Columbia dam

[FIN-ITE 34]

Rusty,

What I going to be done with the river channel, or lack thereof, through the section of the old lake bed?

 

[Rusty Spinner]

I'm actually out of the loop on this dam other than that the removal has begun.

 

[Donnyjf]

I grew up in Columbia and from what I heard, as I can remember is that the power plant was privately owned and was bought. They are opening the dam up. This will in turn introduce some new species into our streams. One of the main ones being shad. I’m pretty sure targeting shad out of the Delaware might be illegal but now that they will be swimming locally who knows what the future may bring.
Also this is something I talked to a fly shop owner about a few months ago so some details may be a bit off to be 100% honest.

 

[Rusty Spinner]

I grew up in Columbia and from what I heard, as I can remember is that the power plant was privately owned and was bought. They are opening the dam up. This will in turn introduce some new species into our streams. One of the main ones being shad. I’m pretty sure targeting shad out of the Delaware might be illegal but now that they will be swimming locally who knows what the future may bring.
Also this is something I talked to a fly shop owner about a few months ago so some details may be a bit off to be 100% honest.

You are more or less correct. The dam is/was wholly owned by the Division of Fish & Wildlife, but the hydro power generation was privately owned. With his (private individual that owns many hydro power plants) FERC license coming up and knowing we had removed the lower dams on the Musky with American shad, American eels and striped bass (river herring?) coming back to that river and knowing that these fish stacked up each spring below the Columbia dam, he agreed to surrender his license rather than trying to relicense it to allow the state (via The Nature Conservancy) to remove it. You are correct in that anglers cannot target shad in any tribs to the Delaware currently, and the Division will now need to deal with that since they will have 2 large rivers that get tons of angler attention for (mostly) trout each spring when shad will be running up both of them next year. But for now, no targeting shad, and that term "targeting" will be left up to a CO's discretion.

 

[Pete]

https://www.njherald.com/20190429/shad-return-to-the-paulinskill

 

[Rusty Spinner]

https://www.njherald.com/20190429/shad-return-to-the-paulinskill

Did anyone read the ridiculous comments after the article? Some people are too stupid to draw oxygen from the air.....

 

[falcon]

There is no shortage of nitwits in the Columbia / Blairstown area. Fish and game poaching is prevalent. The removal of the Paulina is going to "scramble their brains". I have lived here for 35 years. Game, poaching was and is prevalent. I remember a local politician caught shooting a mechanical deer.

 

[Rusty Spinner]

There is no shortage of nitwits in the Columbia / Blairstown area. Fish and game poaching is prevalent. The removal of the Paulina is going to "scramble their brains". I have lived here for 35 years. Game, poaching was and is prevalent. I remember a local politician caught shooting a mechanical deer.

Was he electrocuted when he tried to gut it?

I completely agree about the Paulina dam. I remember our first informal meeting at that dam site a whole bunch of years ago now where the mayor and some town council members joined several of us that were working to remove the lower Musky dams. Several locals figured out quickly what was going on and stopped to get out of their cars to demand that the dam remain in place. At that point, no decisions had been made to remove or rehabilitate. And most of those that stopped were catch and kill trout anglers who seemed to be the most upset.