KALAMAZOO RIVER

ALLEGAN COUNTY, MI – A man lost control of his car and crashed into the Kalamazoo River. A 76-year-old South Haven man was driving around 9:30 a.m. Thursday, July 28, on 21st Street near 102nd Avenue in Otsego Township when he appears to have lost control on a curve and crashed into the Kalamazoo River, the Allegan County Sheriff’s Office said. The car was upside down and submerged in water when deputies arrived on scene. Two deputies and two Otsego firefighters went into the river and got the man out of the car. The man was taken to a hospital and is in critical condition, police said.

ALBION, MI - The search for an alligator in the Kalamazoo River has ended, as there have been no confirmed sightings in more than a week. The 10-day search for the reptile initially found near Albion College has been called off, college spokeswoman Cathy Cole said on Tuesday, July 19. The initial alligator sightings prompted the college to close its Whitehouse Nature Center from July 10-11. “The college followed the instructions precisely and found no evidence of an alligator at this time in the Whitehouse Nature Center,” according to a July 12 update from Albion College. Read more from MLive:Alligator hunt continues in Kalamazoo River near Michigan collegeHouse described as ‘total loss’ after fire near Jackson112-year-old plaque on ‘Republican rock’ restored in Jackson

ALBION, MI - The search for an alligator in the Kalamazoo River continues, though Albion College’s nature center, which first reported the sighting of the reptile is ready to reopen with posted warnings. Officials have yet to confirm a location of the alligator, Albion College Spokeswoman Cathy Cole said. The college’s Whitehouse Nature Center reported two independent “credible sightings” of what appeared to be a 4-foot or 5-foot alligator in the same general area where the river runs through the nature center. Read more: Alligator in Kalamazoo River leads to closure of nature centerThe college is working with a local Department of Natural Resources officer, Cole said, as well the Critchlow Alligator Sanctuary in Athens, Michigan to find the alligator. The initial alligator sightings prompted the college to close the Whitehouse Nature Center Sunday and Monday, July 10-11.

Multiple sightings of an alligator in the Kalamazoo River has prompted the closing of a popular nature center in Michigan.

CALHOUN COUNTY, MI – There were two sightings of what appears to be an alligator in the Kalamazoo River. The Whitehouse Nature Center is closed July 10, after two independent sightings of what appears to be a four- to five- foot alligator in the same general area of the Kalamazoo River where it runs through the nature center, Albion College said. The nature center is just outside of Albion on the southeast side. People are asked to stay away from the nature center and remain vigilant around bodies of water, the college said. The college said it is working with local and state experts to resolve the issue.

KALAMAZOO, MI — There once was a park at Verburg Park. Long-awaited remediation is finally ramping-up in Kalamazoo this summer with the onset of dredging at Verburg Park. Work began in mid-June to remove toxic PCBs from an urban Kalamazoo River cove popular with local fishermen and will continue elsewhere nearby for a couple years. In Kalamazoo, the work is focused this year on Verburg Park and nearby river hotspots. Verburg Park will be restored and reopened next year.

CALHOUN COUNTY, MI -- A young man’s quick thinking saved a duo from drowning in the Kalamazoo River last week, police said. Police have determined a 36-year-old Homer man and a 42-year-old Arkansas man had been attempting to cross the Kalamazoo River when they both began drowning. A 19-year-old Homer man near the shore heard the two men struggling, and was able to pull both of them out of the water, police said. The 36-year-old man was taken to Oaklawn Hospital in Marshall, where he received treatment, police said. The Arkansas man received CPR at the scene, and was ultimately taken to Ascension Borgess Hospital in Kalamazoo, where he is currently in critical but stable condition, police said.

A Michigan woman whose clothes were found by a river near her abandoned vehicle is still missing after 19 years, officials said.

On April 25, the Michigan Public Service Commission (MPSC) approved the purchase agreement with Eagle Creek Renewable Energy subsidiary STS Hydropower for power from Morrow Dam, an 80-year-old facility in Comstock Township. Morrow Dam was not generating power in 2020 while its impoundment was drained for spillway repairs. Eagle Creek lowered Morrow Lake for those repairs in late 2019, resulting in a downstream flush of an estimated 369,000 cubic yards of lakebed muck. The state’s lawsuit against Eagle Creek was moved to federal court in Kalamazoo last month. Morrow Dam is the largest dam in Kalamazoo County.

