Bids sought for Upper Jay ice jam mitigation

UPPER JAY | Engineers and conservationists can't stop flooding and they can't stop the destructive ice jams that plague north-flowing rivers — but they can direct the water's awesome energy into a less damaging course. That's what will happen in Upper Jay this summer, when large machines will remold a section of the East Branch of the Ausable River, building structures with names like toe-woods and W-weirs that deepen and speed up the river and lessen the opportunity for slabs of two-foot ice to develop on waters that have become too flat and too slow. "People in Upper Jay are very happy about this," said Jay Supervisor Archie Depo. The river has been on its best behavior since 2018, but in that year a massive sheet of ice accumulated in Upper Jay and broke loose with a thunderous fury that destroyed property and did even more damage to the river itself. On Wednesday, engineers and representatives of the Ausable River Association met with contractors in a pre-bid conference detailing the work that needs to be done. The funding for the work, which Depo said is about $750,000, comes from the Governor's Office of Storm Recovery and is part of a pot of money set aside to mitigate the damage of Hurricane Irene a decade ago. AsRA Executive Director Kelley Tucker said the work basically involves restoring the river to its natural state after nearly 200 years of industrial manipulation. "Rivers were worked back in the day," she said. "They were not bad people, it was just how they built their world around them." The East Branch appears to have been straightened and widened by mill owners who used the river as a highway to transport logs to their operations downstream. As late as the 1970s, gravel from the riverbed was also mined for development projects. That tended to eliminate the riffles that are an essential part of the structure of a healthy stream that is able to flush itself of sediment. The problem becomes circular, as sediment buildup causes the river to become shallower and wider still. So the East Branch has become wide and shallow and slow — perfect conditions for the manufacture of ice. The fact that it flows north means that when it's a degree or two warmer to the south in Keene than it is downstream in Au Sable Forks, upstream melting can have devastating effects on the communities below. The projects this summer represent two of 13 problem spots identified between Keene and just beyond Au Sable Forks. Depo said the Upper Jay projects were prioritized by the town, along with a section below the confluence of the East and West branches, because "that's where everything winds up." But a funding technicality prevented that particular area from qualifying for help for the time being. Erik Sandblom, principal engineer at Schoder Rivers Associates said the work will begin in July when the river level tends to be at its lowest. "That's the most practical time to be in the water," he said. When the work is done, it will be difficult to see the actual structural changes (which is kind of the goal) but the river will be prettier and have better holes for fishing and swimming. Instead of flowing right along the road, there will be a green buffer that will add overflow capacity in flood season. It will be anchored, out of sight, by large root balls that prevent it from washing away. Further upstream will be what amounts to underwater rock funnels that concentrate the stream's energy and speed up the flow. Tucker said the work on this particular section will be finished this year, with the other trouble spots to be addressed as funding permits. "We're not saying we're going to cure the ice jams or the flooding, but we can make it more predictable" and less impactful," Tucker said.

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Bids sought for Upper Jay ice jam mitigation

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