Boardman Dams Progress and Updates Available

By Kimberly Balke, January 2010 Catalyst

In 1867, a local citizen named John Wheeler built a dam on what came to be known as Wheeler Creek. Though there were a couple of fires at the dam site, the structure was repeatedly rebuilt over the years and has kept Wheeler Creek from freely flowing into the Manistee River ever since.

In October of 2009, CRA worked with partners to remove Wheeler Creek Dam. The concrete spillway was breaking apart, the stop logs were in poor condition, and the risk of failure was looming for the 20 foot high dam. The dam removal process has not been without challenges. Over 140 years worth of accumulated sediment and debris had collected in the ponds behind the dam, and with the highway and Manistee River immediately downstream of the dam we lacked an ideal sand trap site.

Upper Manistee River to Benefit from Restoration Grant

The Traverse City based Conservation Resource Alliance (CRA) teamed up with project partners Ducks Unlimited (grant applicant and recipient), the Little River Band of Ottawa Indians, and the Grand Traverse Regional Land Conservancy to obtain a grant award of $783,823 through the Sustain Our Great Lakes (SOGL) program. SOGL is a public-private program designed to achieve ecological and habitat restoration goals developed through the Great Lakes Regional Collaboration. SOGL is coordinated by the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation and funded by ArcelorMittal, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, U.S. Forest Service, and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.