KALAMAZOO, MI -- The Kalamazoo River Alliance will be canceling its river cleanup event scheduled for June 18 in downtown Kalamazoo due to safety concerns, organizers announced. The river and trail system along the banks of the Kalamazoo River where volunteers would be scheduled to clean is no longer considered safe due to the high amount of drug paraphernalia and other hazardous items, the Kalamazoo River Alliance said on Wednesday, April 13. In the fall of 2021, the city of Kalamazoo performed a cleanup, using a curtain to catch debris in the river. For more information on the Kalamazoo River and future events, follow “Kalamazoo River Alliance” on Facebook, Instagram or www.kalamazooriveralliance.org. Read more:Michigan threatens lawsuit as Kalamazoo River cleanup talks stallPotholes, traffic delays and crashes cost the average Michigan household $4,845 a yearMan sentenced to prison after wrong-way chase in downtown Kalamazoo

KALAMAZOO, MI – The no contact order for the Kalamazoo River and Portage Creek is lifted. A motorcycle hit a semitrailer, causing the fuel tank around 11 a.m. Sunday, April 3 at Portage and Alcott streets, the Kalamazoo Department of Public Safety said. Related: Avoid contact with Kalamazoo River, Portage Creek after diesel spill, police sayAbout 40 gallons of diesel leaked onto the street and a portion then leaked into a storm drain before public safety and Kalamazoo Department of Public Works stopped the leak. A no contact order was put in place after the spill and was lifted 10 days later, on April 13, police said. People were not supposed to have contact with Portage Creek from Alcott Street to the Kalamazoo River and the Kalamazoo River from Michigan Avenue to the Gull Street Bridge.

KALAMAZOO, MI -- Six months ago, police cleared out people who were living in a makeshift encampment on the banks of the Kalamazoo River. Today, a development is in the works to welcome people back to live in new housing near the former encampment site, targeting low-income mothers with children. The cooperative housing community will be focused on addressing health equity, organizers said. Some of the homes are labeled tiny in the plan, but the plan terminology has been updated to call them small moveable homes, because they are larger than traditional tiny homes, Johnson said. Related: A look back at the 2021 homeless crisis in KalamazooWork is also under way on a plan to remediate the adjacent former encampment site, Johnson said.

Eagle Creek may try to avoid responsibility for dredging the river by “limiting the assets available to STS Hydropower for addressing these obligations,” the state warned. In its dismissal brief, Eagle Creek characterized the shared staff, finances, management, accountants, attorneys, office locations and contractors between the two companies as a “common exchange of resources” between a corporate parent and a subsidiary, and argued their existence is not enough legal basis to impose liability on Eagle Creek. “Additionally, the passive migration of sediments downstream are the result of natural channeling and runoff events,” wrote Simmons, who became Eagle Creek CEO in May 2020. In its case removal notice, Eagle Creek argued the state complaint raises questions regarding FERC’s management of Morrow Dam that should be heard in federal court. Related stories:Kalamazoo leaders vote to support river crisis billHindered by dam’s muck, major PCB cleanup beginsMichigan sues, seeks cleanup of Kalamazoo ‘disaster’Republicans try to link river crisis to Edenville fiascoSenators ‘shocked’ at Kalamazoo River crisisMorrow Dam owner cited for ‘erratic’ flow swings369k cubic yards of sediment came through dam11,400 dumps trucks worth of sludge befouls river

LANSING, MI — A Calhoun County livestock farm is polluting the Kalamazoo River and its watershed with animal waste, according to a lawsuit filed at the behest of Michigan environmental regulators who say improper waste handling and manure spreading at the farm dates back nearly two decades. Attorneys for Holloo Farms declined to comment. Winter manure application is a controversial practice that Michigan’s updated general CAFO permit moved to restrict in 2020. The state says Holloo Farms applied manure to fields that were considered high risk under a state scoring system. The Calhoun County farm lawsuit follows a similar CAFO case filed against a Muskegon area farm by Nessel in 2020, which resulted in a $120,000 fine and judge-approved settlement.

A Michigan farm’s animal waste practices are threatening to overload nearby bodies of water with harmful bacteria and pathogens, according to the attorney general.

