Eel Ladder

I must admit that my job offers me many different learning opportunities in the environmental field. Last week I got to visit an eel ladder. You're probably thinking "eel ladder, what is that?" Check here to learn more.

The eel ladder is located at the New York Power Authority dam, which is located in Massena, NY. The ladder spans over a 100 feet and allows the eels safe passage over the dam's turbines into upstream waters in the St. Lawrence River.

Our tour began with us climbing down a 20 foot vertical ladder. At the bottom of this ladder were stairs that we took to two more 20-foot ladders, which eventually put us at the bottom of the dam near the water's surface. The eel ladder is enclosed and runs along the side of the stairs. Our tour guide opened the lids on the eel ladder at several different points along the way, but no eels were found. He explained that most eels use the ladder at night. After our 15 or 20 minute conversation at the bottom of the dam, we all had to make the journey back up the ladders and stairs. We were 100 feet down and had to go back up. It was a good fitness test for us all.

We weren't able to take pictures due to security reasons, otherwise I would have some pictures to share.

When we got back to the top, I looked across the top of the dam and noticed the American and Canadian flags flying in the center of the dam. This signifies the US-Canadian border; yes the border bisects the dam - half in the US and half in Canada.