Meeting Looks To Answer Stamp Sands Problem

If you’re from the Keweenaw, you’ve undoubtedly heard of the Stamp Sands.  “Stamp sands are kind of the byproduct of copper mining that occurred about a 100 years ago up in the Keweenaw Peninsula,” said DNR Public Information Officer John Pepin, who is inviting you to come and attend a public meeting Tuesday evening to help address the stamp sands issue.

Pepin continued, “When they were mined, they were actually dumped into Lake Superior there and actually extended the coast line out from the community of Gay from the Mohawk and Wolverine Mines.”

That extension of the coastline moved the sandy beaches of Gay a mile into the water, and replaced them with crushed rock sediment that was no longer of any value to the mining companies.

As wind and water currents have moved the discarded material further south over the past 100 years or so, those deposits are now threatening the fish habitat near Buffalo Reef, in Grand Traverse Harbor.

“Currently, there’s about 35 percent of the reef that is covered and is not usable by fish,” said Pepin.

Although the effort is aimed at saving the reef, the DNR, EPA, Army Corps of Engineers, and the Keweenaw Bay Indian Community have assembled the meeting to get public input and hear new ideas about how we can repurpose the Stamp Sands.

Pepin said, “Well, there’s different things that people are exploring at this time. I know just a marginal use is the road commission uses it to put on some of the roads and stuff in the winter time.”

The meeting will be held Tuesday evening at the Lake Linden-Hubbell High School at 6:00 pm, all are welcome.