Tim Sprinkle

Turbulant Waters: Could Upstate New York whitewater be harming fish?

Paddler magazine
October 2002

Big waters: Could upstate New York whitewater be harming fish? INDIAN LAKE, NY-Whitewater paddlers and fishermen are usually at odds when it comes to river maintenance. What's good for one is often bad for the other and vice versa, but the problem has recently come to a head in New York's Hudson River Gorge, where regular dam releases have become an important part of a thriving whitewater rafting industry. Just outside the isolated Adirondack town of Indian Lake, trout fishermen are up at arms, claiming that the practice is destroying habitats along one of the Northeast's most revered fishing spots and systematically tearing a generations-old pastime to shreds.

"It just turns into a water world out there," said Jim Nash, a trout fisherman who has lived in the area for almost 50 years. The daily releases make year-round rafting possible by flooding the Gorge with over ten times the normal summer flow.

The practice began over a decade ago to ensure adequate whitewater in the Gorge during the dry summer months. By releasing water from the Indian River dam several times a week, Indian Lake has been able to extend the rafting season and bring thousands of additional tourists to the area every year. It has basically saved the rafting industry in the Adirondacks and has proven a tremendous economic boon to the town. Fishermen like Nash, however, worry that these economic improvements have overshadowed the damage that summer rafting is causing to the river, as the high waters scour fish and insect habitats, raise water temperatures, and create unnecessary erosion.

"None of us minded when rafting took place in the spring," he said, as the river level that time of year is more than adequate to protect the fish and create outstanding natural whitewater. "It's fun; that's what [the river] is there for. But this summer rafting is destroying our state historic river."

In the summer, when water levels drop to as low as 50 feet per second, trout and other fish are left dangerously exposed. They usually huddle in small pools to survive, but when over 1,000 feet/second of warm lake water rushes through the Gorge, environmentalists worry that the fish are being pummeled by the turbulent conditions and unnaturally high water temperatures. Trout need steady temperatures in the low 50s to survive the summer months.

Rafting supporters feel that the economic benefits, which have been estimated into the millions, outweigh the environmental cost of dam releases.

"The introduction of summer rafting is not doing anything but helping," said Indian Lake Town Manager Barry Hutchins. "It has most definitely helped the area. Increasing the local economy and opening more doors for growth."

The rafting companies pay a fee for the releases, a sum that equaled over $90,000 last year, creating what Hutchins calls "a win for the town." In return, up to 1,000 rafters a week are allowed through the Gorge.

John Starling, who has operated Adventure Sports Rafting for almost 20 years, agrees with the dam releases and sees them as a vital part of the Adirondack whitewater business.

"You really couldn't do it without them," he said. "[The releases] have been great; the best thing to happen to whitewater since rafting started up here."

Starling also leads fishing trips on the Hudson and Indian Rivers and has yet to see any negative impact.

"We're still finding fish in the same fishing spots that we always have. I don't think it hurts fish at all."

Even so, the issue has garnered more attention from environmental groups in recent months that could result in a formal investigation by the state environmental board.

"Fishermen have expressed problems with the system from the beginning," said Bruce Carpenter, spokesperson for New York Rivers Unlimited, "but now they're getting more vocal and have gotten a lot more exposure for their case."

Carpenter's concern is that, since so many rafting companies have developed around the summer flow, cutting them off now would be all but impossible. He feels that compromise, on both sides of the issue, will be a crucial factor in ending this debate.

"[The river] is a public resource," he said. "We want to provide a benefit to as many people as we can with as little impact to the river as possible."

Robert Mead of Trout Unlimited is less optimistic.

"It would be nice to say that we can all share the river," he said. "But when one group does so much damage to a fishery it is hard to agree to that."

"Recreation is something we want to find places for," said New York Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) spokesperson John Sheehan, "but we have to consider what it is doing to the environment, especially in areas as sensitive as the Hudson River Gorge."

Although the DEC has yet to undertake a formal study on the impact of dam releases, Sheehan is hopeful that this increased exposure will warrant a full investigation. Beyond the Hudson, such a study would help policymakers understand what their choices are doing to rivers throughout Adirondack Park.

Despite this progress, Nash is still not convinced that he will see a satisfactory solution anytime soon. "We're just all tied up in the economics of this whole thing right now," he said."