LETTER TO THE BURT TOWNSHIP BOARD

October 27, 2025

Dear Burt Township Board,

This letter requests a new agenda item for the Nov. 12th, 2025 meeting titled the “Establishment of the West Bay Preservation Fund”

This topic may require several meetings of discussion, deliberation and community involvement, but time is of essence to seriously consider the recommendations offered in this letter.

The core requests and definition of this Fund are:

1.      Burt Twp Board becomes the self-appointed “STEWARD” of West Bay for its preservation needs.

2.      Burt Twp Board commits to an ongoing annual budget line item of $100,000 to pay for the preservation expenses.

This letter’s attachments describe and explain the rationale and significance of this request and recommendation.  Three years of studying the history of our experiences with attempting to save our bays, and the most recent sand accretions, have led us to offering this short-term remedy to our long-term shoreline and harbor problems.

Establishing this critical fund provides hope, action and a foundation to figure out our long-term solutions.  Without the fund, the problem will continue to get worse without any action. 

With the fund, the Grand Marais community has a true commitment, a rallying point to find solutions and most importantly, hope that our future generations can enjoy our West Bay.

SaveWestBay.com is ready to continue studying, aiding and delivering factual information to support West Bay preservation efforts.  The leadership and ownership of care for West Bay is best assigned to the Burt Twp Board.

Thank you for your care and attention to this issue and these recommendations.

Bob Thompson and Bill Egerer

Founders of SaveWestBay.com

PROPOSED RESOLUTION TO ESTABLISH THE WEST BAY PRESERVATION FUND

(Note: this resolution has been presented to the Burt Twp Board for consideration but has not been acted on yet.)

WHEREAS, sand is accreting and shrinking the size of West Bay at an alarming fast rate;

WHEREAS, West Bay is continually losing both surface area and depth;

WHEREAS, the USACE intentions and scope of work for dredging is limited to solely the “channel” area and not the West Bay area;

WHEREAS, past efforts by the GM community to engage government units to assume responsibility for preservation efforts have shown that no agency assumes responsibility for the bays of the GM shoreline area;

WHEREAS, the GM community daily enjoys the beauty and benefits of the West Bay and is the key stakeholder for its care;

WHEREAS, the question of “Who Owns West Bay” remains an open-ended and unanswered question;

WHEREAS, the GM community and Burt Twp Board are the logical and most direct beneficiaries of West Bay’s offerings;

WHEREAS, the sand accretion into West Bay is a 24/7/365 days a year fact and periodic dredging must match and handle this constant accretion;

WHEREAS, the dredging requirements for West Bay are a never-ending responsibility;

WHEREAS, __(Other considerations)________________________________;

WHEREAS, __(Other considerations)________________________________:

Now, therefore be it that the Burt Township Board does hereby declare itself as the primary STEWARD for the care and preservation of West Bay and establishes the WEST BAY PRESERVATION FUND allocating a $100,000 per year budget line item to fund expenses for its care, such as dredging, studies, measurements, reports, and management and reporting etc.

This self-declaration and funding demonstrate the commitment to West Bay preservation and its high priority to the residents and the community.

Burt Township Board is committed to persuading other government units, private groups and visitors to share in these preservation efforts and funding.

 SIGNED: [Trustees for Burt Township Board]

BACKGROUND INFORMATION FOR ESTABLISHING RECOMMENDATIONS

THE OLD PILE DIKE

The old Pile Dike in Grand Marais harbor doesn’t get the attention it deserves because it hasn’t been seen above the water for over 60 years.  Today, its remnants are still visible on a clear day via Google Maps or drone footage or from a boat.  It is a straight line, underwater, between the East Pier south end and the old Lonesome Pt shoreline, which has eroded away.  Unfortunately, many people who are young and/or new to GM don’t understand how the pile dike remains the crux of the shape of the GM shorelines and bay destructions.  We no longer see the pile dike and our shorelines have been completely remodeled since it disappeared.

