ASHBURNHAM — When a dam comes down, a river comes back to life.
This July, the administration of Gov. Maura Healey and the town of Ashburnham joined state, local and nonprofit partners to cut the ribbon on the restoration of a free-flowing Whitman River.
“Projects like the Whitney Pond Dam removal make our communities safer, strengthen our environment and help Massachusetts prepare for the impacts of climate change,” Governor Healey said in a statement. “We’re proud to partner with Ashburnham and local organizations to restore this river, protect wildlife habitat and create a lasting resource for the community.”
In 2025, the state led the nation in dam removal, with 15 of the commonwealth’s 3,000 dams taken down by state agencies and partners, including the Whitney Pond Dam. The project supports Massachusetts’ biodiversity goals, which set a target to remove 10% of the state’s dams by 2050.
The town of Ashburnham was the owner of the 18-foot high earthen and concrete dam located on the Whitman River. The town determined that the aging structure posed safety concerns and blocked fish passage in the cold-water stream. The project included removing the dam, stabilizing riverbanks and planting native shrubs and trees.
The state supported permitting and construction, provided technical expertise and project assistance to restore natural river processes and create new public access at the site.
Project funding
The Nashua River Watershed Association was a project partner and held informational meetings with the community to explain the removal process, as well as the ecological benefits of removing the dam. The nonprofit also assisted the town in applying for grant funding.
The construction project began in the spring of 2025, and included almost $2 million in state awards of:
• $60,000 in funding from the Massachusetts Division of Ecological Restoration.• $377,652 from the Massachusetts Executive Office of Energy & Environmental Affairs Municipal Vulnerability Preparedness Program.• $690,000 from the Massachusetts Executive Office of Economic Development Inland Dredging Pilot Round Grant.• $797,250 from the Massachusetts Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs Dam & Seawall Repair or Removal Program.
Additional funding came from the Municipal Vulnerability Preparedness Program and the Executive Office of Economic Development’s Inland Dredge Pilot Program. The NRWA contributed support through grants from a private foundation.
Improved human, fish habitat
The project has already provided aquatic habitat, water quality and climate resilience benefits to the wildlife and community of Ashburnham and the Nashua River watershed. The Whitney Pond Dam Conservation Area features trails, benches and educational signage where the public can learn about the rich history of the former mill and observe the river’s ecosystem recovery.
“The Whitney Pond Dam Removal Project is a tremendous example of how strategic partnerships can turn a challenge into an opportunity,” Town Administrator John Coderre said. “By removing an aging dam and restoring the natural environment, we have improved public safety, enhanced valuable ecological resources, and created a new conservation area that will benefit the Ashburnham community for generations.”
The Healey-Driscoll administration’s environmental bond bill, the Mass Ready Act, proposes more than $300 million for dam removal and flood resilience projects.
Talbot Mills Dam tagged for removal
That funding that could be tapped by the town of Billerica when it finally moves forward on removing the Talbot Mills Dam, a historic dam on the Concord River.
The Faulkner Road dam in the town’s Historic District is distinctive for the disruption it poses to both animal and human habitat.
The dam is the primary impediment to diadromous fish passage (migrating between salt and fresh water) in the Sudbury, Assabet and Concord rivers. These fish, which includes Blueback and Alewife herring — a protected species — American shad, American eels and sea lampreys, live mainly in the ocean, but they spawn in fresh water in the three rivers. That’s the largest acreage of fish habitat in all New England, according to the Lowell Parks & Conservation Trust.
The masonry and granite-cut dam was built first built in 1711. The dam structure that still remains today was constructed in 1828. The 316-foot-long dam only stands 16 feet high, but it is rated as a “significant hazard” — or level 2 on a three-point scale — by the Massachusetts Office of Dam Safety.
Gov. Charlie Baker’s administration designated the dam a priority project back in 2022.
But unlike in Ashburnham, efforts by Billerica’s dam owner to remove the structure has been met with pockets of fierce, persistent and lengthy opposition.
At the same time as the Ashburnham ribbon cutting, a Middlesex Superior Court judge ruled in favor of the owner’s lawsuit against the Billerica Historic Districts Commission, which had denied his company’s application to have the dam removed.
The project still requires review by Billerica’s Conservation Commission and the Department of Public Works before the dam can come down, but the ruling was a major step in a process that has been going on for more than 20 years.
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