TRAVERSE CITY, Mich. (AP) - Construction for FishPass hasn’t started just yet, but Great Lakes Fishery Commission, Grand Traverse Band of Ottawa and Chippewa Indians and other project partners celebrated the project’s start.
The Oct. 24 event kicked off with Peshawbestown Community Drum performing, and a water ceremony by JoAnne Cook, Tina Frankenberger and Melissa Wiatrolik. The three women, each donning colorful skirts, prayed as they held copper vessels filled with water, then sang a song expressing thanks to the water.
“We’re telling the water we love the water, we respect it, we thank it,” Cook said afterward. “It’s a way for us to connect with the water.”
Speakers and audience members took part, drinking a sip of water and adding satchels of tobacco to a wooden bowl later dumped into one of the pots, which Cook emptied into the churning Boardman River - also called Ottawa River - by the Union Street Dam, according to the Traverse City Record-Eagle. The tobacco was so everyone could give their good thoughts and energy to the water, Cook said.
The ceremony started the hourlong event for the first-of-its-kind selective fish passageway that aims to keep invasive species downstream but let desired aquatic wildlife pass.
The tribe and Great Lakes Fishery Commission are just two partners on the multi-agency project, and GLFC Science Director Andrew Muir thanked the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency for providing the bulk of the funding through its Great Lakes Restoration Initiative. Muir also thanked the many public commenters for chipping in to improve the project that he hopes is the first of many.
“Our Great Lakes have been permanently altered by invasive species,” he said. “I hope that the model of FishPass extends to many other rivers around the Great Lakes and globally.”
Others spoke about the final phase of a years-long effort to restore the river to a more natural state, starting with demolishing Brown Bridge Dam in 2012.
Restoration Implementation Team leaders Frank Dituri and Brett Fessell recounted the history and U.S. Rep. Jack Bergman, R-Watersmeet, said clean water’s a uniting issue and he hopes the collaborations can inspire other partnerships with tribal governments.
David Arroyo, Grand Traverse Band of Ottawa and Chippewa Indians chairman, said there’s a strong connection between the river and the tribe, as both reflect the other’s endurance and restoration.
“The tribe as a people, we have a cultural and spiritual connection to the water and river restoration,” he said. “The local fishery is integral to that, it is our historical and our present-day way of life.”
Frankenberger said the project presents a chance for fish to spawn in the same streams that their ancestors did before the dams were built.
But others fear that restored connection could have unintended consequences. Project critics contend that letting the wrong species upstream could hurt the river’s fisheries, especially its wild trout populations - a few protesters on Saturday held “Save the Brook Trout” signs.
Others criticized the process through which state, federal and international agencies planned the project, or lambasted the final design as destruction of a beloved city park. One Traverse City resident wants a judge to block construction until voters have a say.
Rick Buckhalter is asking a 13th Circuit Court judge for a temporary restraining order, citing a city charter provision requiring a popular vote before the city can dispose of parkland. He argued that demolishing Union Street Dam amounts to just that, although his extensive search through city records hasn’t turned up definitive proof that the dam is parkland, and city officials previously argued it isn’t.
Buckhalter also argued that two easements with a nearby condominium association to build the project required public hearings to amend planned unit development agreements with the city, according to the complaint.
He believes he has a strong argument and that the city has no reason to rush construction, he said.
“The big issue is, residents can’t use the dam, it’s being removed and not replaced,” he said. “They’re calling the labyrinth weir, they’re even using the same name even though it’s a different structure and one can be used by the public but one can’t.”
City Attorney Lauren Trible-Laucht in an email said she couldn’t comment on the case.
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers recently selected Spence Brothers, a Traverse City-based company, to build the structure for $19.3 million, GLFC spokesman Marc Gaden said. Construction could begin before year’s end, depending on what’s possible before the ground freezes, and will take about a year to complete.
He was somewhat disappointed that Saturday’s event had to be scaled down over pandemic concerns - viewers had a chance to watch online.
“Hopefully we can have some celebration that’s a little bit more inclusive at a later day when it’s safe to do so, but that’s how it is,” he said.
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