Progress being made on Shull's Mill Dam removal

FOSCOE — Progress is being made on the removal of the Shull's Mill Dam as approximately half of the dam has been removed as of July 3.

The removal of the dam, which sits on the Watauga River along N.C. 105 near the entrance to Old Shull Mill Road, started on June 28.

“The goal of this project is to reconnect the upstream and downstream portions of the Watauga,” MountainTrue’s Watauga Riverkeeper Andy Hill said. “This is an amazing portion of the Watauga here close to the headwaters coming in from Boone Fork Creek.”

The removal started with removing sediment from upstream that has built up over the many years the dam has been there.

Once crews start removing the dam itself, they will do it piece by piece to make sure it does not fall in the downstream portion, which Hill said can get to be over 18 feet deep right below the dam. Hill said the crew doing the removal has done multiple projects like this.

After the dam is removed, Hill said they will restore the bank, which has already started in some places with making it more gradual. The final stage will be reforesting the area along the bank and monitoring how the area is doing after the dam is gone, which will continue well into the future.

With the removal, the Watauga River will be free of restrictions from the headwaters on Grandfather Mountain to Watauga Lake in eastern Tennessee.

“So removal will not only have an incredible ecological benefit for cleaner, colder water and aquatic activity for the Hellbenders to move through the system, but it will also eliminate an attractive nuisance,” Hill said. “This will also open it up for recreation, which is a nice connection to the Watauga River Paddle Trail.”

American Rivers and MountainTrue are leading the dam removal project.

Shull’s Mill Dam removal to open up 78-mile corridor on Watauga River