Clinton River Spillway Habitat Climate Resiliency Project: Adapting Plans for Changing Conditions
Kate Bailey, CERP
Drummond Carpenter, PLLC
Traverse City, MI
The Clinton River basin consists of 760 square miles in southeastern Michigan, and flows into Lake St Clair on the Michigan -Canada border. In 1949, USACE constructed the Spillway to alleviate flooding in the city of Mt Clemens. The Spillway corridor consists of 192 acres over an approximately two-mile stretch from the river to the lake.
The Spillway was constructed as a uniform trapezoidal cutoff canal. A weir regulates flows between the mainstem river and Spillway. Although it was and is effective at flood control, the Spillway presented environmental problems such as a lack of river connectivity, sedimentation, invasive plants, and deficiency of habitat.
The first phase of the Spillway restoration was completed in 2019 and included 0.35 miles of channel restoration and 0.65 acres of bottomland hardwood riparian area. Excavated off-channel areas were used to create 4,000 syd of shallow-water habitat.
The project continued in 2024 when the Macomb County Public Works Office received a State High Water Infrastructure Grant to revise plans to incorporate resilient approaches to higher Great Lakes levels and extreme precipitation events. Water levels in Lake St Clair have historically oscillated over a range of 8 ft, swinging from long-term low levels in 2013 to a record high in 2020. This project developed a 2D Hec-RAS model based on updated topography, flow, and lake level data to evaluate Phase II designs for resiliency to variable lake and flow conditions. Monitoring data from the Clinton River Watershed Council taken over a 6 year period was also assessed to inform designs.
Findings included changes in weir operations and lake levels that had impacted the viability of off-channel habitats, woody debris had been mobilized out of the system, and the scale of final plantings had been reduced, impacting habitat and long-term woody debris availability. Recommendations led to a re-design of Phase II plans including soft shoreline bioengineering for bank stabilization, varied elevations for off-channel pool habitats, and incorporation of large woody debris and native plantings at strategic locations to facilitate fish habitat, pool access, and macroinvertebrate populations.
About Kate Bailey, CERP
Kate Bailey is a water resources engineer with Drummond Carpenter, PLLC, a service-disabled, veteran-owned small business. She has ten years of experience in hydrologic & hydraulic (H&H) modeling and ecological restoration, preparing design and construction documents for – green stormwater infrastructure, living shorelines, coastal resilience planning, dam removals, stream/wetland restoration projects, fish passage and habitat projects, and culvert and bridge replacements. Kate is passionate about nature-based solutions/engineering with nature, stormwater modeling and design, fluvial geomorphic/hydraulic assessment and design, and environmental research. While working with diverse clients from private landowners to non-profit organizations, and local, state, and federal entities, Kate has gained experience organizing and coordinating large stakeholder groups to design, permit and carry-out restoration and water-resource infrastructure projects. Kate holds a master’s degree from Humboldt State University where she studied water resources engineering, river and fishery restoration, traditional and natural stormwater treatment, river hydraulics, and traditional ecological knowledge considerations. She is a Certified Ecological Restoration Practitioner (CERP) by the Society for Ecological Restoration. Kate lives in beautiful Traverse City, Michigan where she enjoys hiking, biking, paddling, and swimming.