Montpelier, Vermont (August 11, 2025) –VNRC— in partnership with the Town of West Rutland and in collaboration with landowners Russ and Ellen Green, is excited to celebrate the removal of the Youngs Brook dam in West Rutland, Vermont. After years of fundraising and regulatory review, the deconstruction process will kick off next week and run through October 2025. Removal of the dam will not only eliminate a major safety hazard, but it will also significantly improve the ecology of the Youngs Brook watershed, restoring natural stream processes including sediment and nutrient transport essential to maintaining healthy stream habitat and equilibrium, while also enhancing aquatic organism passage, and increasing flood storage.
For decades, Youngs Brook has been the subject of a series of flash flooding events that have severely impacted West Rutland’s infrastructure and threatened the community’s public safety. This cold-water tributary originates high in the Taconic Mountains above 2,000 ft and then falls steeply over a series of bedrock outcroppings as it winds alongside Dewey Avenue into downtown West Rutland at its confluence with the Clarendon River.
Russ and Ellen Green purchased the land where the Youngs Brook Dam sits in 2008 and they note that the reservoir above the dam was open water at the time and had no signs of marshy growth. Then Irene’s floods came and things changed. “We watched out our kitchen window as what looked like a mini Niagara Falls carved a huge new riverbend below the dam and tree after tree fell in. It forever altered the stream flow into the reservoir. Large amounts of sediment filled much of the pond, so marshy islands formed permanently and summer heating harms aquatic organisms in the shallow pond.”
The Greens are excited about the deconstruction of the dam noting, “We are pleased to allow this dam removal and stream restoration now since Irene destroyed the open pond habitat and demonstrated the danger to downstream inhabitants. Trout will once again be able to enjoy Young’s Brook.”
Youngs Brook Reservoir (located at 1010 Dewey Avenue) is one of many Vermont examples of derelict and hazardous dam infrastructure that is exacerbating flood risk. This massive (250-foot-long and 40-foot-high) concrete dam was originally built as a water supply circa 1925 for the Town of West Rutland but it was abandoned in the 1980s for an alternative and more efficient water supply system. “As is often the case with old dams, there are no plans for their decommissioning – and even after a dam is abandoned its public safety risk remains”, says Karina Dailey, VNRC Restoration Ecologist and Project Manager for the Youngs Brook dam removal.
In 1995, a September flood event breached the dam, causing damage to downstream infrastructure. Other storm events also saw record water levels in Youngs Brook and caused damage downstream.
“Flooding in Youngs Brook has been a recurring and escalating concern for the Town of West Rutland,” says Mary Ann Goulette, West Rutland Town Manager. “The dam breach in 1995, along with major storm events in 2011, 2019, and more recently in 2023, 2024, and 2025, have all caused significant damage to downstream infrastructure. These events highlight the urgent need to address flood hazards proactively to protect public safety, property, and the long-term resilience of our community.”
The removal sequence will begin with the mobilization of heavy equipment, construction of site access routes and equipment staging, and the implementation of flow bypass and erosion control measures. Approximately 11,000 cubic yards of impounded sediment will be removed from behind the dam, and restoration of 850 linear feet of stream channel and approximately half an acre of floodplain will also occur as a result of the deconstruction process. Restoration will include the planting of native seed mixes and native tree and shrub plantings.
For Jessica Louisos of SLR Consulting in Waterbury, the rebuilding of a natural waterway is exciting. “The transformation from a failing dam to a restored flowing river and vegetated floodplain is amazing to watch and extremely fulfilling to be a part of the design team for this project that also provides significantly reduced flood risk,” she says.
VNRC is managing the project in partnership with the Town of West Rutland and collaboration with the landowners Russ and Ellen Green. The engineering firm responsible for the design is SLR Consulting of Waterbury, and the construction firm completing the removal is Fabian Earth Moving, Inc of West Rutland.
Funding for design, permitting and construction has been provided by congressionally delegated funds from retired Sen. Patrick Leahy and administered by FEMA, the Addison County Regional Planning Commission in its capacity as Clean Water Service Provider for the Otter Creek Basin, Watersheds United Vermont in partnership with Vermont DEC, Rutland Natural Resources Conservation District and Vermont Natural Resources Council.Should you have any questions, concerns or comments, please contact Karina Dailey, Restoration Ecologist at VNRC (kdailey@vnrc.org).