Big changes are likely on the way for the New River Dries–including 32 releases annually! Thanks to a proposed overhaul of the Hawksnest Hydropower Project, American Whitewater, outfitters, the state of West Virginia, and others have negotiated proposed additional releases for this awesome section of river. Last week, the project owner filed an application with federal regulators that, if approved, would allow them to begin their construction project and lock in decades of flow improvements. Boaters will be excited to hear that the Dries would flow free for over a year while the work is being done, and then releases would begin.
In this unusual hydropower project, for nearly a century the power company sold all of their electricity to an alloy plant. This hard-wired manufacturing connection led to a politically charged relicensing process and extremely little water restored to the river, even after American Whitewater appealed a key state permit and improved the outcome. Thankfully, American Whitewater and others fought to have a clause added to the state permit that required a chance to rebalance mitigation if the hydropower project were ever to cease supplying power to the alloy plant. When the power company recently proposed to do just that, river advocates re-engaged and advocated for significant flow restoration.
Photo by Jeff Macklin
The license amendment application filed last week, which is in part based on conversations with American Whitewater and other river advocates, proposes a few big changes that will have big benefits to the river, boaters, and anglers. The proposed changes are:
- The Dries would be free-flowing during project construction (minus 250 cfs), which is proposed for June of 2026 through August or September of 2027.
- The prior 9 days of 6-hour pulse flow releases would be increased to 32 days of 4-hour releases spanning late June through August. These pulse flows would begin when the construction project wraps up in a couple years, be at a slightly higher flow than before (2200 to 2500 cfs), and would be guaranteed to occur versus being dependent on sufficient inflows as they are currently. The proposed schedule is as follows:
- The final full week of June: Saturday, Sunday, Tuesday, and Thursday
- July weeks 1 and 2: Saturday, Sunday, Tuesday, and Thursday
- July weeks 3 and 4: Sunday, Tuesday, and Thursday
- August weeks 1 and 2: Saturday, Sunday, Tuesday, and Thursday
- August weeks 3 and 4: Sunday, Tuesday, and Thursday
- Base flows in the river would see a big boost, getting them closer to the ecological needs of the river and yielding big benefits for fish and other aquatic organisms. River runners will be able to enjoy some of these flows too. The proposed changes to base flows are:
- Jan-Feb: 250 to 700 cfs
- Mar-Apr: 300 to 1000 cfs
- May: 300 to 600 cfs
- June: 300 to 400 cfs
- Jul-Dec: 250 to 300 cfs.
Photo by Kevin Colburn
The owner of the Hawksnest Dam has asked for a fast approval from regulators for their proposal, and American Whitewater is generally supportive. We’ll be actively participating in this process, as we have from day one. There is always the possibility that this proposed project could be modified by federal regulators or even withdrawn entirely by the power company, but for now we are hopeful that the future of the New River Dries looks brighter than expected.