Six Habitat Protection and Restoration Projects Receive Funding to Improve Fish Passage

Muskegon River Watershed Assembly for Restoring Fish Passage—Buckhorn Creek Dam Removal

The project plans to remove an obsolete dam on Buckhorn Creek, which is a tributary of the Muskegon River. The dam removal will reconnect Buckhorn Creek with the Muskegon River, allowing fish passage into more than seven miles of coldwater refuge and spawning habitat.

The City of Albion for the Albion Dams Removal Project—Construction

The City of Albion plans to complete four dam removals on the North and South Branches of the Kalamazoo River. The removals will reconnect 41 river miles, enabling native fish species to access spawning, foraging, and thermal refugia habitats, while also benefiting the aquatic ecosystem by restoring natural sediment, wood, and nutrient transport and eliminating existing water temperature increases caused by expanded solar radiation exposure in impoundments.

Tip of the Mitt Watershed Council for the Project Rehabilitation of Lower Tannery Creek, a Little Traverse Bay Tributary

Tip of the Mitt Watershed Council plans to build on past fisheries enhancements by completing the engineering, design, and removal of an undersized culvert that limits fish passage and causes flooding on Tannery Creek, one of the largest tributaries to Lake Michigan’s Little Traverse Bay.

Conservation Resource Alliance for the Rapid River Dam Removal Design and Permitting Phase

Conservation Resource Alliance and partners will work with an engineering team on the design and permitting needed to remove deteriorating dam infrastructure, restore a healthy stream channel, and replace an adjacent inadequate road crossing, resulting in major ecological improvements to the watershed. The work will affect the Rapid River, a significant tributary of the Elk River Chain of Lakes Watershed.

Conservation Resource Alliance for the Baldwin Dam Removal and River Restoration Construction Phase

Conservation Resource Alliance and partners will work with engineering and construction contractors to remove the infrastructure of a deteriorating dam and former fish farm on the Baldwin River, restore a healthy stream channel with instream habitat, install a seasonal sea lamprey barrier, and replace the upstream adjacent and undersized 119-year-old state-owned trail bridge.

Huron Pines for Brook Trout Habitat Restoration—Taylor Creek Watershed Road-Stream Crossing Improvements

Huron Pines plans to replace four undersized road-stream crossings with appropriate structures to functionally reconnect four and a half cumulative upstream miles of Taylor Creek. The project will benefit brook trout, restore a suite of natural river processes, and reduce safety hazards, erosion, stormwater runoff pollution, and flood risks.