Removal Recommendation Loss of Fish and Wildlife Habitat Beneficial Use Impairment St. Clair River Area of Concern Michigan Department of Environmental Quality Office of the Great Lakes Great Lakes Management Unit May 10, 2017 DRAFT www.michigan.gov/aocprogram Michigan Office of the Great Lakes, Areas of Concern Program. 517-284-5035, www.michigan.gov/aocprogram. 2017. Removal Recommendation Loss of Fish and Wildlife Habitat – St. Clair River AOC Page 2 TABLE OF CONTENTS Issue ............................................................................................................................................................................... 5 Background ................................................................................................................................................................... 5 Removal Criteria ........................................................................................................................................................... 6 Habitat Plan ................................................................................................................................................................... 7 Analysis ......................................................................................................................................................................... 9 Port Huron St. Clair River Shoreline Restoration - North .......................................................................................... 9 Port Huron St. Clair River Shoreline Restoration - South ........................................................................................ 10 Upper St. Clair River Shoreline Restoration ............................................................................................................ 11 Blue Water River Walk ........................................................................................................................................ 12 Blue Water River Walk Wetland ......................................................................................................................... 15 Marysville St. Clair River Living Shoreline Restoration ............................................................................................ 15 Cuttle Creek Restoration ......................................................................................................................................... 17 Cottrellville Township Shoreline Preservation and Restoration.............................................................................. 26 Marine City Drain Habitat Improvements ............................................................................................................... 28 Harsens Island Habitat Restoration ......................................................................................................................... 31 Restoration of In-River Habitat of the St. Clair River ............................................................................................... 34 Middle Channel Fish Spawning Reef ................................................................................................................... 35 Harts Light Fish Spawning Reef ........................................................................................................................... 37 Pointe aux Chenes Fish Spawning Reef .............................................................................................................. 38 Canadian Status of the Loss of Fish and Wildlife Habitat BUI ................................................................................... 40 Recommendation ........................................................................................................................................................ 40 References ................................................................................................................................................................... 41 Appendices .................................................................................................................................................................. 45 Appendix A: Loss of Fish and Wildlife Habitat BUI, pages 22-26 of the Guidance for Delisting Michigan’s Great Lakes AOCs .............................................................................................................................................................. 45 Appendix B: St. Clair River BPAC Meeting Minutes ................................................................................................ 49 Appendix C: St. Clair River BPAC Letter of Support for the Loss of Fish and Wildlife Habitat BUI ......................... 50 Appendix D: List of projects required for the removal of the Loss of Fish and Wildlife Habitat BUI .................... 51 Appendix E: Bird species identified at the Blue Water River Walk ......................................................................... 52 Appendix F: Bird species identified at the Blue Water River Walk Wetland .......................................................... 53 Appendix G: Bird species identified at the Blue Water River Walk Wetland ......................................................... 55 Appendix H: Bird species identified at the Blue Water River Walk Wetland ......................................................... 57 Cover Photo: “Stella the Sturgeon” at the Blue Water River Walk in Port Huron, Michigan Removal Recommendation Loss of Fish and Wildlife Habitat – St. Clair River AOC Page 3 LIST OF FIGURES FIGURE 1: Geographic boundary of the binational St. Clair AOC. ................................................................................ 5 FIGURE 2: Locations of all restoration projects identified in the St. Clair River AOC habitat plan ............................... 8 FIGURE 3: Location of the Upper St. Clair River Shoreline Restoration project, also known as the Blue Water River Walk and Blue Water River Walk Wetland in Port Huron, Michigan........................................................................... 12 FIGURE 4: Light trap locations at the Blue Water River Walk (UGSG 2016) ............................................................... 14 FIGURE 5: Location of the Marysville Living Shoreline project ................................................................................... 16 FIGURE 6: Photograph of the Marysville Living Shoreline from 2013 showing the upland, wetland and river habitat created ......................................................................................................................................................................... 17 FIGURE 7: Cuttle Creek Restoration project boundary, before construction (2013 aerial photo) ............................. 18 FIGURE 8: Cuttle Creek Restoration project boundary after construction (2016 aerial photo) ................................. 19 FIGURE 9: Locations of stream segments evaluated for benthic macroinvertebrate and stream assessments ........ 21 FIGURE 10: Locations of fish survey locations at Cuttle Creek ................................................................................... 24 FIGURE 11: Fish sampling locations (yellow star) where a gravid northern pike was found indicating the goal of fish passage throughout the project area has been met ................................................................................................... 25 FIGURE 12: Light trap survey locations for larval fish sampling (USGS 2016) ............................................................ 27 FIGURE 13: Location of the Marine City Drain Habitat Improvements project .......................................................... 29 FIGURE 14: Marine City Drain stream assessment locations ..................................................................................... 30 FIGURE 15: Location of the Harsens Island Habitat Restoration Project .................................................................... 32 FIGURE 16: Before and after photographs of the Harsens Island Habitat Restoration project ................................. 33 FIGURE 17: Location map of the Krispin Drain Blueway ............................................................................................. 34 FIGURE 18: Location of the Middle Channel, Pointe aux Chenes and Harts Light fish spawning reefs in the St. Clair River AOC ..................................................................................................................................................................... 35 FIGURE 19: Location of the Middle Channel Reef in the St. Clair River (Vaccaro et al 2016) ..................................... 36 FIGURE 20: Mean number of lake sturgeon eggs per mat at the Middle Channel fish spawning reef (USGS 2016) . 37 FIGURE 21: Location of the Harts Light reef in the St. Clair River (Vaccaro et al 2016).............................................. 38 FIGURE 22: Location of the Pointe aux Chenes reef in the St. Clair River (Vaccaro et al 2016) ................................. 39 FIGURE 23: Number of lake sturgeon eggs per mat at the fish spawning reefs in the St. Clair – Detroit River system ..................................................................................................................................................................................... 40 Removal Recommendation Loss of Fish and Wildlife Habitat – St. Clair River AOC Page 4 LIST OF TABLES TABLE 1: Catch summary for fishes