Dive teams have spent the last few weeks searching an area about the size of eight football fields in the lower reach of the Grand River, collecting and relocating mussels ahead of planned construction in the river in downtown Grand Rapids. The process was slated to go until mid-October but finished weeks early due to dry weather and the low flow of the river.
Matt Chapman is the executive director of Grand Rapids Whitewater, the nonprofit partnering with the city on the project. He says BioSurvey dive teams recovered, identified, counted and moved more than 9000 mussels.
“Almost 7000 were common species that are prevalent in Michigan rivers and then we had about 2000 Michigan threatened and endangered species, and then the snuff box mussels that are a federally endangered species, they actually found 38 of those.”
The mussel relocation project is a critical step in the larger Grand River Revitalization Initiative, to revitalize the river for recreational opportunities while preserving its ecological balance.
The project calls for removing the four low-head dams and has involved a complex process of state and federal permitting.
“Once the permits are all secured and in place, ideally we are starting construction in July 2025.”
