Milltown Dam coming to an end

After plugging up Norman Maclean’s Blackfoot River as well as the Clark fork for over a hundred years, next week will see them flowing free again. The site is one of the countries largest superfund sites that originates 120 miles upriver in Butte and Anaconda where copper was mined from 1880 to 2005. Workers have been removing the toxic sludge built up behind the dam in preparation of for the breach which is scheduled for next Tuesday.

In the mid 90’s an ice jam sent a flush of toxic water over the dam that resulted in a massive fish kill below the dam. Its also been cited for nearby ground water contamination issues.

There is a lot of talk on possible fish kills during the breach, but at least this time most of the contaminants will not exist. The real story will be in the years to come. Taking a dam out can only be good for the fish and the fisherman.

Read more here:

Todays Missoulian article.

Some History

Clean up details

Let’s hope that this sets the tone for more removal projects throughout the west!