A final plan for restoring 900-acre Tobico Marsh near Bay City is complete, calling for measures that will improve 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 between Saginaw Bay and Tobico Marsh and minimize the risk of flooding to nearby residents. Fish move between the bay and the marsh for spawning, so enhancing fish passage will benefit fish populations, especially those of northern pike. The final Restoration Plan and Environmental Assessment were announced today by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
Some highlights of the plan include modifications to the flap gate at Tobico Lagoon and improvements to the existing culverts under Parish Road. The Service and its partners restoring the marsh had considered additional measures to improve water flow – including installation of additional culverts under Parish Road and Boutell Road.
However, it was determined through information gained during a public comment period that these additional measures, which would have rerouted water from Hadd Drain into the marsh, were not feasible.
The final plan incorporates information and suggestions given by the public during a public comment period earlier this year, at a meeting in January 2002, and an engineering study of water level fluctuations. The plan is available at the Bay City State Recreation Area Visitor Center in Bay City, Michigan, and on the internet at http://midwest.fws.gov/nepa/.
In 1998, the Service, the State of Michigan and the Saginaw Chippewa Tribe, acting together as natural resource trustees, negotiated a settlement with General Motors and the cities of Bay City and Saginaw under a Natural Resources Damage Assessment (NRDA).
The settlement provided for cleanup of contaminated sediments in Saginaw River, construction of boat launches and a nature park, and restoration of wildlife habitat in portions of the bay and river, including Tobico Marsh. More information on the settlement and its benefits can be found at http://midwest.fws.gov/nrda/saginaw
The goals of NRDA are to restore the habitats and resources to the condition they would have been had the contaminants not been released into the environment, and to compensate the public for the loss of use or enjoyment of natural resources. The parties responsible for the contamination are required to pay for these activities.
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is the principal Federal agency responsible for conserving, protecting and enhancing fish, wildlife and plants and their habitats for the continuing benefit of the American people. The Service manages the 95-million-acre National Wildlife Refuge System, which encompasses 544 national wildlife refuges, thousands of small wetlands and other special management areas. It also operates 69 national fish hatcheries, 64 fishery resources offices and 81 ecological services field stations. The agency enforces federal wildlife laws, administers the Endangered Species Act, manages migratory bird populations, restores nationally significant fisheries, conserves and restores wildlife habitat such as wetlands, and helps foreign and Native American tribal governments with their conservation efforts. It also oversees the Federal Assistance program, which distributes hundreds of millions of dollars in excise taxes on fishing and hunting equipment to state fish and wildlife agencies.
