COLUMBIA, Tenn. (WTVF) — For Dawn Nelson, when she paddles the Duck River, she sees a timeless treasure.
"To love it, you need to know it. And that doesn’t mean you have to be here as often as I am. But I think getting on and paddling, moving slowly enough to hear the birds, the wind through the trees, to see the wildlife," said Nelson, who co-owns Higher Pursuits, a kayak and canoe rental company.
She's loved paddling down the waterway for the last 30 years. "It’s the most environmentally diverse, most biologically diverse on our continent. The third in the world. But this particular section is the most diverse of the entire river."
For Jason Gilliam, seeing the Duck River only represents broken promises.
"It’s a bitter pill to swallow," said Gillam, who is the third generation to live on his family farm near Fountain Creek. "It’s just unfortunate that 380 families had to be removed and a lot of other people lost parts of their land for that lake that never was to be."
The Dam that would never open
A dam, in some form, has been on the Duck River since the 1920s. There's a low head dam near downtown Columbia, but it doesn't hold any water back. But in the 1970s, the Tennessee Valley Authority wanted to build a much larger one, a few miles upstream to form a new lake.
The government used eminent domain to obtain the land they needed, estimated to be close to 15,000 acres, including a large chunk of Jason's grandmother's farm.
"My grandmother was alone when the TVA came and said, 'Hey, we gotta take part of your farm for this lake, and you know, she didn’t want to sell. None of these families wanted to sell," said Gilliam.
Work began on the Columbia Dam in the 1970s, and over the next 10 years, most of the concrete was poured on the towering structure near Iron Bridge Road. Then in 1983, an environmental lawsuit changed everything.
According to court documents, two rare species of freshwater mussels were discovered to only be native to the Duck River. TVA immediately halted construction.
For another decade, the dam site sat abandoned until TVA ultimately decided in the late 1990s to spend even more money to demolish it. Only the land for the envisioned lake wasn't returned to the original landowners. Much of it became a wildlife management area for the state. Gilliam always hoped the project might return in some way.
"They took the land for a lake, put the lake there."
A new push for a Columbia Dam
Gilliam is now vice chairman of the group Columbia Dam Now, which is lobbying hard for the Columbia Dam to be rebuilt. He thinks the greatest need for the project involves drinking water.
"Being on the Maury County water system water board, I know the dire need we have for water," he said.
Maury County has seen explosive growth, and according to several different water authorities, they will need new avenues for water availability over the next several years, or they could cause serious harm to the Duck River.
"We already today, as we sit here today, have 8,000 permitted water taps that have not yet been put into place," said Gilliam. "The bottom line is, if we don’t get this water situation figured out, one of these days we’re going to walk into our homes and we’re going to turn our faucet on and it’s gonna drip — it’s just gonna drip."
However, restarting the project won't be a simple task. TVA was still in the process of acquiring land when construction was still underway. Gilliam estimates another one thousand acres would be needed, including homes, farms and businesses that would have to be taken by the federal government. That includes Rogers Group, who owns a massive quarry along the banks of the Duck River.
If you're curious if your land could be impacted by this project, you can check out this map. Note, there is some dispute about whether this much land would actually be needed for the project.
'Don't Dam the Duck'
Another business that would be claimed by a new lake is Higher Pursuits, a kayak and canoe rental company in Maury County.
"We’re out of business for sure. Sorry, I get emotional," said Dawn Nelson, a co-owner of Higher Pursuits, as she fought back tears..
A group staunchly against the Columbia Dam project met with NewsChannel 5 at Higher Pursuits to talk about their concerns. Chiefly among them, they worry that Gilliam is underestimating how much land the government would need to acquire to build the lake. They believe it's thousands of more acres in both Maury and Marshall Counties. "You buy enough so you can flood and then you also buy enough so there’s federal control of the shoreline," explained Nelson.
Jan Seufert is the other co-owner. She says, to truly understand the Duck River, you have to go out on it. "Come down and sit in a kayak and you hear the birds, if you’re lucky enough that day, you get to see an eagle or you see the otters," said Seufert.
So, I and photojournalist Angie Dones went down the Duck River with the group from Don't Dam the Duck, to see some of the concerns they have about creating a lake. "All of this would be underwater, the rock formations, the trees, all of it," said Nelson, who indicated several portions of the river where they take their customers would be under at least 30 feet of water, if the dam was rebuilt.