KALAMAZOO, MI — The city of Kalamazoo is throwing its support behind legislation that would expand the state’s authority to order emergency environmental cleanups, citing an ongoing mess in the Kalamazoo River caused by a Canadian energy company subsidiary. About 2,000 of the estimated 369,000 cubic yards of impoundment sediment the dam released into the river has been removed since then. Praedel generously labeled that a “very nominal” effort and criticized the dam owner, a Maryland-based subsidiary of Ontario Power Generation, for ceasing communications with local authorities and abandoning remediation. The river remains choked with sediment that’s smothering wildlife habitat and recontouring the banks in what advocates have characterized as a slow motion disaster. Related stories:Hindered by dam’s muck, major PCB cleanup beginsMichigan sues, seeks cleanup of Kalamazoo ‘disaster’Republicans try to link river crisis to Edenville fiascoSenators ‘shocked’ at Kalamazoo River crisisMorrow Dam owner cited for ‘erratic’ flow swings369k cubic yards of sediment came through dam11,400 dumps trucks worth of sludge befouls river

This week, crews began clearing trees from Verburg Park in Kalamazoo, which has been closed in preparation for a major contamination cleanup in the Kalamazoo River. It has also forced added costs onto the long-awaited cleanup project though efforts to, among other things, re-map the riverbed to account for the changes. “It would be nice to have a river that you could technically eat fish out of again,” said Ryan Baker, president of the Kalamazoo River Alliance nonprofit. Overall PCB cleanup will take several years and involve dredging at multiple hotspots between Kalamazoo and Parchment. Most of the cleanup work to date has been in several river-adjacent landfills and downstream communities like Plainwell and Otsego.

The state of Michigan sued the owner and operator of a hydroelectric dam, alleging that its mismanaged drawdown of a lake to do repairs created sediment that has choked a 30-mile stretch of the Kalamazoo River, impeded recreational use, and...

The company owns Morrow Dam in Comstock Township through a pair of subsidiaries, Eagle Creek Renewable Energy of Delaware and STS Hydropower of Michigan. In the filing, the state says FERC told Eagle Creek two years beforehand, in November 2017, that the gates needed repair. Eagle Creek acquired STS and Morrow Dam in 2017. The company says it “immediately” notified state and federal regulators when it identified the deteriorated condition if the Morrow Dam spillway gates. “We have spent millions of dollars on project repair, agency-directed mapping and analysis, sediment control and river restoration work,” Eagle Creek said.

Republicans on the House Natural Resources Committee asked multiple questions about water levels on the Kalamazoo River during a Thursday, Feb. 17 hearing on legislation introduced in response to an ongoing ecological crisis started two years ago by a surprise dam drawdown. The state says Eagle Creek drained its 1,000-acre Morrow Lake reservoir with little warning or sediment controls in November 2019. Water levels were on the mind of others, too. “So, the sediment on one side of the dam isn’t an issue but the sediment on the other side of the dam is an issue?” Rep. Gary Eisen, R-St. Clair Township, asked Rogers. Eisen circled back to water levels following testimony from Kalamazoo River Watershed Director Cheryl Vosburg.

LANSING, MI — Michigan lawmakers received an eye-opener to the severity of an unabated ecological crisis occurring in the Kalamazoo River while reviewing legislation this week that would expand the state’s authority to compel a cleanup when natural resources are being harmed. “If it was my river, I’d be pissed,” said Bumstead, who sits on the Muskegon River Watershed Assembly board. The drawdown, which started without sediment controls, was initiated so the dam could conduct “emergency” spillway gate repairs on a dam it acquired in 2017. It’s decimated,” said Ryan Baker, president of the Kalamazoo River Alliance, a nonprofit group that formed around the issue, who testified before the senate panel with a slideshow of photos. Sanders said a lack of cooperation from Eagle Creek has complicated the situation, which falls outside the scope of existing state dam regulations.

KALAMAZOO, MI — After a dam operator released large amounts of sediment downstream in the Kalamazoo River, and failed to follow through with cleanup for more than two years, state lawmakers are discussing legislation that would allow state regulators to force the company to take action. State Sen. Sean McCann, D–Kalamazoo, and state Rep. Julie Rogers, D-Kalamazoo, recently introduced the bills to strengthen the Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy’s (EGLE) authority to protect Michigan’s water and natural resources from damage by dam operators.

