Sediment physical and chemical analysis on Lake Kathleen and the Maple River.

Abstract

Run-of-the-river dam removal can often be a very destructive practice, even though the end goal intentions of restoration are good. Very little research currently exists on how rivers respond to dam removal, and how long certain factors such as fish life and geomorphology take to recover completely. The Lake Kathleen Dam in Pellston, MI will be removed sometime in the following two years, so it provides us with the opportunity for baseline research to compare to once the dam is finally removed. We collected benthic sediment samples from ten sites on Lake Kathleen using an Eckmann Grab, and from five sites on the Maple River Combined Branch using a transect across the riverbed at each site. We analyzed these samples for nutrient and carbon levels, as well as ran them through a sieve series in order to quantify the distribution of benthic sediment size for each site. We used these data to make predictions on how the sediment erosion following dam removal will effect ecosystem factors. Once more data is collected after the dam is removed, and compared to what we have collected here; we hope that this project can help inform the potential ecosystem outcomes for future dam removal projects.