The dredge barge from MCM Marine and accompanying tug boats arrived just outside of the Leland Harbor around 10 p.m. Monday night.

Dredging reflections

By 1 a.m. early Tuesday, workers with the Sault Ste. Marie-based excavation company began dredging the shoal at the entrance to Leland Harbor. The work was expected to be completed yesterday afternoon.

John Lindenau, owner and captain of Infinity Charter Fishing, was happy to see the dredge at work Tuesday morning.

“It was good to see. I’m very happy the work is getting done,” he said. Lindenau runs his charter fishing service out of Leland, and said getting in and out of the harbor has not been a problem – though it was only a matter of time before it became one.

“It’s been one-way traffic. That is fine for this time of year. But, in two weeks, that would not work,” he said, referring to the seasonal increase in boating traffic that occurs with the July 4 weekend.

Lindenau said the only delay he has experienced with the dredge work was yesterday morning. “They were working in the harbor and we had to wait about 10 minutes before we could get out. But, the workers were really polite and it was no big deal. I’m just happy everything came together,” he said.

A combination of Leland Township funds, private donations, and anticipated funds from the National Park Service and the Grand Traverse Band of Ottawa and Chippewa Indians, provided $55,000 for the work. An e-mail from Tom O’Bryan, chief of operations for the Army Corps of Engineers’ Grand Haven office, noted the corps had the $55,000 in hand and that enabled MCM to uniformly dredge the harbor entrance and floor to 10 feet. Leland Township provided $62,000 up front, with an additional $5,000 raised by the private effort wired to the Army Corps on Monday. A total of $67,000 was raised through the joint township and private fundraising effort, with $12,000 going toward an Army Corps administration fee.
Army Corps officials left the Leland dredge permit open to allow any last-minute funds raised to be put to the dredging project. That window closed when the MCM barge started working early Tuesday morning.

Leland Township officials and private citizens were left scrambling to get the work done when they were told in February that the funding for the annual dredging project was removed from the federal 2007 budget. Cris Telgard, Leland Township Harbor Commission chairman, said the harbor commission works each year with U.S. Rep. David Camp (R-Midland) and U.S. Sens. Carl Levin and Debbie Stabenow of Michigan, both Democrats, to secure the “earmark” funding for the Leland Harbor dredge.

The funding was set in the 2007 budget, but was removed in early 2007 as part of an effort to reduce overall spending. Officials from Camp’s office have confirmed that $100,000 will be set aside in the proposed 2008 budget for the Leland dredge work.

Megan Munoz and Michael Grosvenor have worked to secure the private donations. The original idea for funding the project was that both Leland Township and the private effort would put up $25,000, leaving $50,000 available for dredging the Leland Harbor entrance. However, Corps officials said there would be a $24,000 administration fee to process the township’s application to have the work done under the Army Corps dredging permit.

Grosvenor, who owns and operates Manitou Island Transit company, Leland Township Harbormaster Russell Dzuba and other township officials were able to work out an agreement with the Army Corps to allow Leland Township to split the $24,000 fee with Arcadia Township since the Arcadia harbor was also in need of dredge work. The Leland Township Board agreed to provide the $62,000 up front.
Initially the private funds donation, including $7,000 from the National Park Service, was to total $25,000. But, the Grand Traverse Band also donated $5,000 for the work, increasing the private donation total to $30,000. Telgard said Tuesday the $37,000 township contribution will be paid through income earned on the interest-bearing accounts that hold the harbor’s revenues.

Munoz said Tuesday that the private fundraising account opened by the Fishtown Preservation Society for the dredging is still accepting donations. Funds contributed after Monday, June 11, will go to offset the $12,000 administration fee Leland Township paid to secure the permit. To make a donation to the fund, call 256-8878.

Leland businesses as well as the Leland Michigan Chamber of Commerce also provided funds for the project. Munoz said publicity generated by stories in print and online sources helped raise awareness about the issue.

“Once the word got out, people were very generous,” she said.

Telgard said the experience has been aggravating, yet reaffirmed his faith in the people who were involved in getting the project completed.

“It’s been a pretty intense effort to pull everything together in such a short period of time, and lots of people deserve thanks for making it happen. I’m grateful to all who worked to get the job done and/or contributed funds to the project,” he said. Telgard also spoke for many people when he said the following:

“I sure hope we don’t have to do this again next year, but that's something we’ll start working on very soon.”