Recently someone said to me, "I can't wait until the sand mining is complete so the creek will come back." Another beach stroller was shocked to learn that Rogers Creak had been the only natural trout stream in southwest Michigan.
In the early 1980s, a DNR Land Resource Division staff member wrote that Rogers Creek was a "top quality trout stream." At that time there was significant, year round, flow of cold water in the stream.
The creek teemed with native fauna: several varieties of fish, frogs, water spiders, Mayflies, etc. It attracted Kingfishers and Great Blue Herons. Kids caught tadpoles. At the mouth of the creek in the early spring, men netted smelts after dark.
Today the flow is high for a few days after a rain. And then, very quickly the flow drops significantly. Despite a wet spring and summer, the flow in the stream is very low.
What happened?As early as December 1997, when we discovered that dredging had been continuing at the Nadeau Pit for several years without a permit (or oversight), PTD expressed concern about the impacts of mining and dredging on Rogers Creek.
Hearings were held, but the DEQ's Geological Survey Division accepted the assurances of the sand mining company. They stated their qualifications as experts and that based on their scientific and technical opinions, the creek would not be effected. Our concerns were brushed aside. Our consultants were ignored.
At each subsequent permitting occasion, we raised questions about the impacts of mining on Rogers Creek. But the sand dune mining continued to expand. The dredge lake continued to be enlarged. A second mine was opened at the Nadeau Site in Hagar Township. And the water table continued to be lowered - it had dropped 18 feet by 2005. The flow in the creek diminished. The fish disappeared. Then the Kingfishers. The Great Blue Herons came less and less often. Only one or two have visited the creek this year.
In 2006 PTD published a detailed analysis of what was happening to the creek in a
technical report (7.5MB).
To summarize, the dunes act like sponges. Rain and melted snow seep into the sand. (At the water table, as much as 25% of the dune is water.) This water travels slowly through the sand and emerges at the edge of the stream and contributes to the flow.
When the dunes were removed the storage capacity was reduced. Calculations indicate that the water that had been stored in the dunes in 1998, that was no longer available in 2005 could have fed the creek for as long as 38 months at the 2005 rate of flow.
In 2005, ground water discharge accounted for 70% of the base flow. In 1998, the base flow had been 1.8 times higher than it was in 2005. Today as mining is nearing completion at the Nadeau Site, the base flow has further diminished.
Unfortunately, we have to report that the Rogers Creek will never be revived. The sand mining has turned it into little more than a drain for surface run-off of precipitation that falls in its 6.4 square mile catchment area.
The destruction of Rogers Creek teaches us that the company experts, both on staff and hired consultants, do not know as much as they claim, that the regulators have become enablers, and that economic considerations trump conservation interests. Once destroyed, the resource is gone forever.
