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Work is underway to dredge the latest stamp sand deposits out of Grand Traverse Bay, south of Gay…
John Pepin of the Michigan Department of Natural Resources says they’re basically re-doing work that was done last summer, after fall storms pushed more of the old mine waste into the channel, and the beach just to the north.
Pepin says keeping the sands at bay is important for several reasons…
The black stamp sands were created more than a century ago, as waste from the copper stamp plants at Gay.
Currents continue to push the waste southward along the shoreline, and out into Lake Superior, where it now threatens the important fish spawning area at Buffalo Reef.
Efforts are underway to try to protect the reef, and to move piles of stamp sands at Gay away from the water’s edge, to reduce erosion.
