The Maple River is a high-quality, predominantly coldwater stream that flows roughly 23 miles and drains an area of approximately 148,000 acres before flowing into Burt Lake and into the Cheboygan River watershed. The Maple River is one of only four rivers where the federally listed, endangered Hungerford's Crawling Water Beetle is located in Michigan. According to the "Hungerford's Crawling Water Beetle Draft Recovery Plan", U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, August 2004, excessive erosion and sedimentation at degraded road crossings is a potential threat to the beetles’ habitat.

A total of 25 road-stream crossing sites were identified as contributing excessive sedimentation to the Maple River watershed, as documented in the "Maple River Watershed: Road/Stream Crossing Inventory Report", Conservation Resource Alliance, December 2000. One of these crossings, the westernmost crossing of Robinson Road over the West Branch of the Maple River, was a priority of the local road commission, and presented an opportunity to improve habitat with renovation at the site. The West Branch of the Maple is known to support the best trout fishery and coldest water within the watershed.

The former crossing was a system of 5 culverts which were critically failing to the extent that they were blocking fish passage.  Erosion from the road shoulders and embankment contributed excessive sand to the river. The undersized and failing culverts were causing flooding and consequent warming of upstream waters.

The project involved replacing the existing culverts with a free-span structure which will accommodate the natural flow of the river. In the spring of 2007 soil borings at the site indicated that there was 13 feet of peat under the culverts. Unfortunately this finding eliminated the option of a bridge or bottomless culvert, due to excessive cost of pouring footers so deeply into the ground. The footers would have tripled the estimated cost of the project. After much consideration it was decided in a consensus by the partners to place two large elliptical culverts at the crossing, and bury them approximately two feet into the river substrate. Due to the acidic pH of the river at Robinson Road (the crossing is located in a large bog) both steel culverts were coated with plastic to reduce corrosion and lengthen their life.  This plastic coating increased the cost of the culverts by 20%, but doubled the life of the culverts.  These culverts allowed for fish passage and were able to accommodate a 100-year storm event.  In addition, the embankments were stabilized, and road runoff was managed to eliminate sedimentation at the crossing.

Benefits of the project were: 1) reinstated fish passage, allowing access to approximately 6 miles of the headwaters of the Maple River; 2) reduction of adverse fish habitat impacts from erosion and warming at the crossing, benefiting approximately 12 stream miles of fish habitat downstream to the Lake Kathleen impoundment; and 3) benefits to non-fish species currently suffering the impacts of sand erosion, flooding, and obstructed flow. Restoration of this road crossing site was completed with the expectation that this restoration may provide suitable habitat for the federally Endangered Hungerfords crawling water beetle, which is present in the East Branch of the Maple River. 

The project was completed on October 12, 2007. The road was closed for approximately three weeks in order to place the new structures and re-pave the road’s surface.  Planning and fundraising for this project began in 2005.  The Conservation Resource Alliance (CRA) was the lead agency for this project. Additional partners included the Emmet County Road Commission, the Emmet County Revenue Sharing Board, the Baiardi Family Foundation, the Frey Foundation, the Petoskey-Harbor Springs Area Community Foundation, USDA’s Conservation Innovation Grant, and CRA’s River Fund.  Service funding contributed $35,000 toward this project, $10,000 from the Coastal Program, and $25,000 from the Partners for Fish and Wildlife Program.  The total cost for this project was $194,256.