Healing the Bear
Engineering Alternatives for the Lake Street Dam
"It is worthy of remark that the creek in this township, after flowing through the swamp, passes over a limestone bed between high bands, and rushes like a mountain torrent into the lake, affording the very finest of mill sites.” (1840 survey, The Petoskey Record, 1910)
An engineering alternatives study for the Lake Street Dam, the lowermost barrier on the Bear River, is underway. With grant support from the Great Lakes Fishery Trust, Tip of the Mitt Watershed Council has enlisted OHM Advisors to conduct the study on behalf of the City of Petoskey, who owns the dam and is also contributing toward the study.
The existing structure was cast-in-place using concrete in 1917. A wooden dam preceded it first in 1881, and rebuilt in 1885 after it washed away. The goal of the study is to provide the City with critical information that will help direct the management of the dam, while taking into account stream health, the Bear River and Little Traverse Bay fisheries, safety, cost, and recreational opportunities. A 2018 inspection report produced by OHM Advisors indicated that while no structural deficiencies were identified through visual observation, monitoring, maintenance, and further review of the dam and its impact on the Bear River is warranted.
Read the story map to learn additional information and view historical and modern pictures of the river.
You can also view the first open house video below:
Over the winter, OHM Advisors conducted the study, which considered the impacts to the River and Bay under the following scenarios: complete dam removal, partial dam removal, modification of the dam, and no action.
For more information on the study, refer to the June 23, 2020 recorded Zoom meeting.
Topic: Healing the Bear: Engineering Alternatives for the Lake Street Dam
We welcome your input regarding the engineering alternatives for the Lake St. dam. Please use the button below. Comments will be accepted until July 10. Thank you!
No decisions regarding the dam will be made as a result of the study. The City will, however, use the information gained through the study to inform future management of the dam.
Thank you for your interest in Healing the Bear!
Funding for this project has been provided by the Great Lakes Fisheries Trust (GLFT) .
The Great Lakes Fishery Trust (GLFT) was created in May 1996 as a means of compensating the residents of Michigan for the lost use and enjoyment of the fishery resources of Lake Michigan caused by the operation of the Ludington Pumped Storage Plant (LPSP), located in Ludington, Michigan. The settlement agreement provided for the creation of the Great Lakes Fishery Trust, which is governed by a board of trustees and by a scientific advisory team. The GLFT pursues its mission and vision through investments in three broad categories: Access to the Great Lakes Fishery, Ecosystem Health and Sustainable Fish Populations, and Great Lakes Stewardship.
The Little Traverse Bay and Bear River Watersheds
Bear River Watershed Map
As part of the Little Traverse Bay Watershed, the Bear River originates from Walloon Lake and flows 14.5 miles in a northerly direction to its confluence with the Bay in Petoskey. The Bear River is the largest tributary to Little Traverse Bay. Major tributaries of the River include Hay Marsh Creek, a warm-water tributary draining extensive wetlands in the southern headwaters, and Spring Brook, a cold-water tributary draining the headwaters to the southeast.
The Bay is a hugely popular destination for anglers and other recreation enthusiasts. The lower section of the River is largely undeveloped as it flows through the City of Petoskey’s 36-acre Bear River Recreation Area. The last ¼ mile includes a whitewater course, the only one of its kind in the Lower Peninsula. Rustic and improved trails, for non-motorized use only, follow the River and include designated access points for anglers, paddlers, and others.
Odawa and the Bear River
The Bear River flows through the heart of the Little Traverse Bay Bands of Odawa Indian’s reservation. The Odawa have spiritual, economical, and historical connections to the River.
Photo from Little Traverse Bay Bands of Odawa Indians (1909)
History of the Bear River
The Bear River has played an important role in the Little Traverse Bay Watershed’s history. The river once generated local wealth by providing fish and game, as well as transportation for people and logs, and power to grind grain and turn saws. An 1840 survey described it as a creek that “rushes like a mountain torrent into the lake, affording the finest of mill sites” according to a 1910 article in The Petoskey Record. Before 1900, seven dams were built on the river, capitalizing on the river’s power. After decades of intense use, efforts to heal the Bear have helped to restore the River’s ecology, hydrology, water quality, and fishery.
DAMS
Photo from the Library of Congress Sanborn Fire Maps, (1910)
Before dams, according to a 1910 article in The Petoskey Record, surveyors in 1840 wrote “It is worthy of remark that the creek in this township, after flowing through the swamp, passes over a limestone bed between high bands, and rushes like a mountain torrent into the lake, affording the very finest of mill sites.”
