This low-head dam on Groff Run near New Holland is one of three PPL will remove as part of conservation projects around the county to compensate for earth disturbance at the Holtwood Dam.
The low-head dam on Groff Run near New Holland is shown.
PPL will soon remove three small dams blocking fish movement on Lancaster County waterways, turn farm fields back into forests, create new wetlands and restore a section of Pequea Creek.
All the projects are being done because PPL is required by the federal government to "mitigate" the environmental impact of the upcoming $440 million expansion of the utility's hydroelectric facility at Holtwood Dam in Martic Township.
Workers are expected to begin moving earth for that project next month. It is expected to be completed in April 2013.
To compensate for environmental disturbances caused by the estimated 1.5 million cubic yards of rock and other materials expected to be excavated near the dam, PPL is required to do conservation work.
"We looked for any kind of wetlands or stream-enhancement project," said Patricia Strong, project manager in the Baltimore District of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.
Strong said she worked with the Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission and local agencies to find suitable projects.
They include removal of these low-head dams:
• Zimmerman Dam, a 105-foot-wide, 5-foot-high timber crib dam on the Conestoga River, off Cabin Road, in West Earl Township. Its removal will open up 7 miles of the Conestoga to unfettered fish movement.
• Smucker Dam, a concrete dam 3 to 4 feet high and 15 feet wide on Groff Run, a tributary of Mill Creek, in Earl Township.
• Fisher Dam, which is 3 feet high and 30 feet long, on Pequea Creek off Buena Vista Road, in Salisbury Township.
The dams block the movement of fish and other aquatic creatures, including migrating American shad. Restoring shad and other migratory fish to the Susquehanna and Conestoga watersheds has been under way for years.
In addition, the small dams pool water, causing it to warm and be less suitable for fish. Also, the dams trap sediment, allowing it to be released in large doses in high-water events.
Other PPL-funded mitigation projects include:
• Conversion of 3.3 acres of farm fields into a riparian forest along the Conestoga River. The fields are currently leased for farming off of Conestoga Boulevard near the Safe Harbor Dam in Conestoga Township.
This would create a protective strip of trees that would stretch 1,500 feet along the Conestoga and be 50 to 100 feet wide.
• Creation of 7.5 acres of wetlands and a new upland forest off Prescott Road in Conoy Township, adjacent to existing wetlands along the township's Conoy Canal Park linear trail.
On land it owns between the Susquehanna and Norfolk Southern railroad tracks, PPL will plant part of it with shrubs and trees to create an upland forest. Another .26-acre will be made into emergent wetlands; 2.1 acres will be forested wetlands; and .8-acre will be an upland forested buffer.
• Helping the Paradise Sportsmen's Association finish a restoration project along 3,200 feet of Pequea Creek through farmland in Paradise and Leacock townships.
The club had been stalled in the final phase of the restoration when state "Growing Greener" monies ran out. Partial funding came from Lancaster County but not enough to finish the work.
Now, the club will be able to install fish-enhancement structures, stabilize banks, install streambank fencing to keep cattle out of the stream, put down two cattle crossings and use native plants to create 25-foot-wide riparian buffers.
As part of negotiations to get state and federal approvals for the Holtwood expansion, PPL had earlier agreed to expand boat ramps at existing boat launches at Pequea and York Furnace, add parking in the Lock 12 Historic Area in York County and build about $1 million worth of underwater structures below the dam to recreate white-water conditions that would have been lost with bedrock excavations. Paddlers had complained of the loss of white water.
Another major condition insisted on by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission involves making improvements to the entrances to fish lifts at the dam.
The lifts, mainly to help American shad move upriver to native spawning grounds, were built in 1997 at a cost of $21 million.
But few shad that pass through the downriver Conowingo Dam have found their way to the Holtwood lifts.
During construction, PPL will be required to monitor a bald eagle nest on Piney Island.