Innovative Grayling Stormwater Project Receives Funding

$1 Million+ Project is a Pro-Active Effort To Protect Michigan’s Famed AuSable River

A rain garden LID to handle stormwater runoff along a residential street such as will be utilized in conjunction with the Grayling Stormwater Management Project.

For a community where a nationally renowned river really does "run through it," the news couldn’t have been any better. The City of Grayling was recently notified that the north-central Michigan community’s innovative stormwater control project, designed to protect Michigan’s famed AuSable River, is to receive a $758,000 grant through the Clean Michigan Initiative [CMI] program.

Together with required matching-funds contributions, the grant award will give the Grayling Stormwater Project just over one million dollars in funding to fix a problem that many communities all over Michigan are just starting to think about. Following a recommendation by the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality [MDEQ], the larger [$758,000] grant award was given in place of a recently approved award of $208,000 and will ensure that the project gets completed in a timely manner.

"The Au Sable River is among the many treasures of Michigan's great outdoors, and this project will go a long way toward protecting it for future generations to enjoy," Lt. Governor John Cherry said. "I am pleased this project will encourage stewardship of this river and remind us of the challenge we face in protecting what makes Michigan a great place to live, work and play."

Many larger communities downstate are currently faced with the difficult problem of being forced to take responsibility for their stormwater runoff problem with little funding available to do it; the Grayling project will address stormwater runoff before regulations are in place that would force the community to pay to do so.

When completed, the project will eliminate 90% of direct stormwater discharges to the AuSable River from the City of Grayling through a hybrid approach that uses Low Impact Development (LID) techniques, such as "rain gardens", as well as end-of-the-pipe Best Management Practices where necessary. The work-plan calls for using the combination of techniques in all of the 12 major stormwater drainage zones within the city. Following completion of the three-year project over 90% of contaminants such as oils, sediment, trash and other items will no longer be carried directly into the Au Sable River every time it rains or the snow melts.

A diverse partnership made up of the City of Grayling, conservation groups, businesses and local residents has spent several years documenting the problem -- oil, trash, and sediment running off the pavement from throughout the city and discharged directly into the Au Sable River - in order to eventually eliminate the direct discharge of stormwater runoff to the Au Sable. The partnership knew it was the right thing to do when they started working on the problem; implementing the solution will be the culmination of all those efforts.

The stormwater solution not only will benefit the Au Sable River and the community that depends on it but will also save taxpayers money in the long run. The City’s matching funds for the project will be leveraged so that every $1 contributed by the city will be matched with $7 from the combination of the CMI grant and private contributions.

The collaboration of private groups, businesses, citizens, state and local government has been the key to getting the project going, according to Grayling City Manager Allen Lowe.

"The AuSable River is one of our most valuable resources and it is important that we protect its health. Partnerships like this can make that happen," Lowe stated.

The partnership, coordinated through Huron Pines Resource Conservation & Development Council’s Stormwater Committee, has been meeting for several years. Before receiving the grant, stormwater committee members worked on related projects such as marking storm drains to educate the public, reviewing possible ordinances that could be adopted to prevent the problem from increasing, researching the possible use of natural drainage (Low Impact Development) techniques for handling stormwater, and working with engineers to develop a conceptual stormwater treatment plan.

Helping to lay the groundwork for Grayling’s stormwater project was a several-year study undertaken as a public service by The George A. Griffith Foundation. The foundation’s scientific study of the impact of stormwater discharges to the AuSable provided a credible factual basis for addressing the problem and for gauging the effectiveness of the treatment measures that will be implemented.

Prior to receiving the CMI grant, the Stormwater Committee had raised more than $50,000 through private-sector contributions. The funding, from sources such as the Michigan Fly Fishing Club, the Paul Young Chapter of Trout Unlimited, Michigan Fly Fishing Club, the Trout Bum Bar-B-Q and private citizens was essential to getting the preliminary work on the project completed and showing the strong support for fixing this problem. In Graying, a threat to the river is a threat to both the quality of life and to the community’s recreation-tourism based economy.

"The City of Grayling, the business community and conservation organizations have taken significant steps to be proactive in addressing this significant threat to one of this country’s great natural resources & one of its finest recreational & scenic rivers. Now the state of Michigan, through the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality CMI program, has joined them," Stormwater Committee Chairman Steve Southard stated. "Leaders in state government such as Lt. Gov. John Cherry and our region’s elected representatives, State Senator Tony Stamas and State Representatives Matt Gillard and Ken Bradstreet have been very supportive in moving the project forward," he added.

The three-year project will begin immediately and will initially focus on the section of the city just south of the AuSable River. The non-profit organization Huron Pines RC&D will assist the city with managing the project and reducing future stormwater runoff problems; Best Management Practices for stormwater control will be designed by the Traverse City-based firm Gosling Czubak Engineering Sciences, Inc.

Information about stormwater best management practices and Low Impact Development techniques can be found on the web at: For more information about the Grayling Stormwater Management Project, contact Huron Pines staff member Brad Jensen at 989/348-9319.

Steve is regular column contributor at TroutBums.com. You can read more articles by Steve, as well as other authors here. TroutBums is the AuSable river's original Fly Shop and Guide Service.

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