This project represents a collaboration between a number of public and private entities. Grand Rapids Whitewater (GRWW) is the nonprofit 501 (c) 3 organization that spearheaded the vision to bring the rapids back to the Grand River. They have retained the engineering firm responsible for the design and hydraulic modeling, numerous environmental and ecological consultants, and have secured funding for portions of the project. GRWW is collaborating closely with the City of Grand Rapids, who owns the dams in the river, to implement this project.

The City will be the permit applicant and will hold the construction contracts for the work in the river.

The Grand Valley Metro Council and Lower Grand River Organizations of Watersheds have also been intimately involved in efforts to make the Grand River more accessible to everyone.

Downtown Grand Rapids Inc, (DGRI) has coordinated with many local partners on the design, development, and reimagination of the river edge parks, trails and greenspaces. DGRI also secured a $55 million investment in ARPA funding to work with several community partners and stakeholders to develop a “backbone” trail to enhance the Grand River Greenway in Kent County.

The Grand Rapids Public Museum (GRPM) has been a great educational partner on the project helping to capture this historic impact and educate students on the history of the river. GRPM also has ambitious plans to redevelop their site to turn and face the Grand River, making the river a central part of the museum campus.

Over the last decade, GRWW and the City of Grand Rapids have engaged with numerous state and federal regulatory agencies as part of the ongoing design and development of the project.

On May 21, 2019 the Great Lakes Fishery Commission, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Grand Rapids Whitewater, and the City of Grand Rapids entered into a relationship through a Memorandum of Agreement that established the working partnership among parties for the purpose of achieving the vision of restoring the rapids in the Grand River. The Great Lakes Fishery Commission is leading the environmental review and permitting of the Upper Reach project and has contracted with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to lead and develop an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS).

The purpose of the Lower Reach Project is to improve the lower reach of the Grand River in Grand Rapids, Michigan by doing all of the following:

• Reducing public safety hazards generated by low-head dams
• Creating diverse riffles, runs, waves, and pools to restore aquatic riverine habitat and diversity
• Improving fish passage
• Recapturing the sight, sound, and spirit of the historic and iconic rapids, for which the City is named
• Enhancing distinctive recreational opportunities such as wading, angling, and whitewater paddling sports, that are safe, interesting, and substantial enough to engage residents, attract tourists and serve as a catalyst for local, regional, and equitable economic development opportunities

Priority objectives for the Upper Reach project include:

• Public safety and flood control
• Sea lamprey control
• Fish passage
• Recreation

Each element of the project must undergo extensive scrutiny by regulatory agencies to ensure the project does not cause negative impacts to the river, environment, or surrounding communities. Over the last 15+ years we have been engaged with multiple agencies meeting to hear their concerns, altering the design, and verifying that indeed the overall project will provide a positive benefit for the river and the environment. There have been extensive conversations with regulatory agencies on topics like hydraulic modeling, fish passage, impacts to threatened and endangered mussels. Some of these conversations on their own took multiple years and led to direct changes to the proposed design to reduce impacts and achieve the most amount of benefit. These conversations and processes take time. Lots of time.

The final determination for any project application ultimately falls to the appropriate regulatory agency tasked with managing a particular resource or water body. 

Lower Reach Project:

The City of Grand Rapids and Grand Rapids Whitewater have developed a design based on years of coordination with multiple agencies and stakeholders. A final design and permit application must be submitted to the appropriate State and Federal agencies for review. If the proposed design meets all of the required legal statutes then the agencies will issue the required permits for construction to begin. If the project fails to meet all of the legal statutes, the design must be altered or removed for consideration.  

Upper Reach Project: 

The City and GRWW will work in coordination with the Great Lakes Fishery Commission (GLFC), and other agencies, on the development of and Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) and acceptable alternatives analysis. The GLFC will ultimately be the responsible party for selecting the preferred design alternative that would then need to undergo a final design and permitting process review similar to that of the Lower Reach.

The revitalization of the Grand River and restoration of the namesake rapids was called for by the 2011 amendments to the City’s Master Plan developed through the Green Grand Rapids process. This vision was embraced by Grand Rapids Whitewater (“GRWW”), a not-for-profit organization formed to lead revitalization of the River and restoration of the rapids in the two-and-a-half-mile stretch running through downtown.

The vision of a revitalized river and restored rapids downtown has catalyzed a comprehensive planning process of the river banks and for approximately seven miles of the river corridor and has catalyzed the first update of the Downtown Development Plan in more than twenty years. This coordinated effort between the City and the Downtown Development Authority (a.k.a., Downtown Grand Rapids, Inc.) was branded as “GR Forward” and identified 15 “opportunity sites” along the riverbanks for public access, riverside trails, open space, neighborhood improvements and for private developments that can occur after the river is revitalized.

The ecosystem and recreation functions of the rapids in the Grand River have been degraded by five low head dams, flood walls, urban encroachment, and channelization (dredging and grading). Bringing back the rapids to the Grand River is a comprehensive river restoration and revitalization project that seeks to remove or modify the dams and enhance the channel bed and banks, to restore the ecosystem and the spirit of the historic rapids.

The in-river work will be designed, developed, and permitted as two independent projects that will involve different state and federal regulatory agencies. The two projects are:

The Lower Reach Project (Bridge Street to Fulton Street)

The Upper Reach Project (Ann Street to Bridge Street)

The City of Grand Rapids has been firm on their commitment to revitalize the river in a way that does not increase flood risk or create Harmful Interference as defined by EGLE as “causing an increase stage or change in the direction of flow that causes or is likely to cause: damage to property; a threat to life; pollution, impairment, or destruction of water or other natural resources.”

The accuracy of the flood modeling is of great importance to the City, GRWW, and the regulatory agencies. FEMA and EGLE will extensively review the hydraulic model for the Lower Reach Project and a permit will not be issued if a project increases flood risk.