# Hersey Dam Removal & River Restoration Project



## Hamilton Reef (Jan 20, 2000)

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

September 19, 2006 

Contact: 
Gary Noble, Muskegon River Watershed Assembly 231-591-2324 / 2334 
John Calabrese, Village of Hersey 231-832-9889
Jim Hegarty, Prein & Newhof (Engineers) 616-364-8491
Richard ONeal, MDNR-Fisheries Division 231-788-6798 

Hersey Dam Removal & River Restoration Project Set to Start Late September 2006, Village of Hersey, Osceola County, MI

The Project

In late September 2006 the Hersey Dam will be removed, restoring natural stream conditions and improving cold water habitat in the Hersey River to its pre-dam state of over 100 years ago. This project results from a five-year-plus collaboration between the Village of Hersey, the Michigan Department of Natural Resources-Fisheries Division (MDNR) and the Muskegon River Watershed Assembly (MRWA). Prein & Newhof was selected as the consulting engineer for this project based on their Hersey Dam Removal Study (May 2005). This study produced a preliminary engineering design and cost estimates for removing the Hersey Dam and its associated auxiliary spillway structures. The dam removal design / cost estimates were used to secure implementation grants. The chosen engineering design utilizes a controlled drawdown approach to manage and control sediment movement in a cost effective manner. By design, much of the stored sediment behind the dam structures will remain and be stabilized with vegetative plantings as the sediments become exposed. The sediment that does mobilize and flow past the dam will move downstream naturally. 

About the Dam

The Hersey Dam, originally constructed in 1858, is in poor condition and according to recent Michigan Department of Environmental Quality (MDEQ) - mandated Dam Safety Reports, should be repaired or removed. It would be very costly to repair the dam and the continued legal and financial liability for its ownership and maintenance was considered too burdensome, so removal was the Villages preferred alternative to address dam safety concerns. Dam removal was also preferred by project partners since it would restore free-flowing conditions, enabling improved recreational opportunities for Village residents and visitors. The 2005 Prein & Newhof engineering study confirmed the feasibility of removing the dam and project partners estimate the total project cost at nearly $282,000. 

The Hersey River is 21 miles long, a designated trout stream, and it flows into the Muskegon River approximately 3,500 ft below the Hersey Dam. The MDNRs 1997 Muskegon River Watershed Assessment indicated that removing the Hersey Dam would generate tremendous environmental and habitat benefits to the Muskegon River Watershed and its fishery. Environmental organizations hail this project to help restore the historical flow regime of the Hersey River.

Dam Removal Benefits

Removing the Hersey Dam will:

Eliminate the potential for a sudden failure.
Eliminate a dangerous attractive nuisance in the river
Restore the Hersey River to its pre-1858 free-flowing state
Remove a barrier to fish passage
Re-connect the rivers ecosystem allowing benthic organisms, wildlife and nutrients free and continuous movement in and along the river
Increase the level of dissolved oxygen in the river
Lower the rivers water temperature once the impoundment is drained
Improve the rivers water quality
Create an opportunity to re-build the historic park at the dams site
Minimize movement of sediment during and after demolition
Restore riffles and a gravel bottom in this stretch of the river, providing improved cold water fish habitat and more natural aesthetics
Project Funding

Wege Foundation (Matching Grant) - $140,580

National Fish & Wildlife Foundation (2005 Great Lakes Watershed Restoration Grant - $75,000

U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service (National Fish Passage Program Grant) - $50,000

Habitat Improvement Account funded by Consumers Energy & Administered by MDNR - $9,580

Paul Young Chapter Trout Unlimited - $3,500

Pine River Chapter Trout Unlimited - $1,500

Village of Hersey - $1,000


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## Hamilton Reef (Jan 20, 2000)

Removal of dam on Muskegon River tributary to start next week 

Wednesday, September 20, 2006 By Jeff Alexander CHRONICLE STAFF WRITER

One of Michigan's premier trout streams in the 1800s, before countless state rivers were ravaged by logging and bisected by dams, is about to get an extreme ecological makeover. 

Work begins next week on the removal of the Hersey Dam, which blocks the lower Hersey River, a major tributary of the Muskegon River, north of Big Rapids. 

The original dam was built in the village of Hersey in 1858. Removing it will restore several miles of the 21-mile-long Hersey River, a cold-water trout stream.

