The Buskirk-Chumley Theater will host a viewing Oct. 12 of “DamNation,” a documentary designed to bring attention to America’s dam system.
The documentary points out the change in national attitude from pride in big dams as engineering wonders to the growing awareness that dams harm the life and health of the world’s rivers, according to a press release.
Dam removal has become mainstream. As a result, rivers flow back to life, giving fish the ability to return to their spawning grounds after enduring decades without access.
“DamNation’s majestic cinematography and unexpected discoveries move through rivers and landscapes altered by dams, but also through a metamorphosis in values, from conquest of the natural world to knowing ourselves as part of nature,” a ccording to the documentary’s website. ap
The screening is sponsored by J. L. Waters & Company, an outdoor apparel company. It’s working in partnership with Fishable Indiana Streams for Hoosiers, Inc., an Indiana nonprofit organization based in Shelbyville, Ind., that aims to connect Indiana residents to their streams.
A major problem affecting streams in Indiana are lowhead dams, which are not only dangerous to swimmers and boaters but are also harmful to water quality and aquatic ecosystems, a ccording to the press release .
“DamNation” is being brought to Bloomington to highlight a problem in Lawrence County’s Williams Dam.
Opened in 1912, the dam generated power until 1958, when it was decommissioned.
The dam blocked fish passage to approximately 4,889 square miles of upstream watershed for over 100 years. That area covers five Congressional districts, 22 counties, 89 cities and 2,007,132 residents, a ccording to the press release. ap
The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission issued an order Sept. 8 granting a license to generate electricity at Williams Dam. FISH is currently petitioning the Secretary of the Interior and the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency, among others, to review and nullify the decision.
Audrey Perkins