Walloon Lake Dam
Built in 1884 by W.L. McManus, the dam was originally a removable log dam. Logs were removed periodically to float logs from the lake to his mill. The same year, lake residents sued McManus for constantly changing the lake level to suit his needs; they won, but the appropriate lake level was disputed in courts until 1917, when the U.S. District Court in Grand Rapids, MI decreed the south side of the dam be raised to the natural rim of the lake. In 1963, Walloon Lake Association installed a fish grate (screen) on top of the dam to keep trout and other fish species in the lake and prohibit fish from the river from entering the lake.
Walloon Lake Dam 1905
Photo from Little Traverse Historical Society
McManus Dam
The McManus Dam was constructed by Andrew Porter in 1855 who built a grist mill to grind corn and wheat grown by the Odawa and nearby Mission Farm. It was later used as a saw mill by John Kilborn starting in 1875 and W.L. McManus by 1876. It was demolished in 1973.
Photo from Little Traverse Historical Society
Bear River Dam Map
Mitchell Dam
The Mitchell Dam was first constructed by W.L. Porter in 1862 and used for a saw and grist mill by various owners until it became the Petoskey Wood Pulp Company in 1887 and later the Petoskey Fibre Paper Company in 1899. Fires in 1882 1886, 1916, and 1923 destroyed the mills around the dams. It was made in a hydroelectric dam by the City in 1932 and was removed in 1991.
Photo from Little Traverse Historical Society
Gardner-Hankey Dam
The Hankey Dam was built in 1879 by John Gardner for a grist mill which he sold to Christopher Hankey in 1880. He rebuilt the dam in 1881, and it washed out in 1913 and again in 1951. It was removed in 1967.
Photo from Little Traverse Historical Society (1890)
Bear River Dam Map
Penstock Dam: The Gardner-Hankey Dam is in the background
The Penstock Dam was first built by Shaw and McMillian in 1875. It was used by Calvin Forbes to power a broom handle factory from 1879 until it burned in 1883. Later it was rebuilt into the Rose-Edison dam and powerhouse in 1886 and even later the City of Petoskey Electric Light Works (Penstock Dam) in 1898. It was the first plant to supply Petoskey with both arc and incandescent light, beginning at the corner of Lake and Howard and Michigan and Petoskey Streets. The dam broke in 1959 under the strain of spring flows. It was removed in 1968.
Photo from Little Traverse Historical Society
Bear River Dam Map
Lake St. Dam
The Lake Street Dam was built out of wood as a water works in 1881, holding 1400 barrels of water in its reservoir. It was remade with concrete in 1904, which is what remains today. At one time it had a powerhouse and turbines to generate power. The dam currently has a 6-foot concrete head and acts as a low-head sea lamprey barrier. A concrete sill drops the river an additional 11-feet over a 50-foot long flume and through a heavily rock rip-rapped valley before the river enters Little Traverse Bay.
Photo from Little Traverse Historical Society (1890)
Photo from Little Traverse Historical Society (1890)
Blood Brother's Dam
There was also another dam at the mouth of the river before the mouth was straightened due to the railroad. It was built in 1875 by Lovelace Blayney and used as saw mill. The Blood Brothers owned it from 1878-1885, but it was removed in 1891 to accommodate a bridge for the railroad and the mouth has been different ever since.
(Petoskey Record, Jan 12, 1910)
A report from W.R. Coats, an engineer from Grand Rapids, suggested one way to improve the Bear River was to put the river in a subterranean concrete channel from Mitchell St. to Lake Michigan:“… the complex and perishable iron bridge on Mitchell street would be replaced with an imperishable concrete structure, and pass the river now going from the power plant to the bay subterraneous, thus dispensing with the Lake street bridge, and the old river channel filled up smooth, the entire space from Mitchell street to the bay will be available for a beautiful park, or other uses, at greatly enhanced value; while above Mitchell street, to south city limits, the now unsightly river gorge will be converted into an ideally beautiful interurban lake, which would always prove an attractive beauty spot for Petoskey, and all this beauty, and economic efficiency, will prove a clear net gain for your people all the time, for the material gain will far more than offset the city’s part of the improvement cost.
Bear River Fisheries
1946 newspaper article called the river “a stream right in the heart of town where fish could be caught without a long drive or walk to some isolated spot” and it still remains so today. Different weirs have been built and fish stocked over the years with varying degrees of success.
The Bear River has different habitat for different species of fish.
Bear River Stream Map
Near Walloon Lake, it is a cold water trout stream.
Bear River - Temp Zones
Bear River Stream Map
The Middle of the Bear River, warms up in the middle to support smallmouth bass.
Bear River Stream Map
Closer to the mouth, the river can be used by fish that like both warm and cold water.
