Lower water levels at Victoria Dam

From Upper Peninsula Power Company:

Upper Peninsula Power Company (UPPCO) received formal approval for a planned construction project at the Victoria Dam located near Rockland MI in Ontonagon County in the Western portion of Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. In order to complete the project, UPPCO will need to operate the Victoria Dam reservoir in a drawn down state for most of the year.

UPPCO’s Victoria Dam reservoir water levels were lowered several feet beginning in January for spring runoff and then will be lowered further beginning in May. The project improvements for the Victoria facility will require the reservoir to be operated at approximately 68 feet below the normal summer operating level.  When the improvements are completed, the reservoir will be refilled to normal operating levels.

In order to ensure both worker and public safety during construction, UPPCO is closing all recreation and access sites at the Victoria Dam other than two remote campsites which are located away from the work area.  The sites will be closed starting May 1st for the entire 2013 season. Recreation users of the river system just upstream of Victoria, (canoe, kayak, tubes) are also warned to use caution if using the South and West Branch of Ontonagon River systems just upstream of Victoria, as a lower reservoir will result in changes to the river system and normal portaging around Victoria will not be an option.

UPPCO’s service area extends into 10 of the 15 counties in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula or about 4,460 square miles and the utility provides electric service to nearly 52,000 customers.