GLFT Grant Library

The key goal for this project was to provide a plan for the implementation of a Great Lakes fishery learning program based at the DNR's Outdoor Adventure Center in Detroit, with the target audience being children and families. The result of the project is a comprehensive plan for the program, including a cost estimate for program implementation that will be used to seek funding from partners. The plan also outlines how the program’s success will be measured and what methods will be used. Once implemented, the DNR is confident that the program will become an integral component to the Outdoor Adventure Center and the State Park system.

An adjustable hydraulic structure (AHS) was constructed within the Grand River at Grand Rapids, MI to produce hydraulic conditions which impede upstream migration of the invasive sea lamprey (Petromyzon marinus).  This project investigated the optimum design configuration for the AHS to maintain key hydraulics across the full range of flows in the Grand River.  Results from the project provide critical information to the construction and operation of the AHS and for the installation of physical sea lamprey barriers at other locations within the Great Lakes Fishery.

The Healing Our Waters-Great Lakes Coalition (HOW) has completed this project as part of the Coalition’s Implementation Grant Program. The project supported work by the Coalition to continue a small grants program which provides funding to local organizations to build needed capacity to leverage federal dollars for Great Lakes restoration projects from the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative (GLRI) and to illustrate the ecological and economic benefits of restoration. In 2016, the grant program successfully awarded 17 grants to local organizations for projects addressing (but not limited to) stream and wetland habitat restoration, invasive species, and fish passage in eight priority areas across the Great Lakes.

Acme Township constructed a small boat access site on East Grand Traverse Bay at Sayler Park. Prior to completion of this project no public launches were available between Old Mission and Elk Rapids - separated by almost 20 car miles. Sayler Park is an established, rural, 22-acre family-friendly park owned and maintained by Acme Township. The Michigan Department of Natural Resources estimates through creel census information that over the last 10 years, angler effort has averaged 50,000 hours at the site with anglers making up 50 to 70 percent of users. The GLFT contributed approximately 20 percent of the project budget. The remaining 80 percent was provided by local, state, and tribal funding sources

Hayes Township was provided with a planning grant to assess the potential for ice damage to a proposed fishing pier on Lake Charlevoix. The township was able to quantify the potential for ice damage to the structure and develop a design to mitigate risk through structural resistance to ice forces developed in Lake Charlevoix. The results of this planning grant will be incorporated into the design for the structure.

The purpose of the Fish Manistique project is to provide access to the Lake Michigan fishery at the mouth of the Manistique River.  An accessible parking lot with restrooms will be connected to an existing break wall by the boardwalk.  The break wall will be furnished with railings on both sides to make fishing safe for all users.

The Michigan Department of Natural Resources Fisheries Division and Parks and Recreation Division together will design and construct shoreline fishing access improvements in two areas at Belle Isle Park for the purposes of improving safety and accessibility for anglers. Improvements will include barrier free parking and pathways, new railings along the Detroit River for fishing access, and a site amenities such as interpretive signs, tackle tables and benches.

In 2007 a boardwalk was built along the Muskegon River on the south side of our Muskegon Lake Nature Preserve. The land was stable for many years, however recent storm evens and low lake levels have resulted in excessive erosion. The result is a portion of the boardwalk has been closed due to erosion under the pilings on the river side. This grant will pay for part of the restoration of The Wilder River Walk.

This project will expand our existing online decision-support tool to enable managers and agencies to assess trade-offs of barrier removals throughout the Great Lakes basin. We will inventory road crossings in the Paint River watershed, and create an index of habitat quality for priority fish species. Our website will enable integration of new barrier data, flexible visualization of species-specific habitat loss due to barriers, and customized analysis of optimal barrier removals for a given budget.

Great Lakes Fishery Trust provided funding for on-the-ground/ in-the-water costs related to the removal of the Song of the Morning Dam. This project restored natural river processes including hydrology, geomorphology and flow of sediment and woody debris through the system for the first time in over 100 years. Trout and other aquatic organisms gained access to 15 miles of critical spawning and refuge habitat in the upper Pigeon River and its tributaries. 

Huron Pines completed a comprehensive inventory of all road/stream crossings in fourteen small coastal watersheds draining to Lake Huron. A total of 253 sites were inventoried using the Great Lakes Road/Stream Crossing Inventory Protocol and added to the northernmichiganstreams.org website to enable conservation partners to more efficiently evaluate priority restoration sites.

The Chestonia Bridge state access site on the Jordan River is actually comprised of twin 14 foot wide culverts that cause stream velocities to increase five-fold, and contribute to pool formation, streambank erosion, sediment accumulation, and over widening of the river. Jordan River partners have completed design, and are going to build a 90 foot long single span bridge that will accomodate natural channel conditinos, and provide passage for all aquatic species at all life stages.

The purpose of this project was to develop engineering plans and a cost estimate for the renovation/rehabilitation of the Boat Club Pier to improve fishing access at Belle Isle Park in Detroit, Michigan.  The scope for design of the project also included parking lot improvements, bridge replacement, lighting, walkway construction and the filling of dilapidated swimming pools to ensure safe access to the pier.  The project officially kicked off in 2015.  The final engineering documents for the pier were developed and delivered to the DNR in December, 2016.  A final cost estimate was also developed to guide future fundraising efforts for implementation of the construction phase of the project.

The project removed the final (culvert) barrier in the North Branch of the White River. Fifteen river miles were opened, making the North Branch navigable for the first time since the logging era. A timber bridge spanning the bankfull width was installed and the river has returned to its natural channel.

The Barrier Removal Collaborative Suite will allow stakeholders to work in a cooperative online environmnt and provide decision support based on best available GIS data and other data sets. A weighted overlay analysis tool built upon user defined criteria will be incorporated into the suite. The results from this analysis aling with user generated content will be shared with other who will provide feedbacck or explore additional environmental and economic alternatives.

Natural reproduction of salmonids in Lake Michigan tributaries is substantial and otolith microchemistry is likely to allow for the identification of their natal origin. Interannual variation necessitates yearly derivation of tributary-specific chemical signatures in order to reliably assign origin. Inference of otolith chemistry to salmonid species from cosmopolitan resident species could substantially reduce sampling efforts and costs. Central Michigan University' Department of Biology and Institute for Great Lakes Research will assess whether otolith chemistry signatures of juvenile salmonids differ substantially from other common, river-resident species.

The University of Wisconsin - Milwaukee - Great Lakes WATER Institute seeks to improve our current understanding of fish feeding relationships in Lake Michigan following the recent decrease of food availability in the pelagic zone and increased nearshore benthic primary and secondary productivity. The specific objectives are to a) determine the extent to which various piscivorous and large-bodied fish species are able to take advantage of new nearshore energy sources and b) determine if these nearshore-offshore connections vary with location around the lake.