GRAND TRAVERSE CO. — A $40 million conservation project is on hold after Congress pulled federal support this month, also leaving Northern Michigan supporters nearly $500,000 in the hole.
The $20 million in federal funding would have gone toward restoring stream crossings in more than a dozen counties, efforts that conservation groups say would benefit the environment and local economy.
The effort, known as the Tribal Stream and Michigan Fruitbelt Collaborative, is led by the Grand Traverse Band of Ottawa and Chippewa Indians.
They say that much of the work to restore 29 stream crossings in Northern Michigan will be delayed until at least next year.
“We’re looking at about a dozen road stream crossings that’ll sit idle now until we can figure out another plan,” said Brett Fessell, restoration section leader and river ecologist for the Grand Traverse Band.
Fessell says that the funding cut will impact the scope and speed of the work they’re able to do.
“I’m anticipating we have to move forward without this funding at the moment,” he said.
Previous rounds of funding from the Regional Conservation Partnership Program were used to complete over 50 stream crossing projects, protect 4,000 acres of farmland and open more than 250 miles of streams for fish passage.
The project was also set to be completed with another $20 million from the collaborative, which includes the tribe, the Grand Traverse Regional Land Conservancy, the Leelanau Conservancy and the Conservation Resource Alliance.
The $500,000 is an estimate for investments that have already been made into the project, like engineering services, survey work and contracts with some vendors.
DJ Shook, project manager for the Conservation Resource Alliance, says that delaying the work could prove dangerous for humans and wildlife.
“These undersized road stream crossings are — it’s only a matter of time before they fail completely, but they are eroding material into the streams, degrading habitat,” he said.
The rescission was part of about $2 billion in funding that had been provided during the Biden administration — Congress voted to claw back those funds in this year’s federal budget bill, also taking back funding for 80 other projects around the country.
Backers of the project say that they’re still optimistic the work will be completed, one way or another.
“It is really unfortunate to have this setback, but we are committed to that goal, and we’re going to keep charging forward,” Shook said.
Shook also said that the groups will likely be turning to individual donors, nonprofits or family foundations for some of the funding.
“We’re going to have to do some additional fundraising work to make the projects happen,” he said.
Fessell says that the collaborative will still pursue funding from the program next year — but he says he’s uncertain about the prospect of federal funding.
“Things are changing so frequently and so drastically. There is no rhyme or reason, it seems,” he said. “It’s almost a day to day process, and we’ll continue to write grants to other sources and keep our fingers crossed — if that’s worth anything.”