UPDATE: Opponents of Grand Rapids Whitewater bury the hatchet on river restoration project

GRAND RAPIDS, MI – Should we bring the rapids back to Grand Rapids?

Should we remove the downtown dams and put back the shoals and boulders our forefathers removed so the Grand River can once again flow naturally?

It’s a $27.5 million question. The answer depends on who you ask.

Ask the founders of “Grand Rapids Whitewater” and members of the Downtown Development Authority and they’ll say yes.

The downtown area and its economy will be revitalized if the rapids that once tumbled water through downtown are brought back, say Grand Rapids Whitewater co-founders Chip Richards and Chris Muller.

“Economically, it’s a no-brainer,” says Richards. “This will bring people to Grand Rapids.”

Ask many of those who fish at the Sixth Street Dam and property owners upstream from the dam and they’ll say no. They have formed a group called Grand River Future Vision.

RELATED: Sink or swim: What's your take on Grand Rapids Whitewater project?

They say the world class fishery they enjoy could be ruined by the proposal to lower the Sixth Street Dam, where hundreds gather each spring and fall to catch spawning fish as they gather before they climb the fish ladder.

GRAND RAPIDS WHITEWATER

This week, we are taking a look at a proposal that would restore the rapids in the Grand River. Here is what we have planned:

Monday:

• Grand Rapids Whitewater's $27.5 million plan to remove dams has fans and detractors

• What did the Grand River look like before the dams and floodwalls went in?

Tuesday:

• Who is behind the Grand River Whitewater project?

• What do the experts say?

Wednesday: How will $27 million be spent to bring back the rapids and restore the riverbed?

Thursday: Where is the Grand River Whitewater project today? Join a live chat about the proposal..

Complete coverage

“(The dam) gives everyone an opportunity to catch fish,” says Bob Strek, vice president and treasurer of the Michigan Steelheaders, Grand Rapids Chapter. Plans to remove the dams are based on “an assumption that the fish will hold” in the newly formed rapids, he says.

Josh Smith, owner of a mobile bait shop he operates from a recreational vehicle parked at Sixth Street Park, says he would go out of business if the dam is removed and the river restored. “With the proposed plans we’ve seen, it will be unfishable.”

The fishing opponents are not unanimous. Jim Bedford, a Lansing resident who has fished the Grand River for more than 50 years and unpaid consultant to Grand Rapids Whitewater, argues the plan to restore the river will improve the habitat for fish and make fishing better.

Bedford says the Whitewater project will restore spawning grounds for sturgeon that are unable to climb the fish ladder.

Another obstacle to the Whitewater proposal are the sea lamprey – an invasive fish that would spawn upstream if it were not for the barrier posed by the Sixth Street Dam and the fish ladder.

While the Grand Rapids Whitewater group acknowledges the need for a lamprey barrier, the Future Vision group argues there is no system that could out-perform the dam.

The Future Vision leaders say they are counting on state and federal environmental agencies to cancel any restoration plans that do not include a lamprey barrier equal to the existing dam. They say they are prepared to hire lawyers to make sure it happens.

The debate between Grand Rapids Whitewater and their opponents is one that has evolved over the past five years. The idea first surfaced during Green Grand Rapids, a collaborative process that resulted in a new city master plan that includes improved river access as a goal.

That’s when Richards and Muller formed Grand Rapids Whitewater in hopes of creating a kayaking course over the dams in the downtown area.

Those plans broadened earlier this year after a Colorado company hired to evaluate a kayaking course came back with a surprising recommendation: Restore the riverbed for the entire length of the original rapids.

Above the Sixth Street Dam, the river is not as polluted with sediments as once thought, the study concluded. In fact, the entire river is not as polluted as once thought, they said.

But their study also included sobering news. Restoring the rapids will cost about $27.5 million, the engineers estimated.

That includes designing and creating the sea lamprey barrier, the cost of removing the dams and the cost of putting boulders and islands back in the riverbed to create a natural habitat for fish and plant life.

Aside from a few hundred thousand dollars that’s been spent to study the issue, no one has committed to the final price tag.

So far, the studies have been paid for by private gifts and the DDA. The design and permitting stages are going to cost at least half a million dollars, Muller said.

To get the millions needed to actually remove the dams and restore the riverbed without raising local taxes, backers say private donors will be called on to match federal grants that are available for river restoration projects.

“We’re confident the money will come,” Richards says. “It’s still hard to tell where the money will come from, but we know there will be no direct taxes.”

E-mail Jim Harger: jharger@mlive.com and follow him on Twitter at twitter.com/JHHarger