Mar
Two projects impacting Little Traverse Bay and its watershed will move forward thanks to $31,600 in grants from the Petoskey-Harbor Springs Area Community Foundation. Awarded from our Little Traverse Bay Protection and Restoration Fund, the grants will support projects of the City of Petoskey and Tip of the Mitt Watershed Council.
The City of Petoskey will stabilize this section of shoreline at Bayfront Park with a “living shoreline” demonstration project.
For the City of Petoskey, significant erosion and infrastructure damage are ongoing issues due to high lake levels and storm surges. With a $9,000 grant award, the City will undertake a “livable shoreline” project at Bayfront Park near playground and promenade clock tower to mitigate erosion issues underneath the existing riprap. Using grades and native plants, the project will first help stabilize this section of Petoskey’s waterfront and second serve as a demonstration of how this method could be used elsewhere along Petoskey’s shoreline in the near future.
The Watershed Council will assist the City of Petoskey with a priority plan to integrate green stormwater infrastructure (like techniques in this earlier rain garden project, pictured) with future city projects.
The Tip of the Mitt Watershed Council will undertake a planning project to assist the City of Petoskey in finding opportunities to integrate green stormwater infrastructure (GSI) within the city. With this $22,600 grant, the Watershed Council will work closely with the city to identify priority locations where green stormwater techniques would be suitable and would benefit water quality projection efforts. This project builds on previous work of the Watershed Council including local workshops about green infrastructure techniques (2018) and the creation of numerous rain gardens throughout the City of Petoskey (2017-18), both with grant support from the Community Foundation.
Grants from the Little Traverse Bay Protection and Restoration Fund are awarded annually to eligible organizations addressing the priorities outlined in our region’s Little Traverse Bay Watershed Management Plan. In the ten years since the fund’s inception, nearly $350,000 has been awarded to organizations controlling and preventing invasive species, managing stormwater runoff, and much more. Overseeing the fund’s grant recommendations is our volunteer committee comprised of Jenni Attie, Mary Campbell, Frank Ettawageshik, Jim Ford, and Doug Larson.
Since the Community Foundation was founded nearly three decades ago, we have awarded over $27 million in grants to nonprofits, municipalities and schools working to improve the quality of life for everyone in Emmet County.