- Hi, and welcome.

Next on "Pressing Matters": Remove or repair the costly predicament facing Michigan's da in what a future with or without As the summer of 2026 continues record-high temperatures, we look ahead to an El Nino weat pattern and its impact on the up Michigan ranks 47th in the natio We take a look at the behavioral forcing patients in Central and Michigan to travel hundreds of m (upbeat music) - [Mark] They're aging.

They're falling apart.

They're crumbling.

They're in need of repair or mor They're not safe.

If a dam fails catastrophically, that can result in a lot of nega - State leaders are sounding the concerns surrounding Michigan's Most of the state's dams were bu 1800s and early 19th century.

Now, their primary purpose then local lumber and flour mills.

Eventually, they mainly turn to A lot, though, has changed over and today, very few serve their Most exist for recreational hobb like boating and fishing.

Maintaining a dam isn't cheap.

Most of them are well beyond the and need significant work to mee Repairing versus removing a dam happening in communities across With the aging infrastructure, i and climate change leading to st addressing this crisis and figur how to pay for it all is now mor - It's unique and different.

And so, it's important that we w owner and the community and all the stakeholders to create that that are important to all of us, and then weigh the pros and cons during the decision-making phase as to what to do with this - [Stephanie] As Michigan's dams figuring out the best way forwar - The collaboration of federal, and private entities is crucial to the success of a d - [Stephanie] Kim Balke is with the Conservation Resource Allian Their mission is river restorati Northwest Michigan.

When it comes to dams, they provide information to dam owners through the decision-maki - And then, if they decide to re we fill that project manager role in collaborating with the p helping with the fundraising, in the design, permitting, construc all of those phases.

- [Stephanie] We met Kim at the not far from downtown.

It's seen its share of destructi including 2010, 2011, and 2019.

The dam is currently going throu long process of being removed an up reconnecting 12 miles of main - So, Baldwin Dam started out in supporting a sawmill and a grist It was transformed into a water source for the nearby railroad.

And in the '20s, it became a tro So, it was in state ownership as for a good 50 years or more.

And fast-forward to today, it's The structure is not being used anymore for its original purpose And the current owner would like restore the river here and not h and liability associated with al The owner of the dam contacted C purchasing the site and asked if the removal and restoration.

- [Stephanie] There are anywhere from 2,500 to 3,000 dams in Mich Some are owned by the state, and Every single one of them require maintenance and repairs over the And that adds up.

- Dams are just a huge issue.

They're in the news, I feel like Probably the biggest issue with is the fact that repairs to dams And the question often comes dow for the repairs to a dam if, ind it is going to be repaired.

- [Stephanie] Mark Tonello is with the Michigan DNR Fisheri He's seen the damage and destruc caused by dam breaks and failure - From a fishery standpoint, obv fish kills, habitat damage.

But from a human standpoint, it damage to public infrastructure like roads and bridges and road and then private infrastructure and yards and outbuildings and a - [Stephanie] Now, to understand can be so devastating is to unde the purpose and flow of water.

- One of the primary functions o is to move sediment downstream.

That's what they do.

That's what they've been doing s since the glaciers receded.

When you build a dam in a stream And that impoundment essentially acts as a sediment trap, where the sediment falls out and settles on the bottom of and does not pass downstream.

Especially when there's a catast That's when the sediment can be And this is a hundred years of s piled up behind a dam, released can be an utter catastrophe.

- [Stephanie] The impoundment is the lake that's created by th With the sediment having nowhere Dams also block the passage of f making it harder for some specie But some dams today do serve an purpose in helping control the s - If they did not do that, the f and love in Lake Michigan-the sa the steelhead-that would disappe And so, a dam that blocks sea la is one that we've got to have so discussions about before we just So, we do like to look at every dam on a case-by-case basis and, you know, look at the pros, And a lot of times, the discussi keeping the dam would cost so mu Removing the dam would cost less And then, if you keep the dam, you're going to have to pay in t for even more maintenance.

So, a lot of times, the discussion for maintenance v comes down to economics.

- [Stephanie] Dams can break and In 2020, the Edenville Dam and t suffered catastrophic failure af The destruction was swift.

A massive surge of water drained displacing thousands and causing hundreds of millions of dollars Dams that meet a certain height requirement are inspected by the Department of Environment, Great In recent years, they've increas inspections and safety plans.

But it wasn't always that way.

- In about 2019, there was-it wa I was the only one in the progra So, when you're stretched that t you're really focused on making sure that the inspections are do that permits are getting issued but then your ability to do comp is limited to only the most seve So, you're doing a lot of triagi This can't wait."

Now, we're up to eight people in so we have much more staff.

And then, we have more frequent We're being more proactive with things like that.

