Good news. Despite the official cancellation of the Big Jumps 2020 on July 12th due to the Covid 19 epidemic, some very original events took place. We already have knowledge of Big Jumps in Belgium, Bosnia Herzegovina, France, Italy, Poland, Portugal, Spain. In a few days we will be able to publish photos and videos
DAM BUSTERS is the new film by Dam Removal Europe and the World Fish Migration Fundation about dam removal. Worldwide distribution, premiere expected in 2021.
Following the journey around the world of Pao Fernández Garrido, a Spanish engineer, the film sets out to meet the “river heroes”, women and men, in all continents in their passionate quest to restore rivers and ecosystems. Laura Wildman from the United States, Roberto Epple – Founding President of ERN-France, are among the film’s personalities.
France, the first country, along with the United States, to have carried out major dam removals since 1996, will be in the spotlight with the removal of the major dams on the Sélune and the partial removal of the Poutès dam on the Haut Allier.
A film from Francisco Campos Lopez, in collaboration with Magen Entertainment, LLC.
#DamRemovalEurope #DamRemovalGlobal #WorldFishMigrationDay #dam removal #RiverResotrationHeroes
You missed the July 1st the #DREpractitioners webinar. Check out the recording on You tube.
Hydropower dam: Marieberg , Sweden
This webinar was specifically geared towards practitioners and answered a variety of practical questions: What are the best methods for removing a dam? | What are some of the technical difficulties encountered when removing a dam in a protected area? | What if the dam has a high cultural heritage value? Does this affect how you remove it or how much of the barrier you can remove? | What do I have to take into consideration if there are exotic species dwelling within the river on either side of the dam? Drilling away at a dam may sound easy—what is there to understand? What is there to expect and take into consideration?
With news and presentations from the USA, UK, France, Spain and Sweden.
more infos about Dam Removal Europe
One year after the complet emptying of the reservoir, the Selune river is already welcoming its new inhabitants. Jean-Marc Rousel from INRA tells us “1km upstream the former Vezins dam the river is breathing vigorously now, incredibly rich in habitats and many invertebrates species (stone flies, caddis flies, dragon flies…) and some fish too! In particular the Sculpin (Cottus gobio) has returned from upstream. The invasive American crayfish is also spreading from downstream… but its upcoming predator, the European eel, is waiting for its turn, below the second dam (La Roche-qui-boit), ready for ascending…”.
The Selune River, 1 km upstream from the Vezins dam © Jean-Marc Roussel – INRA
The June 29th webinar “Smart Ways to improve connectivity river” was a great success. If you missed the event and want to watch some presentations again, you can now watch the webinar video online.
One of the main outputs of AMBER is the Pan-European Atlas of In-Stream Barriers. It contains information on 630,000 barriers including not only large dams, but also hundreds of thousands of smaller weirs, ramps, fords and culverts. However, AMBER researchers have found that more than one third of barriers are unrecorded, bringing the total to well over 1 million. Of these 1 million, over 100,000 are obsolete barriers deteriorating Europe’s rivers. This scale of river fragmentation is alarming and makes Europe the most fragmented river landscape in the world, with hardly any unfragmented, free-flowing rivers left. more : https://amber.international/our-research-finds-at-least-100000-obsolete-barriers-are-fragmenting-and-deteriorating-europes-rivers/
To finish the 4-year AMBER project, EU-funded under the Horizon 2020 initiative, a magazine Let it flow | Reconnecting People with Rivers was produced. Throughout this magazine, the Amber project shares results, thoughts, and ambitions for the future. Inside, is illustrated the issues of river fragmentation and restoration in Europe and abroad and what can be done to tackle these challenges.
For France, EDF (national electricity compagny) and CNSS (National Conservatory of Wild Salmon) were partners in the project, notably to study the smolt downstream migration the reservoir. The reconfiguration of the Poutès dam and its stakes are widely presented in the video presentation of the AMBER program (2min out of the 4.50min video). Video soon available and preview at 3h’42min’40sec of the webinar video.
Plus d’infos https://amber.international/
The goal that unites the Dam Removal Europe Partner (ERN is a co-founding member) since 5 years is the removal of obstacles in rivers, for free and living rivers. The movement, thanks to these partners with a rich diversity of skills from engineering and policy, conservation and field biology, to science, has grown rapidly and is now well established within European nature conservation.
