It is called the "largest dam removal and watershed restoration project in Michigan's history" and before it gets started there is paperwork to be filed.

The Record-Eagle has this update:

Local officials approved plans to remove three former hydroelectric dams on the river -- Brown Bridge Dam owned by Traverse City, and Sabin and Boardman dams owned by Grand Traverse County. The decisions came early this year after a multi-year public study by the Boardman River Dams Committee wrapped at the end of 2008.

"There will probably be nothing on the ground for a year and a half," said Nate Winkler, a biologist and project manager for Conservation Resource Alliance, a Traverse City nonprofit group contracted to manage the three dam removals, modifications to Union Street Dam and watershed restoration efforts.

The project was denied $7.5 million in federal stimulus funding and currently has about $685,000 in pending grant applications. It's going to take a lot more money than that and officials will spend the coming months applying for additional grants, Winkler said.

And the R-E is reporting that the Traverse City Commission may seek help from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers:

They will consider whether to authorize City Manager R. Ben Bifoss to send a letter asking the corps to complete a feasibility study and formulate a plan to remove Brown Bridge Dam and modify Union Street Dam, efforts to restore fish and wildlife habitat, improve degraded water quality and restore natural flow regimes.

Click here to read the project update and here for the TC Commission meeting (for Jan. 4).

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Photo: Boardman Thaw by ETCphoto.