Traverse City Record-Eagle

Newsmakers 2009

December 29, 2009

Newsmakers: Dam removal ready -- on paper

By Sheri McWhirter

Editor's note: Newsmakers '09 explores the stories that made headlines in northwestern Michigan in 2009. Past articles in this series can be read online at record-eagle.com/newsmakers.

TRAVERSE CITY -- A new Boardman River will begin to take shape in the coming year, at least on paper.

Local officials approved plans to remove three former hydroelectric dams on the river -- Brown Bridge Dam owned by Traverse City, and Sabin and Boardman dams owned by Grand Traverse County. The decisions came early this year after a multi-year public study by the Boardman River Dams Committee wrapped at the end of 2008.

The committee offered two primary and opposing recommendations that paralleled community opinions: Some wanted the dams removed and touted a free-flowing river with improved fishery and recreational opportunities, while others wanted the structures left intact to preserve water impoundments and perhaps return the dams to use as power generators.

County commissioners voted in April to remove Sabin and Boardman dams, while city commissioners voted to pursue grant funding to remove Brown Bridge Dam and improve Union Street Dam.

A paperwork flurry will follow in 2010.

"For the next year we'll be in the process of completing the federal environmental impact study," said Todd Kalish, a fishery biologist with the Michigan Department of Natural Resources who also served as dams committee chairman.

Applications for federal, state and local permits must be completed in the coming year, while grant funding is sought to pay for what's expected to be an $8 million-plus project. It's billed as the largest dam removal and watershed restoration project in Michigan's history and requires much planning before any work is done, officials said.

"There will probably be nothing on the ground for a year and a half," said Nate Winkler, a biologist and project manager for Conservation Resource Alliance, a Traverse City nonprofit group contracted to manage the three dam removals, modifications to Union Street Dam and watershed restoration efforts.

The project was denied $7.5 million in federal stimulus funding and currently has about $685,000 in pending grant applications. It's going to take a lot more money than that and officials will spend the coming months applying for additional grants, Winkler said.

Meanwhile, property owners around Boardman Pond want to preserve the status quo and maintain the water impoundment they live around, even if hydroelectric generation never returns to the dams, said Norbert Tutlis, of Traverse City.

"It's the way it was when they bought their property," he said.

A civil lawsuit has been discussed, but not filed, Tutlis said.

Tutlis formerly worked for Northport resident Charles Peterson, who strove to restore hydroelectric generation at the dams this year. Peterson's efforts were quashed when city and county commissioners instead moved toward dam removal.

Text Only