UPDATE 2/2/24 6:20 p.m.
CHEBOYGAN COUNTY — A grassroots effort to fix the Cornwall Flooding Dam in Cheboygan County, slated for removal said they are within striking distance of their goal to save the dam but need your help.
Michigan’s Department of Natural Resources announced earlier this week that they are contributing $750,000 to help repair the dam.
Organizer Curtis Goldsborough of Save Cornwall, an online group that banded together to raise awareness and funds to fix the dam instead of removing it, said in the past 10 days that they’ve raised $14,000 just from individual donors.
“We’re finally in a position where there’s light at the end of the tunnel. We can see the finish line. We have a very clearly defined goal in front of us now. And now we just need to make that last final push to get over the finish line and make it happen,” said Goldsborough.
Goldsborough said they need to come up with $200,000 by their June deadline. He said they have teamed up with the conservation group, Huron Pines. Huron Pines has stepped up to manage the fundraising efforts for Save Cornwall.
For more information on how to donate, please click here.
UPDATE 1/31/24 5:55 p.m.
CHEBOYGAN COUNTY — The Michigan Department of Natural Resources has said that they are going to spend $750,000 from is 2024 dam appropriation budget to help repair the Cornwall Flooding Dam.
This comes after the DNR said they were going to draw down the Cornwall Flooding Dam and remove the adjacent dam due to safety concerns. An initiative was started to help raise awareness and funds to save and repair the dam instead of tearing it down.
Organizers of the Save Cornwall initiative said that based on 2020 repair bids, they would need $1.6 million to fully fund the repair project. Great Lakes Fishery Commission pledged to give $350,000, and they have also received additional funding from the Michigan legislature and a 2019 DNR Aquatic Habitat grant.
Nearly $200,000 is still needed before they can begin repairing the dam, and the Save Cornwall initiative has a deadline in June to complete fundraising for the project.
UPDATE 7/27/23 6 p.m.
The Great Lakes Fishery Commission is stepping up, committing $350,000 towards repairs of the Cornwall Flooding Dam in Cheboygan County in connection with their Sea Lamprey Control Program.
The money earmarked for dam repairs would be the amount of money estimated that it would cost to apply lampricides to Cornwall Creek in the absence of the dam. They are also offering technical assistance, grant writing, design review, and fiduciary services.
The Michigan Department of Natural Resources had announced back in January, they were planning to tear down the dam over safety concerns and because they didn’t have the funds to repair it, sparking a grassroots campaign on Facebook.
The organizer of ‘Save Cornwall Flooding’, Curtis Goldsborough, said this is great news, giving them nearly 25% of the funding needed to repair the dam.
The DNR said they still plan to do a geotechnical analysis of the dam’s structure.
UPDATE: 5/12/2023 11:05 p.m.
The DNR says it has been trying to get funding from both stake holders and FEMA.
It is also looking for an independent firm to complete a more detailed inspection of the dam so that they can get better information on the safest, most efficient options moving forward.
4/20/2023 8:27 a.m.
The Michigan Department of Natural Resources said back in January they had no choice but to draw down the Cornwall Flooding Dam over safety concerns. The dam is located in Cheboygan County between Wolverine and Canada Creek Ranch, and a 2019 study showed it was badly in need of repair.
And when the DNR struggled to find the funding, they decided it was best to drain the water and get rid of the dam.
Now, they’ve agreed to perform another geo-technical analysis while state lawmakers look for money.
“It would be devastating; I have memories here with my son. This place is special to us. And I can’t get away from just the permanence of a decision to remove it. This has been here for over 50 years. There are thousands of people that have literally generational memories here,” said Goldsborough.
If you join the Facebook group, ‘Save Cornwall’, you’ll see hundreds of pictures like Curtis Goldborough’s.
He’s the group’s organizer. He said people have been enjoying the spot hidden deep in the Pigeon River Country State Forest for decades.
“This is this is people’s happy place. It’s where they go to get away. It’s where they go to reconnect with nature. So many people have said coming here is a spiritual experience for them,” said Goldsborough.
People opposed to the drawdown of these floodwater also say it would ruin this ecosystem, and what they say, is a rare gem like no other.
Rare for many reasons said Goldsborough.
“The flooding here is a non-motorized body of water. You just get that pristine, quiet wilderness experience here that is so hard to find anywhere else,” said Goldsborough.
The ‘Save Cornwall’ campaign has spurred discussions with the DNR, who now has said they are willing to do another geotechnical study next month.
“We’re hopeful that that is going to show that, you know, the dam is not in imminent failure condition and hopefully that’s going to buy us some more time,” said Goldsborough.
‘Save Cornwall’ has also gained the attention of state lawmakers. This includes House Representatives Cam Cavitt and Ken Borton, and Senator John Damoose in Lansing who have introduced legislation to fund the repair the dam and preserve the flooding.
“You know, to have an issue like this way up north be heard down in Lansing, and you know, to see a house bill put forward and what not, that feels great. I think that’s a success in and of itself,” said Goldsborough.
Goldsborugh said talks about the current proposed legislation to fund repairing the dam is happening in the Senate subcommittee Wednesday and then in the House subcommittee Thursday.
If it passes, then it moves on to the General Appropriations Committee. If approved there, it could land on the governor’s desk by the end of July, early August. That’s plenty of time before the DNR’S timeline for the expected drawdown.
RELATED STORIES:
Michigan DNR To Draw Down Water Levels at Cornwall Flooding
Facebook Group Opposed to Draw Down Of a Popular Fishing Spot
