|
|
|
|
To conserve, protect and restore coldwater fisheries
|
|
Designation could qualify Muskegon River for restoration grants October 31, 1999 By
Jeff Alexander For the first time since lumber barons and dam builders turned the Muskegon River into a "working river," scientists and policymakers are talking seriously about restoring the entire waterway. Officials at the Great Lakes Fishery Trust are considering designating the Muskegon a "first priority river" worthy of millions of dollars in grants for scientific research and restoration projects. The trust's goal: boost the number of naturally reproducing trout and salmon in the Great Lakes by improving fish habitat and water quality in the Muskegon River, Michigan's most productive salmon stream. Such a designation would intensify local and state efforts to fix some of the problems logging, dams, agriculture and urban land development have caused in the Muskegon River and its tributaries, Fishery Trust officials said. "We think there are real opportunities to work with communities to make the Muskegon a world-class river. It's all there in terms of the mechanics and the hydraulics of the river system," said K.L. Cool, chairman of the Fishery Trust board and director of the Michigan Department of Natural Resources. "We consider the Muskegon to be one of the premier river systems we have in Michigan," Cool said. The Fishery Trust is a quasi-governmental entity created in 1995 to distribute grants aimed at improving Great Lakes fisheries. The trust, which now has about $30 million at its disposal, is funded with settlement money Consumers Energy pays the state each year for fish kills at the utility's Ludington Pumped Storage Plant. The Fishery Trust board will decide by next May whether to focus its river restoration efforts on the Muskegon, Cool said. Also in the running for the designation are the St. Joseph, Manistee and Menominee rivers. At 219 miles long, the Muskegon is Michigan's second longest river. The river's watershed, or drainage basin, spans 2,634 square miles, an area larger than the state of Delaware. The river was the subject of a four-day investigative series by The Chronicle in September. Trust board members said they will only select the Muskegon if they believe there is widespread public and political support for a major river restoration effort. The trust will conduct a study in the coming weeks to gauge public support for the proposal. "There's a tremendous amount of potential for rebuilding the Muskegon River system. But there's no sense in trying to do something on the river if you can't get people to work together, upstream and downstream," said Bill Rustem, co-owner of Public Sector Consultants Inc. in Lansing, which manages the Fishery Trust. Building local support Gale Nobes, chairman of the Muskegon River Watershed Assembly, said he believes there is ample interest across the river basin to support a major river restoration effort. The Muskegon River Watershed Assembly was formed in 1998 in an effort to preserve and protect the entire river system without stifling economic growth in the region. To date, less than one-third of the 125 governmental units in the river basin have joined the assembly. However, there are communities in the river basin - such as Newaygo County's Brooks Township and the city of Big Rapids - that have already taken steps to protect and restore the river. Officials in Brooks Township recently adopted a land-use plan that calls for increased protection of the river and other valuable natural features. "There's a tremendous amount of interest in the Muskegon River as far as the people in this township are concerned," said Dale Black, supervisor of Brooks Township. Last week, Big Rapids received a $350,000 grant from the Fishery Trust to remove the tangled remains of the Big Rapids dam. That grant capped a lengthy effort by city officials to obtain $1.4 million in grants to pay for a project expected to improve water quality and fish populations in an 18-mile stretch of the river; the partially demolished dam could come out as early as next summer. Rustem said the Big Rapids grant was the "the first step" in what could become a comprehensive effort to improve water quality and fish populations in the entire Muskegon River. Among the projects Kool said the trust might tackle if it selects the Muskegon for its river restoration initiative are:
The trust recently awarded $750,000 to restore fish habitat on the Big South Branch of the Pere Marquette River. Cool said the Fishery Trust now wants to fund projects with a broader scope, taking a "holistic approach" to restoring a large river system like the Muskegon. Because there are competing interests over use of the river, not everyone is thrilled by the prospect of increasing fish populations in the river. Jeannette Knoph, co-owner of The Old Log Resort and canoe livery in Marion, said she supports efforts to improve water quality in the Muskegon. But Knoph said she fears increasing fish populations would attract more anglers to a stretch of river she said is "under-fished," possibly sparking tension between anglers and canoeists. River faces many problems Among the most serious environmental problems facing the river, according to scientists and government agencies, include: Ecosystem Fragmentation, a problem caused by dams that alter water levels, flow and natural temperature fluctuations in the river and limit the movement of aquatic life, sediment and nutrients in the river system. The 95 dams in the Muskegon River and its feeder streams have broken the river system into nearly 200 distinct and smaller aquatic ecosystems, according to state biologists. Thermal Pollution, which is caused by dams that warm the river and its tributaries by slowing water and holding it in reservoirs. Thermal pollution threatens to change the Muskegon from a cool-water river to a warm-water river, a major shift some biologists fear could be ecologically disastrous for the river. Such a fundamental change would, among other things, mean the elimination of trout and other cold-water fish species from the Muskegon. Changes in the River's Hydrology, the flow of the river and the amount of water entering the Muskegon from feeder streams, agricultural drains and runoff from impervious surfaces such as parking lots, driveways and roofs. All precipitation that falls on the 2,634 square miles of land in the Muskegon's watershed eventually ends up in the river. Development in the river basin - the draining of land for agriculture and paving of roads and parking lots for homes and shopping centers - will send more storm water into the river and at a faster rate. The result: floods will become more frequent in the Muskegon River, according to state officials. Sedimentation, the natural movement of soils from land into the river. This is a serious problem in the Muskegon because excessive amounts of sediment flushed into the river by logging in the 1800s and more recently by dams and land development is suffocating miles of fish-spawning grounds. Excessive sedimentation also alters the river by making it shallower, wider and, ultimately, warmer. Despite its problems, a stretch of the Muskegon River below Croton Dam supports a nationally recognized trout fishery. "The Muskegon is big enough and (ecologically) influential enough to be looked at on a watershed basis," Nobes said. "It has a huge influence on Lake Michigan." Studies have shown the Muskegon produces more salmon smolts, about 1.5 million annually, than any other Michigan river. Some DNR fish biologists claim the river could produce enough salmon to supply Lake Michigan and Lake Huron - eliminating the need for hatchery-produced fish - if salmon could bypass the Croton, Hardy and Rogers hydroelectric dams and spawn in more areas upstream. Because fish passage devices were not installed when those dams were built in the early 1900s, fish and other aquatic life in the lower Muskegon River and Lake Michigan cannot reach the upper 172 miles of river. And fish that swim downstream through those dams are often chewed up in power-generating turbines, according to state records. State studies have shown that fish ladders at the hydroelectric dams would create a multimillion-dollar sport fishery in the river above Rogers Dam. Consumers officials have repeatedly argued that fish passage devices are too costly and would cause problems by allowing sea lamprey and chemically-tainted Lake Michigan fish to swim further up the river. Some scientists say allowing tainted Lake Michigan salmon to migrate up the Muskegon would harm Michigan's thriving bald eagle population. Studies have shown eagles that eat Great Lakes fish produce fewer offspring than birds from inland nesting sites that eat cleaner fish. Consumers has a federal license to operate the three hydroelectric dams on the Muskegon River through 2034. Studies are currently under way to document how the dams affect water quality in the river and whether fish passage devices or other changes are necessary to protect fish and other aquatic life. |