The River is known for its salmon, steelhead, and brown trout runs. Chinook salmon, coho salmon, steelhead salmon, and brown trout naturally reproduce in the river. While these fish can jump the Lake Street Dam to enter the river and complete their life cycle, others cannot. Prey fish like long-nose suckers, white-nose suckers, and minnows can’t jump the dam, thus they cannot use the River for habitat. Sea lamprey also cannot enter the Bear River because of a lip on the Dam. Currently the US Fish and Wildlife Service does bi-annual surveys for sea lamprey on the River.
Refer to Michigan Department of Natural Resources for Fish Species Descriptions
At the present, DNR Fisheries Division stocks the lower Bear River and Petoskey Harbor with both brown trout and steelhead (rainbow trout). If the upper Bear River watershed was more accessible for these two stocked species, as well as other non-stocked species, it is highly likely that the production of these fish through natural reproduction would improve significantly. This would in turn create broader angling opportunities in the Bear River, Petoskey Harbor, and Little Traverse Bay.
Fish Stocking Location
Bear River Efforts Today
Healing the Bear
Restoration and recreation are now prevalent on the Bear River, taking the place of manufacturing and industry. Recent major efforts include the annual Healing the Bear River Cleanup (since 2004) and the Petoskey Whitewater Park.
In 2019, the Bear River Cleanup is celebrating its 15th year of cleaning up the Bear River and its surrounding area. In 2018, 150 people participated.
Picture from the Tip of the Mitt Watershed Council.
Bear River Cleanup - 2013
The 1.5-mile-long Bear River Valley Recreation Area, which splits Petoskey down the middle, is surrounded by a 36-acre park with steep terrain, unpaved and paved trails, boardwalks, and forest. You can bike, hike, fish, picnic, nature watch and go whitewater rafting or kayaking in the Whitewater Park on the Bear River. The Recreation Area idea began in the 1970s and was completed in 2011.
Petoskey Whitewater Park is a “rockin’ and rollin’ ride along the Bear River.” A number of features were added to the river including large boulders, roll overs, ledges, logs, and tight squeezes to give the river a rapids classification of 2.5 on a scale of 1 to 6. During a rainy period, the river can reach 3-4 class rapids.
Health of the Bear River
Three entities monitor the Bear River for water quality: Tip of the Mitt Watershed Council, the Little Traverse Bay Bands of Odawa Indians (since 2000), and the State of Michigan. Each one has a variable monitoring schedule, but they use similar methods to collect data. Collectively, the dataset for the Bear River shows it’s safe for swimming and fishing, but it is negatively impacted by stormwater and other nonpoint source pollutants.
Story Map Series
An engineering alternatives study for the lowermost barrier on the Bear River, the largest tributary to Little Traverse Bay, will be completed. Potential alternatives for the Lake Street dam include complete or partial removal, modification, or no change. Project partners will conduct community engagement efforts to solicit support and highlight the connection between the Great Lakes Fishery and coastal tributaries. The study will serve as the basis for prioritizing the future management of the dam.
Why is this being considered?
Lake Street Dam
The dam was last inspected on June 29, 2018 and received a “fair” rating. Included in the report were recommendations to increase armoring of the dam, repair cracks and erosion, and record observations periodically. These findings, along with the community’s interest to “Heal the Bear” and desire to further support the Great Lakes fishery, have prompted the prioritization of this project. The engineering alternatives study will provide the City with critical information that will help direct the management of this structure and, more importantly, the future of the Bear River and Little Traverse Bay fisheries.
If the Lake Street Dam were to be removed, or even modified to include a higher level of fish passage, a multitude of native and desired fish species would benefit greatly. In its current form, the Bear River receives migratory runs of brown trout, coho salmon, Chinook salmon, and steelhead. When these species are able to get above the dam, either in the wake of a high-water event or when anglers physically pass them over, we have documented natural reproduction of all four species. Little Traverse Bay and the Petoskey Harbor are also host to fish that stage, and if the river was passable these fish would potentially migrate upstream. These species include lake trout, lake sturgeon, smallmouth bass, white sucker, longnose sucker, whitefish, cisco, and channel catfish- all native species which do not possess jumping capabilities. If the upper Bear River watershed was more accessible for these two stocked species, as well as other non-stocked species, it is highly likely that the production of these fish through natural reproduction would improve significantly. This would in turn create broader angling opportunities in the Bear River, Petoskey Harbor, and Little Traverse Bay.
Environmental Impacts Include:
- Block or inhibit upstream and downstream fish passage
- Increase water temperatures
- Decrease water oxygen levels
- Obstruct the movement of sediment, woody debris and nutrients
- Alter timing and variation of river flows
- Block or slow river flows
We are asking for your input! Please click button below.
Thank you to the Little Traverse Historical Society & History Museum for their assistance.
Project Team
Disclaimer: We have built this Story Map with information that was available and attempted to display information correctly. There may be discrepancies in the data. If you feel that the data is incorrect, please send an email at larry.lacross@ohm-advisors.com.