Nelson says she understands the need for more drinking water, but she contends there are alternatives floating around that wouldn't take away their clear stream, riverside caves and abundant wildlife that can only survive on a river, not a lake.
That wildlife includes the very species that stopped construction on the dam — freshwater mussels.
"This is a rabbit’s foot. See how it resembles the back foot of a rabbit?" Nelson showed us, when we pulled over on a shoal in the river.
While the Duck River is full of old mussel shells, avid kayaker Stephanie Newland found one still alive.
"It has a fleshy mantle that’s kind of exposed, and when you startle them, they close up," she explained.
Newland said these creatures are way more than just a pretty shell, they're tiny river cleaners.
"As a filter feeder, literally water just flows through them and they filter small micro nutrients out, which clarifies the water and keeps it clear," said Newland.
The group worries that a lake would still drive them into extinction.
"Transplanting them won’t work, and to transplant that many species, I would struggle to see the success in that," said Nelson.
Interactive Map
This interactive map was developed by the group, Don't Dam the Duck, which opposes the dam. They took data from when TVA previously began looking at land acquisition in the 1970s, along with flood storage area that would be needed for a new lake. Members of Columbia Dam Now have expressed doubt on whether this much land will be needed.
A feasibility study, which Columbia Dam Now is requesting, could give a more definitive look at how much land could be impacted.
Growing federal support?
Columbia Dam Now is serious about this effort. They launched a campaign with yard signs and lots of lobbying in Washington D.C.
"I’ve talked personally to Scott DeJarlais, John Rose, Diana Harshbarger, Tim Burchett, of course Andy Ogles, Senator Hagerty, Senator Blackburn," said Gilliam.
He thinks they have enough congressional support to commission a feasibility study into resurrecting the dam. That feasibility study would be the first key step in the lengthy process.
One of the aspects of the feasibility study would look into how easy (or difficult) it would be do start construction again in the same place on the Duck River, due west of Downtown Columbia. It's hard to get back to where the original dam site was.
"In the winter months, you can kind of look back there and you can kind of see where it is. It’s too bad we’re not in a helicopter where we could fly over it," said Gilliam.
Thankfully, our station does have a helicopter, Sky 5.
We flew over the site. It's initially hard to see what's down there, but when you look closer, you can see some of the earth that was mounded up for where the dam structure used to sit. Gilliam is under the impression that there may be remnants of the old concrete structure down there, but it was hard to see that with all the trees and overgrowth.
Looking at the site from Sky 5, it looks like TVA will essentially have to start all over.
Healing wounds or new scars?
For Gilliam, the completion of the project would make up for the wounds of the past.
"You can’t get rid of that memory that it used to belong to your family and now the government’s got it," he said.
And while he wouldn't directly have lakefront property on his farm, the lake would be easily accessible from his property.
But for Nelson, it would create new scars that would never heal.
"When you start a business from scratch like this, it kind of becomes your baby and you care a lot about it," she said. "I would just like to know that this is safe. I would like to know this is going to be here. I won’t be here forever. My business won’t even be here forever, but the river should be."
Another alternative?
Building the Columbia Dam to form a lake wouldn't be the only option to increase the water supply near Columbia.
Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee and a statewide task force are looking at the prospect of a pipeline from the Cumberland River, to help supplement water supply to the area. But it could be an expensive option. Some have estimated it would cost $1 billion dollars with potentially a lot of that funding coming from the water departments that would utilize the line.
While a final route has not been selected, Gilliam speculates the pipeline would have to cross the Harpeth River several times and various creeks dozens of times. Building the pipeline would also likely require land acquisition, just not in the large scale that a lake would require.
Representatives of Don't Dam the Duck say they don't know enough about the pipeline proposal to take an official stance, but so far, they like that idea a lot better than a new lake.
"What I have heard just on the surface level, it sounds good. I would like to know more details about it," said Nelson.
The Duck River debate touches countless lives in our community—from generational farmers who lost land decades ago, to environmental advocates fighting to preserve natural wonders, to growing families concerned about future water security. If you have more context on this complicated and controversial situation in Columbia, I'd love to hear from you. Email me at Chris.Davis@NewsChannel5.com.
This is a beautiful story of chosen family, proving a father figure doesn't have to have biology in common to make a difference in a child's life. The story of De'Andre and Alex will remind you that our relationships help determine the course of our lives. And that being supportive of someone - through a meal, a shared experience or even swim lessons can make all the difference.
- Rebecca Schleicher
