HOUGHTON COUNTY, MI-- A dredging project in Houghton County’s Grand Traverse Bay Harbor has been given final approval.
Stamp sands from early 20th century copper mills have drifted south in Lake Superior, clogging vital fish-spawning habitat on Buffalo Reef. The project would remove more than 172,000 cubic yards of stamp sands from an underwater bedrock trough.
The Environmental Protection Agency has provided $3.1 million to the Army Corps of Engineers to design and carry out the dredging, which is scheduled for May.
An official with the Department of Environmental Quality says the work will buy five to seven years of protection for the reef. He says a long-term, adaptive management plan will need to be developed to solve the stamp sand problem.