JACKSON COUNTY, MI — A fully submerged moped was found in the Kalamazoo River in rural Concord Township on Sunday, police said. Deputies responded at 3:10 p.m. Oct. 17 for an unknown accident near Bath Mills Road and Albion Road, west of Jackson, according to the Jackson County Sheriff’s Office. A search of the area was conducted, but no one was found at or near the scene of the incident, police said, adding that the moped was determined to be stolen and was dumped into the river. Anyone with information about the moped or any possible suspects is asked to contact the Jackson County Sheriff’s Office at 517-768-7900. MORE FROM JACKSON CITIZEN PATRIOT:Man shot by Jackson County sheriff’s deputy still hospitalized, undergoing mental evaluationJackson County police to get nearly $50K grant for new equipmentFamily of man fatally shot by Hillsdale sheriff’s deputy files civil lawsuitWoman jailed for assaulting boyfriend with socket wrench in Jackson County, police say

BATTLE CREEK, MI – A crash sent a car into the Kalamazoo River on Tuesday afternoon. One driver didn’t follow a traffic signal as they were heading east on Dickman Road at the intersection of SW Capital Avenue in Battle Creek, the Battle Creek Police Department said. The driver hit a car going north, and that car ended up in the Kalamazoo River, police said. The driver was able to safely exit the car with the help of people nearby. The Battle Creek Fire Department removed the car from the river.

Related: Kalamazoo police clearing city’s largest homeless encampment Wednesday, one week after ‘closure’“The city are full of hypocrites,” the man said. About 20 tents stood on the property Thursday morning, Oct. 7, as about 25 former Ampersee encampment residents claimed the property for new temporary homes. Early Wednesday afternoon workers with Integrated Services of Kalamazoo arrived and were able to escort residents back into the camp to grab things the left. Media was not allowed inside while residents were escorted off the property, because of safety issues, Bridges said. Related: Kalamazoo homeless encampment closes, but city gives residents more time to leaveApproximately 200 of Kalamazoo Gospel Ministries’ 360 beds remained available the first few nights this week, chief operating officer John Simpson told MLive Wednesday.

KALAMAZOO, MI – Residents said they had five minutes to grab their belongings Wednesday morning before they were escorted off a city-owned property that has, for many months, been the site of a large homeless encampment along the Kalamazoo River. Officers with the Kalamazoo Department of Public Safety started telling residents early on the morning of Oct. 6 that they had to leave the property along Kalamazoo’s Ampersee Avenue. Residents could only leave with what they could carry, and for hours Wednesday were not allowed to reenter the encampment. Multiple residents said their tents were pulled down on top of them as officers told them to leave. “I couldn’t even find my shoes.”Related: Kalamazoo police clearing city’s largest homeless encampment Wednesday, one week after ‘closure’The woman left the encampment in her slippers, but without hard-sole shoes.

KALAMAZOO, MI — The city of Kalamazoo will not be enforcing trespassing violations against people living at a homeless encampment along the Kalamazoo River, city of Kalamazoo Public Information Officer Ryan Bridges confirmed with MLive today. “We are working closely with our partners to identify options for those living at Ampersee,” Bridges tole MLive Wednesday morning. “I’m here to show solidarity and let these people know they’re not alone,” Kalamazoo City Commission candidate Don Cooney said. Leander Rabe, founder of the Kalamazoo Coalition for the Homeless, criticized leaders at the city and other organizations for inaction. The driver, Ian Valenzuela, 58, said he has been staying at the camp for almost a year on and off.

KALAMAZOO, MI — Hours after the city of Kalamazoo announced people would have to leave a homeless camp near the Kalamazoo River, protesters arrived on the steps of city hall, carrying bullhorns and signs to ask city leaders: Where will they go? “The city of Kalamazoo posted an eviction today, giving the residents of the main camp 14 days to vacate under threat of arrest. They don’t have a suitable plan for where to put folks,” Mabel Graves of Kalamazoo said from the steps of Kalamazoo City Hall on the afternoon of Wednesday, Sept. 15. Matthew Davis was also at city hall protesting Wednesday. He said he and others have spent time at the homeless camp not far from downtown.