Visitors to Grand Marais today see the giant structures of piers and breakwater.  They see West Bay and may venture over to the mouth of the Sucker River at Lonesome Pt.  Today’s shorelines don’t easily tell the story of how and why they are shaped and don’t reveal that an entire East Bay is now invisible and buried in sand.  It’s very difficult for today’s viewer of our West Bay to appreciate or understand how sand and the demise of the pile dike are destroying our last remaining bay and why its so difficult to solve.

To understand today’s harbor and shoreline conditions, a person must know something about the old pile dike and how it created and yet destroyed the shorelines and lands around GM when it was left to decay and fall into disrepair.  This history is critical to finding answers to today’s problems.

The pile dike was built to create a northern border and safety wall for the large GM harbor in the early 1900s.  It lasted for over 50 years.  Without the pile dike, the large West and East bays of GM would not exist.  The pile dike connected to and formed a line between the East Pier and Lonesome Point and was nearly 2 miles in length.  It protected the harbor waters from Lake Superior and it worked to maintain a safe, calm and functional harbor for GM.  Importantly, it kept the littoral drifting sand outside of the bays and deposited it towards Lonesome Point.  GM enjoyed deep, wide and substantial bays and harbor.

But the pile dike was not maintained by the USACE and it was essentially left to rot away, being built of timbers and rocks.  The signs of deterioration were evident to GM locals and they pleaded, begged, demanded and cajoled the USACE to maintain and repair the pile dike because GM would be faced with untold damages to its lands and shorelines.  The USACE assessed the situation and told GM that the pile dike no longer needed maintenance because GM was no longer an economic force with its logging and fishing commerce being too small.  The result was the pile dike was left to disintegrate, and the remaining few remnants are still visible underwater today.

The projected destructive forecasts of the GM locals came true and within 2 decades, Kahle Park land was destroyed, Lonesome Point was destroyed and East Bay was filled in with sand and eliminated as a body of water.  The south shoreline of GM harbors were completely inundated with sand and reshaped.  West Bay began to take in large amounts of sand accretion.  These forces exist today and continue to invade West Bay shrinking its acreage size and it depth.

Burt Township Board and the GM community have a VERY long history of involvement with trying to preserve the GM shoreline and bays.  The historical record shows efforts originating back in the 1940s when GM forefathers warned of that the Pike Dike lack of maintenance and depreciation would cause serious damage to GM’s harbor and shorelines.  Those early caretakers of GM harbor were correct in their forecasts and indeed, once the Pike Dike stopped working, all hell broke loose on the shape, function and existence of GM shores and bays.  The single failure of the Pile Dike remodeled GM harbor in ways that are irreplaceable:

1.      Lonesome Point was destroyed and remodeled.

2.      Kahle Park was completely eroded away

3.      The entire west section of East Bay completely filled with sand and no longer exists.

4.      The GM locals’ forecast was correct, but no one and no agency stepped forward to prevent it from happening.

5.      GM expected the USACE to intervene but the USACE wrote long reports why the Pile Dike was no longer needed, and failed to provide any tangible assistance.

Those GM efforts, at that time, are affectionately labeled as “Save the Bay - Version 1.0”

SAVE the BAY – VERSIONS 1.0 to 5.0

Since that time, GM has experienced similar efforts and campaigns to save our harbor and shorelines.  The historical records show versions 2.0 to 4.0, each lead by the Twp. Supervisor at that time, and supported by various hard-working and committed community members.  The most recent campaign, that many of us recall and participated in, was under the late Jack Hubbard in an effort to get some kind of a replacement to the pile dike.  Jack worked tirelessly, but was only able to get the cheapest alternative built because the funding simply wasn’t available, even with extraordinary community efforts and a national Readers Digest, “we love GM” campaign.  That was the version 4.0 effort

Today, SaveWestBay.com represents the version 5.0 campaign effort and it stands on the shoulders of many, many past and passionate leaders and volunteers who have tried to garner support towards our bay preservation efforts.  SWB is trying to understand the history, the current technical conditions and the best options for action.  It is important to learn from the past 80 years of efforts.  SWB has compiled and published as many documents, maps, reports and findings, that are available and made them easy to use for everyone’s access.

