SEND LETTER TO ARMY CORPS OF ENGINEERS

Your personal comment you added above will also be included in the email below.

Below, is what the email will state after you submit this form.

To: Laura A. Garrett (ARMY CORPS OF ENGINEERS)

This email to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) is in support of the designation of the Menominee River and its Michigan tributaries as Navigable Waters of the United States, for the following reasons:

1. The Menominee River is used in the transportation of multiple commercially-guided fishing Tours for walleye and smallmouth bass, which attracts both professional and recreational fishermen throughout the United States.
2. Fishing clubs and established professional fishing Tournaments draw fishermen from across the United States who utilize the Menominee River in their activities. They spend millions of dollars on boats, motors, equipment, etc., and contribute to the $250 million dollars in tourism income for Marinette County, Wisconsin, and Menominee County, Michigan, recorded in the latest figures for 2020.
3. The Menominee Tribe conducts annual canoe voyages on the Menominee River.
4. Numerous Hydroelectric dams produce electricity for thousands of customers on both sides of the Menominee River in Michigan and Wisconsin.
5. Michigan tributaries to the Menominee River provide a commercial and recreational outlet with trout streams, opportunities for canoeing, and other outdoor pursuits.
6. Furthermore, two court decisions have clarified the definition of “navigable in fact.” In The Daniel Ball, 77 U.S. 557 (1870), the Supreme Court stated: “Those rivers must be regarded as public navigable rivers in law which are navigable in fact. And they are navigable in fact when they are used, or are susceptible to being used, in their ordinary condition, as highways for commerce, over which trade and travel are or may be conducted in the customary modes of trade and travel on water.” And, in The Montello (The Daniel Ball, 77 U.S. at 563), the Supreme Court clarified that “Customary modes of trade and travel on water encompasses more than just navigation by larger vessels: The capability of use by the public for purposes of transportation and commerce affords the true criterion of the navigability of a river, rather than the extent and manner of that use. If it is capable in its natural state of being used for purposes of commerce, no matter in what mode the commerce may be conducted, it is navigable in fact, and becomes in law a public river or highway.”

The Menominee River has been in the past, is at present, and will continue to be in the future a treasured commodity, both commercially and recreationally. We respectfully ask that the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers assume total designation and oversight of the protection of this great watershed.

Thank you.

Please visit the World Support map on our website at: www.jointherivercoalition.org and witness the burgeoning support of the Coalition to SAVE the Menominee River, Inc. 

           WE ARE STRONG, AND WE ARE READY TO PROTECT THE MENOMINEE RIVER.