DNR and DEQ continuing their investigation into the opening of an Otsego County dam
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PIGEON RIVER STATE FOREST -- As crews from the Department of Natural Resources and Department of Environmental Quality continue to monitor the Pigeon River, we should be closer to learning what kind of immediate future the river faces.
This after a property owner was accused of opening their dam at the Song of the Morning Ranch near Vanderbilt. The opening led to the release of a heavy amount of sediments. That in turn clouded the river, and according to biologists, grossly reduced the oxygen level, killing hundreds of fish.“The land and water management division (of the DEQ) is currently investigating whether there has been any diminishment of an inland lake without the required permit,” said John Arevalo, district supervisor for the DEQ’s land and water management division. What Arevalo is referring to a section of the Natural Resource Environmental Protection Act of 1994 which regulates the more than 2,500 dams throughout Michigan on state and privately owned land. Any dam that is at least 6 feet in height, and within an impoundment greater than 5 acres is subject to the regulation. According to part 301 of the act, to “create, enlarge, or diminish an inland lake or stream” is prohibited without a permit.
“A dam is a structure just like a home or garage,” said Jim Pawloski, a DEQ dam safety engineer. “It has been held under Michigan law that if you own the land where a dam is then you are the owner of the dam and you are responsible for the impoundment of the water and anything in the water.” 7 & 4 News has learned that in July 1984 the property owners were taken to court after tons of silt filled the river after the dam was opened for repairs. As a result, the property owners settled and agreed to develop a dam management plan. The DNR has made several requests to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to regulate the dam, all of which have been denied. In this case the dam owners could face criminal or civil penalties.
7&4’s Greg Angel asked: “How could something like this happen so easily?”
“The dam safety statute doesn’t specifically regulate the day to day operations of the water level of the dam,” Pawloski said.Nor does the statute specify where water levels must be maintained. However, the statute does provide some regulatory acts requiring a permit to be obtained to create, enlarge, or diminish an inland lake or stream. While Pawloski says the state does conduct periodic inspections it is the responsibility of the dam owner to maintain day to day operations. Arevalo says regular inspections have become tougher to conduct because of staff cut backs. That is why, Arevalo says, they rely heavily on the general public. “In this case, citizens were quite important in reporting this to the state of Michigan,” Arevalo said. “They can be the eyes and ears, and we also have situations both in our agency and in the DNR where we have staff reductions, we don’t have the money for the staff we wish we could have, and we are not always out patrolling all of these places in the thousands of acres that are involved, whether it’s on state land or private.”
A variety of fish were found dead, including brown trout up to 19 inches in size. David Borgeson, a DNR fishery supervisor, said electro-fishing for two miles downstream from the dam did not produce enough live fish to make a full assessment of the fish population in the water. “During our initial sampling we are not finding the numbers of trout we knew were there prior to the incident,” Borgeson said. “These populations fluctuate, but they are never this low.”
