The Michigan Department of Natural Resources is welcoming news that construction of a barrier to stop the invasive carp from reaching Lake Michigan is about to get started.
DNR special advisor Tammy Newcomb tells us the first construction contract for the Brandon Road Interbasin Project in Joliet, Illinois was awarded on November 27. The initial work will involve site preparation for the interbasin.
“What it is, is a series of deterrents that include things like a bubble barrier, a sound barrier, and an electric barrier in the approach channel to the lot at Brandon Road,” Newcomb said.
The site is at the Brandon Road Lock and Dam, which until now has been the choke point that stops the carp from reaching the Great Lakes from the Mississippi River. The $1.5 billion Brandon Road Interbasin Project is a U.S. Army Corps of Engineers effort to increase protections against the carp.
Newcomb says areas reached by the voracious carp have seen their ecosystems devastated.
“There’s over 28 states right now that are being overrun by invasive carp in their fisheries, and this is a first place in the nation whereby we have an opportunity to prevent these fish from getting into the Great Lakes.”
Newcomb says this first construction contract, for $15.5 million, kicks off the overall project. The DNR is one of many partner agencies providing expertise to project planners.
The goal is to complete the Interbasin Project by 2032.
