“This is a ticking time bomb,” said Marc Gaden, spokesperson for the Great Lakes Fishery Commission, a U.S-Canadian fishery management entity that is leading the project and is a party to the lawsuit. “The city needs to know, one way or another, how to proceed.”
FishPass is the capstone to a decades-long effort to restore fish habitat on the Boardman River, which flows through Traverse City. After three dam removals upstream, city leaders had planned to replace the last remaining dam on the Boardman an old mill dam in downtown Traverse City with a new barrier.
That barrier would include a research facility where scientists would test technology designed to allow some fish species to pass upstream beyond the dam, while locking others downstream.
A judge ruled Thursday that the $19.3 million project, which would allow scientists to test technology that allows some fish to pass through a dam on the Boardman River while others are kept out, can’t proceed without voters’ consent.
The Union Street Dam is the last impediment to a free-flowing Boardman River. Downstream of the dam is a popular fishing spot.
Credit Lexi Krupp / IPR News
A five-foot-long female sturgeon was spotted this week in the Boardman River in Traverse City. Fishery experts say there s ideal spawning habitat for the species upstream, but the large fish can’t get there there’s a dam in the way.
The proposed FishPass project at the Union Street Dam could allow native fish like sturgeon to swim up the Boardman River, while keeping invasives at bay, says Marc Gaden, from the Great Lakes Fishery Commission.
9 & 10 News
April 29, 2021
It’s not quite as mythical or legendary as the Loch Ness Monster, but seeing a sturgeon in Traverse City’s Boardman River is still a pretty rare event.
But that’s exactly what’s happened – on several occasions this week. Social media has been buzzing with reported sturgeon sightings, and one woman caught it on camera.
Leah McCallum walks along the Boardman going to and from work, and says she just looked down one day and saw the giant fish. “I walk to work all the time. I cross that bridge, I’ll cross this bridge and peek in the water. And – right place at the right time. It was – for lack of a better word – almost kind of spiritual. I’ve never seen a living thing in freshwater that large. It almost had a purplish glow to it. It was as long as I am tall, moved like a serpent, I would guess. It was stunning. It was a beautiful thing to see and I couldn’t believe it was right here in this river that I pass every day.”
9 & 10 News
Judge Rules TC FishPass Must Go to a Vote; Project Stopped
“I’m so happy we saved a city park, which is what this was all about. “ - Rick Buckhalter
April 29, 2021
The fate of the FishPass project is decided – and now the city of Traverse City has a decision to make.
Thursday a judge took up the issue of whether the issue must go to voters, or whether the city can move forward with plans at Union Street Dam Park. Construction was stopped just days before it was due to start in January with city resident Rick Buckhalter’s move to sue the city.