Greetings PMWC members. This is my first president`s letter since taking over last summer from Paul Bigford, who surpassed Bob Nicholson`s 8 years to become the longest serving president of PMWC. Paul did a great job as our President, and I will try to continue the effective leadership that Paul provided.

It`s been a relatively quiet year for your watershed council.  Our major focus continues to be the eroding bank at the base of the railroad right-of-way on the Flint Rainbow Club property just west of M37. You may recall that Conservation Resource Alliance(CRA) contracted with AECOM for preliminary engineering plans for bank repair in 2017, funded by PMWC.  AECOM returned 3 options for the repair to us in last year.  PMWC, Michigan Department of Natural Resources(MDNR), United States Forest Service(USFS), CRA, and the Flint Rainbow Club have all expressed a preference for option#2, which is primarily a fieldstone stabilization. Option #1 is a soft repair using only wood, and option#3 utilizes sheet pile for bank stabilization. Both options 1 and 3 have a higher price tag, with option#1 less desirable due to shorter life expectancy and option#3 with sheet pile could create an additional hurdles for USFS Wild/  Scenic River and Michigan Natural Rivers permitting.  Genesee and Wyoming Railroad is currently reviewing the AECOM plans and has requested that PMWC pay for a review by their engineering department. CRA has asked Genesee and Wyoming to waive or significantly discount this expense, and we are awaiting their response. 

We had media coverage of the eroding railroad embankment in February with articles in the Ludington Daily News and Lake County Star. There was also television coverage by TV 9/10 News following the newspaper articles.Our hope is that the media coverage will increase public awareness of the risk at this site and in turn increase momentum for the project.

A pre-permit meeting was held on site 2/22/19 with all permitting agencies in attendance as well as representatives from PMWC, PMTU, CRA, and Flint Rainbow Club.  The discussion did not seem to raise any insurmountable hurdles, and we do not anticipate a major problem obtaining the necessary permits.  Once permits are in hand, fundraising can begin and you will be hearing from us again.

US Senator Gary Peters viewed the site in August 2018 with representatives from CRA, USFS,and PMWC and he has pledged his support for the project.  We have also met with Michigan Senators Jon Bumstead and Curt VanderWall to make them aware of the risk not only to the Pere Marquette River, but to the economies of Lake County and northwestern Michigan. Senator VanderWall is planning to visit the site in June 2019.  We are hopeful that our political contacts can help with our negotiations/discussions with the railroad.

Lastly, PMWC provided comment to USFS on the Environmental Assessment for proposed actions for their Lower Branch and Maple Leaf access sites. We support the proposed boat launch at Lower Branch, but are opposed to the expansion of the parking lot at Maple Leaf until measures have been taken to minimize bank damage/erosion from additional foot traffic in that area.

While we continue to be frustrated by the difficulty in making progress on the eroding railroad embankment, we will continue to work with all our partners on eliminating this major risk to our river. We hope to be able to share positive news on the project in the near future.

Jim Bos