News  DER Begins Year Four of the UMass Dam Removal Practicum

This fall DER and the University of Massachusetts - Amherst began their fourth consecutive year of the Dam Removal Student Practicum. The course offers graduate and undergraduate students an opportunity to learn about on-going dam removal and river restoration efforts in Massachusetts. The course exposes and integrates students into the project management teams that are working to advance dam removal projects that DER is involved in. Ten students from the Civil Engineering and Environmental Conservation Departments at UMass have been selected to participate in the course. This year, the students visited the Upper Roberts Meadow Brook dam removal and witnessed the final stages of construction. The visit was led by DER, the City of Northampton, and the project engineers from GZA GeoEnvironmental, Inc. DER’s primary goal for the course is to educate and cultivate future ecological restoration practitioners and to help students learn more about career opportunities in restoration. The Dam Removal Practicum is funded in part by the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation – Hurricane Sandy Coastal Resiliency Competitive Grant Program.

Photo: DER and Dam Removal Practicum students visit the site of recent dam removal in Northampton.