By Staff
The next phase of the meander restoration project undertaken by Meeting Ecological and Agricultural Needs within the Dowagiac River System (MEANDRS) and the Michigan Department of Natural Resources (DNR) will soon be underway.
The equipment crew is now at Dodd Park in Pokagon Township doing some preparatory work and moving rocks and other materials around to where they might be needed next.
Jay Wesley and Doug Hall of the DNR will be converting one of the riffle structures, a J-hook, into a modified cross-vane riffle structure and beefing up the foundation under the current cross-vane, according to MEANDRS Vice President Barbara Cook.
Plans are underway to install the inner-park bridge abutment before the downstream end of the meander channel is opened.
Currently, a road connects the train portion of the park with the inner park.
The inner park will become an island once the water from the Dowagiac River is diverted into the old meander channel dredged earlier this year.
If the bridge abutment is not installed this fall, cement would need to be pumped across the river for the structures, considerably increasing costs.
Several 50-foot beams have been made available to MEANDRS, but they have to be moved all the way from the Upper Peninsula.
The span of the bridge will be abut 70 feet, so the beams need to be cut and welded before installation.
If all goes well, the bridge will be completed next spring when a second abutment, plantings and railings will enable visitors and equipment to cross.
Money from the Phillips family fund will be used for the bridge.
A portion of the impoundment area has been removed and the ground leveled.
The soil from this area will be used to fill the dredged channel of the river once the water has been diverted into the old meander and the diversionary structure completed.
In June the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) asked MEANDRS to procure a final set of plans signed by a registered engineer.
The new plans were developed by the DNR and Merritt Engineering, reviewed by the DEQ and approved.
The plans and specifications were deemed adequate to receive approval of payment of grant funds.
In 1999, the project was funded and $209,200 in Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) funds were allocated.
The project has been under the supervision of the DEQ.
The contracting agency for this MEANDRS project has been the Cass County Conservation District in Cassopolis.
Goal of the MEANDRS project is to improve the ecological function of the river proper.
The approved design will restore a portion of the original stream channel and reconnect the river to the flood plain, thereby reducing the flashiness of the stream.
No date has been projected for the actual diversion of the river into the old meander channel, but everyone connected with the project hopes this will be done by the end of October.
Once the bridge abutment is installed and all materials are staged for the next phase of the project, the downstream portion of the meander will be opened.
The next major undertaking will be diverting the flow of the Dowagiac River into the original meander and building a permanent diversionary structure using soil, rocks, coconut fiber and concrete blocks weighing 3,200 pounds each.
The height of the diversionary structure will allow water exceeding a two-year flood stage to flow onto an adjacent flood plain and thereby lessen the pressure on the diversionary structure and the riffle structures.
Late summer rains raised the water level in the river and created lots of mud with which construction crews have had to contend.