Plans unveiled for removal of Bar Mills dam on Saco River

 The view of the dam from the Bar Mills bridge. All components of the dam visible from the bridge will be removed under the current plan. (Madeleine Kaptein/Staff Writer) Brookfield White Pine Hydro, the Maine branch of Brookfield Renewable Partners, rolled out its latest plan for decommissioning the Bar Mills Project dam in Buxton and Hollis to the public last week. The company intends to conduct a full removal rather than the partial removal it proposed in 2022. The dam, which sits in the Saco River on the Hollis-Buxton border, has not operated since 2017, when it was found to have concrete issues that prevented it from generating electricity. The company had to decide whether to repower the station, reconstruct the powerhouse and install a fish passage, or surrender and remove the project. It chose to surrender. Brookfield is preparing to file its application in the fall for federal, state and local permits to move forward with the decommissioning work. It is seeking feedback on its new plan for the remainder of the summer. Initial questions and comments were heard at a public meeting at the Hollis Town Hall on June 25. WHAT’S CHANGING — AND WHAT’S NOT Brookfield four years ago proposed to only remove the dam spillway on the left side of the river while keeping the Rogers Fibre foundation on the right side due to costs and construction impacts. But after conversations with a decommissioning committee of representatives from Buxton and Hollis, the company decided to remove both, said Kevin Cooley, an engineer from the firm Kleinschmidt hired to assist Brookfield with the project. The canal headworks on the Hollis side of the river would also be removed under the new plan. The canal portion would then dry up, allowing for revegetation.  “Those are two very big things,” Cooley said. “A lot of effort has been put into coming to that conclusion.” Advertisement The powerhouse and spillway on the southern side of the Bar Mills bridge would remain in place, serving as storage and office space. Its surrounding fencing and cameras would also stay for public safety and managing vandalism, Cooley said.  “There will be some plantings and screening done, so you won’t see the powerhouse from the road,” he said. The parking, canoe portage and trails on Usher Island, which sits just south of the current dam and bridge, would remain as they are, but the boat launch upstream from the dam would no longer be easily accessible. [](https://w2pcms.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/06/BrookfieldBarMillsDamRemoval-1.jpg) A map of the Bar Mills dam components. (Courtesy of Brookfield Renewable) If the plan is approved, construction would begin in late 2027 or 2028, happening in two phases over a six-month period. [](https://w2pcms.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/06/Screenshot-2026-06-30-083845.jpg) A rendering of how the Saco River would look if the dam is removed following current plans. The canal on the left side would dry up. (Courtesy of Brookfield Renewable) IMPACT ON RECREATION Cooley said Brookfield is working with the town to create a recreation access site farther upstream behind the Hollis Town Hall, where there is flat water. There, people could launch canoes and kayaks instead of the current boat launch. “Down toward the salt shed or equipment shed there’s an existing access road that goes straight toward the river with a solid gravel base,” Cooley said. “With some moderate work we can make that a nice road down through there to get access to the river.” Advertisement The present stillness of the water just north of the dam makes it easy to paddle a canoe or kayak against the current. Cooley said that once the dam is removed, that part of the river will look similar to the current downstream portion on the other side of the bridge — what he called “rocky, boulder-y, and ripple-y.” “There will be times that you might be able to paddle upstream and there will be times that you certainly couldn’t paddle upstream,” Cooley said. “The flow is not impacted by the removal of the dam, but the velocity is certainly impacted.” Cooley estimated that the water level upstream from the dam would drop about 5 or 6 feet from where it is now if the dam is removed. Brookfield wants to remove the dam’s flashboards next May, leading to a gradual lowering and revegetation of the shoreline before beginning construction. Though the boat launch just upstream from the current dam would no longer be easily accessible, Cooley said it would be possible for boaters to still come to shore there. The parking lot people typically use to access the spot will remain. “The banks in that stretch may be bushy … but it is likely that it becomes a place where people do access (the river) in an unofficial manner,” he said. Mark Woodruff, of Buxton, a former member of the decommissioning committee, said he thinks there should be a designated portage that directs people who are canoeing or kayaking to that spot, since that launching area is also right before a natural elevation drop of approximately 7 feet in the river. Others raised questions about sustained access to canoes and kayaks in convenient locations along the river. Advertisement “Don’t lose sight of that,” Woodruff told the Brookfield representatives. EFFECTS ON NEIGHBORING WELLS One worry from some of the Hollis and Buxton residents with homes by the river is that their residential wells will dry up as a result of the lowering water levels. Cooley said Brookfield and Kleinschmidt employees have collected information to try to determine what the impact will be on surrounding wells. “Brookfield is committed to making it right and addressing wells that are impacted by the dam removal. The big push right now is to understand the conditions of everyone’s wells as much as we can,” said Ryan Nadeau, a technical manager at Brookfield. Nadeau said that residents who currently have wells that are working well should inform Brookfield now so that they can later prove a difference if it stops working once the dam is removed. “If we don’t have that data up front, it makes it challenging to evaluate that,” he said. Advertisement ENVIRONMENTAL GOALS, CONCERNS What Brookfield employees, the neighbors and the decommissioning committee agree on is the aim to restore the river as closely as possible to how it was before the dam was built. “With the dam gone you’d assume that you’re going to have fish passage, something that’s overdue and something that dam removal generally takes care of,” said Steve Heinz, a member of the Maine Council of Trout Unlimited. Rita Bradbury spoke at the meeting about concerns about the type of revegetation that will occur in the area, particularly invasive species like Japanese knotweeds that she has seen year after year growing near Usher Island. “I’d like to see a plan from Brookfield where you take it seriously that we don’t want to have an open area for invasive species,” she said. “I’d like to see a wetland biologist involved so that the right things would grow at the right places and maybe see if there could be a replanting of native species.” She also called on Brookfield to remove every part of the dam that it is not using, including the powerhouse spillway, to protect the natural environment and eliminate safety hazards. NEXT STEPS The decommissioning plan is [available](https://www.hollismaine.org/DocumentCenter/View/1535/6-4-26-Draft-Surrender-Application-and-Decomissioning-Plan?bidId=) to the public online and at Hollis Town Hall, and Brookfield asks that residents send comments in writing to [\[email protected\]](/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#39545850575c175057484c504b505c4a795b4b5656525f505c555d4b5c575c4e585b555c175a5654) before Sept 1. After that, it will adjust the plan and file its final license surrender application to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, as well as other federal, state and local permit applications. Brookfield anticipates receiving all necessary permits by September 2027 and its official surrender order in November 2027, allowing construction and site restoration to begin. Copy the Story Link Tagged: [Brookfield Renewable Energy](https://www.pressherald.com/tag/brookfield-renewable-energy/), [dams](https://www.pressherald.com/tag/dams/), [environment](https://www.pressherald.com/tag/environment/) [](https://www.pressherald.com/author/madeleine-kaptein) [Madeleine KapteinStaff Writer](https://www.pressherald.com/author/madeleine-kaptein) Madeleine is a community reporter for Gorham, Buxton and Standish. She started her journalism career in Vermont, where she reported for Seven Days and served as the editor-in-chief of Middlebury College's. [More by Madeleine Kaptein](https://www.pressherald.com/author/madeleine-kaptein)