ISHPEMING - Crews have begun work on a Michigan Department of Natural Resources and Environment boat launch on Deer Lake north of Ishpeming.
Over the next several days, workers will be doing some limited tree removal and shuttling equipment to the access site on the north side of the lake, off Marquette County Road 573.
"We'll be going all out on it in a couple of weeks," said DNRE Recreation Division district supervisor Rich Hill Jr.
The site will include a 36-foot wide concrete boat ramp, a 30-foot by 5-foot pier, canoe and kayak area, vault toilet and a parking area with nine spaces for vehicles and trailers and seven places for single vehicles.
With the construction in the area, DNRE officials ask that motorists traveling near the site reduce their speed and watch for construction activity and signs.
Work on the boat ramp is expected to be finished by mid-October.
The project cost totals $100,000. Of that, $75,000 was provided by Cliffs Natural Resources.
The DNRE provided the remaining $25,000 with money from the Michigan State Waterways Fund, a restricted fund derived from boat registration fees and the Michigan marine fuel tax that is used for the construction, operation and maintenance of recreational boating facilities, harbors and inland waterways.
The Deer Lake Amended Consent Judgment, signed in October 2006, settled Cleveland Cliffs Inc.'s responsibility for pollution at the lake. The agreement amended a 1984 consent judgment over mercury levels in the lake.
It called for CCI to turn over extensive acreage, easements and rights of way to the state as well as establish a Deer Lake restoration fund, create and upgrade public access to recreational areas and take steps to ensure protection of water quality, aesthetics and woodlands along the lake's shore.
For more information on the boat launch project, contact the DNRE office in Marquette at 228-6561.
John Pepin can be reached at 906-228-2500, ext. 206. His e-mail address is jpepin@miningjournal.net.
