07/04/2006

Fish hatchery to be restored

BY SHERI McWHIRTER

sherimcwhirter@hotmail.com

GRAYLING — The rafters are strong inside the deteriorating Grayling Fish Hatchery.

That's the building's saving grace, said Gaye Pizzi, who worked for years with a team of others to restore the hatchery building and eventually establish an educational museum inside.

"We need over $1 million to do the whole thing, so the first thing we need to do is save the building. We'll have to piece the whole thing together over time," Pizzi said.

The project will begin with the replacement of a leaky roof, thanks to a $30,000 federal grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

A local matching grant of $10,000 is needed, but organizers hope to raise about $15,000, said Bruce Patrick, chairman of the hatchery's restoration committee.

"We want to make sure we get the job done," he said.

The facility initially was built in 1948 in an effort to save the local grayling species in the Au Sable River ecosystem, but later turned to hatching trout when grayling went extinct here. Later, the state Department of Natural Resources operated a field office and laboratory at the site, but the building remained vacant since 1990.

The historic cupola must be restored and kept atop the structure after the other roof work is completed, as a condition of the preservation grant. The restoration committee is seeking construction bids, Patrick said.

Heavy rains soak the interior of the building beneath one large, bad spot in the roof. The leaky place was covered by tarpaulins, now shredded by northern Michigan weather.

Patrick said restored wooden siding and repaired windows will be next, once the roof is fixed.

The site's fishery raceways have been open for fish-feeding since 1987, but the various trout species are not released into the river. They are returned to a fish farm at the end of the summer.