# brecksville dam



## rustyhooks (Aug 17, 2008)

sorry if this has already been discussed, does anyone know if the b-ville dam on the hoga has been removed?


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## Morrow (Jul 29, 2018)

They said this summer but I haven't heard anything new. Last year they also said it would be done by fall but that never happened: https://www.cleveland.com/metro/2018/03/brecksville_dam_demolition_pro_1.html

I was in Brecksville a few months ago and a park ranger down there had no idea either. Maybe it will be around for one more steelhead season


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## rustyhooks (Aug 17, 2008)

Looking forward to more chrome in akron. We get a few now


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## Tom G (Sep 26, 2004)

dam is still there not a trace of it going away


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## bdawg (Apr 14, 2009)

I was hoping it would be gone already too. The weather is perfect for them to start now.


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## creekcrawler (Oct 5, 2004)

Rode the towpath down to the dam last night. Signage still says the dam will be gone this year.
Saw nothing going on except that they have totally closed the feeder above the dam and the canal is dry in areas.


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## Jakethefisherman (Aug 2, 2014)

Late September/Early October depending on water conditions.

Source: Director of CVNP


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## creekcrawler (Oct 5, 2004)

Thanks Jake. I'd love to see it when it happens. Curious what gets exposed, besides mud.
I do know there's remnants of the original dam just a bit upstream of the existing one.
Original dam goes back to canal days, the existing one was built in the 50's to make sure the canal stayed full to supply water to the steel mills downstream.


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## Lewzer (Apr 5, 2004)

Please leave it alone till late November. Need one more shad run...


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## bdawg (Apr 14, 2009)

I was hoping they would be starting sooner. The construction will be done the same time as the steelhead are coming into the river.


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## Morrow (Jul 29, 2018)

bdawg said:


> I was hoping they would be starting sooner. The construction will be done the same time as the steelhead are coming into the river.


While I agree the dam needs to come down, I think the group spearheading this project, the "Friends" of the Crooked River, and more specifically Elaine Marsh, want to use this as promotion for their agenda. While they have noble ideas, they are not necessarily in the right place in my opinion. I think above all else, recreational kayaking is the first focus of their agenda, fish come later. Many of the things they say about fish populations in the Cuyahoga are simply not true.


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## bdawg (Apr 14, 2009)

Morrow said:


> While I agree the dam needs to come down, I think the group spearheading this project, the "Friends" of the Crooked River, and more specifically Elaine Marsh, want to use this as promotion for their agenda. While they have noble ideas, they are not necessarily in the right place in my opinion. I think above all else, recreational kayaking is the first focus of their agenda, fish come later. Many of the things they say about fish populations in the Cuyahoga are simply not true.


What are they saying? What is their agenda? I have considered going to one of their meetings. Mainly because I want to get into kayaking and have some people to go with.


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## Morrow (Jul 29, 2018)

bdawg said:


> What are they saying? What is their agenda? I have considered going to one of their meetings. Mainly because I want to get into kayaking and have some people to go with.


I could be wrong, but I see their main agenda as having a giant kayaking industry on the Cuyahoga to drive tourism and generate money. I have heard some people claim things like how once all the Cuyahoga dams are down, we will have whitewater kayaking in Cuyahoga Falls on par with places like Colorado. While some of these things may be true to a degree, I think they are just overly exaggerated a little too much and they sell the public an unrealistic story.

In regards to this specific dam, they claim that after all this we will have walleye, northern pike and other fish "not seen in decades" in the CVNP. I think one of the articles from last year also said we would have LAKE STURGEON in the river 

Northern pike are not really in Lake Erie itself. There are populations in the western basin, but when we're talking about the Cuyahoga they are not "trapped" from coming upstream like they claim. In this particular case I would say they are trapped from coming downstream. The largest populations of these fish in the Cuyahoga are past the Gorge Metropark near Akron, Kent, Lake Rockwell etc.

They also claimed that when the dams went down in Kent and Cuyahoga Falls that it immediately brought tons of game fish to the area. I think think is another exaggerated claim, and that realistically, _it will take many more years_ for the populations to improve. I think that many of the deeper holes that existed in those areas prior to the demolition have since been filled with sand, silt, and other debris. In short, we probably lost more fishing spots in the areas where dams were removed. Riverside Park in Cuyahoga Falls is a good example of a river section that has been completely flattened and now shallow as a result of the dam removal. We will get all that back, but not immediately.

I am open to correction but that's just how I see it as a guy who fishes the river.


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## bdawg (Apr 14, 2009)

Morrow said:


> I could be wrong, but I see their main agenda as having a giant kayaking industry on the Cuyahoga to drive tourism and generate money. I have heard some people claim things like how once all the Cuyahoga dams are down, we will have whitewater kayaking in Cuyahoga Falls on par with places like Colorado. While some of these things may be true to a degree, I think they are just overly exaggerated a little too much and they sell the public an unrealistic story.
> 
> In regards to this specific dam, they claim that after all this we will have walleye, northern pike and other fish "not seen in decades" in the CVNP. I think one of the articles from last year also said we would have LAKE STURGEON in the river
> 
> ...


Having a kayaking industry in the CVNP is very much needed. It's perfect for recreational kayaking. The whitewater will be nice for the really experienced kayakers, but will never be as good as Colorado or even West Virginia. We don't have the scenery. 

When all the dams were up, I would say the fish populations were a bit trapped. Now, there are long stretches without dams. The small dams, they can migrate downstream, but not up, except for the steelhead. 

It will take a number of years for the river to adjust. Any holes you were fishing downstream of the brecksville spillway will be filled with sediment. The pool upstream will be a flat, channel with no cover for the fish. Upstream of the old Monroe falls spillway is still like this. That dam was removed more than 10 years ago. Riverside park was ruined for fishing too. I will take a couple of decades to fully realize the benefits of the dam removals. Trees need to grow up along the new river banks and then fall into the river to provide fish habitat. Pools & riffles need to develop. The extra sediment behind these dams needs to get flushed into Lake Erie. 

The pike population was doing just fine. It was probably better with the slow moving pools behind the dams. I'm excited to see how many steelhead and walleye come up the river. The sturgeon will take centuries to come back because of how slowly they breed.


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## Jakethefisherman (Aug 2, 2014)

Anyone heard any updates? I hope it’s not getting delayed even more. I thought by now the park would have posted something. 


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