Bad News for the Savage River in Wester MD

This was in the September 14th cumberland times news.

Published: September 14, 2008 12:14 am

Trophy trout stream concern as Savage dam faces drainage

Officials will have to deal with impact on game fish

Michael A. Sawyers
Cumberland Times-News

BLOOMINGTON ? Confirmation Thursday by the Upper Potomac River Commission that repairs to the Savage River Dam will require drainage of the sprawling impoundment has sent state fishery biologists to the meeting room in an attempt to deal with the impact on game fish.

?We need to know more details about the drawdown before we can come up with a plan,? said Don Cosden, acting director of inland fisheries for the Department of Natural Resources.

An engineering study recently found that all four of the release gates at the dam should be replaced to eliminate the potential for downstream flooding.

Allegany County?s commissioners Thursday said they would begin looking for help to pay the $6 million the work is expected to cost.

Of greatest concern to biologists and anglers is the potential loss of four miles of trophy trout fishing from the dam to the river?s juncture with the North Branch of the Potomac.

That stretch requires anglers to use artificial lures and flies in an attempt to catch the brook trout and brown trout living there. Brook trout of at least 12 inches and browns of at least 18 inches may be kept.

?Even if the reservoir is drained for a short time, we always get sediment afterwards and that could interfere with reproduction in the river,? Cosden said Friday. ?If the drawdown lasts a year, the water flowing through the reservoir would be heated during the summer and cause temperature problems downstream.?

Cosden said there is a chance that fishery crews would attempt to capture the trout in the lower Savage River and transplant them to other waters.

?But you?d never get them all,? he said.

Cosden said another option that will be considered is allowing anglers to catch and keep the trout, no matter the size, should a salvage operation not be possible.

Salvaging fish such as bass and walleye upstream of the dam would be difficult and unlikely, Cosden said.

?When you electrofish on that large a body of water, you don?t reach out with the current to stun enough fish to make it feasible,? he said. ?Capturing the fish as water is drawn low would be a tough task simply in getting tanker trucks and boats down to the water.?

The timing of repairs is not yet known, though it would likely take place in fall and winter when flows are usually the lowest of the year.

Alan Heft, an inland fishery biologist stationed in Frostburg, said if the lower Savage River were to lose its trout, the agency would have to determine how to replenish fish there after dam repairs are completed.

?It could be that browns aren?t put back. The brook trout above the reservoir are the same genetically as those below, so they could be transplanted,? Heft said.

?It looks like there is no way around draining the impoundment,? Scott Shoemaker said Thursday. Shoemaker heads operations of the dam for the river commission.

Contact Outdoor Editor Mike Sawyers at msawyers@times-news.com.



Any Thoughts?

Wow. That is rather disturbing. I fished the Savage many, many times and it's one of my all-time favorites; what a shame to lose it (albeit most likely temporarily) as a resource. I would guess that many of those fish will retreat down to the NBP, which is good, and will probably repopulate the Savage tailwater relatively quickly once the repairs are complete, but isn't there some way to retain reservoir capacity (diversion?) without draining it entirely?

I suppose that if this was to be done during fall/winter/spring, water temps would be sufficiently low to sustain trout survival. The headwaters are pretty cold as evidenced by the brookie population up there and in the many tributaries...so perhaps catastrophe can be avoided just by sheer timing.

Still, pretty disheartening.

Marty

I feel bad about the impending drainage of the Savage Reservoir. The river below is such a beatiful place to fish and the trout are fantastic. I'm a Pensylvanian that onced fished it regularly. It's a gem of a stream. Here's to hoping for a great outcome.