Dam Removal Complete on Maryland's Patapasco River

Jessie Thomas Blate writes to commemorate the completion of a dam removal project on the Patapsco River in Maryland.

American Rivers undertook the project to remove the Bloede Dam on the Patapsco River in Patapsco Valley State Park in Maryland.

"American Rivers removed two dams upstream in 2010—Simkins Dam and Union Dam. Finally, more than 65 miles of spawning habitat for blueback herring, alewife, American shad, hickory shad and more than 183 miles for American eel have been reconnected in the Patapsco," according to Thomas Blate.

The article includes photos of the site in its current state, ready for outdoor recreation but also still in a fragile state of recovery.

For more background on the project, see also a news article by Cody Boteler, published in the Baltimore Sun in August 2019, and an opinion piece by Richard B. Karel, published by The Washington Post in June 2019.