The sad truth is that the further a person resides from the GM harbor, the less that person is inclined to get involved and be part of the solution.  It is clear that GM locals are the most informed, committed and attentive to any efforts to preserve the GM bay.  And since the GM locals are the direct and daily beneficiaries of the West Bay offerings, these same locals should carry the responsibility to oversee the care and preservation of West Bay.

Many, many visitors and users of West Bay are willing to partially engage and maybe provide donations towards saving West Bay.  But no one, outside of our small local community, is going to fully immerse and engage at a level of involvement to find solutions.

Even the USACE is unable to find enough time, or care, to physically visit GM to assess the extent of the accretion problems.

Keep in mind that the USACE-mandated channel dredging has NOT taken place for over 50 years.  And currently, there are 55,000 cubic yards of channel dredging needed, but only 60% of that is funded to be done in 2026 and 2027, and that is a “maybe” commitment by the USACE.  Even when the GM channel is finally dredged, by 2027, it will STILL need further dredging to comply with the 15’ water level requirements.  That isn’t a situation of taking care of the GM harbor; that is neglect.

Right now, there is absolutely no dredging plan or funding for any area outside of the channel.  There is NO agency or government unit that is monitoring nor planning any action plans for West Bay.  The ONLY SOLE attention to this preservation issue is from SWB.com and our Burt Twp Board.  The bottom line is that the GM community stands by itself as the sole agent to get any action done.  We are our own caretakers, and we should accept that fate, given the long history of our past preservation efforts.

 WEST BAY – THE ORPHAN

This letter’s recommendations are somewhat of a paradigm shift in thinking for the GM community and the Burt Twp Board.  In the past, we have positively hoped that some Fed or State entity would share the same concern, insight, knowledge, and passion about the GM sand issues.  Those hopes were met with disappointment and sometimes faulty and misleading guidance from agencies.  We’ve had faith that other entities would assume responsibility for solving the problems, we’ve pointed fingers, and put ownership of the problem onto agencies outside of GM.

The shift in thinking is that our GM community and Burt Twp Board must now accept the responsibility for the care of West Bay preservation.  Others are NOT going to fill that role.  We have 80 years of history to prove that point.  When we ask the question, “Who Owns West Bay?”, we get the answer of “everyone and no one”, depending on how the bay is viewed.  Everyone can USE West Bay; it is open to everyone around the whole world.  Yet, when we ask “WHO will take care of West Bay?”, then the answer can be “no one” is responsible or accountable.

It's time to change our thinking and take responsibility for the jewel sitting in our own backyards and become the self-appointed caretakers of West Bay.

The best analogy for Burt Twp Board becoming the STEWARD of West Bay preservation is a to view it as an orphaned child, abandoned of proper parental care for many decades.  It needed maintenance and it got none.  All the potential caregivers shunned taking responsibility for its maintenance.  During those abandoned decades, the shorelines and an entire bay have been altered and destroyed.  The West Bay body of water is the last remaining portion of the previous large harbor.  West Bay needs to be adopted and cared for by a worthy parent figure.  Burt Twp Board is the prospective parent that knows this orphaned bay the best.  Burt Twp Board can set a legacy by taking on this parental role and make our future generations proud that the parent did the right thing.

The current sand accretion crisis is illustrated and measured using the drone videos produced by GM local Paul Peterson.  He created videos showing the sand movements for 2024 and 2025, that are all available for viewing at the SWB.com website.  These videos present evidence of the rate of increase for sand accretion, directly into West Bay waters and now surrounding and covering the new breakwater.  At the current rate of accretion, it appears that the breakwater boulders will become encapsulated with sand and the deep depth holes in West Bay will become shallow waterways within a decade.  The rate of sand accretion is alarming to even the casual viewer.  We are witnessing the destruction of West Bay under the same sand forces that destroyed East Bay, just 3 decades ago.  The evidence and facts are all readily available at SWB.com. 

