Paulina Dam Design/Removal
LOCATION: Paulinskill River, Blairstown Township,
Warren County
BACKGROUND:The Paulina Dam on the Paulins Kill, NJ’s third largest tributary to the Delaware River, is a run-of-the-river dam. Blairstown Township, owner of this high hazard dam, is required by the DEP Bureau of Dam Safety to either remove or rehabilitate the dam since the spillway has insufficient capacity for the design flood. The dam also blocks fish passage on the Paulins Kill River. Blairstown Township passed a resolution for the State to pay for the design of the project which was completed in 2020. ONRR awarded a grant to the Nature Conservancy to fund a substantial portion of the removal through the Paulins Kill and Pequest Watershed Natural Resource Restoration Grant Program.
PURPOSE: To remove the hazard the dam poses to life and property as well as opening fish passage to riverine species for approximately 5.5 miles upstream and 11 miles downstream. The river is habitat for native brook trout and migratory fish species which cannot pass the dam. The removal of the dam will also reconnect upstream and downstream populations of the endangered dwarf wedge and triangle floater mussels while increasing river ecology and public recreation.
SCHEDULE: Removal is expected to begin in the fall of 2023.
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