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The County Board lent its support yesterday to an effort to upgrade the region’s infrastructure, in the wake of last year’s Father’s Day Flood.
Keweenaw Land Trust Executive Director Evan McDonald briefed commissioners on a task force called Keweenaw Resiliency. He described Keweenaw Resiliency as a partnership of organizations and individuals that is working to provide long-term solutions that could prevent a repeat of last June’s disaster. Efforts are being coordinated with local, state and federal officials.
McDonald described three avenues of potential assistance. One is the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Flood Plain Management Services Program, in which the Corps provides flood plain mapping that can identify areas which need to be addressed. The second is the Michigan “Silver Jackets” program, which could help create a Portage Lake Watershed Management Plan. The third is the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation Coastal Resilience Fund.
A request for $125,000 to help pay for infrastructure upgrades between Mason and Lake Linden will be submitted to the Coastal Resilience Fund within the next two weeks. That money would need to be matched locally, but McDonald says they hope to do that through private donations of cash and in-kind services.
The board unanimously supported the grant request.
