Decommissioning the Milltown Dam Will Benefit the Bay of Fundy

Donald Killorn, Executive Director of Eastern Charlotte Waterways in Blacks Harbour, believes decommissioning the Milltown Dam could have huge positive ecological impact on the Charlotte County region. 

"Locally in Milltown, there are heritage attachments to the dam, but as an ecologist I see it as a hindrance," said Killorn. "Since the river was first dammed in 1880, the production of that river has cratered. We have the Bay of Fundy throttled, and we are right on the edge of choking it out. NB Power has given us the opportunity to decommission the dam, and I think it's the right move. All of the communities in Charlotte County will become richer if we pull out the Milltown dam and then focus on river restoration." 

Killorn is also concerned about the overall effect climate change is and will have in the Southwest New Brunswick region, an issue Eastern Charlotte Waterways continues to study closely.

"We are experiencing climate change unlike anywhere else on the planet here on the Bay of Fundy, and it's going to be incredibly problematic for us," said Killorn. "It's not just an infrastructure problem, but a socio-economic one as well. Our community is based on our ability to extract value from the Bay of Fundy, and as ecological changes happen, our livelihoods are going to have to change with it."