Environmental commission backs recommending council support for Blackwell’s Mills Dam removal

The Environmental Commission voted to recommend that the township council consider a resolution urging the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection commissioner to support removal of the Blackwell’s Mills Dam on the Millstone River to restore fish passage and improve river conditions.

Jim, a representative of The Watershed Institute, gave a prepared presentation tracing decades of work to restore diadromous fish in the Raritan and Millstone basins, evidence from historical accounts and recent DEP monitoring, and technical issues raised by the U.S. Geological Survey about the presence of a flow gauge behind the Blackwell’s Mills Dam. He said funding from a natural resource damage settlement and other grants is available to support dam removal, and cited the 2017 removal of the Weston Mill Dam and subsequent upstream fish passage as an example.

“Take it down and they will come,” Jim said, summarizing monitoring results after a nearby dam was removed in 2017. He told commissioners that DEP, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, NOAA’s fisheries branch and multiple nonprofits support removal; U.S. Geological Survey officials had raised concerns about the precision of a flow gauge located behind the dam, but Jim and other presenters showed data and examples where USGS recalibrated gauges after dam removals.

Commissioners discussed technical tradeoffs and jurisdictional roles. Commissioners and staff noted that the DEP commissioner must make the final decision to authorize removal and that removal work typically requires sediment study and checks for contamination before construction. Jim said those feasibility studies have already been funded and completed in part and that agencies have been meeting regularly; he offered to supply his presentation and a draft resolution for the commission and council package.

A motion was made to recommend that the council adopt a resolution (with amendments to the draft prepared by Jim). A commission member called for the motion and commissioners voted in favor; the commission asked staff to provide the presentation and to forward a refined resolution to Council liaison Ed for consideration at an upcoming council agenda. The commission asked for the resolution to be placed on an upcoming council meeting packet (either May 27 or June 12, per the meeting discussion).

Speakers emphasized ecological benefits: restored fish passage could allow American shad and other migratory species to access historic spawning habitat, improve food‑web connections and reduce localized water‑quality issues such as warmer impounded water and algal blooms. Jim cited DEP monitoring captures of shad attempting to move upstream to Blackwell’s Mills and noted that removing prior dams elsewhere in the basin produced rapid positive responses within one year.

Commissioners also heard about implementation details: sediment behind the dam has been studied to check for contaminants; money from a natural resource damage settlement is available to cover removal and fish‑passage improvements; and USGS can recalibrate gauging stations when dams are removed, removing a principal technical objection. Jim and others requested the commission’s endorsement and offered to provide materials for council and public review.

The commission approved the recommendation by voice vote and directed staff to assemble a packet (presentation, resolution draft, supporting technical attachments) for Council liaison Ed to take to council. The recommendation does not itself remove the dam; it asks the council to endorse the resolution requesting DEP support, which would then inform the DEP commissioner’s decision and the multi‑agency process.