Efforts pushing to rewild Northport Creek, also known as the Mill Pond, are ongoing as residents from local groups like the Leelanau Forum work to continue to educate the public regarding the benefits of doing so.
Leelanau Forum, a nonprofit, is dedicated to promoting “the preservation of land and natural resources of Northport Village and the surrounding area through effective planning, managed growth, and informed citizenry.”
The group published a full page ad, endorsed by the Adams Chapter of Trout Unlimited, two times in the Leelanau Enterprise in the past month highlighting the message at the top of the design to “rewild Northport Creek!” The ad also included information about the creek itself, including noting how it is designated as a Michigan Type 1 Trout Stream, but is severely impaired, and how the “crumbling mill pond dam traps 2,600 cubic yards of stream sediment in 13 years, warms cold spring water, and blocks fish passage.”
“It’s time to remove the deteriorating, obsolete 1854 dam and log pond that’s choking our trout stream while being a liability to the taxpayer. Please be aware of this opportunity for our village leaders to apply for creek restoration funding $ NOW before they’re gone!” part of the ad stated.
David Brigham, Leelanau Forum board member and environmentalist, said the initiative for restoring a natural resource like the creek is not unique to Northport, but rather, is a state-wide one. There’s been an ongoing initiative across the country to remove obsolete dams, and Brigham said because of the mission of their nonprofit, raising awareness about re-wilding the dam was an obvious subject to highlight that needs to be addressed.
“We have accumulated over a good number of years a lot of documentation and facts about the benefits of restoring streams and rivers and removing dams. The ad is a tool to gain greater public awareness… The facts are the facts and they support the benefit of removing the dam,” Brigham said. “This issue is not about us, it’s about a dedicated cold water trout stream that’s greatly impaired by that obsolete dam, and subsequent impairments are the loss of habitat and diminished water quality… Hopefully this educational awareness will lead the village to do the right thing.”
Northport Dam, built in 1935, is located on Northport Creek, upstream of the West 3rd St. culvert that is owned and operated by the Village of Northport. The dam, which consists of a stop log bay on the crest, also has a wooden boardwalk structure that spans the dam and allows access to the stop logs. It is considered “unregulated” by EGLE standards, as it does not meet the dual criteria of being more than six feet in height and having an impoundment greater than five acres at design storm level.
The Village’s Department of Public Works monitors the level of the pond and periodically removes stop logs based on the visual observations of high-water surface elevation and reportedly coordinates sediment dredging operations within the impoundment every 10-15 years to remove accumulated sediment. The pond itself is used for recreational activities for residents and is stocked with fish annually for a small fishing tournament, however, the pond does not maintain a stable fish population throughout other times of the year.
Brigham said highlighting Brook Trout population was another issue they wanted to address in the ad. Noting the recent Boardman River Restoration Project and removal of the dams in Grand Traverse County was something Brigham has followed closely, adding how the Brook Trout population doubled after the stream was restored. In the case of removing the dam at Northport Creek, the Leelanau Forum states that the action would help restore essential trout and aquatic organisms’ habitat, improve water quality and reduce E. coli bacteria caused by pond waterfowl feces, and would qualify the project for state and federal funding.
“It’s an educational challenge. As much as we live in this beautiful land here and everyone appreciates and seemingly respects it, it’s surprising how little people understand about cold water trout streams and the wonderful ecology there,” Brigham said. “If there was ever a metaphor for life, it would be a bubbling creek. We thought with all this news about Book Trout in the media, we’ll step up, so that’s also what sort of inspired this.”
According to the Watershed Center Grand Traverse Bay, Northport Creek is one of the largest small tributaries that drain directly into Grand Traverse Bay, and is designated as a coldwater trout stream by the Michigan Department of Natural Resources. In a 2020 Integrated Report, also known as the state’s impaired water list, it was also noted that Belanger’s Creek — Frontal Grand Traverse Bay watershed contains Northport Creek, and that it was “impaired due to elevated levels of E. coli bacteria and therefore is not meeting the total body contact designated use.”
Northport resident and village council member Will Harper said the village cannot continue the financial burden of maintaining the dam. Ever since he ran for village council over seven years ago, Harper said he’s always looked at the Mill Pond as “the third rail in Northport politics,” adding that “anyone who stands up and says they are in favor of draining or re-wilding won’t get elected dog catcher in this town.”
“What is less clear is that if the Village was to accept the money to ‘re-wild’ the stream, who would pay for the eventual silt removal and dredging that would inevitably be required in the marina if the dam was removed? It’s a ‘pay now or pay later’ situation, and the village cannot afford either,” he said.
When considering how to handle the current state of the creek, Harper said he’d like to see the pond and dam donated to Leelanau Township, explaining how they have the financial resources to “maintain the status quo.”
“Most of the people I hear from in favor of keeping the dam live outside the village, but in the township,” Harper said. “It is a township asset, they should take it over, and I feel like they should keep it because if they don’t, we will have a major dredge in the marina in a short while like we had a few years ago that destroyed Haserot Park in such a way it is just now recovering. I don’t see a winning solution other than to have the township take over the pond and dam.”
GEI Consultants recommendations
Dan DeVaun, GEI Consultants Inc. senior project manager who conducted a visual inspection of the Northport Dam several years ago for the village, said in a report from June 2023 that the dam remains in poor condition, and that a dam safety deficiency is recognized “for loading conditions that may realistically occur.” It was ultimately not recommended to maintain the structure long term in the current configuration without spillway capacity improvements. Another recommendation was made to remove stop logs and maintain the pool at a lower elevation to minimize risk of overtopping during spring snow melt and significant rain events.
In addition, the inspection found that the concrete surrounding the stop log slots is deteriorated and in poor condition, and recommended that the distressed concrete be repaired to prevent seepage around the existing stop logs.
“Given the age of the (dam) structure, and the progression of concrete deterioration, it is recommended that the village plan for the replacement or removal of the structure as expediently as possible, but not longer than five years,” the GEI Consultants inspection report stated.
In the GEI Consultants dam inspection and feasibility study from July 2023, cost estimates were provided to the village outlining various proposed project components. The project cost for dam replacement with downstream culvert replacement in 2023 was $910,750, whereas the cost for dam removal and stream restoration with downstream culvert replacement came out to a lower priced estimate of $821,250.
“It’s a huge liability, what sense does it make to spend that kind of money dredging a pond that’s causing the degradation of this natural resource,” Brigham said. “They’ve got all the incentives to take it out, but there’s no incentive to keep it, and there’s funding incentives to remove dams across the country…There are plenty of people in this community that would intellectually understand why it should be removed and that it is a liability to the taxpayer. The fact that the village invested $25,000 of taxpayer money to study and provide a dam inspection that revealed the cost and benefits of removing the dam — they’ve got that in their toolkit.”
Along with the recommendations laid out by GEI, funding opportunities were highlighted for the village to pursue going forward. Although funding is limited for replacement of the dam, there are potential funding sources for the removal of the dam, some of which included utilizing “Nonpoint Source Pollution Control Grants (Clean Water Act Section 319), DNR Fisheries Habitat Grant Program, the national Fish Passage Program, and others.” Opportunities to collaborate with local partners like the Grand Traverse Band of Ottawa and Chippewa Indians, Conservation Resource Alliance, and The Watershed Center were all noted as partners that have experience pursuing and managing grants for stream restoration projects.
The Village of Northport is currently not working on efforts to remove the dam, however, at its regular meeting on Oct. 16, did approve an engineering services proposal for pond drawdown via an EGLE permit. The drawdown itself is intended to allow inspection and repair of the dam’s water control structure and manage sediment in the impounded area upstream of the dam.