KALAMAZOO, MI — Contractors will head out on boats to the Kalamazoo River, and if they’re successful, they’ll pull out some of the increase in trash making its way into the waterway, reportedly stemming from the nearby homeless camp. Related: Bucket toilets and trash floating in Kalamazoo River downstream of homeless camp“The area has a large unhoused population with trash and debris that is entering the river. Kalamazoo River Watershed Council Director Cheryl Vosburg told MLive on Aug. 30 trash in the river is an issue the group has been concerned about for years. A plastic bucket with a toilet seat top is seen amid a logjam on the Kalamazoo River near Verburg Park in Kalamazoo, Mich. on Aug. 5, 2021. Anglers with the Kalamazoo River Alliance are upset about chronic litter entering the river from downtown tributaries and a homeless encampment.

KALAMAZOO, MI – A man was rescued Tuesday after he got stuck in waist-deep mud alongside the Kalamazoo River. The man was stuck in the mud alongside the Kalamazoo River, near the seventh hole at Red Arrow Golf Course near Mills Street. He told the Kalamazoo Department of Public Safety he got stuck around 11 a.m. Tuesday, Sept. 7. Golfers about to tee off at the seventh hole heard yelling, and found the man stuck in the mud around 3 p.m., golfer Amy Bell said. The man told Bell and others who came to his aid that he was walking on the Kalamazoo River Valley Trail when he saw something near the river.

KALAMAZOO, MI — The Kalamazoo River runs through the city of Kalamazoo, and helped create the community that surrounds it today. “It’s a smorgasbord of junk,” Kalamazoo River Alliance President Ryan Baker told MLive in an August interview from the riverbank. Kalamazoo River Watershed Council Director Cheryl Vosburg told MLive on Aug. 30 that she believes the homeless camp is a source of the trash entering the river. “You can’t really just close down the homeless camp, it’s just not that easy,” she said. What can we do to put the trash where it needs to go instead of in the river?” Vosburg said.

The dog was one of at least three confirmed canine deaths at the encampment due to a canine parvovirus breakout at the encampment, which sits along the Kalamazoo River in the city’s Eastside neighborhood. Gerstner said she personally has transported two dogs infected with parvo from the encampment to the emergency clinic, where they died. Another dog, Clark’s friend’s dog, was suffering at the encampment of parvo and was euthanized before being transported for proper disposal. Related: Parvo outbreak at homeless camp triggers warnings about contact with Kalamazoo RiverDespite the highly contagious disease outbreak, he said he was not concerned for Lakota. Kalamazoo County nonprofit, Animal’s Best Friend Fund, posted that as many as 20-plus dogs and 100-plus people are at the encampment at any given time.

Organizations began sounding the alarm on Facebook Monday, Aug. 24, about a parvo outbreak among dogs at the Kalamazoo homeless encampment, located along the bank of the Kalamazoo River in the city’s Eastside neighborhood. She confirmed multiple cases have been documented, including fatal cases, of the highly contagious virus affecting dogs. The city is responsible for that encampment.”People have been asking the Kalamazoo River Alliance about the dangers of making contact with the river. Kalamazoo County Animal Control, Kalamazoo County Government, the Kalamazoo County Department of Health and Human Services and the city of Kalamazoo did not immediately respond to requests for information about the parvo cases in the community. Kalamazoo County Health Department and Community Services spokeswoman Lyndi Warner, and city of Kalamazoo spokesman Ryan Bridges both indicated they were looking into the issue Wednesday.

BATTLE CREEK, MI – Police recovered the body of a Battle Creek man from the Kalamazoo River. The body of Luis Romero-Jimenez, 63, was found in the Kalamazoo River in Battle Creek on July 25, Battle Creek police said. First responders worked that evening to recover his body. Romero-Jimenez was homeless and living in the Battle Creek area, police said. More from MLive:The Kalamazoo Promise moves into new downtown space, designed to help students thriveFormer Kalamazoo Mayor Edward Annen dies at 70Surveillance cameras to deter crime part of Muskegon Heights plans for $153K state grant

KALAMAZOO, MI — Large spontaneous swings in Kalamazoo River flow and water levels are drawing the attention of state regulators, who issued a legal violation notice this month to the owner of a hydroelectric dam behind an ongoing ecological crisis in the beleaguered waterway. The letter indicates Eagle Creek has been performing maintenance on the dam’s generator without making flow adjustments to compensate for downstream impacts. Eagle Creek operates the dam through a subsidiary, STS Hydropower, which it purchased in 2017. Local anglers say the flow drops coupled with excessive sediment in the river stretch through Kalamazoo and Parchment make boating access unsafe. The latest violation notice is not the first time the state has cited Eagle Creek for taking unannounced actions that affect the river.