No one, except GM locals seem to care enough to understand what is taking place and do something about it.  Most people and professionals seem to think that someone, some agency, some authorities, will take notice and get involved to stop the destruction.  Yet the sand accretion continues, unabated, without any responsible party taking charge of the situation and trying to preserve the remaining West Bay. We need to become that responsible party.

QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS ABOUT THE WEST BAY PRESERVATION FUND

QUESTION: Why should Burt Township assume the role of “Steward” of West Bay?  Aren’t other agencies responsible for the care and fate of West Bay?

ANSWER: Many government agencies have some partial responsibility and role in West Bay’s condition.  Pollution in the water is monitored and Clean Water Acts govern some situations.  The USACE has specific but limited responsibilities for the piers and channel dredging.  The State of MI has controls over certain bay “bottomlands” rights.  But there is no existing government unit that is responsible for, nor caring, about the decreasing size of West Bay; it simply doesn’t fit into existing missions, mandates and roles of their government agencies.  Burt Twp. is the logical government agency choice to assume this “Steward” role since West Bay exists in the “backyard” of Grand Marais.

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QUESTION: Can the private sector (nongovernment organizations, or NGOs) or beachfront private property owners around West Bay, become the “Steward” for West Bay?

ANSWER: NGOs and people owning property around West Bay can certainly participate and have a vested interest in the West Bay waters.  They should each individually care for the beach lands that exist on their private property and have responsibility for that land up to the water’s edge.  But those owners don’t have any control over the bay’s waters; those waters are much like a “common land” of a park or boulevard – it is jointly owned by many.  The Burt Twp Board is the representative of the people residing in Burt Twp for common land type issues.  We recognize the waters of West Bay as a “common lands” type of situation, therefore, Burt Twp Board represents the interests of all residents of Burt Twp for the preservation of West Bay.

In addition, whenever money is spent on the care of West Bay (like dredging) that expenditure of funds requires it is spent through a legal “fiscal agent” of the people.  The Burt Township Board is, by default, the fiscal agent for the residents of Burt Township.  Monies normally cannot be authorized and expended for public projects through private individuals and NGOs, there must be a fiscal agency involved.  Therefore, Burt Township Board has an inherent responsibility for these types of expenses.

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QUESTION: How did SaveWestBay.com arrive at these recommendations in 2025?  We thought that SaveWestBay.com was trying to figure out a long-term solution for the sand problem and these two recommendations sound more like a band-aid applied to a serious problem and not a solution.  Shouldn’t Grand Marais try to find the correct solution before allocating budget money to some “unknown” future costs?

ANSWER:  Bob and Bill started SaveWestBay.com after spending a couple of years of studying and learning about the Grand Marais harbor and shorelines.  We started our inquiries as more of a hobby about the technical and historical story of our harbor.  It quickly grew into observations and learnings that Grand Marais has a serious growing sand problem that most of us thought was corrected/solved with the new breakwater in place.  We shifted our hobby observations into a passionate campaign to make Grand Marais locals aware of the situation.  We knew that everyone had a different “set of facts” because many of the Grand Marais harbor documents and history was scattered around and not available in one place.  We started the SaveWestBay.com website to become the “one stop shopping” place for information about the sand problem and its complex history.  We wanted all Grand Marais locals to understand the shoreline situation and encouraged people to “walk the beach”.

When we started our SWB efforts, people would ask us, “What should be done?” and we would quickly respond with, “Please walk the beach and learn about the building sand”.  We wanted to create awareness of our serious sand situation.

Today, people ask us, “What is the action plan to solve this problem?” and we now say, “We need leadership and money to preserve West Bay; no one is currently in charge and no one has funds dedicated to help with the problem!”

As we dug into the Grand Marais historical record for the harbor, we were shocked and disappointed to learn the level of “neglect” with putting long term solutions in place.  We learned that Grand Marais has a long and proud history of many valiant efforts to “save the harbor”, yet it hasn’t yet happened.  Major parts of our Grand Marais harbor have been decimated by sand and there is no working plan in place to stop it.  West Bay’s future fate could be the same as East Bay; filled in with sand in a matter of decades.

