Jun 1, 2011 |
The sea wall runs jagged in the fog Saturday morning along the St. Clair River south of Cuttle Road in Marysville. Work will start this summer to replace crumbling seawall and to create spawning reefs along the shoreline. / Melissa Wawzysko/Times Herald
Times Herald
Pete Butler, of Columbus Ohio, fishes from the boardwalk just north of Cuttle Road where the sidewalk is still intact Saturday.
Although scores of anglers cast lures and drift bait for walleye, smallmouth bass and other gamefish, the St. Clair River — identified as an area of concern in the mid-1980s for its lack of wildlife habitat and waterquality degradation — could use some help.
Three projects, tentatively scheduled to begin construction late this summer, are designed to make the fishing better.
About $3.68 million in grants from the Environmental Protection Agency’s Great Lakes Restoration Initiative will be used to rehabilitate shoreline in Port Huron and Marysville and create fish spawning areas in the St. Clair Flats where the river empties into Lake St. Clair.
The biggest portion of the grant money is in Marysville, where $1.5 million from the GLRI and $300,000 in matching funds from the city will be used to repair a failing sea wall and create fish spawning habitat. The 2,250-foot-long stretch of riverbank from Cuttle and River roads to Clinton and South Riverside avenues could also receive a new sidewalk and railings.
Topographical surveys of the site were completed mid-May, Marysville City Manager Jason Hami said, and the city now is awaiting plans from environmental consulting firm JFNew in Ann Arbor. Hami said he was concerned budget restraints would not allow the sea wall to be replaced in such a way that it would give the public the access to the river the city wants. The city had planned to apply for an additional $2.5 million in GLRI funding, but the program ran short of funds, Hami said.
In Port Huron, a 320-foot
stretch of shoreline at the end of Lincoln Avenue just south of the U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Hollyhock’s dock will receive an environmental overhaul.
The $1.3 million project will restore shoreline washed away by erosion and create a safe haven in that part of the river for fish to spawn, city engineer Bob Clegg said.
“We have no shortage of fishing locations,” he said, but expressed concern there aren’t enough locations for fish to reproduce.
Tuesday, divers were in the river to film current conditions underwater. The video will be sent to fish habitat experts for their advice.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency recently approved a conceptual plan and quality assurance plan for the site as drafted by Tetra Tech — the engineering firm with an office in Port Huron the city hired to design the project, Clegg said. Final plans and a project timeline have yet to be determined. Clegg said he hopes some work will start by the end of the summer.
In the Middle Channel of the St. Clair River, the Michigan Sea Grant — a partnership between the University of Michigan and Michigan State University — is using a GLRI grant of about $880,000 and matching funds to create a $1.043 million spawning reef.
Jen Read, a principal investigator for the Ann Arbor-based Michigan Sea Grant project, said her team will complete assessment testing on the ages of fish species currently present in the area by the end of July.
The St. Clair Flats area is host to many recreational boaters. It comprises the largest freshwater delta in the United States.
“It’s one of the most fished areas in the Great Lakes,” Read said.
Although the flats typically are not a fish spawning area, Read said, researchers discovered the conditions there mimicked those necessary for fish to deposit their eggs.
“In the busier areas of the river, all the habitat has been dredged out,” Read said.
The reefs should be in place by the end of August or early September, Read said, so that lake whitefish can spawn in the area in the fall. Other fish species in the area include northern madtom and mooneye — which are rare to the Great Lakes region — as well as lake sturgeon and walleye.
Reef construction will be across the Middle Channel, which separates Harsens and Dickinson islands, at the top of the delta, Read said. Three reefs across the channel each will contain three different types of material: Mid-sized rocks, small rocks and a combination of the two. The variation allows researchers to study which placement and kind of reef material is most attractive to fish, Read said.
Michigan Sea Grant will be partnering with the U.S. Geological Survey, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Michigan Department of Natural Resources and an Ann Arbor landscape design firm.
