

BRIDGEWATER — For Raritan Riverkeeper Bill Schultz, the idea that state officials might remove the last dam on the main stem of the Raritan River is, simply put, "exciting."

The removal of the Headgates Dam in Somerset County would come after three other dams downstream were dismantled over the past three years. The move, Schultz said, would permit greater fish migration and improve water conditions with increased oxygen levels and lower temperatures.

“What we’ve got is this momentum of opening up the river,” Schultz said. “Overall, it makes for a much healthier waterway.”

As a new advocacy group prepares an event to raise awareness about the need to remove the Headgates Dam, the state Department of Environmental Protection is planning to have a feasibility study conducted this year into ways of allowing fish passage at that location, including possibly eliminating the dam.

The ultimate project would complement the work done on removing the three other dams – the Calco Dam, the Robert Street Dam and the Nevius Street Dam – which was meant to open up the river to fish spawning and migration and provide more recreational opportunities, state officials said.

“It’s a natural extension of the work that was done on the rest of the river,” said DEP spokesman Larry Hajna, adding that the project could provide a “significant ecological benefit for the river by…making a great deal more habitat available to spawning fish.”

The 230-foot-wide Headgates Dam, located between Hillsborough and Duke Island Park in Bridgewater, is the last dam on the river before the confluence of its North and South Branches.

A group of volunteers removed tires and other trash from the Raritan River during cleanup events in 2013, such as the July 27 outing pictured above.

Morristown-based Louis Berger Group, Inc. will conduct the study through a $73,494 grant from the Washington, D.C.-based American Rivers, Hajna said. The company is expected to begin the study soon and the DEP is hoping to receive a report this summer, Hajna said.

In addition to the removal of the dam, the study will explore the options of creating a ladder to carry fish over the dam or setting up a bypass channel via an adjacent canal, Hajna said. The study also will examine the costs associated with the different options, he said.

The current spillway at the dam was completed in 1959 after the former dam fell apart, and the wing walls were probably finished around 1965, Hajna said. Several decades ago, the dam was used in conjunction with the canal to help provide hydroelectric power, Hajna said.

The dam serves “no real function today,” he added.

Removing the dam is being targeted by a new group called the "Central Jersey Stream Team," the brainchild of volunteers who held a series of cleanup events last year on the Raritan River. The group is in the process of becoming a non-profit organization.

While the group is planning more cleanup events and other long-term initiatives, its first large-scale event of 2014 is expected to be a half marathon in May for kayakers and canoers. Called in part “Damn the Dam,” the event is meant to bring attention to the need to remove the Headgates Dam, said Montclair resident Joseph David, one of the group's founding members.

“It’s a great opportunity to introduce people to the river and show people that the Raritan River is actually there for people to enjoy,” David added.

In 2013, the group removed a total of 614 tires, tons of other trash and several large items, such as a refrigerator, a washing machine, televisions, bicycles and even a car, David said.

David said it was “mind-blowing” to find so much trash in a section of the river that may appear clean from a distance. “And then you get in there and you realize that it’s not as clean as…you hoped it would be,” David said.

RELATED COVERAGE

• 'Double Down': Group returning to Raritan River for second round of tire cleanup effort

• With dam removals, a 'renaissance' on the Raritan River

FOLLOW THE STAR-LEDGER: TWITTER • FACEBOOK • GOOGLE+