A diver has died while inspecting a dam in southwestern Michigan.

ALLEGAN COUNTY, MI – A diver performing an inspection on Calkins Dam at Lake Allegan did not resurface Wednesday. The diver did not resurface and went missing downstream, DeDoes said. The Allegan County Sheriff’s Office dive team is searching the river for the diver who went missing. The search is happening near the Calkins Dam, near the Allegan Dam Upper Boat Launch. “We at Consumers Energy extend our heartfelt thoughts to the diver and his family and are working with local authorities to help in any way,” DeDoes said.

KALAMAZOO, MI — A Canadian-owned hydroelectric dam operator says it will increase the amount of Morrow Lake impoundment sludge being dredged from the Kalamazoo River by doing two removal projects in a multi-mile stretch of waterway that’s smothered by tons of sediment. A Kalamazoo River Alliance drone photo shows mudflat buildup in the Kalamazoo River near the capped Willow Boulevard and A-Site Landfills in Kalamazoo Township, Mich. on November 3, 2020.Courtesy | Nate HartmannExactly how much sediment has banked there is unknown. In Comstock Township near the dam, river current has washed much of it downstream and re-exposed the gravel bottom in many areas, although some large deposits remain. Recent spurts of rain have remobilized some sediment, said Ryan Baker, president of the Kalamazoo River Alliance, an angler group that’s organized around the issue. It began refilling the Morrow Lake reservoir in December 2020.

Nestled on 7.31 acres with frontage on Lake Michigan and the Kalamazoo River, the house at 3574 Saugatuck Beach Road has been listed at $8.75 million.

Eagle Creek and EGLE are in the middle of negotiating a settlement that state officials hope will result in more sediment removal but say that nothing is guaranteed. “There are hundreds of thousands of cubic yards of sediment deposited in the river that do not belong there,” they wrote. “We’ve had a number of flooding issues already in the city of Kalamazoo and other areas of Kalamazoo County. And so, I’m very concerned that this could be affecting our residents.”“We really would like to hear directly from Eagle Creek on what is the comprehensive plan,” she said. Kyle Alexander, head of EGLE’s local water resources division office, said Eagle Creek has left heavy equipment at Wenke Park due to potential plans to dredge more material along nearby Merrill Park across the river.

KALAMAZOO, MI — A suite of ecological restoration projects is being planned along the Kalamazoo River using settlement funding from companies responsible for contaminating an 80-mile stretch with polychlorinated biphenyls. The draft list of draft restoration projects was winnowed from 54 public recommendations solicited last spring. Paper mills that were recycling carbonless copy paper released PCBs into the Kalamazoo River and Portage Creek systems from the late 1950s through early 1970s. Restoration projects are being planned around the Superfund cleanup. Riley pointed to past ecological restoration efforts on the Tittabawassee River following Dow Chemical dioxin pollution and the restoration on the Lower Fox River in Wisconsin following PCB pollution there as being similar in scope to the Kalamazoo River suite of projects.

KALAMAZOO, MI -- A spill of firefighting foam at the Kalamazoo-Battle Creek International Airport caused a spike of PFAS pollution at the Kalamazoo wastewater treatment plant, sending some into the Kalamazoo River. The spill happened at 10:30 a.m. March 30 and foam was released into the sanitary sewer. Kalamazoo City officials were told 200 gallons of foam was accidentally released in an apparatus bay at the airport. Staff at the Kalamazoo Department of Public Services immediately began investigating and started taking samples of sanitary sewer water coming into the Kalamazoo Water Reclamation Plant and also treated water going out. Kalamazoo city officials say they are working with airport staff to assess the impact of the foam release on the Kalamazoo River, as well as the wastewater treatment plant.

