Group wraps up $500k fix of year-old $3.3 million fish passageway with reinforced path; Williamsport fish ladder still hampered by gate issues

Shikellamy State Park Manager Andrew Leidich stands on the newly repaired pedestrian walkway finished Wednesday at the fish passageway near the Adam T Bower Memorial Dam near Sunbury.

​KC Construction and the Department of Conservation and Natural Resources (DCNR) on Wednesday, Oct. 23, 2024, wrapped up an approximate $500,000 repair to the $3.3 million fish passageway built at the Adam T. Bower Memorial Dam a year before.

“Back in October of 2023, the pedestrian path around the fish passageway consisted of a synthetic geogrid covered by a large layer of gravel,” said Shikellamy State Park Manager Andrew Leidich. “Our first flood event after that had water a few feet over the walkway. It picked up the geocell fabric and carried it off.”

The new fix, completed as the Fabridam bags were deflated after the boating season, includes entombing that grid under a pathway of “articulate concrete blocks sealed with a cured grout material,” Leidich said. “This isn’t going anywhere.”

The more stabilized structure will provide additional benefits, he added.

“It will allow us to build a more permanent causeway to do work on the dam instead of needing to build a new temporary one that can cost several thousand of dollars each time,” he said. “Plus, it reduces the amount of additional times we need to impact the riverbed and the ecosystem there.”

The passage is a 900-foot-long stream on the western shore of the dam that only flows seasonally when Lake Augusta is at full pool depth and water passes around the dam structure through the manmade waterway. This flow typically happens only when the Fabridam is fully inflated or during certain weather events, Leidich said.

The slope of the stream as well as four pools designed to give fish places to rest, allow them to “travel around the dam upriver in a more natural process than some typical fish passageways,” he said.

According to Leidich, no studies were done recently by either DCNR or the Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission on either American shad or eels to see how many of these migratory species are making it to the dam to potentially use the fish passageway.

“Some of these studies can be very cost prohibitive and to my knowledge I am not aware of any that were done in the past 10 or 15 years,” he said. “Over the past year, in the fish passageway here when the water was moving, it was running fast but we did see lots of herons and other birds pulling out fish and I actually had reports of anglers who had been catching stripers above the dam.”

When the fish passageway stream is operational, fishing restrictions include the full passageway as well as 100 feet in either direction of its entrance and exit of the river.

“Response to the passageway continues to be mixed,” Leidich admitted. “It definitely has been frustrating for some in the recreational community, but there is some important long-term ecological importance, too. You can’t make everyone happy and there is a delicate balance.”
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In terms of the inflatable dam, he said that the bags are currently in pretty good shape with the next scheduled replacements not expected until 2027 on bags No. 2 and 3. 

One of four resting pools can be seen to the left in this image of the fish passageway channel that fills with water when Lake Augusta is at proper levels, allowing fish to pass from the river (right) below the Adam T Bower Memorial Dam up the Susquehanna River near Sunbury.

Gate issues continue to hamper Williamsport fish ladder 
Meanwhile, the Williamsport fish passageway, a mechanical gated ladder system that allows fish to pass around the dam on the West Branch of the Susquehanna River near Hepburn Street, is still not operational due to gate malfunctions that have lingered throughout the spring and summer months. 

"The crew tried freeing the gate again today with recommendations from the gate manufacturer but were unsuccessful," said Luke Ulsamer, of DCNR-Tiadaghton, which oversees the structure's operation and maintenance, on Wednesday, Oct. 23, 2024. "I’ll need to consult with our team to figure out a gameplan for getting this gate operational again."

Ulsamer originally contacted the Middle Susquehanna Riverkeeper Association on April 29 that something broke in the gate structure during routine maintenance. At that point there was no timeline for repair. 

In mid-September, Ulsamer relayed that the agency finally had received the necessary parts to fix the fish ladder.

"While waiting for the parts we did a practice run on pumping out the holding chamber needed to make repairs so that we could be confident our staff could safely complete the repairs," he said. 

Various storms and high-water events forced the crew to wait until early October to tackle the repairs.

"On 10/4, the crew got a plan and using some hi-volume pumps they pumped the chamber out to complete the repair. The old thrust nut indeed had stripped threads as expected. The new thrust nut was installed without issue, but they were unable to lift the gate with the gas-powered gate operator," said Ulsamer, who later shared that they attempted additional efforts to break the gate free using recommendations of their engineers and had no luck and would be contacting the gate manufacturer. 

"I will be consulting more with our team to get this gate operational again," he said in an email on Oct. 24, admitting that it takes a lot of preparation to make any fixes on the structure safely.

Updates will be shared as they become available.