Linda Kutch remembers the crystal-clear waters of Trout Lake in Gladwin County and how the stars looked there at night from when she was a child. It was because her dad used to take the family camping there.
Kutch recently lost her father, but she says the lake still holds their special connection and memories. Today Kutch watches her son bring his kids up to Trout Lake.
“I call it the generation lake,” she said. “There's so many generational families that have come through there, and it's a big part of their life. So losing that lake is losing the future generations of being able to enjoy something that's been in the family.”
The community might lose the lake because its dam, which was built in 1961, is now considered too old and high-risk, according to the Michigan Department of Natural Resources. The DNR owns the dam and recommends removing it, but many community members are now advocating to try and save it.
The issue with the dam
Jeffrey Jolley, a fishery unit supervisor with the DNR, said because this dam is beyond its engineered lifetime, its boards, which are used for rising the depth of water behind the dam, started to rot.
“These older dams were built with the engineering knowledge and standards that occurred at that time,” Jolley said. “Sometimes we talk about a Band-Aid fix. That's not necessarily a really big deal to replace boards, and that may give you another ten years ... until they start to rot again.”
Currently, the DNR is drawing down the lake to get to the boards for an inspection. After the inspection of the boards and the outlet pipe later this summer, the DNR will decide what to do with the dam, Jolley said.
“We determined we needed to take emergency action to continue to draw that dam down and get the water pressure off of those rotting boards so that they didn't blow out and drain uncontrollably,” he said.
If the dam was to be removed, the area would look different. The lake would turn into a small creek, Jolley said.
“There would still likely be a body of water, and time would tell,” he said. “There is active beaver activity in the area and so the suspicion is they would get back to work and do what beavers do and build a dam.”
Restoring a creek could have ecological benefits, Jolley said. The dam was originally created for a trout fishing reservoir, but the DNR discovered that wasn't feasible.
“This is sort of a thing that went on all over the state (in the 1960s),” Jolley said. “We thought we can build dams everywhere ... and put trout in all of them.
“And the thing we didn't really recognize at the time is when you create these ponds and small lakes, they heat up in the summer months and trout need cold water, so they become inappropriate for trout.”
Removing the Trout Lake dam would restore the natural creek to support trout as well as other natural vegetation, Jolley said.
A place for healing and community
Local residents say they’re concerned about permanently losing Trout Lake. Today, it looks nothing like it did before the draw down, Kutch said.
“It's really, really sad. You really feel like some of your memories are being washed out with the drawdown,” she said.
Looking at the dry tree stumps and broken shells where the lake used to be, Kutch’s daughter, Samantha LeHotan, shared one of her favorite memories of Trout Lake.
“Me and my stepdad, we started over here on the beach and we swam all the way across the lake,” she said and laughed. “And then in the middle of swimming he told me to watch out for that seaweed, and I got so scared I jumped on [him] and almost drowned him.”
Hiedi Phipps has also lived in the area her whole life and remembers riding her bike out with her friends and swimming in Trout Lake since she was around 4 years old.
She said that by removing the lake, it would take away a lot from the community.
“I'd be really sad. I think a lot of other people from Michigan would be too,” Phipps said. “It brings in revenue for our community, for all the local businesses and people from all over the state come here and enjoy it.”
Similarly, Shane Lynde, a Gladwin County resident, said Trout Lake attracts tourists who then go to local businesses and contribute to the economy.
“It's something that we depend on up here because we really don't have much of anything here in Sherman and in Franklin Township,” he said.
Lynde said he hopes the DNR will save Trout Lake because it provides the community with a place where they can enjoy nature and gives unique experiences to visitors.
“You put your barefoot on the ground [at Trout Lake],” Lynde said. “Your body fills with healing energies quicker than can be measured by science. When you touch a tree, it's the same thing.”
The future of Trout Lake
However, Jolley said the DNR recommends removing the dam not only because of ecological benefits but also because of the DNR’s limited funds.
“These pipes do deteriorate, and even the simplest if that were the case, let's just say that needed to be replaced ... that estimates ... (to) $60,000 to $80,000,” he said. “Even the simplest fix ... can really start to inflate in terms of costs, and that's just the one thing that doesn't even address the fact that some of these dams have seepage.”
Jolley said this is happening all throughout the state.
“It's just the same difficult problem that everybody's facing,” Jolley said. “There was back in the 50s and the 60s ... where we built dams everywhere. Every time there was a river, we thought, ‘Hey, let's put a dam there, and maybe we'll have a fishery in a lake.’”
WCMU previously reported that the Cornwall dam in northern Michigan was restored after almost being decommissioned. The grass roots movement known as "Save Cornwall" was able to raise $200,000, and the DNR pulled half-a-million from fish and game licenses.
The Cornwall Creek Flooding is 161 acres, while Trout Lake is 25 acres, according to the DNR.
There are about 2,500 dams in Michigan, according to the state's Dam Safety Program.
But the state is not the only one who is facing financial issues when it comes to dams. Consumers Energy said they're selling 13 of their hydroelectric dams because they're losing money, according to Michigan Public.
Today, a dam removal could cost between $50,000 to $150,000, but a full dam rehabilitation and periodic repairs could approach millions of dollars, Jolley said.
“Even dam removal, we don’t have money for that either,” he said. “We need to do the work to generate those funds for whatever decision we may make.”
But Kutch said she and other community members are willing to gather donations to help with the dam’s maintenance and start a nonprofit to save the lake. They have been gathering signatures for their petition to the DNR and working with state representatives and senators to save the lake.
“We understand the predicament the DNR is ... but yet this is something we love,” she said. “We treasure, and we're gonna keep fighting. We're not backing down.”
We note the Michigan Department of Natural Resources is a financial supporter of WCMU. We report on them as we do with any other organization.
