DEC cites responsibility of dam owners to maintain structures in safe condition
By Zachary Matson
As the Upper Saranac Foundation moves ahead with over $2 million in repairs to its Bartlett Carry Dam, its leaders argue the largest landowner benefitting from the dam’s presence should pay its fair share — the state of New York.
“Our hope is every stakeholder steps up to the plate,” Tom Swayne, chair of the foundation, said during a recent visit to the dam construction site. “If the water emptied out of here, Fish Creek Campground wouldn’t work.”
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The dam, on private property between Upper Saranac Lake and Middle Saranac Lake, maintains water levels on Upper Saranac and a series of interconnected ponds and lakes.
The dam supports the shorelines for private camp owners and state facilities, such as the popular Fish Creek Campground and public boat launches. If the dam failed, it would raise water levels on Middle and Lower Saranac lakes by over a foot and inundate numerous wetland areas in the chain of lakes, according to engineering studies. Without the dam, lake levels on Upper Saranac would fall 6 to 10 feet, according to the foundation.
Since a significant portion of the shoreline bolstered by the dam is part of the Saranac Lakes Wild Forest, the foundation argues the state should chip in to fund renovations.
Swayne and Guy Middleton, a lake manager employed by the foundation, said the foundation is advancing the repairs as quickly as possible rather than waiting for state grants or other financing. It has raised over $2 million primarily from private property owners.
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The state’s stance
State officials are well aware of the project. The Department of Environmental Conservation’s dam safety division has worked through the designs and permitting of the project to ensure the repairs will bring the structure in line with state standards.
DEC in a statement did not directly address whether it should fund repairs close to state property. The statement did note the responsibility of owners “for maintaining and operating their dam in a safe condition at all times.”
The statement also highlighted grant funding available for dam repair and replacement. Thanks to recently expanded qualifications, nonprofit owners of intermediate-hazard dams, like Bartlett Carry, can now apply for the grants.
Awardees can backdate contracts with the state to May 15, according to the DEC statement.
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Middleton and Swayne said they did not plan to apply for the grant, due later this month, because they feared it would delay construction. As the foundation planned the repairs in recent years, most government dam funding focused on high-hazard or municipally-owned structures.
“As a private owner, we haven’t had much opportunity for grants,” said Middleton. “We didn’t want to wait, we wanted to make sure this dam was secure.”
Project overview
The construction project, which Middleton said he hopes concludes “before snow flies,” is a complete overhaul of the 335-foot-long dam.
Consisting of two concrete spillways and a long earthen embankment, the dam traces its roots to past logging operations. It was0built in the mid-1800s and reconstructed in 1913 and 1994.
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The foundation was formed in the early 1990s to take ownership and responsibility for the dam. While the foundation has since grown its programs to include water monitoring and invasive species prevention, the dam remains core to its mission.
During high water in 2018, a sinkhole formed along the dam’s embankment. Caused by slow seepage of water through the dam’s fill, the sinkhole forced emergency repairs and spurred a more comprehensive evaluation of the structure. That assessment led to the current construction project.
Swayne said the project aims to get the dam “ready for the next generation.”
Earlier this month crews were working to stabilize the northern spillway. The work involved bolstering the structure’s upstream face with new concrete and extending and strengthening abutment walls.
New rip-rap stone was being positioned at the base of the spillway. The earthen embankment will be raised to ensure the dam can withstand higher volumes of water. Later this summer, work will shift to the southern spillway.
“Doing this work is really to assure that we will have a secure dam,” Middleton said.
Top photo: Repair work at the Bartlett Carry Dam is ongoing this summer. Photo by Zachary Matson
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Sounds like USLA should pay for the repairs of the dam it privately owns and allowed to fall into disrepair. Scary to think they allowed a sinkhole to form. Perhaps someone at Adirondack Explorer should investigate how this dam was allowed to get into such a state of disrepair in the first place that it now needs what sounds like emergency (rapid) reconstruction and rehabilitation. It fell into this state of disrepair despite an entire organization and foundation devoted for DECADES to maintaining the private dam?? This is confusing.
In fact, the USLA is now in such a rush with their repairs despite existing as an organization since the 20th century that they can’t even take the time to apply for grants open to private organizations for repairing such dams? They have committees and chairs and co-chairs, and directors of this, and managers of that, but they can’t even apply for the grant dedicated to this purpose? There is not enough time??
One would think this organization that has been in operation for DECADES would have made maintaining its private dam its top priority, would have carefully allotted money to the dam’s maintenance, would have carefully managed the infrastructure, and wouldn’t have gotten itself into a situation where the safety of the surrounding community is in what sounds like unspoken peril. After all, hasn’t this been what USLA and USF have collected money for decades in the first place?
The USLA, founded for the purpose of maintaining the dam, has spent years pursuing and advocating other “environmental” agendas, such as lawsuits against dilapidated marinas they deem too large and other regulatory agendas. They do not seem like an organization dedicated to improving the wider community but centered around their own private interests. Therefore, it seems they should bear the cost for their private dam, particularly since they have fought so hard to keep others from enjoying that lake by preventing fixing of the marina. Meanwhile, USLA, unlike other smaller lake associations, even have their own foundation and year-round lake manager. Yet, the dam is STILL in an emergency state of disrepair?
IMO, this is not an organization that deserves sympathy. This is a large, wealthy, and well connected organization that likely should get greater scrutiny for the dam being in this state. A sink hole sounds like it placed the whole nearby community at risk. Sure, the environment is changing due to climate change, but this organization had the resources and has been in existence long enough to not only prepare for such changes but to meet them without issue.
Private property owned by private organization designed to primarily benefit private property owners. Any public benefit is incidental, and no public funds should be unconstitutionally gifted to this private organization.
And they already got funds from the public and taxpayers – funding from Town of Santa Clara several years ago. The husband of a USLA director, who worked as a Town councilman, presented the Town vote to provide funds for dam repair from the Town (taxpayers). How nice for them. And no one in media reported it, no one cared to ask why the Town taxpayers were providing funding for this private dam.
Almost as bad as no one asking why taxpayers could possibly be on the hook for kids college loans.
How about putting a low-head hydroturbine on the dam? But nooooo, that would kill some fish. I’m so glad I left NY for a freer state.