Dammed if you do

Re “A historical dam could be history” (page A1, may 8): Debate around Ipswich’s dam mirrors debate in Watertown. some other 400-year-old dams are probably also frustrating boating and water recreation enthusiasts who don’t think they have enough access to the charles River. so the boaters rush to press for dam demolition before townsfolk can come to their senses about what’s actually going on. Dam opponents want to convince us that the 4-century-old ecology by the river is temporary and unnatural. Or somehow, not natural enough.

What’s really at stake is extending areas available to recreational boats and other water sports, thereby imposing a new ecology — and not necessarily a better or even more natural one.

Yet this is already a natural system that has adapted and indeed thrived over centuries — not just fish but birds, trees, bushes, and other wildlife. Will anti-dam folk hang around for another 400 years to argue that they didn’t damage the ecology? And have they asked neighboring humans whether they prefer bankside viewing of the current river life — or watching flotillas of recreational craft as they scatter birds, create bank-eroding waves, and churn river waters just for fun?

PRISCILLA C. MURPHY

Watertown