On May 14, the Silver Lake Storage Basin's fuse plug spillway, constructed in fall of 2002, failed. This failure resulted in approximately nine billion gallons of water and one million cubic yards of sediment being transported downstream. The rush of water resulted in the formation of a new river channel at the Silver Lake Storage Basin that measures 30 feet deep, 300 feet wide, and 2,000 feet long. The surge of water also resulted in the breach and failure of the Tourist Park dam. Failure of this lowermost dam sent another torrent of water and sediment downstream, this time impacting Marquette's Upper Harbor.

Since the flooding, Service biologists Christie Deloria, U.P. Sub-office, and Burr Fisher, East Lansing Field Office, have been active in a multi-agency effort to assess the impacts of the flooding and identify needed recovery efforts. Through this multi-agency team, the Service expressed concerns with potential impacts to lake trout spawning areas. Spawning areas are found near the mouth of the Dead River within Marquette's Upper Harbor. One area is a natural spawning reef, another ?un-natural? spawning area is the rip-rap covered water intake pipes associated with Presque Isle Power Plant. The Service requested that UPPCO assess whether sediments were covering the lake trout habitat.

Instead of hiring a diver to inspect the areas, UPPCO purchased an underwater camera and chose to do the preliminary assessment with its own staff. On Oct. 16, Christie Deloria and personnel representing UPPCO, Michigan Department of Natural Resources, Michigan Department of Environmental Quality and Keewenaw Bay Indian Community boarded a boat to take a preliminary look at the Upper Harbor lake trout spawning areas. UPPCO's underwater camera was attached to a GPS unit, TV and VCR. The TV monitor allowed all onboard to observe the harbor substrate conditions near the boat. The lke trout spawning habitat appeared virtually free of sand or sediments. Spaces between the rocks and boulders appeared to be free of sediment as well.

After twours of traversing the Upper Harbor, all onboard were satisfied that sediments, from the May 2003 Dead River flood, were not covering lake trout spawning habitat. We are unsure how sedimentation and debris impacted lake trout during the flood event itself. However, we are confident that the flood event should have minimal to no long term detrimental effects on lake trout reproduction in Marquette's Upper Harbor.

The U.P. Sub-office and East Lansing Field Office remain active partners in the multi-agency Dead River recovery effort.