Johnsons Mill Dam Removal
Dam Removed, Fish Habitat Improved
In August 2021, the Johnsons Mill Dam was removed from the Bogue Branch in Bakersfield, VT. Franklin County NRCD managed the project from start to finish. This dam removal was designed to restore natural stream flow and improve trout habitat by removing an aquatic organism passage barrier.
We continue to monitor the site with game cameras and periodic site visits. We post updated photos and time-lapse videos to show how the site continues to adapt following the dam removal.
Check out the before-and-after photos and our ongoing monitoring results below. You can also read about the historic resources of the Johnsons Mill Dam and the press coverage of its removal.
Before and After Photos
Funding Sources
This project was funded in part by grants from the Vermont Fish and Wildlife Department and Vermont Department of Environmental Conservation. This project has been funded by an agreement awarded by the Great Lakes Fishery Commission to the New England Interstate Water Pollution Control Commission in partnership with the Lake Champlain Basin Program. This project has been funded wholly or in part by the United States Environmental Protection Agency under assistance agreement (LC00A00605) to NEIWPCC in partnership with the Lake Champlain Basin Program.
Press Coverage
Site Monitoring Videos
Watch the initial dam removal and site restoration from 08-11-2021 to 08-19-2021.
Watch as the removal site floods overnight on October 31, 2021 (Halloween) causing erosion and bank failure.
Watch the stream change and evolve following dam removal from August 21, 2021 to November 10, 2021
Watch the construction and post-removal flows of the channel upstream of the dam from August 2021 through the middle of September 2021
Watch a time lapse with images taken minute by minute over the span of a few days in September 2021
Watch the sky over time at the removal site from November 12 through December 5, 2021
Watch the channel upstream of the former dam flood, erode, deposit sediment, get covered in snow, and get visited by wildlife with their footprints in the snow from December 2021 to February 2022.
Watch the Bogue Branch through the former location of the dam from April 13 through June 21, 2022.
Watch the Bogue Branch upstream of the dam from November 2022 through April 2023
Watch the Bogue Branch through the former location of the dam from November 2022 through June 2023
Watch two videos taken from a helicopter flying over the former Johnsons Mill Dam site in August 2022 taken by FCNRCD's own Megan Walker.
Watch the Bogue Branch change and evolve following the July and December 2023 Floods.
Watch the Bogue Branch through the former location of the dam from January 2024 through August 2024