on the Red River in Fargo-Moorhead.  There were none attributed to the Kidder Dam that I am aware of.