Muskegon Lake project gets $10 million in stimulus funds
Pete Daly

MUSKEGON — A $10 million federal stimulus grant through the American Reinvestment and Recovery Act has been awarded for a major wetland and wildlife habitat restoration project on Muskegon Lake, according to Michigan Lt. Gov. John Cherry.

The grant will be administered by the federal National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration to improve aquatic habitat for fish and other species by removing more than 180,000 tons of degraded lake bottom sediment and restoring 10,000 feet of Muskegon Lake shoreline now characterized by deposits of foundry slag, broken concrete and sheet metal.

Cherry said the grant "will create or retain 125 construction and engineering jobs, help restore an important waterway in Michigan, and continue Michigan's economic recovery and transformation."

In April the Great Lakes Commission in Ann Arbor, in partnership with the West Michigan Shoreline Regional Development Commission, applied for $13.8 million from the NOAA Marine and Coastal Habitat Restoration division, after NOAA announced that it had been provided $830 million under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, and that $167 million would be spent on Marine and Coastal Habitat Restoration with the funds "expected to be awarded in 60 days."

Kathy Evans, program manager in the WMSRDC Environmental Planning department, said commercial activity along the shore of Muskegon Lake starting with the sawmills in the 1800s and then heavy industry, caused more than 25 percent of the lake's original open water and wetlands to be filled in.

The WMSRDC will manage the project. Evans said in April it might also include construction of some amenities on the shore of the lake, such as fishing piers and boardwalks.

According to Cherry, analysis by the Brookings Institute indicates that the Muskegon Lake project will also ultimately result in increased local property values, along with generating more tourism and recreation opportunities. 

Research scientists from the Annis Water Resources Institute at Grand Valley State University will help in the Muskegon Lake Restoration Project, according to a GVSU announcement. AWRI research scientist Carl Ruetz will be supervising the fish monitoring work and AWRI director Al Steinman will supervise the macrophyte and socio-economic monitoring work.