KALAMAZOO, MI — The Kalamazoo Department of Public Safety (KDPS) is warning residents to avoid walking on sediment deposits from the Morrow Dam found on the Kalamazoo River. “The sediment deposits in the Kalamazoo River are incredibly dangerous and should be avoided at all costs,” KDPS Assistant Chief Matt Huber said in a March 23 news release. In February, Eagle Creek Renewable Energy submitted a field investigation report that estimated 114,000 cubic yards of sediment was coating about seven to eight miles of the river, downstream of Morrow Dam. “As the weather warms up this week, we know more and more people will be drawn to the Kalamazoo River, which is why we are warning residents about the dangers of these sediment deposits,” Huber said. Read more:11,400 dump trucks worth of dam sludge befouls Kalamazoo River stretch369k cubic yards of sediment came through Morrow Dam, says river expert

Hamilton, an aquatic ecology professor at Michigan State University, had seen the Kalamazoo River sediment deposits that developed after a hydroelectric dam operator unexpectedly drained its impoundment. He had paddled through the reservoir behind Morrow Dam, which is owned by Eagle Creek Renewable Energy, a subsidiary of Ontario Power Generation of Canada. This week, Eagle Creek began its first attempt to remove some of sediment by staging excavation equipment at Wenke Park. Bathymetric surveys and core sampling found sediment deposits more than an acre in size, ranging from two to 10 feet thick in some areas. They say new sediment deposits are becoming evident around the D Avenue Bridge in Cooper Township.

Eagle Creek Renewable Energy says it will dredge a small oxbow section of river next to Comstock Township’s Wenke Park starting March 1. Eagle Creek, which announced the information through its subsidiary, STS Hydropower, said the dredging should last until mid-May. Kenneth Kornheiser, vice president of the Kalamazoo River Watershed Council, thinks Eagle Creek of focusing on the oxbow because it offers ready access. Map showing plans by Eagle Creek Renewable Energy to dredge Morrow Lake sediment from an oxbow section of the Kalamazoo River in Comstock Township. Fox said Eagle Creek is exploring several options such as using the material to shore up dam embankments or create a new permanent landfill at the dam.

KALAMAZOO, MI — Imagine a line of 11,400 standard dump trucks more than 35 miles long, each dumping a load of mud, one after another, into the Kalamazoo River. “That’s when the Kalamazoo River is statistically more prone to flooding,” he said. “There is a ton of sediment in the river,” said Ryan Baker, president of the Kalamazoo River Alliance, a nonprofit group of anglers that formed around the issue last year. “They see the river and see mud and say, ‘Oh, it’s just mud.’ But that mud has never been there before. Morrow Dam is the largest in Kalamazoo County and is rated as “high hazard,” meaning it could endanger people’s lives were it to fail and unleash flooding.

Eagle Creek Renewable Energy will begin dredging impoundment sludge from a Kalamazoo River side channel next month; an initial stab at removing mass quantities of sediment that began choking the river last year after the company drained its Morrow Lake reservoir. For the moment, state regulators say it’s the only sediment dredging Eagle Creek has committed to conduct in the river. Scott Hess, township superintendent, said Comstock staff are hoping the dredging operation will receive more oversight from EGLE than they’ve noticed so far. Hess said it would have been helpful to have state regulators present during a meeting with Eagle Creek recently at Wenke Park. Scott Hess, township superintendent, said Comstock staff are hoping the dredging operation will receive more oversight from EGLE than they’ve noticed so far.

Eagle Creek Renewable Energy said it would begin refilling Morrow Lake this week after repairing spillway gates at Morrow Dam, which impounds the river to create the 1,000-acre lake just north of I-94 in Comstock Township. The lake was unexpectedly lowered by nine feet last November for what Eagle Creek says was an “emergency” repair, although that work did not begin until six weeks ago. The river drawdowns helped reveal an ecosystem choked by sediment that built-up in Morrow Lake. Morrow Lake was only supposed to be lowered for a few months, yet the work was not started until this fall. Baker said there’s some concern the total estimated accumulation will be downplayed when Eagle Creek and regulators crunch the numbers.

KALAMAZOO, MI — This week, the Kalamazoo River will be lowered for the third and fourth time in roughly a month for completion of gate repairs on a dam that has released enormous amounts of sediment from Morrow Lake. Eagle Creek and OPG operate the dam through a subsidiary named STS Hydropower. Morrow Lake was only expected to be down a few months for dam repair, but Eagle Creek did not immediately perform the work after draining the lake last November. “We urge Eagle Creek Renewable Energy to quickly meet all clean-up requirements and return any impacted segment of the Kalamazoo River to its previous state. Related Stories:County board upset by Kalamazoo River mud messPCB cleanup begins on river stretch choked by lake mudKalamazoo River ‘looks like a mudhole’ amid drawdownDam repair sparks ‘unprecedented’ river loweringMichigan hazard dams ‘something we’re going to wrestle with’Kalamazoo River oil spill ‘an awakening’ in Line 5 debate$245M cleanup of Kalamazoo River ‘a huge deal’Otsego dam removal big step in river cleanup

