By By NORMA LERNER / Dowagiac Daily News
Plans are under way to begin the MEANDRS project at Arthur Dodd Memorial Park in Pokagon Township.
MEANDRS is an organization of Cass County officials and conservationists which has been working to restore the meandering Dowagiac River that runs through Dodd Park.
MEANDRS is an acronym for Meeting the Ecological and Agricultural Needs of the Dowagiac River System.
The river was dredged and channeled to drain swampland in the early 1900s for farming and was left as a straight ditch of fast-flowing water through the park.
It flows through the 51-acre park on Indian Lake Road, just off M-51 at Sumnerville.
Cass County road commissioners recently gave the go-ahead for spoil from the dredging to be piled in a low area of the park. Spoil is material that will be removed from the old meandering part of the creek to be placed in a low area so it will drain into the lowlands.
This all had to be approved by the Michigan Department of Natural Resources (DNR), said Scott Wyman, parks director, who said he has met with DNR officials at the park who agreed to put the spoil in the low area. Wyman said a couple of trees will be removed but will be used in the park for habitat.
There is also a bridge that needs to be removed but will be replaced after dredging is done, Wyman said. He said there is grant money available to replace the bridge.