Clinton River Cuttoff BAS Closed

[djkimmel]

Apparently, though I was told several times they weren't closing from Lansing, the local MDNR has closed the Clinton River Cutoff BAS site (Crocker, Spillway, whatever you want to call it...) Saturday. I'm guessing more of that muck/organic matter blew into the ramp again.

There were 2 boat launch slips open before but a friend told me people were getting stuck on Friday. I will try to find out what the plan is to get this important boat ramp back open! What a mess... bad timing for Lake St. Clair public access.

[dartag]

Sounds like it is the best thing to close it.  Last year it was bad.  The outside ramps had mud to the surface.   About the only thing they could do is bring in a sand dredge and clean the whole bay out.   Harley or Selfrige are good places.  Metro Beach is ok but since the short cut is not usable due to high water you have a 1 mile idle to get to the lake.  At 9 mile In state boaters pay 10.00 15.00 for out of state.   

I am done going there for the year.  Inland lake fishing for me the rest of the year.

[djkimmel]

Right there is the problem... access critically effects participation and opportunity. It does need to be fixed. I'll try to find some options and solutions, and provide information if we are all able to help.

[Waterfoul]

The only way they can fix this is with a sea wall between the ramp and open water.  All the sediment from the river simply blows around the corner and into the ramp.  Unless they build something to stop that from happening, they can dredge all they want and it will simply fill back in.

[Hollada]

Need to stop the sewage dumping.   I don't think those "sediments" are just naturally decomposing lake weeds.

[TimH]

Need to stop the sewage dumping.   I don't think those "sediments" are just naturally decomposing lake weeds.

BINGO!  This is the main thing that needs to happen.  I think we are being fed a line of bull about how they aren't having to discharge sewage into the river at the site of the collapsed sewer. 

[Roy Randolph]

I talked to a DNR person last week at the Harley Launch

She said that they may shut down the Crocker launch because they don't want to dreg anymore till after the spawn – Seems to be the case

She also said that they will be making a big announcement sometime in June regarding the launch

[djkimmel]

One of the problems with this situation is the conflicting and confusing information various people seem to think they have regarding the ramp. I talked to one of the MDNR persons at Harley the day before they closed the ramp and he told me the ramp was staying open... so I can't put much faith anymore in anything they say if it isn't the local Parks and Recreation Division boss?

Not wanting to dredge during 'the spawn' has not come up once in all these discussions? I doubt anything of consequence spawns very close to that ramp considering it is all muck/silt. There are some largemouth bass that spawn right along the marina wall but that shouldn't affect any of the dredging they need to do for the boat ramp. They are well separated, and the silt layer is thin enough there for bass to fan down to the sandy bottom.

Meanwhile, the Parks and Recreation Division Chief Ron Olson was apparently only recently made aware of the situation and says he is working with Lansing and local staff to get things taken care of as soon as possible. I also talked to MDNR Director Keith Creagh Thursday night and he said he was also made aware of the situation and that they will work to resolve to issues as soon as possible.

Chief Olson told me they do have to get additional permits for dredging since they need to go beyond the old permit which only allowed dredging what they could reach with equipment sitting on the actual boat ramp. Obviously to limited for the present situation as that whole end of the bay is full of silt/muck/debris to either side of the ramp.

As far as a more long-term solution, they need to have an engineering study done before they can/will do anything more involved and expensive. They have to do this based on the rules and/or regulations they have to follow, and it isn't that bad an idea. It should hopefully lead to a better and more permanent solution for the ramp instead of possibly trying several different and escalating solutions just to do something about it.

Lets hope they hire a good firm that does a really good job. Regardless of what exactly is piling up there, it is clearly a problem that needs a good solution. We need more access to St. Clair, not less. I was a little disappointed that they did not decide to pursue purchasing the Gino's location as a possible new public access. I don't know if and when anything further south might ever come available.

Placing a break wall may be more complicated than it appears considering you have current coming down the lake from the river channels, current coming around the marinas from the south from the Clinton River Cutoff channel (you can actually see this on satellite images) and water being pushed in by east winds. That's a lot to deal with.

[Hollada]

Will there be any analysis of the "silt/muck" to assess how much is actually human waste?   Would be interesting to know if it's mainly just plant matter or something else.

[Roy Randolph]

I was just trying to pass on what I heard but here we go

"One of the problems with this situation is" CEO's, Directors and Chiefs are all politicians at hart and whenever they know they are going to be quoted to the people their decisions directly affect they inevitably obfuscate

But "Various People Seem to think" they have heard the gospel from them

Sometimes it is the working stiff from the local level that will be willing to offer the truth

And since they closed the site within 3 days of her statement I would believe her over some suit in Lansing any day

As for the spawn it is well on its way and as we have seen in the past any dredging causes a lot of runoff that can cover a vast section of the lake including most or all of the mile road beds down current not just the immediate area

Not to mention considering all of the dumping that has happened in the recent past we still don't know what is in all this so called "Silt" and it could prove harmful to the eggs if they get covered in it

So why take that chance?

Seems to me if the state wanted a permit to dredge out in the bay they would have one in a day or two

Remind me who issues the permits? Oh yea "The State"

But if they were afraid of what's in the "Silt" and what it might do if they do dredge permitting would be a great excuse to avoid the question coming to light

I'm curious to see if there will be a big announcement in June as she suggested and what that might be

[djkimmel]

Will there be any analysis of the "silt/muck" to assess how much is actually human waste?   Would be interesting to know if it's mainly just plant matter or something else.

I don't know if they will do anything about that or not. I imagine part of the permit issued usually involves proper disposal of the spoils. I don't recall if that means any testing has to be done normally.

Actually, thinking about it, I think soil testing results have to be submitted as part of the permit request process? Not sure if this is all cases for all requests. This is more complicated because it is considered coastal waters, not inland lakes and streams.

[djkimmel]

Roy, I wasn't disparaging you personally. I've been told many things by many people, and most of it has been inaccurate. As far as believing the 'locals' over Lansing, it was a 'local' at the same place the person you talked to works who told me on Friday the ramp wasn't closing. So much for locals being a better source than any other source.

In the end, they have to answer to Lansing anyways and since it appears they weren't involving Lansing very much early on in this whole mess of an issue, that might explain now why even more people are confused about what will or won't happen, and what can or can't happen.

One other thing for clarification - because Lake St. Clair is a 'coastal water' it requires a joint permit from the MDEQ and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. Coastal waters are under the jurisdiction of the federal government under the Clean Water Act.

[Roy Randolph]

Dan,

You know me I always think you're out to get me 

You are correct this is a confusing mess at this time and I know you will continue to stay on top of it

Seems like a clear case of the right hand not knowing what the left hand is doing

Doesn't put the MDNR in a good light

It has already caused a lot of problems and resentment and the longer they wait to tell us what's going on not to mention tell us a consistent story it not going to help their credibility

I didn't even consider the feds maybe involved in this issue

I assume/hope they require a breakdown of what this material is so it can be handled properly

This ramp has always had issues with muck/silt but this year is clearly something different and considering other than there being less ice this past winter the only other thing I can think of has been all the dumping/sewage overflow that we have been hearing about 

And if that's the case the proper disposal of this shiiiiiiiiiiistuff will case major delays in any effort to reopen this site

[Hollada]

I'm sticking with July 4 as my over/ under date and I'm betting the over.