Sustainable Community Solutions

There has been a fascinating discussion on the Locally Grown website the past couple of days concerning the possible conversion of the Ames Mill Dam in downtown Northfield to a free-flowing kayak/canoe rapids.

I’ve chimed in there with a favorable comment, and there have been numerous other comments as well. I would like to refer people for background on the river to an excellent document, “The Cannon River: An overview of the physical characteristics and management of the watershed” produced by four students (including long-time Northfield resident Tonya Kjerland) at St. Olaf College in 2004 as a class project. (The image to the right is from the report’s title page.) This is a fascinating document which includes diverse and fairly complete information on the geological and ecological history of the river and its watershed, history of the people of the watershed, flow rate information, recreational uses of the river, and more.

One of their six management recommendations for the river (supported by the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources): “Consider removal of Northfield dam to improve fishing opportunities.” They report that “the Cannon River supports a wide variety of fish species, but only a few stretches of the river are considered good fishing waters. The popular game fish of the Cannon include smallmouth bass, walleye, channel catfish, and flatheads…. Sections of the Cannon closer to the Mississippi are known to hold various panfish, largemouth bass, and even northern pike.”

I can report from personal experience that the Cannon once held (and may now hold) northern pike as far up as the Northfield dam, as the family photo to the right attests. I caught this five-pound northern at the base of the Ames Mill Dam on May 31, 1968. I remember the date because I caught this terrifyingly toothy northern on the inaugural use of the Zebco 202 rod and reel I received as a gift on my 10th birthday, the day before. (I was so intimidated by the teeth that I had to run to Craig Doty’s house to call my Mom to come and take the hook out of its mouth.)

The dam conversion could be a major ecological and economic winner. One more feature to consider: a run-of-the-river microturbine. While such a turbine would only produce a modest amount of electricity, it could be done in conjunction with the rapids, not instead of it, and might be a nice added feature.