SaveWestBay.com started examining WHY this decades-old sand problem hasn’t been solved and what can be learned from our Grand Marais local history.  We concluded that past efforts of Grand Marais locals get an A+ for effort, yet the results and solutions simply didn’t work.  Grand Marais always had to accept compromised, ineffective and sometimes biased reports and recommendations from other authorities that didn’t solve Grand Marais’s problems.

We discovered that even with all the past efforts by Grand Marais locals, that the preservation of West Bay is an “orphaned” project that no single agency or entity is taking on as a responsibility and commitment.  Lots of finger-pointing about which agency should be doing this or that, but no concrete leadership of WHO IS IN CHARGE of the fate of West Bay.  At the same time, there is a consistent passion and yearning of Grand Marais locals to “do something” about the sand problem.  Grand Marais locals have a long, deep history of having to rely on the technical and policy recommendations of the USACE.  Grand Marais has also held itself subservient to the Corps guidance and thought that the Corps might have the same concern as Grand Marais locals about our shorelines.  That reliance on the Corps guidance has prevented the Grand Marais locals from becoming their own leader on this issue.

Bob and Bill have concluded that any meaningful solutions for our sand problem reside within the heads, minds and hearts of the Grand Marais local community.  Grand Marais is the KEY stakeholder for the preservation of West Bay.  It’s not the USACE, it’s not the State EGLE Dept., it’s not the tourists, it’s not the many visitors to Grand Marais.  No one knows the sand problem better than us Grand Marais locals and no one is going to care about it more than us.  It’s time that Grand Marais locals, via OUR Burt Township Board, make a firm and lasting commitment to adopt West Bay’s preservation as our key, #1 priority.  No one else is going to take on this role and commitment.

West Bay resides in our backyard and is an integral part of our daily community life.  It’s difficult to think about Grand Marais without West Bay being part of it. The Grand Marais community, more than any other group of people, benefit from the many, many offerings that West Bay provides.  We are the key beneficiaries of West Bay’s wonderful offerings; we should also be the key stakeholders that provide the care and commitment to preserve West Bay.

If the recommendations are adopted by the Burt Twp Board, the efforts and work of SaveWestBay.com are not stopping.  We intend to continue being the depository of easy to access information about the bay and shorelines.  We will continue to be a resource for finding remedies and solutions for the sand problems.  We will be a rallying point for Grand Marais efforts to support the Board in their role as designated “parent” of West Bay.  SaveWestBay.com is a helpful asset and resource to the Board and the Grand Marais community.

That is the background and logic that caused Bob and Bill to make these recommendations.  Again, it’s a starting point towards a new way to have leadership and figure out how to preserve West Bay.

SaveWestBay.com founders agree that the two recommendations are short term “remedies” and not long-term technical solutions, like a sand bypass system might represent.  But we also don’t view the recommendations as a mere “band aid” because these recommendations will create a solid, tangible, visible and effective commitment towards the care of West Bay and its long-term preservation.  Once adopted, the recommendations provide West Bay with a “parent and caretaker” and funding to begin whatever care program is best applied.  Right now, West Bay’s preservation has NO ONE assuming responsibility for it; West Bay preservation has NO DOLLARS allocated to dredging, studies, measurements, reports or other expenses; West Bay’s shrinking water surface and depths are taking place everyday and there is absolutely no action plan today, nor on the horizon to stop or change it.

Adoption of the recommendations is a CLEAR and MEANINGFUL step in the right direction to change the years of disregard for the priority of West Bay’s preservation.  It’s only a first step, one of many steps, but a big one towards figuring out and developing the best care plans (dredging and other things).

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QUESTION: Why is $100,000 needed for this fund?

ANSWER: This figure is only a guesstimate based on some quick estimates of dredging costs per cubic foot and estimates for administrative and engineering services needed to conduct dredging operations.  While sands move into West Bay on a constant 24/7/365 basis, dredging would be done on some periodic cycle – maybe every 3 years.  All these details must be figured out.  But when you start studying the dollars involved with typical harbor dredging activities, you will find that $100,000 is NOT a big number given the volume of sand that is constantly flowing into West Bay.  The Twp Board will need to refine this guesstimate amount as more information becomes available.

