In your recent article about the Deerfield River relicensing, whitewater interests were characterized as being at odds with environmental interests. This is not at all the case.
I spoke with your reporter twice and tried to explain that we have no concerns about how the river is managed between October and March and will support whatever is negotiated for that period. During the river recreation season, our only concern is that the near-daily releases of water for power generation happen at a time that is usable for recreation rather than late in the afternoon. In this we are on the same page as fishing and environmental interests since the timing that we are seeking will also keep the river cooler on hot summer days to the benefit of aquatic life.
The concern I expressed, which the article mischaracterized as an opposition to environmental interests, is that there is a limited amount of water available in the river system as a whole in any given year. This limit is a completely natural one, imposed by the vagaries of rainfall and snowmelt in the watershed. It would be easy to write a license that required significantly higher minimum flows or ramping rates than are actually possible. This same concern was raised nearly 30 years ago when the other dams on the Deerfield were relicensed resulting in the present flow regime.
In fact, we have had to adjust flows due to insufficient natural flows several times over the period of the license. The process of relicensing is a long one and involves a balancing of interests to arrive at a plan that responsibly stewards the resources and accounts for the varied societal interests. The whitewater groups have, and will continue to work with the other groups involved in a cooperative approach that stresses common interests and the overall health of the river.
Bruce Lessels
President, Zoar Outdoor