As the Dam Removal Europe coalition expands and looks to the future, the team has created a strategy document outlining past, current and future goals for the upcoming decade. The mission aims to scale up the dam removal movement to all European countries and to help free Europe’s rivers from more than 100,000 obsolete and out-of -use barriers.
We know the benefits of dam removal (significant positive environmental impacts, cost effectiveness, support for job creation, etc.) and we want more people across Europe to know and choose this option for river restoration.
See our strategic report 2020 – 2030 which describes how we will increase our efforts and achieve our new goals.
More info see our DAM REMOVAL EUROPE page.
Remember, at the end of August 2019 the 3 sluice gates of the Poutès dam had been removed. This year the work program becomes even more interesting! The construction site was re-installed at the end of May and since July 1st you can see the machines attacking the civil engineering of the dam !
Weir partial removal on the right bank – July 2020 © EDF
This year, the 3 weirs and the 2 piers will be lowered and the footbridge removed. A notch on the left bank will be created and will allow the circulation of water, fish and sediments without hindrance until the summer of 2021 ! The devices for upstream and downstream migration will start to be modified to correspond to the new coasts and standards of the dam (digging under the elevator in particular).
All the details in the video below
The Allier has already recovered its natural profile, as shown by the photo taken in the old reservoir after the emptying.
Upstream of the Poutès dam (inside old reservoir), 11th of June, the Allier regains its natural character for ever © SOS Loire Vivante – ERN
On the 12 of June, a major flood occurred on the Allier (400m3/s at Poutès against 16m 3/s for the module), it crossed the dam without constraint. The warning systems of the Cristal network were effective. The works were suspended and the platform created to work at the foot of the Poutès dam could be evacuated in time without affecting the equipment or the men!
The June 12 flood passes the Poutes dam without constraint © EDF
More info on Poutes dedicated page
On the 29th of June from 10:00 to 13:40, will take place the AMBER (Adaptive Management of Barriers in European Rivers) final webinar on Zoom plateforme. Over 800 confirmed attendees to date. The AMBER project unveils Europe’s first map of river barriers and what that means for the state of our rivers.
This webinar will include presentations from both the AMBER and FIThydro projects with 12 speakers from around Europe who will discuss river fragmentation and better ways to manage and mitigate barrier impacts. The programme is structured around facilitated discussions on three pressing topics: 1) the need to reconnect rivers; 2) the innovations, the tools and solutions available for better barrier management and 3) the applications, a framework for reconnecting Europe’s rivers.
register online to attend
more infos on AMBER
Dam Removal Europe and WWF Netherlands launched just two years ago a crowdfunding platform for dam removal in Europe.
Since 2018, seven projects on the Danube, in Lithuania and the UK have been completed thanks to this fundraising.
The possibilities to submit a project (see conditions) and to participate financially are still open.
The current campaign is taking place in Ukraine for three dams in the Carpathians. 40% of the objective has been reached (out of the 31 000€)! Participate in fundraising. More info on the project and donate : https://crowdfunding.wnf.nl/project/three-dams-in-ukraine.
The Loire-Allier basin is one of the main migration routes for wild Atlantic salmon. NGOs have been working for more than 30 years to protect and restore ecological continuity on this axis. Several successes have been achieved. Large dams have been removed (e.g. Maison-Rouge, Saint-Etienne-de-vigan), the Poutès dam is being completely restructured (partial removal) to reduce its impacts on upstream and downstream migration. Wild Atlantic salmon were saved in extremis on this axis.). (more infos)
In spite of these victories and the strong biodiversity issue in the basin, at least 6 hydropowerplants are in project on existing weirs and dams with no real uses (see map).
Some projects would worsen the ecological continuity because they would prevent the removal of the dam. There is no denying that the development of renewable energies has entered into competition with biodiversity. What about the basin vision . Who takes care of it in these projects?
Big dam removed or retrofit and new threats on the Loire basin.
ERN France
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43000 Le Puy en Velay
+33 (0)4.71.05.57.88
ERN is the official WWF Freshwater Partner in France and cooperates with WWF Switzerland, Austria, Netherlands and others