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QUESTION: Why should this be a yearly budget item?

ANSWER: Sand accreting into West Bay is a constant, 24/7/365 flow that never stops.  Dredging West Bay is somewhat equal to painting the Mackinac Bridge; it’s a project that never ends, because the infiltrating sand never stops.  While the dredging projects might take place on some multiyear cycle (like every 3 years, for example), we need to budget an annual amount and put it into a savings account, so there are enough dollars to pay for the expense when they occur.  It’s the same way that Grand Marais paid for new ambulances that are purchased about once every 10 years; we put money aside on an annual basis.

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QUESTION: Shouldn’t the Twp wait until expenses are more known and specific?

ANSWER: West Bay needs a parent/caretaker NOW and today.  There is no need to wait for Burt Twp to make a commitment to adopt West Bay.  We don’t need to know the exact specifics of the expense amounts in order to make the commitment and back that commitment up with funding.  As the actual annual expenses become clearer and more precise, the Board could choose to adjust the $100K figure higher or lower as there is more clarity about the expenses needed.  But no reason to further delay voting on the recommendations; West Bay has been orphaned long enough.  It’s time this orphan got a parent.

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QUESTION: Why isn’t this a USACE responsibility and expense?

ANSWER: The USACE has made it very clear, in the past, and most recently, that their responsibility for the Grand Marais harbor is ONLY maintenance (dredging) of the channel area; the space between the two piers.  That’s it, no more.  And that responsibility was last taken seriously in 1973 when they last dredged.  Since then, over 55,000 cubic yards of sand have accumulated the channel is nowhere near the required 15-foot depth.  Even though channel dredging has been REQUIRED for many years, the USACE last dredging was over 50 years ago.  It’s shocking, but it’s simply the fact.

The only other way that the USACE will assume any responsibility for West Bay waters is if one of the built structures is found to be defective.  Then the USACE begins conducting long, dragged-out studies and engineering analysis.  Grand Marais has gone through this process in the past, and it concluded with the USACE telling Grand Marais, “Sorry, we aren’t doing anything about our structures or their impacts to the Grand Marais shorelines.”

The USACE does have some authority over granting permits for any structures, like revetments, built in Great Lakes waters.  Grand Marais residents have some experience with this process.

Bottom line, the USACE exhibits absolutely no interest nor responsibility with the sand accretion taking place inside West Bay.

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QUESTION: Could these two recommendations result in higher taxes for Burt Twp taxpayers?

ANSWER: Yes, that is a possibility.  The Twp Board is responsible for the annual budgeting process, figuring out the revenue (income sources) and the expenses.  Historically, the majority of funds are generated from property taxes and our campground operation.  There are separate mills applied for several special funds like EMS services and others.  The Board, with community input, would figure out how the $100K would be funded and if a special new tax would be used.  If a new tax is applied, it would probably require a vote of the electorate.  If that method of funding takes place, then at voting time, each resident could figure out how much money they will be spending, per household, to pay for this annual expense.

On the other hand, the Board might find ways to fund this $100K figure with reductions in current expenses in the budget.  In the end, this funding commitment is shared across the board by all taxpaying residents of Burt Twp.  The Board’s commitment to fund it really means that all taxpayers are committed to adopting West Bay and paying their fair share for its preservation.  We argue that it’s a worthwhile and necessary funding if we want to save West Bay.

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QUESTION: Isn’t $100,000 going to be difficult or impossible to fund?

ANSWER: Certainly $100K figure is not a small amount in the Burt Twp annual budget.  We are a small Twp and $100K, while small in terms of the costs of dredging, is still a big figure in our typical, traditional expense line items.  It’s all about our priorities and what things are most important and critical to our Burt Twp operations.  We spend $150K on an ambulance because we value EMS services existing in Grand Marais.  We spend this level of money on equipment purchases and wages of valued employees because we NEED TO in order to carry out the services that Burt Twp offers.  This new $100K amount can certainly put pressure on other existing expenses and how to prioritize them.

