“The river belongs to nature and to the people—to everybody. Dam removal allows the Deep River to continue its story while looking toward the future.” —Mayor Hampton (Happy) Spivey, Town of Ramsuer
Please see: Ramseur Dam Removal Project page
Please see americanrivers.org for more videos and information
Dam removal is one of the most powerful, cost-effective, and efficient tools there is to restore the health of rivers. A free-flowing river supports biodiversity, clean water supplies for communities, and recreation. Sadly, more than half a million darns block our nation’s waterways. Before its removal, Ramseur dam was among 28,000 inventoried dams in the state of North Carolina, many of them obsolete.
The Ramseur dam was originally constructed in the early1900s to power a sawmill and later the Columbia Manufacturing Company. Built largely of over rock, time had long since taken its toll: the gates on the darn were broken, water seeped through the structure, and rebar jutted out in places. It no longer produced hydropower or supported manufacturing.
This is a story playing out across the country and likely in your community. Dams are aging, becoming unsafe, and adding liability to towns and even private owners. Nationally, experts estimate that 70 percent of dams have outlived their average design life.
“Ramseur’s next chapter is about reconnecting – to the river, to each other, and to a broader vision of a restored Deep and Cape Fear River system flowing forward together,”
Lizzy Stokes-Cawley, Associate Director of Conservation For American Rivers