Dams removed, fish get moving in Thornapple River and Rice CreekBy Victor Skinner, The Grand Rapids Press, found at MLive.com
January 10, 2010NASHVILLE -- The removal of several small-town dams in the past year is making way for miles of improved fish habitat, including stretches of the Thornapple River in Barry County and Rice Creek in Calhoun County.
Officials with the state Department of Natural Resources worked with the city of Marshall, the Calhoun Conservation District and Trout Unlimited to remove a former mill pond dam on Rice Creek the past two years.
The Nashville Dam before it was removed last
summer. (Courtesy Photo, Michigan DNR)Workers last summer completed the final phases of the dam removal, which is expected to cool temperatures in the waterway and boost fish movement in coming seasons, said Scott Hanshue, DNR fisheries management biologist.
"Now, that stretch should be able to support higher populations of trout," Hanshue said. "On both (Rice Creek and the Thornapple), the dams were barriers to fish movement. It was affecting fish distribution directly."
The removal of Rice Creek dam, the only one on the stream, now opens the entire stretch of the creek to fish passage, according to American Rivers, a nonprofit organization involved in river preservation.
In addition to benefiting anglers, the project saved the city from sinking substantial cash into repairing the dilapidated dam and improved the appeal of the small city’s riverside park, Marshall city manager Tom Tarkowitz said.
"We gained quite a few acres of park land," Tarkowitz said.
On the Thornapple River, the Nashville Dam contributed to silt and sand accumulation in the adjacent 80-acre mill pond and choked out prime fish rearing habitat over the years, Hanshue said.
The dam itself, which was removed in September, blocked 60 miles of fish habitat, according to American Rivers.
In the most recent surveys, the DNR "saw at least 16 species of fish downstream of the dam that weren’t upstream," including smallmouth bass, channel catfish and northern pike, Hanshue said.
The DNR walleye stocking program also could see benefits.
"Once we resume that, the fish will be able to move further upstream," Hanshue said.
Joanne Barnard, executive director of the Barry Conservation District, said it took years to garner public support for the project, especially from landowners along the mill pond concerned about what the drawdown might reveal.
In the end, "some of them got a ton more land" with the river restored, Barnard said, creating "a whole new vista for downtown."
"Visually, it looks a lot different. A whole new expanse of land grew up downtown," she said, adding some have taken advantage of the new space. "People were already fishing there on that new stretch of land."
Here's how the Nashville Dam looks today.
(Courtesy Photo, Michigan DNR)The Conservation District will use a recently acquired $40,000 joint grant from Fish America and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration to monitor for invasive species, buy native seedlings and shrubs and educate adjacent landowners on best planting practices over the next year, Barnard said.
"We will be looking for volunteers who want to help plant" along the river’s edge, Barnard said.
The Nashville and Rice Creek dams were among eight removed across the state in the past year.
The others were Wolcott and Cascade dams on the Clinton River near Romeo, Maple Hill Dam on Butternut Creek in Charlotte, Chesaning Dam on the Shiawassee River, Thompson Dam on the Upper Peninsula’s Thompson Creek and an unnamed former state fish hatchery on Williams Creek in the Upper Peninsula.
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