But there are opportunities and many possibilities for fundraising, by the Twp and other local NGOs, to help cover this $100K expense.  Just one idea, for good or bad, is a fee added to each campground space purchase for “West Bay Preservation Fund”.  Many tourists, visitors and locals would gladly give money via various fundraising projects to protect and care for West Bay.  People are willing to financially support worthy projects and needs.

While the whole $100K is truly an expense for the Twp Board to figure out and manage, there are wide open possibilities for the Township to increase their revenues by using various fundraising schemes based on West Bay Preservation Funding.

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QUESTION: Why should the Twp Board (taxpayers) be on the hook for $100,000 when many visitors and tourists use West Bay and aren’t paying a fee for that use?

ANSWER: Burt Twp and Grand Marais locals specifically, are the KEY stakeholders for anything associated with West Bay.  It exists in OUR backyard.  We have the responsibility to care for the jewel asset that we enjoy every day.  Visitors and tourists also enjoy the benefits of West Bay, but not on the same scale or magnitude as Grand Marais residents.

Visitors and tourists will be given opportunities to help financially support the West Bay Preservation Fund if and when the various fundraising programs are developed and put into place by the Twp and our Grand Marais local NGOs.  Time will tell, but the fundraising from out-of-town supporters of the West Bay Preservation efforts might even EXCEED $100,000 per year.  We don’t know the potential results until we try fundraising.  There are many “lovers” of the Grand Marais location and its harbor that are prospects for funding it.  We already have boating associations that have expressed interest with contributing funds to preserve West Bay………… this is just one of many potential sources of funds.

So, YES! We should and will allow visitors and tourists to help fund the West Bay Preservation expenses.  But we need the leadership, commitment and longevity of the Burt Twp Board to become the parent of West Bay because visitors and tourists come and go while West Bay needs a constant and reliable parent caring for it.

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QUESTION: Is today’s sand accretion anything new? It’s been going on for years, why all the panic today? This isn’t a new thing for Grand Marais.

ANSWER: Absolutely, the sand accretion is NOT new to the Grand Marais harbor and has been going on for centuries and recorded rather precisely during the past 145 years via various USACE and other reports.  And most recently recorded using our own Grand Marais local Paul Peterson’s drone videos.  The “panic” today is the observable and factual evidence of the RATE of increase with the sand accretion.  Nearly no one, Grand Marais locals or supposed experts, expected that sand would engulf, cover up and completely surround the entire new breakwater, especially on its West side.  These are the obvious facts that warrant serious concerns.

What is “new” isn’t the sand itself, it is the RATE/SPEED of accretion and the way that Burt Twp would be trying to manage this long-standing issue.  The “new” part is that the Twp., as the representative of Grand Marais locals would assume THE leadership role and make a long-standing commitment towards West Bay Preservation and back that commitment up with tangible funding.  What is “new” is that preservation with have the key stakeholder (the Grand Marais community) take responsibility and begin calling the shots to define the care treatment plan for our adopted West Bay.  What’s “new” is that Grand Marais doesn’t have to wait around for nonresponsive government agencies to hopefully show some care and “love” for the West Bay crisis situation – we will become the parent and no more dependence on others telling us the best pathway forward.  We will figure out how to save West Bay and get it done.  That is what is new (and improved) over our many past efforts.

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QUESTION: Is the new breakwater working or not? We thought the new BW was supposed to save the bay.

ANSWER: The technical verdict about the breakwater’s actual vs planned functionality is still unanswered.  We have lots of interesting observations and interpretations about how sand is moving around it, through it, onto it via wind and all kinds of questions.  For sure, our Grand Marais community, right or wrong, assumed a false sense of confidence that our sand problems were “fixed” a decade ago when the breakwater was completed.  But we should have been leery and suspect that the breakwater was a total solution because, after all, it was the “cheap and only” fundable structure that attempted to replace some of the functionality of the old pile dike.  It was the best/most available substitute based on available funding.  Jack Hubbard got the most breakwall available at the time, but it was never going to be a replacement to the pile dike, the plan that Grand Marais needed but couldn’t get.

