Tittabawassee River Natural Resource Damage Assessment and Restoration Overview
On July 27, 2020, a settlement with the Dow Chemical Company to address federal, state, and tribal claims for natural resource damages in the Tittabawassee River System was finalized. The settlement is for an estimated $77 million in projects and funding that will restore fish, wildlife, and habitats injured following releases of hazardous substances in past decades from Dow’s manufacturing facility in Midland, Michigan. Under the settlement, Dow will implement or fund a number of restoration projects identified in Midland, Bay, Saginaw, and nearby counties. The natural resource Trustees evaluated a range of restoration actions and alternatives which would provide benefits to natural resources to compensate the public for losses to natural resources injured by releases from Dow's Midland plant and published the Final Restoration Plan and Environmental Assessment for the Tittabawassee River System.
Midland Fish Passage Restoration Project
The Dow Dam on the Tittabawassee River in Midland currently impedes fish passage fish passage
Fish passage is the ability of fish or other aquatic species to move freely throughout their life to find food, reproduce, and complete their natural migration cycles. Millions of barriers to fish passage across the country are fragmenting habitat and leading to species declines. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's National Fish Passage Program is working to reconnect watersheds to benefit both wildlife and people.
Learn more about fish passage during most flow conditions. The Midland Fish Passage Project will provide a fish passage structure structure
Something temporarily or permanently constructed, built, or placed; and constructed of natural or manufactured parts including, but not limited to, a building, shed, cabin, porch, bridge, walkway, stair steps, sign, landing, platform, dock, rack, fence, telecommunication device, antennae, fish cleaning table, satellite dish/mount, or well head.
Learn more about structure that will improve the ability for fish to swim upstream and downstream, while maintaining water elevations upstream. The Project will provide fish access to important upstream aquatic habitats and expand recreational fishing opportunities. Under the proposed settlement, Dow and the Trustees would work together on the design of a nature-like fish passage structure that would be designed based on the requirements of the major species in the river system that migrate upstream to spawn: walleye, white sucker, and white bass. Stone of various types and sizes would be used in order to provide habitat within the structure for a variety of species and, if feasible, would include stone sizes suitable for lake sturgeon spawning in order to support the recovery of this species within the Saginaw Bay watershed.
For documents associated with this restoration project, view the Midland Fish Passage Restoration Project section of the Tittabawassee River NRDAR Administrative Record.
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