Green Bay National Fish and Wildlife Conservation Office

Project Titles:

Remove of Nashville and Maple Hill Dams (FFS #R3TE)
Replace Silver Creek Culvert (FFS #R3TF)

State: Michigan

Project Description: The Green Bay National Fish and Wildlife Conservation Office in Wisconsin successfully completed two projects with $155,000 from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. Those dollars resulted in the removal of the Nashville Dam on the Thornapple River in Barry County and Maple Hill Dam on Butternut Creek in Eaton County, both in Michigan. Dam removals were completed in the Fall 2011, joining the third ARRA project, replacement of a perched culvert on Silver Creek in the Manistee River Watershed in Lake County, Michigan, which was completed in the Fall 2010.

Removal of the Nashville and Maple Hill Dams opens 60 mainstem and 105 tributary stream miles and reconnects five inland lakes to the Thornapple River, to benefit fish and other aquatic resources. Habitat fragmentation had caused loss of species diversity upstream of the dams. The project in Lake County opened four miles of fish passage upstream, reduced dissolved oxygen fluctuations and increased habitat quality for fish and aquatic organisms in Silver Creek.

For additional information about Green Bay National Fish and Wildlife Conservation Office, visit the Green Bay Ecological Services Office website.

Photos: Click the images to view more photos from the project sites.

Nashville Dam