Muskegon Lake has been declared a Great Lakes Area of Concern by the EPA. | Unsplash
Muskegon Lake has been declared a Great Lakes Area of Concern by the EPA. | Unsplash
In an effort to undo years of environmental abuse of Muskegon Lake, the West Michigan Shoreline Regional Development Commission (WMSRDC), with funding from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, continues to clean up the lake with a $3.1 million initiative.
Sawmill debris was thrown into the lake waters during the lumber era of the 1800s, followed by years of foundry sand and concrete fill to create a dock and unnatural shoreline in the 1900s.
As a part of a years-long strategy, the WMSRDC started the project in mid-August near the site of a former Amoco tank farm where Ruddiman Creek enters the lake in the city of Muskegon’s Lakeside neighborhood.
Rep. Greg VanWoerkom
| Michigan House Republicans
The inlet of Lake Michigan was once used as a dump, and in 1985 was declared a Great Lakes Area of Concern by the Environmental Protection Agency.
“They’re looking for chunks of junk,” Kathy Evans, environmental program manager for the WMSRDC, told MLive. “Muskegon Lake holds a lot of surprises.”
The project includes restoring the wetlands and shoreline, and relocation of a recreational path away from the restored shore, Evans explained.
The project will restore 10.3 acres of wetlands and 325 linear feet of shoreline, remove 4,250 tons of unnatural fill and a 1,446-foot-long, 5-foot-tall concrete wall, and rerouting the Lakeshore Trail away from the shoreline.
The Great Lakes Material and Docks have been contracted to collect the debris, Evans said. Large debris is located by sonar and taken out by a floating barge, then the collection zone is marked by a floating boom in the lake.
“I don’t know why there’s still so much there,” Evans told MLive, adding that there are tires, metal and chunks of concrete throughout the lake bottom where the creek emerges.
The current project is among the three final phases expected to finalize being removed from the Great Lakes Area of Concern list, Evans said. The WMSRDC's goal is to be removed from the list by the end of 2021.
"Good to see another restoration project starting on Muskegon Lake," said Rep. Greg VanWoerkom (R-Norton Shores) in a Facebook post on August 24. "I have been involved in these efforts for several years and stand ready to get the final two projects done to remove the lake as an Area of Concern."
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