As Restoration Systems has grown over the years, our focus continues to zero in on the issue of dam removal and its plethora of benefits.  According to the American Rivers Organization, over the past 100 years, the U.S. led the world in dam building for reasons ranging from hydropower, irrigation, navigation, flood attenuation and water storage.  There are approximately 75,000 dams greater than six feet along the waterways of the U.S. and tens of thousands of smaller dams plugging rivers across the country, according to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. 

In regards to reasons for removal, the list is of benefits is long and varied.  These include improved fish passage, reduced danger of flooding related to drowning, restoration of ecosystems, and so on, and so on.  There has been a particular level of skepticism in the past surrounding the effect on real estate values related to dam removal.  Is it a beneficial process, or detrimental to developments surrounding the dams?  This new study suggests that dam removal does not affect real estate values, and in fact increases values in the long run several years after removal.  Click here to read the article in its entirety.