Small Town Makes One Final Push to Save Local Dam

Jillian Petrus, Reporter

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By Belinda Yeung

Story Created: Aug 7, 2011 at 9:48 PM CDT

Story Updated: Aug 7, 2011 at 10:49 PM CDT

LITTLETON, Iowa - It’s hard to find a person in Littleton that wants to see The Littleton Dam taken out.

For some it’s a spot to catch a few fish, for other’s, the dam is a part of their livelihood.

“I don’t want to invest a whole lot of money until I know what’s going to happen,” said Nancy Coventry, owner of a bait and tackle shop near the banks of The Littleton Dam on the Wapsipinicon River.

“If they take that dam out, this’ll be a creek and no one will want to come down,” she said.

Coventry’s customers are anglers from all over Eastern Iowa, Independence to Vinton and Jesup. She fears the fisherman will disappear along with the dam. Without a good number of anglers, like Dick Scarbrough Jr., visiting this area of the river, her business will not stay afloat much longer.

“I’d probably come down here, but if I didn’t catch anything like I have before, I’d probably go somewhere else,” said Scarbrough, he says he’s fished spots along the dam for years.

Scarbrough and other area anglers say The Littleton Dam produces some of the best fishing in the area and sends money back to the Department of Natural Resources. That’s why Scarbrough says he doesn’t understand the reasoning behind removing the dam.

“I think it’s very disrespectful,” he said, “Why should I go buy a license and they’re tearing our best fishing areas out?”

The DNR says the main reason for removing the dam is the safety risks it poses to recreational boaters and kayaks. The Littleton Dam has claimed nine lives since it’s construction eighty years ago.

Coventry and others in Littleton say this isn’t enough of a reason to get rid of, what they call, a piece of the town’s history.

“They don’t shut roads down when there’s car accidents, they don’t take planes out of the air when there’s a plane crash, so why take our dam out when there’s been a few drownings over 80 years?” Coventry said.

The DNR has held three public meetings to discuss options for removing the dam. Two of which involve putting in rock riffles. The DNR say other communities have had success with this option, maintaining good fishing and keeping the area safe for recreational boaters.

No decision has been made yet, but DNR says it’s optimistic some kind of resolution will be reached by late fall or early winter of this year.

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