By next spring, anglers could be catching brook trout in a stretch of the river that flows through the tiny village of Hersey. 

"The Hersey Dam project is a big deal. The Hersey is a really premier cold-water stream that has a lot of reproductive potential for fish," said Sharon Hanshue, a supervisor and dam expert in the Michigan Department of Natural Resources. 

Removing the dam and tons of sediment that has accumulated behind it will restore the Hersey's natural flow and water temperature, improve fish habitat and increase recreational opportunities, state officials said. 

"We're basically going to be restoring the stream to its original channel," said Rich O'Neal, a DNR fisheries biologist. 

O'Neal said there are brown trout in a half-mile stretch of the Hersey River between the dam and its confluence of the Muskegon River, and brook trout in the upper Hersey. With the dam gone, trout and other fish species will be able to move freely between the Muskegon and Hersey rivers, all the way up to Reed City, where another dam bisects the Hersey. 

The $274,600 dam removal project will take about five weeks to complete. The restoration of river banks near the dam will extend into next spring, said Jim Hegarty, the project manager for Prein &amp; Newhof, a Grand Rapids engineering firm. 

"In general, the project shouldn't be that difficult," Hegarty said. "I'm excited about watching this river come back to life ... we're expecting the river to be quite a draw for the village."

The project is also historically significant: One of Michigan's most spectacular fish species, the Arctic grayling, was first discovered in the Hersey River in the 1850s. 

The grayling was eliminated from all Michigan streams by 1930, the victim of excessive fishing, log runs and dams that destroyed its habitat, according to state studies. 

Hegarty said dam removals are still fairly rare in Michigan, which has about 2,600 dams. The Hersey Dam is one of 94 dams and lake-level control structures remaining in the Muskegon River and its tributaries.

Two other dams have been removed from the Muskegon River since the 1960s: The Newaygo Dam in 1969 and the Big Rapids Dam in 2001. 

Hanshue said a lack of money has slowed efforts to remove more dams in Michigan that are either obsolete or unsafe. The Hersey Dam removal is being funded almost entirely by private foundations and fishing organizations. 

Hanshue acknowledged that Michigan lags behind other states that have removed dozens of old dams, such as Wisconsin and Maine, but said, "I think we're making some good progress." 

The recently formed Michigan River Partnership, which includes representatives from the state and Michigan Municipal League, hopes to make dam safety and dam removal more prominent issues among state lawmakers, said Mark Coscarelli, a senior Great Lakes policy consultant for Public Sector Consultants in Lansing. 

Dam removal will become a more pressing issue in the near future because many of Michigan's 2,600 dams are approaching the end of their life expectancy, Coscarelli said. 

The average life expectancy of a dam is 50 years, according to the Association of State Dam Safety Officials. A well-maintained dam, like the Croton Dam built 100 years ago in the Muskegon River near Newaygo, can last a century or more, Coscarelli said. 

One-third of the 94 dams in the Muskegon River and its tributaries are more than 50 years old, according to state data.


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## Hamilton Reef (Jan 20, 2000)

Bad dam removed, restoring river flow 

http://www.mlive.com/news/muchronicle/index.ssf?/base/news-10/1164039313260240.xml&coll=8

Monday, November 20, 2006 By Jeff Alexander CHRONICLE STAFF WRITER

HERSEY -- A great blue heron launched itself from the edge of the Hersey River just as the man who engineered the trout stream's resurrection approached its swift, gurgling waters. 

"There's one of our buddies," said Jim Hegarty, an engineer with Prein &amp; Newhof, a Grand Rapids-based engineering firm. "We had about five heron watching us as we worked on this project." 

Hegarty designed the recent removal of the dilapidated Hersey Dam, a $274,000 project nearly a decade in the making. The work restored the lower Hersey to its natural flow for the first time in 148 years.

Removing small dams is not technically difficult, Hegarty said. But generating local support to remove dams that often are considered community treasures, as well as finding money to pay for the work, can be very challenging, he said. 

"This is one of the few dam removals we've achieved in the last few years in Michigan, and it happened on a very high quality stream," said Rich O'Neal, a Michigan Department of Natural Resources fisheries biologist. 

Engineers, fishery biologists, local officials and many Hersey residents have praised the removal of the dam, which was obsolete and in danger of bursting. 

