GEI’s integrated team of ecologists and engineers were hired to assess, survey, design, and obtain permits/approvals from state and federal agencies for relocation of 4,000 linear feet of stream, 10 acres of wetland impact, relocation of threatened freshwater mussel species, and creation of over 26 acres of mitigation wetland to accommodate the expansion of the Brent Run Landfill in Montrose, Michigan. GEI has also been charged with monitoring the long-term ecology and geomorphology and helping to maintain the planted landscape close to targets since construction was completed.
At the time of construction, this project was considered the largest stream relocation project that had ever been permitted by the State of Michigan. GEI began the project with a natural resource assessment of approximately 300 acres of land and nearly two miles of stream, which required extensive coordination between state and federal agencies. Wetlands, floodplains, and stream resources were delineated and assessed, including bat trees, endangered species, macroinvertebrates, mussels, fish, stream bed sediment, hydrology, hydraulics, and sediment transport. These collective resources and their environmental needs were considered and built into the final project design to meet the client’s schedule and budgetary needs.
GEI submitted the application for construction of the new stream channel and approximately 26 acres of wetland for compensatory mitigation for the permitting of stream and wetland impacts associated with the expansion of the landfill. The project design minimized and mitigated for wetland impacts but also improved existing stream resources.
Because this was to be the largest stream relocation in MDEQ history, the MDEQ conditioned the permit with numerous assessments not typically required, including: hydrologic monitoring and modeling, sediment transport monitoring and modeling, and application of natural channel design principles including the assessment of the fluvial geomorphology, hydrology and sediment transport properties of a reference reach.
