Fresh, August 20, 2024: In Wisconsin, 23 Risky Dams Are Recommended For Removal As Flooding Worries Persist

August 20, 2024

Fresh is a biweekly newsletter from Circle of Blue that unpacks the biggest international, state, and local policy news stories facing the Great Lakes region today. Sign up for Fresh: A Great Lakes Policy Briefing, straight to your inbox, every other Tuesday.

— Christian Thorsberg, Interim Fresh Editor

This Week’s Watersheds

With the blessing of New York Gov. Kathy Hochul, a trust has purchased nearly 1,000 acres of land near the St. Lawrence River and Lake Ontario with the goal of safeguarding water quality.
Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore is moving forward with a project to relocate two docks in North and South Manitou Islands, located in Lake Michigan, to improve visitor access and safety.
In Wisconsin’s Driftless Area, 23 dams with a history of failure and risk are recommended for removal.
Unusually large and foul-smelling harmful algal blooms are covering Macassa Bay, in Hamilton, Ontario.

In northern Minnesota’s lake country, “unchecked” development has disappeared nearly half of the state’s natural shorelines and has contributed to lake pollution.

“The challenge is real. People have a certain aesthetic preference. And what we’re seeing, really, is that it is common for people to want more of a suburban landscaping. It’s no longer just the cabin up at the lake, with your path down to your dock.” — Randall Doneen, a water resources section manager with the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources.

County-issued building permits along Minnesota’s lakeshores spiked during the Covid-19 pandemic, continuing what the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources has called an “alarming” trend: nearly 50 percent of the state’s natural shorelines are gone, and they continue to vanish at between 1 and 2 percent per decade.

Concerned observers have cited several factors for the decline: increasing popularity of lake living, a shift in its culture, and relaxed oversight. Resorts have been bought out and split into multiple lots for individual construction, while modest, seasonal cabins have been replaced with larger, full-time homes. Many of these new properties boast asphalt driveways, patios, and lawns, which produce runoff into the lakes.

One-fourth of Minnesota’s lakes have “high levels of phosphorus,” a single pound of which “can produce 500 pounds of algae,” Minnesota Public Radio reports.

Fresh from the Great Lakes News Collaborative

‘These are not your lands to give away’: 6 First Nations take Ontario to court over mining law — The Narwhal
Tests at Lake Michigan beach show no toxins after algal bloom enters lake — Michigan Public
PFAS Roundup: Government of Canada introduces potential plan for product-related PFAS regulation — Great Lakes Now
Michigan officials ask for federal disaster declaration for cherry industry — Bridge Michigan

Bridge Michigan, Circle of Blue, Great Lakes Now at Detroit Public Television, Michigan Public and The Narwhal work together to report on the most pressing threats to the Great Lakes region’s water. This independent journalism is supported by the Charles Stewart Mott Foundation. Find all the work here.

23 Dams in Wisconsin’s Driftless Area Might Come Down — But Residents Worry Their Removal May Lead to Additional Flooding

Two proposals submitted by the federal Natural Resources Conservation Service were approved last week by the Vernon County Board of Supervisors, recommending the decommissioning of 23 dams in the state’s Driftless Area, Wisconsin Public Radio reports.

Sunsetting 14 dams in the Coon Creek watershed would cost an estimated $4.4 million, while removing nine dams in the West Fork Kickapoo watershed would cost $7.8 million. Another dam, the currently out-of-commission Jersey Valley dam, could be replaced to the tune of $17.7 million. Nine of the dams are located in Monroe and La Crosse counties, whose boards must also vote on decommissioning.

Jersey Valley was one of five dams that failed amidst a summer deluge in 2018, along with nine others which had water overtop them. Debris and floodwaters ravaged the local community, incurring an estimated $29 million in damages.

All 23 dams recommended for decommissioning currently sit on fractured sandstone and have been deemed “vulnerable to a future failure,” WPR reports. Since 1950, precipitation in Wisconsin has increased by 20 percent.

Officials are sensitive to the concerns of those who oppose dam removal, acknowledging that they have also worked in preventing flooding. But as erratic, extreme precipitation events become more common, engineers are weighing risk with reward in a changing climate.

“Everybody is here talking about keeping these dams, and I get it. I understand when they work, they work. But when they go out, it’s 10 times worse than a regular flood,” Vernon County Board Supervisor Frank Easterday told WPR. “That’s what you have to think about. I’ve lived through it. I’ve seen the dams work fairly well. But when they go out, they’re damn scary.”

In the News

Thousand Islands Lands Trust: Nearly 1,000 acres of land in Jefferson County, New York, were acquired by the trust last week for $5.8 million, WWNY reports. The purchase, funded by state grants supplied by New York’s Water Quality Improvement Project Program, intends to safeguard natural buffers along the shores of the St. Lawrence River and Lake Ontario. The two water bodies provide drinking water for communities in both the U.S. and Canada. The trust and state aim to protect these waterways from shoreline development, degradation, and pollution.

North and South Manitou Islands: As part of a $32 million project, the existing docks at both islands within the Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore will be relocated to improve visitor safety and reliable boat access, Michigan Live reports. Shifting sands — as part of a natural process called littoral drift — and high water levels at the current docks’ locations on both islands had caused disruptive shoaling, affecting visitors’ access and ferry docking. Dredging efforts had been costly as sediment continued to accumulate. The Manitous are located in Lake Michigan, within 16 miles from Leland, Michigan.

Looking Ahead

Bayfront Blooms: A proliferation of harmful algal blooms in Macassa Bay is prompting outcry from residents of Hamilton, Ontario, who are calling on the local government to address the situation — but no quick fix, other than the placement of warning signs, is on the horizon, the Hamilton Spectator reports. No single factor explains this year’s abnormally large blooms, though on at least nine occasions since mid-July, rain and sewage overflow has entered directly into the bay and its feeder creeks. Unlike in past years, officials will not be vacuuming the blooms with sucker trucks. The technique, though producing immediate visible results, is “not necessarily the safest or most environmentally sound option,” Cari Vanderperk, the watershed management director, told the Spectator.

Upcoming Events

September 9 -10 — Great Lakes-St. Lawrence Legislative Caucus Annual Meeting — learn more

September 17 – 19 — Lakebed 2030 Conference — learn more

September 24 – 25 — Great Lakes Dredging Team 2024 Annual Meeting — learn more

Other News

Yorkville, Illinois: The city of Yorkville, Illinois — a suburb of Chicago — has approved a plan to borrow $127 million from the EPA’s Water Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act to join the local DuPage Water Commission and pipe its water from Lake Michigan, WSPY reports. Yorkville taps could be flowing with lake water as soon as 2028.

CNX Resources: The natural gas company, in partnership with the state of Pennsylvania, has announced that its fracking operation “poses no public health risks” — an assertion with which researchers and environmentalists disagree, Inside Climate News reports.

Christian Thorsberg

Christian Thorsberg is an environmental writer from Chicago. He is passionate about climate and cultural phenomena that often appear slow or invisible, and he examines these themes in his journalism, poetry, and fiction.