I see there is interest from commercial entrepreneurs in buying the Pucker Street Dam at Niles and resurrecting it to produce power.

This dam on the Dowagiac River at the north edge of Niles has long been a real problem child.  It was long ago retired and has been slowly aging into dilapidation. The City of Niles, which I understand owns the dam, has been understandably reluctant to put much money into maintaining it as it is of no use to them. Yet it obviously can’t be simply allowed to degrade to the point of failure.

The Michigan Department of Natural Resources has long wanted to remove it. This would allow their beloved salmon and steelhead access to nearly all of the Dowagiac River system. I’ve always opposed this as I contend that salmon and steelhead don’t mix well with trout, which much of the upper Dowagiac and its tributaries sustain. Salmon and trout put up with each other to some degree in large rivers such as the Muskegon but as the stream size diminishes the salmon crowd out the trout.

Many biologists argue this but I’ve seen it over and over again. As a game warden in the Pacific Northwest I was intimately familiar with all the streams in my area and their residents. Every stream that the salmon ran up was devoid or nearly so of resident trout.

Conversely, every stream that didn’t get salmon runs teemed with trout. We see this here in Michigan, too. I consider the upper Manistee River one of Michigan’s best trout streams. Dams block the salmon from reaching the upper river, however, the lower section which receives huge runs of salmon and steelhead is much less productive.

The same holds for the Au Sable, Boardman and just about every other tributary to the Great Lakes, including the Dowagiac River. The section below the dam was never dredged and despite infinitely better trout habitat the resident trout population down there where the salmon run is marginal.

The Dowagiac River is one of the few streams in southern Michigan supplied largely by groundwater, meaning it maintains stable, cool temperatures year around which is essential for trout. Due to siltation there is very little spawning habitat in the main river above the dam, but many of its tributaries fulfill this role admirably. The DNR also stocks it every year with brown trout fingerlings.  Between stocking and modest natural reproduction, the upper Dowagiac River has a pretty decent population of brown trout. In addition, the headwaters of the river and its tributaries up there are one of the last holdouts in southwest Michigan for native brook trout.

Without the Pucker Street dam, salmon and steelhead would inundate the entire river system except for one tributary, Dowagiac Creek (not river). This would be disastrous for the trout populations. Salmon spawn in the fall. Unfortunately, so do brown and brook trout. Doubly unfortunate, they all have pretty much the same requirements for gravel size, water depth and flow for spawning. Who do you think is going to win there, a 20-pound salmon or a 14-inch trout? Further, the group called MEANDERS has sunk millions of dollars into creating trout habitat above the dam which would all be for naught (note – I don’t know its position on this).

Salmon and steelhead bring other issues along with them, too. They are popular, and hordes of fishermen descend upon every stream they occupy. The Dowagiac River has very little public access and the tributaries have almost none. Much of the main river is unwadeable and there’s not much room for many of boats. There’s something about big fish that seems to bring out the worst in many otherwise decent folks. Trespassing, litter and game law violations such as spearing, snagging and out of season fishing would certainly become issues as they have everywhere else salmon and steelhead appear.

I fervently hope all the involved powers that be welcome the folks looking to purchase the dam with open arms. In fact, the dam has been nothing but a thorn in everyone’s side for decades. Why get greedy now? Just give them the dam thing.

Carpe diem.

Larry Lyons writes a weekly outdoor column for Leader Publications.
He can be reached at larrylyons@verizon.net.