The Carmans River provides habitat
for an array of aquatic species, including brook trout,
large-mouthed bass, eel and river herring. But the man-made dams
installed a few hundred years ago are what give the river its lake
characteristics that, in turn, provide warmer water temperatures for
an aquatic species foreign to cold water rivers - like the invasive
cabomba weed - to thrive in.
Now, the
questions of how to stem the tide of the ever-increasing cabomba
weed, and whether the dams should be removed, have become a point of
contention. Removing the dams would reconfigure the Carmans River to
become a narrower, cold water river, wherein the surrounding lakes
would recede to varying degrees. Advocating for the dams to
remain in place, Yaphank resident Johan McConnell asked the
Brookhaven Town Board earlier this month to create a task force. The
coalition would consist of a group of local residents who support
maintaining the dams as they are currently installed, and to remove
the cabomba weed that makes its ever-increasing presence evident in
early spring. In the 2008 budget, which was slated to be voted on
yesterday, November 20, $100,000 has been allocated for the removal
of the cabomba weed, according to Fourth District Councilwoman
Connie Kepert. Confirming that she will be proposing a resolution to
support McConnell's request for the task force, Kepert noted that
the resolution will likely come before the town board before the end
of the year. Meanwhile, arguments on both sides of the debate
continue to escalate. Dave Thompson, regional vice president of the
New York State Council of Trout Unlimited, said he is "opposed to
any effort to maintain the dams," and reported that the Carmans
River "holds the most significant native brook trout population on
Long Island." This trout population, Thompson noted, is
diminishing. "When the river was dammed ... they created a water
quality problem because this slowed the river down and created a
warmer water [environment] for the invasive aquatic cabomba weed,"
Thompson explained, "and the dams fragmented the brook trout
population, which rely on the clean, cold waters of the Carmans
River to spawn and survive, so the freshwater part of the river is
critical to this." The National Oceanographic and Atmospheric
Administration has awarded a $42,000 grant to install a fish ladder
in the river, according to Thompson, which will help the trout to
spawn and survive. The ladder is a two-foot by four-foot aluminum
box that cuts a notch in the dam to slow the water down enough for
the trout to negotiate through to the colder waters to
spawn. Peconic Baykeeper Kevin McAllister also supports the
removal of the dams. "Removing the dams would lower the water
temperatures, which in turn would be more conducive to arresting the
growth of invasives," McAllister said. "The dams have created
artificial lakes, which have made a conducive environment for this
weed to dominate. The Carmans River is one of the few streams that
support native brook trout, and what we should be doing is trying to
enhance the stability of this population." But local resident
Robert Kessler is vehemently opposed to removing the dams in the
upper lake at Mill Road and in the lower lake at Yaphank Avenue, and
supports maintaining the structures as they currently exist. Kessler
noted the abundance of fish species in the lakes - in particular
large-mouthed bass, perch, pike and eel - and asserts that "by
removing these dams we would give up many of these species for
trout." He also noted that the osprey, which now feed in the lakes,
would not continue to thrive along a faster-moving, cold water
river. "These dams were artificially made in 1736 for power saw
and grain mills," Kessler explained. "They're saying by taking them
away, the trout can swim upstream to the headwaters of the Carmans
River and spawn, then go back out to the bay again, but the same can
be accomplished by constructing fish ladders to allow the fish to
move from the lower to the upper body of water, and we do support
that method." While McAllister agreed that removing the dams
would threaten the existence of large-mouthed bass and other species
in the lakes, he noted that these species also prey on trout for
food, and that the Carmans River should be returned to its most
natural state. Kepert said the removal of the dams would increase
the flow of the river, and the lakes it branches out to will
disappear to create a narrower river. Kessler added, "By removing
the dams, we won't have the lakes that people enjoy for boating,
canoeing and swimming." Meanwhile, Kepert has taken steps to
secure funding by contracting with a company to eliminate the
cabomba weed using sonar herbicide. But Thompson and McAllister
maintain that sonar herbicide may not be the best method of
eliminating the cabomba weed. "That's heading in the wrong
direction," Thompson said. "To be fair, all options need to be
studied, including dam removal, to at least define the most
permanent and economic way to deal with this aquatic
invasive." "I'm opposed to the use of sonar at face value,"
McAllister added. "There are concerns about the use of sonar as an
herbicide, and we need more research."
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