So, since the Edenville failure we have staffed up and increased So, we are much better off in te to stay on top of all of our day but then also devote more time to compliance and enforceme We are much more proactive at tr ahead of emergencies and encoura owners to take necessary action have a potential dam failure on - [Stephanie] The aftermath of t also changed how EGLE prioritize - I think what we've done is usi risk-informed decision-making pr which is, we need to understand Risk is kind of a combination of of failure if it were to fail, but what is the likelihood of th So, if we understand that this d has a high likelihood of failure risk or a high consequence if it that's one of our riskiest dams.

We need to devote resources, spend more time with that dam ow identify funding potential.

- [Stephanie] Whether an existin it all boils down to money.

Who's going to pay for it?

Especially with costs usually we - The reality is that we are rec more applications for dam remova It's not very easy.

So, there's a lot of environment considerations and costs associa So, I would say that rehabilitat or kind of reconstruction, or removal of a dam-none of it a The difference being, dam remova has more public assistance avail There are grant opportunities fo stream restoration, habitat rest from the federal government, fro So, I think that it comes down t A lot of times, for dam owners, "Hey, the folks around the pond We've got a cost estimate from o to rehabilitate and bring the dam into modern safety stand That cost is very high.

The cost of removal is also very but we can get the majority of t covered through grants.

That becomes the path forward."

- [Stephanie] For those living o about buying waterfront property knowing if it's controlled by a Both EGLE and DNR are able to he learn about nearby dams before p You just need to reach out.

- Most of the time, when folks buy property on an im there's no guarantee that the im is always going to be there.

And so, that is a risk you take if you purchase quote unquo "waterfront property" on an impo You know, that can be a risk.

The problem with maintaining dam a gift that keeps on giving.

And so, if you're going to maint It's not a one-time cost.

You got to pay now, and then you got to pay again th time it needs repairs.

They may see their property valu the impoundment goes away.

On the other hand, they might have streamfront prop is valuable as well.

It depends on the property owner the impoundment, you know, who o - [Stephanie] Change can be a ch In Baldwin, the years-long proje the old dam continues.

Kim tells us the decision to rem dams is one that's never taken l but she's seen the rewards for h - So, the most common questions get from people with dam removal "What are we going to do with all the sediment or the imp What will the downstream impacts You know, having a river activel What will public access and use And where is the river going to You know, where is it going to f throughout that impoundment?"

It's rewarding to see a sediment warm-water impoundment be return to the river or creek that it or You know, we are reconnecting mi upstream to miles downstream.

How we're managing that sediment moving it around to daylight, yo the creek or the river.

It's rewarding to see fish and w and aquatic insects, you know, come back and inhabit those reac be able to move freely up and do - Those aging dams are especiall vulnerable during severe weather Since the beginning of just 2026 we've seen multiple roads washed and communities flooded.

Scientists and researchers agree storms and heavier rainfall are We recently spoke with Daria Klu a professor in the Department of Sciences at Central Michigan Uni She explains what's behind the s storms and the potential effects of an El Nino weather pattern an could mean for weather here this - There are multiple ways to def And the most common is there's, of the ocean in the middle of th the Nino 3.4 region that we moni for sea surface temperatures.

It's about-it's big.

It's about 2.4 million square ki So, it's like more than 42 Michi So, it's a big piece of ocean.

We monitor the ocean temperature and we measure how much warmer t the temperatures are.

And that's how we determine if a is happening or how big it is.

- [Stephanie] Got it.

- So, if the temperatures are more than 0.5 degrees above it's technically an El Nino even And then, as the temperatures are warmer and warmer than avera we have kind of different catego If it's more than two degrees Ce that's a very strong El Nino eve And I think it was sometime in t in the scientific literature at somebody was writing a paper, and they called a very strong El And I don't know.

I guess people thought that soun But technically, it's just a ver - So, what kind of weather can w expect here in Michigan, then, f - So, a jet stream that's usuall it's usually south of the contin it pushes it farther north.

And so, that's why you would get stream sort of coming into South and you can get a lot of floodin California and the Southern tier states during an El Nino.

And that pushes the polar front That's the jet stream that we us That pushes it farther north.

And the polar front jet separate air in the continental US-maybe that comes from, like, from the cold Arctic air and the And so, if that jet stream, that boundary, gets pushed north then we're going to be in the wa So, that's why, during El Nino y we typically have warmer-than-av And then, that, of course, is going to affect how long our sticks around and things like th - Where can someone go if they w more about changing weather or c - So, I would absolutely encoura people to look at the National W Service and the Climate Predicti especially if you want to find o They have really cool graphs tha the sea surface temperatures, and you can, like, watch how the event is progressing.

So, if you just search "Climate Prediction Center" or y National Weather Service, on the they have links to all of those - Well, Daria, thank you so much us and for talking with us today More people are talking openly a health than ever before.

