Upper Boardman River stretch to be rehabilitated

WILLIAMSBURG, Mich. (AP) - It’s quiet in the wintertime on state land next to the upper Boardman River, deep in the woods off of Guernsey Lake Road.

Snow blankets what otherwise looks like a big, open sandbox at a popular camping spot along the river in Grand Traverse County’s Whitewater Township. All-terrain vehicle riders years ago found the place and frequently make use of the sandy soils there to play in the dirt - doughnut circles are clearly visible beneath the thin layer of white stuff on the ground.

It’s where an old, abandoned sand trap was installed in 1994 and maintained by the Grand Traverse Conservation District, which annually pulled nearly 1,000 cubic yards of sand out of that stretch of blue-ribbon trout stream in an effort to improve fishery habitat.

“The idea was to build sand traps in places where the river is a little slow,” said Michael Sipkoski, a member of the Traverse City-based Adams Chapter of national nonprofit Trout Unlimited.

However, the method proved ineffective between the expensive heavy machinery needed for the work and the sandy debris that floated downstream each time officials cleaned out the sand trap. It caused unacceptable downstream impacts, said Steve Largent, the conservation district’s Boardman River project manager.

“The cleaning of this sand trap resulted in a plug of sand moving downstream as it became suspended from dredging operations,” Largent said.

Eventually the effort fell by the wayside about a decade ago, but the great big sand pile remained. That proved a delight for some recreational state land users.

“ORVs over the years have discovered that pile and they like to ride up and down and cause havoc,” said David Lemmien, Traverse City management unit manager for the Michigan Department of Natural Resources.

The rehabilitation project’s goal is to change it from being a bare site with eroding stream banks, accompanied by a lack of vegetation to shade the river and insufficient in-stream fishery habitat. The end goal is to have a stretch of canopy-covered river with both public access and erosion prevention methods.

There may be a confined parking area, designated river access point with stairs, shoreline plantings of deep-rooted native vegetation to stabilize the river banks and placing woody debris in the river channel for improved fish habitat.

“It will still be open for people to utilize. We may curtail the amount of open space for vehicles to access,” Lemmien said. “We don’t want ORVs to continue to tear up the spoils pile and the earthen berm there.”

Joey McMullen, vice president of the Grand Traverse area-focused Northwest ORV Association, said these types of multiple-use projects are exactly the sort the group endorses.

“If there’s a way we can coexist, that’s what we want to do,” McMullen said. “So long as it’s fair to all users.”

McMullen said the region lacks a designated ORV trail, a development that would likely help minimize conflicts with other recreational user groups.

Expected costs for this Boardman River restoration site are between $60,000 and $80,000, Largent said.

So far, a national Trout Unlimited “Embrace a Stream” grant for $6,500 was awarded, along with a $5,000 donation from the Adams Chapter and another $1,000 challenge grant from Trout Unlimited. The conservation district chipped in $10,000 to combine with the Trout Unlimited dollars as a match for a $40,000 state fisheries grant under application.

“It’s a small enough project that a small group like us can have an impact,” Sipkoski said. “Bigger groups are doing the work downstream.”

There’s even a state off-road vehicle grant application in the works for this upstream site.

The local Trout Unlimited chapter also continues to collect donations for the project, Sipkoski said.

Officials will begin gathering site data and measurements this winter and news about the state grant applications is expected by spring 2020. Engineering work is expected to firm up project costs, Largent said.