Buffalo Reef is a 2,200-acre natural cobble feature beneath the waters of Lake Superior, located off the eastern edge of the Keweenaw Peninsula, about 20 miles northeast of Houghton. The reef is vitally important for lake trout and lake whitefish spawning.
Stamp sands - waste product from copper ore milling operations at the community of Gay - threaten to cover the reef.
Since milling operations at the Mohawk and Wolverine mines ended in 1932, lake currents and winds have shifted, cut away and drifted the stamp sands south about five miles to Buffalo Reef and Grand Traverse Harbor. Today, 1,426 acres of shoreline and lake bottom are covered by stamp sands.
It is now estimated that at least 60 percent of Buffalo Reef is no longer viable for lake trout and lake whitefish spawning, creating a huge threat to these fisheries and the outdoor recreation and commercial fishing industries they support. Additionally, if the stamp sands migrate south of Grand Traverse Harbor, they will threaten the undisturbed native sand that serves as critical nursery habitat for juvenile whitefish.
Efforts are under way to save the reef. The public is a key partner in this work with state and federal governmental agencies, Native American tribes, scientists, universities and industry. Find out more about how you can get involved.
A multi-entity Buffalo Reef Task Force was created by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to develop a long-term management plan to protect the reef, Grand Traverse Bay Harbor and associated resources including lake trout and lake whitefish spawning and rearing areas. The Task Force meets regularly with partners to collect data and develop a resolution for the stamp sands.
Lake Coordinator
Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy
Lansing, Michigan
517-331-3779
SwartS@Michigan.gov
Great Lakes Program Manager
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers
Great Lakes and Ohio River Division
616-842-5510, ext. 25521
Carl.A.Platz@usace.army.mil
Natural Resources Director
Keweenaw Bay Indian Community
L'Anse, Michigan
906-524-5757, ext. 11
eravindran@kbic-nsn.gov
There have been several efforts to dredge the Grand Traverse Bay Harbor and Traverse River. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers dredged the harbor in 2003 and 2009. The Michigan Department of Natural Resources dredged the harbor channel in summer 2017, but an October storm filled the harbor channel back in. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency provided $3.1 million for new dredging work in 2017 and in September 2019, a U.S. Army Corps of Engineers contractor completed dredging of Grand Traverse Harbor and an area of beach and Lake Superior north of the harbor. In October 2019, Michigan DNR’s contractor removed a 30-foot-high cliff (175,000 cubic yards of stamp sands) from the water’s edge at Gay. This cliff, composed of tailings from the Mohawk Mill, was eroding an average of 26 feet of material per year into Lake Superior. During 2020 the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers conducted a hydraulic dredge of a depression north of the reef that is intercepting migrating stamp sands. The Corps removed 112,000 cubic yards out of Lake Superior and placed the material onto existing stamp sand along the shoreline. Michigan EGLE and the Keewenaw Bay Indian Community continue to work with contractors to keep the harbor and areas around the jetty clear of stamp sands.
Native American tribes have strong connections to Lake Superior, Keweenaw and Grand Traverse bays and the fishing resources available there.
The Keweenaw Bay Indian Community, as well as other member tribes of the Great Lakes Indian Fish and Wildlife Commission, have a vital interest in preserving Buffalo Reef, which provides many important economic, scientific and natural resource benefits.