"It's wonderful ... I enjoy being able to hear the river when I open my windows," said Jason DaDay, whose house sits atop a small bank overlooking the restored river. 

"They took what was a hazardous old dam site, restored the river to its natural course and flow and put it back in the river bed where it had flowed for centuries," DaDay said. 

John Calabrese, president of the village of Hersey, said community leaders were "absolutely delighted" by the project's outcome. 

"The river is just gorgeous. To me, it looks like it should," Calabrese said.

Removal of the dam from the river, which is a cold-water trout stream, also was ecologically significant. 

The first Hersey Dam was built in 1858, a mile from where the Hersey flows into Muskegon River and in the general vicinity of where Arctic grayling were discovered in Michigan in the 1850s. 

The grayling was eliminated from the Hersey and all other Michigan rivers by 1930, the victim of excessive fishing, log runs and dams that destroyed its habitat, according to state studies.

State officials said the Hersey Dam, which once powered a sawmill and grain mill, disrupted the river's natural flow, blocked fish passage and increased water temperatures. 

With the dam gone, fish and other aquatic life in the lower Hersey and Muskegon rivers can move freely between the two waterways. 

The dam removal was one step in the arduous process of restoring the natural flow of the Muskegon River and its 94 tributaries. There are 93 other dams choking the 219-mile Muskegon and its tributaries -- four in the main branch and 89 others in the lakes and streams that flow into Michigan's second-longest river. 

Dam removals are still fairly rare in Michigan, which has about 2,600 dams. Wisconsin and other states have been more aggressive than Michigan in pursuing the removal of old dams that are obsolete, dangerous or ecologically harmful. 

Michigan officials have said many dams are candidates for removal because the structures are old, obsolete or crumbling. But the state has no money to pay for the work, said Sharon Hanshue, a DNR dam expert. 

Calabrese said the village of Hersey could not have tackled the dam removal project without help from the Muskegon River Watershed Assembly, which obtained grants to pay for the work. 

Experts have said dams will become a public safety issue for many Michigan communities in the coming years because scores of the state's dams are nearing their 50-year life expectancies.

One-third of the dams in the Muskegon River watershed are more than 50 years old, according to state data. But some of the oldest dams in the river -- such as the Croton, Hardy and Rogers hydroelectric dams -- are among the best maintained and will be able to produce power for the foreseeable future, according to experts. 

Two dams have been removed from the Muskegon River's main branch since the 1960s: the Newaygo Dam in 1969 and the Big Rapids Dam in 2001. 

Removal of the Newaygo Dam played a major role in the lower Muskegon River becoming the state's most productive salmon stream, according to state officials. And the Big Rapids Dam removal has refocused that community's attention on the river, according to local leaders.

O'Neal and Hegarty said the Hersey will slowly reclaim its natural meander and slope, a process that could take months or years. The river bottom was blanketed by a 2-foot-thick layer of clay-like material that accumulated behind the dam during the 148 years the dam slowed the river. 

Because of that clay-like material, Hegarty said it will take longer than expected for the river to reclaim its natural channel. 

"It's not what we were imagining originally, but that's OK," Hegarty said. "These projects are so much fun to work on because there is almost as much art as science; there's no such thing as a perfect dam removal project." 

Overall, Hegarty said he was thrilled with the outcome. 

"To bring back a river is awesome," he said. "You get a great sense of pride and accomplishment. 

Contractors who removed the dam also dug out a 150-foot stretch of the river channel. The result is fast-flowing water, with white-capped riffles, surging through the heart of the former logging village. 

"It looks like a postcard," Calabrese said of the river. 

The Hersey could become one of Michigan's premier trout streams, O'Neal said. The river already supports a thriving brown trout fishery, he said. 

O'Neal said removing the last remaining dam on the 21-mile Hersey River, a small dam upstream of Reed City, could lower water temperatures enough to support a brook trout fishery. 

For now, local and state officials are focused on restoring vegetation on the banks of the river where the Hersey Dam once stood. Workers planted dozens of small willow trees with the hope that those trees will someday provide shade needed to keep the cold-water river from overheating. 

Calabrese said local officials also hope to develop a park next to the river and make the rejuvenated Hersey a community centerpiece. 

"We've been told this could become a premier trout river and that should generate a lot of interest in the future," Calabrese said. "It would be great to have more people canoe, kayak and fish in the river -- there aren't a lot of other things to do in the village."


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