In 2019, the Grand Traverse Band of Ottawa and Chippewa Indians (GTB) initiated a project to replace three undersized stream crossing structures on the Crystal River and the Tucker Lake Outlet culvert along Leelanau County Road (CR) 675 (also known as Dunns Farm Road and West Crystal View Road).
The project is being undertaken following a grant awarded to the GTB from the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) to improve aquatic organism passage and natural stream functions at the four stream crossings along CR 675. In addition to the GTB and BIA, the Leelanau County Road Commission (LCRC) and the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) are both providing funding to assist with the project.
The project was intended to address among other things, the following:
- To decrease and minimize riverbank erosion at the road-stream crossings associated with high volume water events that cannot be efficiently passed through undersized culverts.
- To decrease or stop salt (from winter road maintenance), petroleum, and other pollutant run off from CR 675 into the Crystal River.
- To decrease or stop the need for recreational users of the Crystal River (kayakers, etc.) to portage over CR 675 at these crossings, which will decrease the risk of pedestrian / vehicle accidents as well as reduce impacts from erosion.