LAKE LINDEN, MI-- An EPA task force is meeting in Houghton County next week to discuss saving fish spawning areas on Buffalo Reef.
Stamp sands created by Keweenaw copper mills in the early 1900s have drifted over the reef and compromised the spawning ability of lake trout and whitefish. The sands cover more than 1,400 acres of shoreline and lake bottom at and near Grand Traverse Harbor.
The DNR has applied for a permit to allow the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to remove about 200,000 cubic yards of sand. The EPA says the dredging project, scheduled for next May, would buy five to seven years of protection for the reef, but a long-term management plan needs to be developed. The EPA formed the task force to start the process of developing that plan.
The meeting takes place Tuesday, December 5 at 6 p.m. at the Lake Linden-Hubbell High School auditorium.
