MOUNT WASHINGTON — A week and a half ago, the water of Becker Pond was held back to overflowing.
Not anymore. And in a few weeks, where the pond at Mount Plantain Preserve stood, there will be an uninterrupted stream.
The state Division of Ecological Restoration has a biodiversity goal to remove 10 percent of the dams in the state by 2050 in order to restore rivers and riparian habitat for both mammals and fish. Since 2005, more than 40 dams have been removed in Massachusetts.
While many dams in Massachusetts were built in the 1700s and 1800s to power mills, the one at Becker Pond was built in the 1930s for recreational use.
Jane Kaufman — The Berkshire Eagle
When The Nature Conservancy bought the 1,600-acre parcel in 2000 for $1.2 million, there was initial discussion of taking out the dam, according to Karen Lombard, director of stewardship and conservation at The Nature Conservancy.
“But at that time, dam removal in Massachusetts was just getting started,” Lombard said. Fast forward to 2016, when cracking was seen in one of the side walls. “We happened to have a trail on the whole ridge, and the whole thing was becoming a hazard, so we had some engineers look at it, and they recommended that we take out the dam.”
The Nature Conservancy is focused on its mission of land preservation. In recent years, it demolished a chalet near Jug End State Reservation in Egremont and found a new owner for the historic Cande Barn in Sheffield. Both structures were on land it owns.
The dam at Becker Pond is being removed to restore an unnamed stream that flows into Schenob Brook.
JANE KAUFMAN — THE BERKSHIRE EAGLE
In 2018, The Nature Conservancy applied for and received Priority Project status for the dam removal from the Massachusetts Division of Ecological Restoration, which awarded both technical support and money to the project. The entire project will cost about $1 million from start to finish, including building a three-mile trail near the newly restored river.
In addition to the Division of Ecological Restoration, the project also received funding from the Massachusetts Environmental Trust and private foundations that requested anonymity.
For more than four years, The Nature Conservancy has worked with consultants to do the design and permitting to take down the concrete wall that held back the water.
Jane Kaufman — The Berkshire Eagle
On Monday, Lombard climbed into an excavator with a hydraulic hammer and banged on the top. Large chunks fell down, creating a loud clinking sound and leaving a wake of thick white dust.
A group of people approach the site of a dam at Mount Plantain Preserve in Mount Washington.
JANE KAUFMAN — THE BERKSHIRE EAGLE
Cheers went up among a group of onlookers donning hard hats and orange vests.
“It’s like a ribbon-cutting, only better,” said Barbara Charry, The Nature Conservancy’s director of rivers and lands.
Afterward, Lombard seemed surprised at how easy operating the machinery was.
“You just press this little button and it does all this stuff,” she said. “You don’t have to do anything, like any muscle power at all. It felt good.”
Travis Sumner, principal of Sumco Eco-Contracting, showed Lombard to the excavator and gave her a briefing in how to use it.
Jane Kaufman — The Berkshire Eagle
Two excavators are being used to break up the dam, along with a tracked dump truck to remove sediment and concrete.
In reviewing the process, Sumner said the lake was full with water flowing over the center of the spillway when he arrived about a week and a half ago.
“Day 1, we showed up ready to pump the impoundment out, and turned the little crank on the low-level outlet. It turned a little bit,” Sumner said. “So we turned it a little bit more and turned it a little bit more, and it functioned. So we were able to let water out of the impoundment through the low-level outlet.”
They found logs and stones were packed against that lower gate. After the impoundment was dewatered, the crew took out about 15 trees, which they used to stabilize banks of the “new” stream.
The Nature Conservancy staff is joined by engineers and contractors working on the dam removal at Mount Plantain Preserve in Mount Washington on Monday, Nov. 3, 2025, in order to restore an unnamed stream that flows into Schenob Brook.
JANE KAUFMAN — THE BERKSHIRE EAGLE
They built a ramp and ran the two excavators in to pull out a couple hundred yards of sediment. Then they rebuilt the channel. Sumner credited Inter-Fluve, the design engineer, for accurately locating the channel.
“Building the channel there’s a really rocky bottom here, which we see downstream and we see upstream,” he said. “But there’s nothing holding the banks in place, other than historic root wads and logs that were there. So we’re seeing tops of stumps.”
Chris Hirsch at the Massachusetts Division of Ecological Restoration documents the removal of the dam that held back Becker Pond Monday, Nov. 3, 2025.
JANE KAUFMAN — THE BERKSHIRE EAGLE
In concert with the state’s goals for dam removals, The Nature Conservancy has a goal of restoring 1,000 miles of rivers in Massachusetts by removing dams that are no longer in use.
Legacy dams, like the one that created Becker Pond, can pose hazards to humans, said Charry at The Nature Conservancy, but removing them also offers other benefits.
“It’s for clean water,” she said. “It’s for flood resilience. It’s for great habitat. So right now where we have dams the fish and other creatures can’t get up and down the river. They can’t find the cool places they need to survive.”
In addition, dams contribute to erosion and sedimentation.
“Rivers repair themselves very quickly if you stay out of their way,” Charry said.
Chris Hirsch points out to Rene Wendell where he saw brook trout feeding earlier Monday morning at Mount Plantain Preserve in Mount Washington.
JANE KAUFMAN — THE BERKSHIRE EAGLE
Chris Hirsch, dam removal program manager for the state’s Division of Ecological Restoration, witnessed the project from its start.
“As soon as they started to lower the pond through the low-level outlet, the water levels came down and exposed the old historic channel,” he said. “As the water continued to lower, the river began to cut itself back through the impoundment and reform itself for the most part. The river started to come back to life as soon as the water started flowing again.”
On Monday, three days after the channel was completed, Hirsch took video of a brook trout feeding in the channel.
“It was just sitting there waiting for a little bit of breakfast,” he said.