Serving Gogebic, Iron and Ontonagon Counties
Serving Gogebic, Iron and Ontonagon Counties
By RICHARD JENKINS
Ironwood Township — It may take awhile, but the Michigan Department of Natural Resources has begun the process of implementing a possible long-term solution to the repeated sediment buildup that closes off the mouth of Oman’s Creek from Lake Superior at Little Girl’s Point.
In August, the DNR reviewed proposals for the design of a groin — or low wall designed to prevent the movement of sediment — to be built into the lake near the creek’s mouth.
“The main difference between (a groin) and say, a breakwall, is — a breakwall is used to deflect or mitigate wave energy, where a groin is more to protect from the sediment,” said Jeff Gaertner, the DNR unit manager for the Porcupine Mountains and Lake Gogebic State Park.
A team of the Hancock-based OHM Advisors and LimnoTech — a downstate company based in Ann Arbor — were selected to work on the design, according to Gaertner, and are expected to complete the design next summer.
“They are currently in the process of working through their design process,” he told the Daily Globe.
The project is designed to prevent sediment from reaching the creek’s mouth, where it accumulates. Dredging has been the method for keeping the creek channel open.
“If a groin is not designed of sufficient length, the sediment could pass around the end of the groin after a relatively short period of time,” Gaertner wrote in a description of the project.
The short period was listed as five years or less — meaning the DNR clearly hopes the groin will serve as a solution for a number of years that Gaertner hopes would “substantially cut back” on the work it takes to keep the channel open.
While sediment will eventually build up enough that it bypasses the groin, Gaertner, said the design team is studying near-shore currents and other data to try and extend the structure’s effectiveness.
“They’re going to be investigating how the sediment moves out there — where it’s coming from, where it’s going, how all that process works out there,” Gaertner wrote in the description. “That’s all part of the design they are supposed to figure out — what that optimum length is — so we don’t put something out there and then the next year, we start dredging operations out 100 feet or whatever.
“They’re supposed to figure out what the optimum length (of the groin) is to give us the best bang for our buck.”
While he said it was too early in the process to discuss a cost for building the groin, he noted in the description that a cost-effective solution would increase the likelihood of construction funding being allocated to the project.
“... The DNR considers: the life cycle cost of the project, the number of boaters served and other Statewide Waterways needs,” the description reads.
As the design phase won’t be completed for almost one year, Gaertner said the DNR would continue to work to keep the channel open until any construction is completed.
“We’ll continue to (dredge),” he told the Daily Globe. “And we’re going to look at some other more immediate solutions until the bigger fix is deployed.”
