Conservators Making Significant Progress on River Raisin Recovery Efforts
Crews are working to remove “area of concern” designation on the River Raisin.
The US Environmental Protection Agency is removing a couple of ecological issues from the River Raisin thanks to recent recovery efforts. Conservators have restored the waterway’s ability to support healthy fish and wildlife populations. Melanie Foose is an Area of Concern Coordinator for the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality. She says, for example, crews worked to create bypasses around decades-old dams in the river.
“Great Lakes fish could only get so far. Right now there were eight dam projects that were done within the river and fish could only get… you know not even a mile up, and now 23 miles are open.”
-Melanie Foose, Michigan DEQ
Foose says the River Raisin was first identified as an area of concern in the 1980’s as a result of industrial pollution. She says workers plan to begin a sediment remediation project on the waterway within the next year.
