Parks and Recreation wins three grants for wetlands, Rouge River reconnection and dam‑removal cleanup
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Summary
Oakland County Parks and Recreation secured multiple grant awards to improve wetland habitat at Groveland Oaks, reconnect the Rouge River floodplain at Beachwoods Park and to finalize paperwork for the completed Mill Pond Dam removal project.
The Government Operations Committee on March 11 recommended that the Board of Commissioners accept several parks‑related grants intended to support wetland restoration, watershed reconnection and final grant‑closeout work.
The committee voted to forward three items to the Board of Commissioners:
- A $25,000 award from the Saginaw Bay Watershed Initiative to improve wetland habitat at Groveland Oaks County Park. Parks staff said the funds arrived on short notice and were applied to a project already planned for Groveland.
- A $300,000 Sustain Our Great Lakes grant to support watershed connectivity work at Beachwoods Park in Southfield, a county‑city partnership site that is being redeveloped from a former golf course into restored river and floodplain habitat. Parks staff said the federal Great Lakes Restoration Initiative funding is longstanding and less likely to be affected by current political changes.
- A housekeeping amendment to accept a late amendment to a National Fish Passage Program grant tied to the Mill Pond Dam removal and restoration project near Davisburg. The work is essentially complete; staff sought formal board acceptance of a post‑award amendment that added funds and extended the timeline after the project took longer than initially planned.
Parks staff said the awards will be combined with county budgeted operational dollars and partnership contributions where appropriate. The committee recommended all three grants for board approval.
