Vernon County officials outline multiyear plan to decommission aging watershed dams

County staff on the Vernon County Land and Water Conservation Committee provided a detailed update on plans to decommission multiple aging conservation dams after a watershed study showed many structures have passed their design life and federal repair support will be limited.

The presentation, led by Mark (staff presenter) and summarized by committee member Cassie, said the county will pursue site-specific decommissioning designs where federal funding is available and that several dams will likely be removed rather than repaired. “There won’t be any federal support moving forward for dam repair, dam maintenance,” Mark said during the presentation.

Why it matters: the county manages dozens of small watershed dams built with Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) technical support and local sponsorship under 50-year operation/maintenance plans. Many of those agreements and the structures’ expected service lives have expired; the county is under Department of Natural Resources (DNR) orders to repair or remove at least some dams and faces constrained funding and a long timetable.

Most immediate takeaways - West Fork and the unnamed “**** Creek” subwatershed: staff recommended decommissioning for the majority of those dams. The West Fork has nine dams; staff said seven of those are candidates for…