For sure, the breakwater performs some function with diminishing wave forces into West Bay.  But for sand accretion, which is a very complex dynamic to understand, we’re not sure if the breakwater is fulfilling its purpose.  But we are also unable to get the USACE interested in investigating the breakwater’s performance.  Even with invitations and videos sent, the USACE remains solely focused on reporting they have some partial dredging plans, just inside the channel, planned for 2026-27. Even if the USACE fulfills their current pledge/plans, the channel will still have 20,000 cubic yards of non-dredged sands remaining in it.

We would like to report more positive information about the breakwater and dredging, but these are the brutal facts based on our observations and findings.

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QUESTION: Do we need some new structure built to save West Bay?

ANSWER: We don’t know.  There has been some discussion about various types of inside-the-harbor structures that can help with preventing sand from filling in the boat launch.  Other than that, there is no serious discussion or knowledge about structures that might solve the overall sand accretion problem.  For sure, the structure that would have saved the Grand Marais harbors would have been a full pike dike rebuild, done decades ago.  Today, we observe and live with the results of that pile dike NOT being rebuilt.  Any new structures to solve the sand issue would require intensive study and attention and ultimate care and consideration for the current shorelines around Grand Marais.  We don’t see ANY agency that is initiating any interest in this topic, other than us Grand Marais locals.

If any long-term topic warrants study, in our opinion, it is the concept of a sand bypass system that was shot down previously, decades ago.  We know of no other possibility for a long-term solution to the sand problems.  Therefore, we focus the future pathway towards short term remedies, like dredging, in order to preserve West Bay.

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QUESTION: Are you serious about the last dredging being over 50 years ago?  How can that be possible; isn’t dredging by the USACE mandated by law?

ANSWER: Yes, the USACE recently confirmed that 1973 was the last time that the USACE dredged the channel.  They also confirmed that 55,000 cubic yards of sand need to be dredged in order for the channel to achieve its mandated 15-foot depth.  They also confirmed that the current 2026-27 dredging project is only funded to dredge about 30,000 cubic yards (based on contractor pricing from the bidding process).  Therefore, even after the USACE dredging project is completed (2027) the channel will STILL need dredging and none of the West Bay areas will be dredged by the USACE.

The USACE claims that they can only dredge when funds are available and they (the USACE) cannot lobby for any particular project.  According to the USACE, the burden of funding and getting the dredging project a priority for the USACE, falls onto the local project stakeholders.  The NEED for dredging is measured by the USACE, but getting it done and becoming a priority is NOT a concern of the USACE, according to our century of dealing with them.

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QUESTION: We are a Harbor of Refuge.  Isn’t that classification a reason for Federal and State agencies to fund our dredging needs?

ANSWER: That is a good question and has been researched by SaveWestBay.com.  Indeed, the Grand Marais harbor IS classified as a Harbor of Refuge and the very designation has been studied (who gives that classification and what does it mean).  But in reality, that classification hasn’t done “a dog gone thing” for increasing the prospects of funding for any Grand Marais harbor projects.  We have a long history of trying to use that important classification to “persuade” funding decisions but the historical record shows that it is ultimately meaningless to influencing decisions.  Indeed, the last Grand Marais effort, version 4.0 with Jack Hubbard, made the harbor of refuge their MAIN THEME AND RATIONALE for pleading for funding.  It was the core of their important video produced titled: “Safe Harbor” and it’s been used in numerous letters, campaigns and grant applications.  It SHOULD be an important and distinguishing criteria that gets attention and qualification for funding.  But it simply doesn’t work to persuade the USACE or other agencies to influence funding money to flow.  It all sounds good but compared to our harbor being a true “port” or important population center, the Harbor of Refuge designation doesn’t work for getting financial support or attention.  Those are the blunt facts.