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By Daniel O’Keefe, May 9, 2019

“The Grand River Waterway is a proposed seven-foot deep, 22.5-mile long channel that would involve dredging portions of the Grand River between Fulton Street in Grand Rapids and Bass River State Recreation Area in Eastmanville. The channel would allow large powerboats to travel from Grand Rapids to Grand Haven and would remove 50 acres of shallow-water fish habitat. Removal of these shallow areas would likely have additional impacts that would ripple through the river environment for decades to come.

At first glance, the notion of improved access for boaters looks like a great idea for improving tourism and benefiting the local economy. However, the hidden environmental and economic costs of de-stabilizing a river channel must be carefully considered. Michigan State University Extension and Michigan Sea Grant have published a white paper on the potential physical and biological impacts of this project, and the Grand River Waterway organization has a feasibility study detailing the extent and cost of dredging available on its website.”

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Images were taken from original article.