GAY, MI – A $3.9 million dredging project to restore a natural protection to an important fish spawning site was completed this summer.
The dredging is meant to buy time for officials to decide on a permanent solution to protect Buffalo Reef, a 2,200-acre natural underwater structure vital to lake trout and lake whitefish spawning. It is under threat from copper mining waste - known as stamp sand - that could bury it. Three long-term protection plans are under consideration.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Great Lakes National Program Office initiated the Buffalo Reef Task Force last summer and allocated the $3.9 million from the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative for the dredging, which was completed by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in June.
For about 100 years, stamp sands from the Wolverine and Mohawk mines have been migrating south across the bottom of Lake Superior from Gay - five miles north of the reef. The waste has covered natural sand beaches and is threatening to cover Buffalo Reef’s fish spawning habitat, which would make it unusable - creating a substantial environmental and economic impact.
The reef is located east of the Upper Peninsula’s Keweenaw Peninsula in the Superior Grand Traverse Bay. The Great Lakes Indian Fish and Wildlife Commission estimates the reef brings $1.7 million annually in economic benefit to the region. Should the reef be buried by the sands, 25,000 pounds of whitefish and 12,500 pounds of lake trout would be lost annually.
For decades, an ancient riverbed – the trough – stopped the stamp sands from reaching Buffalo Reef. However, the western portion of the trough was full and overflowing onto the reef. The work completed in June involved the removal of 112,000 cubic yards of stamp sand from the trough. By removing the waste, migrating sands are again being stopped at the trough.
Before the end of 2020, the Army Corps of Engineers is expected to develop engineering designs, including costs, for the three top solutions for long-term protection of Buffalo Reef.
The alternatives include building an in-lake barricade around the original stamp sands pile to contain it, disposing of stamp sand in a nearby landfill, or hauling the material to the mine tailings basins at the former White Pine Mine in Ontonagon County.
After the designs are completed, the task force anticipates taking public input by December 2021 on which management plan is best for protecting the reef.
It was estimated last year that 60% of the reef would not be usable for fishing by 2025 if nothing is done to clean it up.
The project to save the reef, funded through the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative, is a cooperation between the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Keweenaw Bay Indian Community, the Great Lakes Indian Fish and Wildlife Commission, the Michigan Department of Natural Resources, and the Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes and Energy.
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September 03, 2020 at 06:53PM
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$3.9M dredging project to protect Michigan’s Buffalo Reef complete - MLive.com
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