Preserve the West Groton Dam. The Dam and pond are assets that have enhanced the quality of life in the historic center of West Groton since 1738. 

The impoundment of the West Groton Dam holds West Groton Pond and .9 miles of the Squannacook River up to the Hollingsworth & Vose Dam. West Groton Pond graces the viewshed from West Groton Park and the center of West Groton.

The Town of Groton dredged out West Groton Pond. The three year project was completed in 2003. Truck loads of wood pulp, an old effluent from the Hollingsworth & Vose paper mill, were removed from the pond bottom and used to cap the Town landfill. Now the impoundment with the Pond and the River have public recreational value and are enjoyed by the community for boating, fishing, ice fishing, ice skating and swimming. There is now a public boat launch and beaver houses in the impoundment which will not be usable without the dam. Without the beavers to clear them out,  invasive plant species like Bittersweet, Barberry, Buckthorn and Knotweed will dominate the floodplain. Without the dam, centuries of flora and fauna, animals and eco-systems that have flourished here for nearly 300 years, will be destroyed.

Without the Dam, the dredged pond will become a wetland fed by an intermittent stream. The drop from Townsend Road to the bottom of the wetland below would be about 20 feet. The resulting stagnant ponding would breed mosquitos. Equine Encephalitis and West Nile virus have been contracted in Neighboring Towns.

The consultant Group Horsely Witten states that there is little danger from flooding caused by the West Groton dam either to the River Court Building or its residents.

The dam is well constructed of concrete and steel.

Horsely Witten estimates a 2.2 to 2.9 million dollar cost to rip down the dam. The consultant Haley Aldrich for Massachusetts Dam Safety in 2023 estimated $306,000 for repairs. None of this money estimated was used for repairs to the structure of the dam itself. Most of the expense was for a stone retaining wall following route 225 in Shirley, removal of some small trees, engineering etc... Nevertheless, Haley Aldrich changed the State rating of the dam from Hazardous to high Hazardous. The Dam then became eligible for Federal and State Grants to rip it down.

For over 50 years the Groton Leatherboard used the West Groton dam to generate hydroelectricity. In 1987 Massachusetts Wholesale Electric Company, parent of Groton Electric Company filed a consultant's report that estimated that a hydro electric plant at the dam could generate about 810,000 kwh a year of energy free of fossil fuel. This potential Hydro Electric site belongs to the Town of Groton.

In 2002, the Groton Leatherboard property was added to the National Registry of Historic places. The registration states that "The Groton Leatherboard Company is significant as a manufacturing complex which developed between 1915 and 1955 on an historic mill site continuously occupied for more than two hundred years.... It is also significant as one of three mill complexes on the Squanacook River (including the former R.H. Thompson saw and planning mill and the Hollinngsowrth & Vose Company paper mill, both extant) which supported development of the mill village of West Groton (a.k.a. Squannacook Village), the locus of nearly the entire industrial sector of the primarily agrarian economy of the Town of Groton. In addition, the Groton Leatherboard Company is significant as demonstrative of the layout, building types and relationships of an early 20th century leatherboard mill. It retains integrity of location, design, materials and workmanship and meets Criteria A and C of the National Register of Historic places on the local level." The West Groton Dam and Pond, essential elements of these qualifying criteria, hold historical significance and are essential to the community's local cultural heritage. Their loss would not only affect the local environment but also erase an integral part of our town's history and collective memory.

Once again we reiterate our plea to preserve the West Groton Dam and the West Groton Pond.