Alna’s attorney is reviewing documents that spell out new details of a scenario to aid fish passage at Head Tide Dam.

Third Selectman Doug Baston sent attorney David Soule the information March 24, to help Soule determine if the proposal would honor a half-century-old covenant barring the dam’s destruction.

Baston said March 31 that Soule had not gotten back to selectmen yet with an opinion on the scenario the Atlantic Salmon Federation (ASF) lays out.

The group is proposing to look further at the idea of replacing one of the town-owned dam’s two abutments with a wall and a new platform and safety railings; the work would take out about 200 square feet, or 10 percent, of the dam, but none of the spillway, an ASF memo states.

“The idea is to focus on the deteriorating right abutment ... and not touch the spillway which for many is the ‘dam.’”

Under the abutment, taking out concrete and likely some ledge would get the flows needed for fish passage, the memo continues.

Reached March 31, ASF’s vice president of U.S. programs, Andrew Goode, spoke on the proposal’s prospects for a thumbs-up from Soule. “We think this potential solution is within the spirit of the covenant,” for two reasons, Goode said.

For one, the dam would still look like a dam, he said; and the project would spare the town eventual maintenance work to address the deterioration on that end, Goode said.

According to another recent memo selectmen received from Goode, the ASF is not sure if the scenario will pan out, but the town’s legal opinion would be a first step to finding out. “Certainly, there are issues with this scenario that will need further consideration,” Goode writes. “These include the effects on the structural integrity of the remaining dam, permitting, and the input of the fisheries agencies. Hopefully, after all these issues are considered a solution will be apparent.

”If the town legal counsel believes this scenario does not violate the deed covenant then ASF would like to further investigate this scenario with (the) smaller committee recently appointed by the selectmen,” the March 15 letter continues.

That work would include looking at how fish behave below the dam this spring, Goode said in Thursday’s phone interview. Asked if the federation would keep trying for an Alna project if Soule advises selectmen away from the current idea, he said: “We’d have to address that at that time.”

Any ASF project would be done at no cost to Alna, Goode said. He first approached the town in 2015 with the offer to explore a project that would be free for the town.