On Wednesday morning, many of the people who've been instrumental in getting the project to this point thanked one another and talked about what's to come near an overlook of a now-empty Milltown Reservoir.
They'd come to meet with Sen. Max Baucus, D-Mont., and thank him for being the first of Montana's congressional delegation to offer his support for removing the dam and the millions of yards of contaminated sediments behind it.
Starting as soon as Sept. 1, workers will begin shoring up the abutments and piers under three of the five bridges that cross the Blackfoot River just upstream of the dam.
Heavy machinery won't be far behind. Plans call for building the access roads workers will need to dig the bypass channel to divert the Clark Fork River around 2.2 million cubic yards of contaminated sediments scheduled to be removed over the next couple of years.
“There's going to be a lot happening starting in September,” said Russ Forba, the Environmental Protection Agency's Milltown project manager.
On Sept. 1, portions of both rivers - which meet in Milltown - will close to all recreational use for five years to accommodate the project. The Clark Fork River will be closed from Turah to the railroad bridge just downstream of the dam. About 1 1/2 miles of the Blackfoot River will be off limits.
By mid-September, Envirocon, the Missoula-based company hired for the project, will begin looking for the best way to drain hundreds of thousands of yards of sediment that will be excavated during construction of the bypass channel.
Initial plans call for excavating about 50,000 cubic yards from about the midpoint of the bypass channel and test different methods to drain the water.
The company estimates it will have to dig about 600,000 cubic yards of material later this year to construct the channel.
The EPA has been working with local residents who've experienced problems with their water wells because of the drawdown, Forba said. So far, 14 wells have been replaced. Most of those were in Milltown. A handful of residents experienced problems in West Riverside and Piltzville.
“They were mostly older, shallower wells that had to be replaced,” Forba said.
Baucus also heard of plans by the Milltown Redevelopment Working Group to build a series of trails and eventually an interpretive facility where the public can experience the sights and sounds of the dam's powerhouse shutting down for the last time.
It wasn't that long ago that people doubted any of this could be accomplished, said Matt Clifford of the Clark Fork Coalition. Three years ago, almost to the day, Clifford said he remembers hearing Baucus pledge his support for the project - “the first of the congressional delegation to do so.”
“I just want to say how exciting it is to see these events unfold. It shows what people can do in a community if they want to get something done, especially with the help of an elected official,” Clifford said.
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