Spiny Softshell Turtle

[artimus001 0]

i saw these guys sunning while out on the river the other day. to see one would have been great; three was amazing.

 

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spiny_softshell_turtle

 

the pic isn't the best, but the story of this turtle is. after running free for a couple of years, the river has returned to a more natural state. all of the species that needed the trib streams upstream from this dam have flourished. this includes this species which was in decline. what used to be a 6.8km pond full of E. Coli, is now fish able river, with the ponds and pools exposed where they should be. everyone that has a environmental/conservation connection to this river is to let the river flow. sure hope that the lawsuit is lost.

 

Springbank Dam

Erected: Opened in 1930

Purpose: Slow the Thames River in Springbank Park for recreational purposes.

2000: Flood damages the dam.

2006: Dam is shut down as city OKs $6.8 million to fix it.

2008: During tests at end of repairs, a new steel gate shifts to one side after its hinge is forced up by debris and bolts attaching the hinge to its base are snapped.

April 2009: City launches $5-million lawsuit against contractors as dam remains inoperable.

2015: Latest estimate of when case will hits the courts.

Status

• Owned by the city, Springbank Dam is not a flood-control structure like Fanshawe Dam. The dam remains inoperable since bolts snapped.
• The city is paying the tab for a lawsuit it launched against companies involved.
• As the Thames continues to flow unimpeded through the broken Springbank Dam, city engineer John Braam insists “there has been progress.” That progress is by way of negotiations and discussions in a process he said has seen a “rejuvenation.”

The issue was to have reached court in April, but delays have pushed that to 2015, city lawyer Geoff Belch has estimated.

“This would appear to be a dark hole,” Braam said, but things are moving, albeit slowly.

“I’m an optimist,” he said, despite the morass the dam has become.

Claims and counterclaims involve the manufacturer of the bolts that broke, contractor McLean Taylor of St. Marys, and the Upper Thames River Conservation Authority, whose employees are accused of trying to operate the failed gate without proper knowledge. None of the claims have been tested in court and that will take some time.

Because the dam is unable to hold back the Thames, the London Rowing Club has had to relocate to Fanshawe Lake and the London Canoe Club to Sharon Dam near Delaware."

http://www.lfpress.com/2013/09/12/the-springbank-dam-and-southeast-reservoir-are-two-costly-london-screw-ups

 

 

 

 

[mikechell 0]

Awwww the rowing club had to move? Those poor over privledged kids.

 

Looks like a pretty stretch of water, now. As you stated, the damaged dam seems to have proven that we CAN'T improve on nature.

[FlaFly 0]

Certainly not with dams. A paleoecologist from UF studied the history of Lake Apopka; it was originally pretty healthy. Farming started in the watershed... the lake stayed healthy. Then residential development came... still OK. Then they built a dam, and the lake became a mess. Anytime you stabilize the water levels in a lake/pond, it leads to eutrophication. It helps to build dams that let you very water level, and that discharge on the bottom rather than over the top. It's no wonder they call them "dams".

[artimus001 0]

if the flood control dams on both branches were to become bottom draw; it is highly probably that the river could support cold water species.

 

with all the time that has passed, most of the 'paper members' have disappeared. it was that voice that drove the rebuilt proposal. the saddest part is that there is no shortage of still water in the area, and people still wanted a toilet bowl to paddle in. the funniest part? the club is downstream of 6 water waste plants, with the largest one being 2km upstream. gross.

[mikechell 0]

FLafly,

The following is taken directly from the website of the St. Johns River Water management district.

"Lake Apopka was once a world-class bass fishery. However, the lake was named Florida’s most polluted large lake following a century of abuse that began in the 1890s with construction of the Apopka-Beauclair Canal that lowered lake levels by a third.

In addition, the decline of Lake Apopka can be traced to:

• The loss of 20,000 acres of wetlands along the lake’s north shore to farming operations beginning in the 1940s
• Agricultural discharges laden with phosphorus until the late 1990s
• Treated wastewater discharges from shoreline communities prior to the 1980s
• Discharges from citrus processing plants prior to the 1980s"

Do you have a copy of the UF study? It seems completely at odds with this version.

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