“It’s tragic,” said Cheryl Vosburg, director of the Kalamazoo River Watershed Council. “So much habitat has been ruined.”“A lot of people are really unhappy about another tragedy befalling the Kalamazoo River,” Vosburg said. The stretch immediately downstream of Morrow Dam is called Area 1. “This is kind of the last area with PCB in-stream contamination we’re going to go after in this stretch,” said Jim Saric, EPA project manager. An EPA map shows PCB-contaminated sediment hotspots in the Kalamazoo River marked for cleanup, shaded in yellow.

KALAMAZOO, MI — The Kalamazoo River will be lowered Thursday for the second time this month as crews repair hydroelectric dam spillway gates. Eagle Creek Renewable Energy, a subsidiary of Ontario Power Generation, which owns the Morrow Dam in Comstock Township, says the river flow will be substantially reduced throughout most of Thursday, Nov. 19. River flow this week has ranged between 600 and 650-cfs, according to a U.S. Geological Survey gauge at the River Street Bridge next to Merrill Park in Comstock Township. Impoundment lowering washed acres of accumulated sediment downstream, where it has gathered in large mudflats and bars that extend miles downstream. Related Stories:Kalamazoo River ‘looks like a mudhole’Dam repair sparks ‘unprecedented’ river loweringMorrow Dam not a safety threat, officials sayMichigan hazard dams ‘something we’re going to wrestle with’

“Everywhere there’s exposed gravel, we’ve got little baitfish kinda hiding,” said Baker, president of the new Kalamazoo River Alliance. It’s choking the life out of the river,” Baker said. In its project summary submitted to state regulators, Eagle Creek said it expected to cut river flow down to about 100 cubic feet-per-second (cfs) — an unheard-of level. The river flow Tuesday during the gate repair in was nonetheless about 60 percent of its flow from a week ago. Related stories:Morrow Dam not a safety threat, officials sayMichigan hazard dams ‘something we’re going to wrestle with’Kalamazoo River oil spill ‘an awakening’ in Line 5 debate$245M cleanup of Kalamazoo River ‘a huge deal’Otsego dam removal big step in river cleanupFisherman, 26, drowns in Kalamazoo River

KALAMAZOO, MI — The Kalamazoo River flow below Morrow Dam will be reduced to a mere trickle several times this month while utility divers replace dam gates. River flow will be reduced to about 100 cubic feet-per-second — an unprecedented reduction, say local anglers — for about 8 hours starting on Tuesday morning, Nov. 3. Rendering shows plans to dredge sediments from the Morrow Dam spillway on the Kalamazoo River. Ryan Baker, president of the Kalamazoo River Alliance, called the river a “disaster” following a year’s worth of sediment drainage from Morrow Lake. Nobody is benefitting.”Related stories:Morrow Dam not a safety threat, officials sayMichigan hazard dams ‘something we’re going to wrestle with’Kalamazoo River oil spill ‘an awakening’ in Line 5 debate$245M cleanup of Kalamazoo River 'a huge deal’Otsego dam removal big step in river cleanupFisherman, 26, drowns in Kalamazoo River

ALLEGAN COUNTY, MI — A driver was pulled from a sinking vehicle after ramming the car into two police cruisers and then driving off a steep bank into the Kalamazoo River on Wednesday morning. After the deputy made contact with the vehicle, the vehicle fled toward the city of Allegan, the release states. A short time later, the suspect vehicle ran into two other police vehicles that were responding to the area of the pursuit, the release states. The suspect vehicle was then driven off a steep bank into the Kalamazoo River near the Allegan County Fairgrounds. The Allegan County Dive Team recovered the suspect vehicle that was submerged in the river.

Authorities work to recover a third body after police say a mother drove her vehicle with two children inside into the Kalamazoo River near Verberg Park. (WOOD)Authorities say a Michigan woman killed herself and twin daughters by driving into a river after trying to poison the children. Kalamazoo police released reports saying 44-year-old Ineza McClinton tried to make 9-year-old twins, Angel and Faith, drink juice with added antifreeze in the spring. McClintons mother told investigators about the plan, which included Ineza McClintons attempt to die by overdosing on pills. McClinton drove into the Kalamazoo River on June 17 after letting out two granddaughters.