All Four Dams Under Construction 
The Sanford Dam permit for restoration construction was approved Thursday, October 26th, by the Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy. The construction crews are mobilizing and work is expected to start this week.

We've reached the final steps in acquiring the permit for Sanford Dam. The next steps are to get approval of the stream mitigation plan from EGLE (Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy). We responded to comments received during the public comment period and submitted them to EGLE.
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We are likely to receive the permit in September based on EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) final review. 

Four Lakes Task Force received construction bids from two qualified contractors in late April, as communicated in May ("Sanford Construction Bids Higher than Expected").
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We believe the bids were higher than expected and therefore both have now been rejected. After the bids, FLTF requested qualifications from construction managers to consult in pre-bidding tasks, including repackaging the work into smaller divisions and perhaps performing construction management. 

The Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy, Water Resources Division
(WRD), has posted the following notice to the MiEnviro Portal home page. To make comments
and view documents please click here.
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A public hearing will occur on July 5, 2023, at 6:00 PM via webinar. You can register here.

FLTF has made significant progress on Sanford and Edenville permitting to the point it is likely Sanford Dam will go to public comment for permitting in May. Edenville may take a little longer, however, FLTF will have a project to upgrade the embankments and add a cutoff wall this year, with a plan for a total restoration bid by the end of this year.  The FLTF Webinar from April 26, 2023 provided a detailed status update. 

Last week FLTF received the construction bids for Sanford Dam from two out-of-state construction companies, the bids were higher than expected.