Springfield searches for ways to remove dam tree

A large tree, deposited on the brow of the Fellows Dam in downtown Springfield by Tropical Storm Irene, is proving hard to move.

http://www.rutlandherald.com/article/20111116/NEWS02/711169918

Published November 16, 2011 in the Rutland Herald

Springfield searches for ways to remove dam tree

By SUSAN SMALLHEER
Staff Writer

SPRINGFIELD — A large tree, deposited on the brow of the Fellows Dam during Tropical Storm Irene, is posing a quandary of sorts for the town.

The tree is just unsightly, Town Manager Robert Forguites said, but doesn’t pose any safety problem to the dam.

The downtown dam has attracted debris over the years, but the trees are usually easily removed by the fire department.

Forguites said the town has started talking to various companies about removing the tree once the persistent high water from Irene subsided and the discharge from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers North Springfield dam had returned to more normal levels.

But he said the tree was at such a precarious angle no one has wanted to take on the job.

Select Board member Stephanie Gibson asked Forguites during Monday night’s Select Board meeting about the status of the tree.

“We’ve checked with a crane company. We’re working on it,” Forguites said.

“Anybody for a cold swim?” joked Select Board Chairman Kristi Morris.

“I will gladly have it taken off, if it can be done safely,” Forguites said.

Morris said a local construction company, which he didn’t name, had volunteered to remove the tree, as long as someone was able to get a cable around it. But so far, that hasn’t been possible.

Forguites said later that the dam, which feeds water into a small, currently not operating hydro station, is owned by the town but is being leased to One Hundred River Street LLC, the owners of the old Fellows Gear Shaper building.

“We’re looking at any safe way to get the tree off,” Forguites said, “but we haven’t found one yet.”

Earlier during Monday night’s meeting, resident Goldie May chided the Select Board for not doing enough about the appearance of the town, from burned buildings to junkyards, and mentioned the dam.

Forguites said he had talked to a crane company, but that the electrical wires along River Street made that too tricky.

The Springfield Fire Department, which lots of times has removed debris from the concrete dam in the past, is unable to reach the tree with its platform truck.

“I’ve talked to tree companies to see if they could do it, but they can’t get out that far,” said the town manager, noting the tree is about 90 feet from shore, about midway on the dam.

Forguites said that if the water levels continue to drop, a member of the fire department might be able to get out there in a boat and attach a cable.

“If it’s hooked with a cable, we can pull it to shore with a bucket loader,” he said.

He said leaving the tree there is an option, and he said the winter ice and the spring thaw would likely move the tree off the dam.

He said he didn’t think the tree posed a risk to the other four hydro stations downstream.

But, he said, his primary concern was safety, not aesthetics.

“I don’t want anybody hurt doing it,” he said.