As waters recede across northern Michigan waterways from last week’s historic flooding, local leaders, advocates and experts are renewing calls to bolster safety regulations, upgrade or remove some of the state’s aging dams.
This story is made possible through a partnership between Interlochen Public Radio and Grist, a nonprofit environmental media organization.
The record-high rainfall for some parts of northern Michigan — combined with melt from March’s above-average snow — pushed infrastructure to the brink across the region in Cheboygan, Bellaire and other cities.
For some, the flooding was a reminder of our vulnerabilities in the face of extreme weather, which is expected to worsen as our climate continues to shift.
“This needs to be considered not the worst we can experience. This needs to be considered as typical of the future,” said Richard Rood, a professor emeritus at the University of Michigan who studies climate change.
More than half of Michigan’s 2,500 dams have reached the end of their 50-year design life, according to state data. And an estimated $1 billion is needed to pay for all the upgrades needed in the state.
‘Would have been far worse’
Bob Stuber, executive director of the Michigan Hydro Relicensing Commission, peers at the swollen Boardman-Ottaway River in downtown Traverse City. The river saw record-breaking levels from the flood, which came shy of a 500-year flood, according to the city.
“It's really remarkable how quickly it's recovered here,” he said.
That recovery is largely thanks to the 2024 removal of the old Union Street Dam, said engineers at the Great Lakes Fishery Commission (GLFC). The old dam was upgraded to a different structure for FishPass, the final part of a river restoration project on the Boardman.
“Upstream would have been under two more feet of water, which would have been quite devastating,” said Daniel Zielinski, a principal engineer for GLFC. “We actually had a really great stress test of the system. It functioned really well.”
Stuber said the flooding at Boardman-Ottaway River signals what needs to happen across the state: more dam upgrades and dam removals where it makes sense.
“I think every opportunity we have to remove an aging dam, we should take advantage of it because it's not going to get better. It's just going to get worse,” he said.
Dam removals
Conservation organizations like Huron Pines help dam owners in northern Michigan remove small dams on their property. They’ve managed nine removals in the last 13 years.
The organization has seen more interest from dam owners in removals after the recent flooding, said Josh Leisen, senior project manager for Huron Pines.
“There are costs associated with repair, and there are risks associated with having a dam,” Leisen said. “Even if it seems to be in good condition, you get extreme weather events like we just had.”
Removal is often a win-win for waterways and dam owners, he said. Ecosystems get reconnected and owners don’t have to pay for expensive upkeep of aging dams.
But some dams are easier to remove than others. People are often reluctant to give up the lakefront access that dams often create.
“A lot of other industries are sustained by the fact that we have built dams in our systems,” said Heather Huffstutler, executive director for the environmental organization Tip of the Mitt Watershed Council.
Some dams also provide electricity, drinking water or are used for transportation. But Huffstutler sees a growing momentum around small dam removal, which could help mitigate future flood impacts.
“When a river is allowed to use its floodplain and then use those associated wetlands and headwater streams, the less flooding we will see,” she said.
A proposed legislative solution
Upgrading or removing dams is also expensive. The Boardman-Ottway River dam removal — considered the largest removal effort in the state’s history — cost $25 million for three dams. Huron Pines is managing the removal of Sanback Dam in Rose City next month, with an estimated cost of $4 million.
Funding for half of the Sanback removal comes from a grant program through the Michigan Department of Environment, Energy and Great Lakes (EGLE) — as a response to the 2020 Edenville dam failure. The $44 million state program funded several dam removals, upgrades and engineering studies before it ended last year.
Now, local and state officials are renewing calls for more money and stronger safety regulations.
“Dam safety may be an issue that isn't partisan,” said Phil Roos, director of EGLE.
Proposed legislation would bolster rules around inspections, private ownership, design standards, and create more funding opportunities for upgrades or dam removals.
“It's so important to our state that we can come together, and whether it's passing the legislation that was proposed, or improving procedures or ultimately funding,” Roos said.
State Sen. John Damoose, R-Harbor Springs, said at a Traverse City roundtable discussion on dam safety that he’s concerned about private dam ownership after the close call at Cheboygan Dam. Michigan owns about 1,000 dams in the state, others are privately owned.
“Somebody made a point, ‘Well, we can’t have private companies owning these things.’ I tend to believe in private ownership but they might be right,” Damooose said.
Flooding in a warming world
Climate change is likely to bring more frequent and intense storms capable of similar floods.
As the climate warms, more water is evaporating. And an atmosphere with increased moisture can fuel intense precipitation, according Rood at the University of Michigan.
Recent flooding “has shown an incredible vulnerability,” he said. “(Dams) are either going to have to be removed or reengineered. Or they’re going to become a sap of slowly unfolding failures.”
Luke Trumble, chief of dam safety for Michigan, agrees we’re living in a different climate than when most dams in the state were built. But flooding will still happen, he said.
“It’s a little bit of a misconception that if we fix the dam issue, there’ll be no more flooding,” Trumble said. “There’s still going to be flooding on rivers whenever we get rain like this, or rain on snow.”
There’s still a solution, though.
“What we can do with dam safety legislation is help ensure that flooding is not made worse by a dam failure,” he said.