But many parts of Michigan are c behavioral health deserts.

Jamie Mankiewicz breaks down the that's forcing some to travel hu - [Jamie] Michigan is known for with endless shorelines, hidden and massive forests.

What it's not known for are dese sometimes hidden in plain sight.

In Central Michigan, the Northern Lower Peninsula, and the Upper Peninsula, both adults and children facing challenges are struggling to fin - The northernmost state psychiatric facility is in Caro, which is in my district.

That's a long ways from Traverse It's a long ways from the bridge And so, it's even longer from so like Marquette or Menominee.

What a desert looks like is when is in crisis and they need suppo and maybe they go into, you know Munson for a ER because they don - [Jamie] State Representative M serves as the chair for the Hous Subcommittee on Public Health an which recently released a report underperforming behavioral healt The investigation found Michigan 47th in the nation in psychiatri - Decades of disinvestment.

Psychiatric care is hard, right?

First of all, it's-I think peopl like the general public, has a hard time wrapping their head around mental health In addition to that, we had, in a history of not handling mental facilities very well.

And our answer to that in the la 2000s was to close state-run fac That process has been a major fa as to how we got where we are to - [Jamie] When broken down by th the shortage is shocking.

- You know, when I tell people t average is between 30 and 40 bed and in Michigan we have 19.

And the majority of those that a acute beds run by the state is m - [Jamie] Construction is underw psychiatric facilities in the Lo the Southeast Michigan Psychiatr Hospital in Northville Township, fully funded by the state; the UM Health-Sparrow Behavioral a public-private partnership wit the Southridge Behavioral Hospit a private joint venture with 96 And earlier this year, Pine Rest opened Michigan's first pediatri care facility in Grand Rapids.

But as you head further north, t - I guess 50% of our adults are downstate or out of state.

All of our kids, of course, have to go downstate or out of s because the 21 counties of North we have zero beds for kids.

- [Jamie] Kate Dahlstron is the Alliance on Mental Illness Grand - Approximately 2018, when we mo our youngest son was struggling, and I didn't have a clue where t were to get him help.

And so, I'm not even sure how I found out about NAMI, but And I took one of the classes an some support groups.

Then, the more involved I was, the more I realized that we have in our mental health continuum o Families have been struggling in And so, we're making noise up he and it's time for change.

- [Jamie] The recent report outl recommendations to deal with the including establishing a dedicat health campus in Northern Michig - It's called the Northern Michi And it would a state of Michigan inpatient and residential treatm serving children and adults.

So, we found a pretty central location where there's, you know a lot of Northern Michigan Michi could access this.

And the location was just west o - [Jamie] It's unclear when this will potentially move forward.

For now, families are trying to the system in real time.

What actually happens if you're a person in Central or Northern Michigan in the middle of a ment health emergency or are trying t help for someone that you care a In these desert areas, the first stop is almost always - CMH comes in usually within ab Community Mental Health, CMH.

Within about three hours, that's kind of the standard to d And then, they start looking for Closest place to someplace like City is probably Grand Rapids-is We know that family support, family input, caretaker support, just loved ones being involved i is really important.

And now, they're a two and a hal every time you have to have a fa It's not conducive to treatment.

It's not conducive to healing.

As a result of that distance and that lack of beds in Norther whether it's in the UP or it's j it causes long-term lack of care It's why people wind up not bein because they don't have access t - [Jamie] Corey Thompson is the at Pleasant Psychology in Mount and specializes in helping child She says it's not uncommon to se significant sacrifices to get a - We have numerous families that are traveling over an hour And I would say the reason being in the areas that they live in, there's not a facility that spec in child mental health.

If you have an eight-year-old, we don't want them just to see somebody who works in mental hea Somebody needs to see an eight-y who specializes in child mental Like, right now, I'm thinking of weekly to come and see us, that travels an hour and 20 minu And it just breaks my heart, but, at the same time, I'm so grateful that they're wil - [Jamie] Thompson warns, even when families manage to tra down an outpatient provider, health insurance roadblocks and out-of-pocket expenses regularly parents to make some tough decis - We have some kids that are com because of the severity of their The copays, the cost it takes, the time to come off of work, th it is an extreme financial barri There shouldn't be a financial b a child the help that they need.

- [Jamie] Local providers and ad the shortage isn't just about bu It's about changing how the enti works from start to finish.

- If you had a heart attack or a else that you had fixed in the h you go home and you've got physi you've got occupational therapis you've got immediate everything.

That doesn't happen with mental You're discharged, and, "Good lu So long.

Hope we don't see you again."

We're wasting millions, probably of dollars because we're not doi it right in the first place, the - I think it's a problem that do solved by any one person.

It will take coalitions of peopl The state can't fix it by itself and the privates can't fix it by Community mental health is not g this by themselves.

It's going to take everybody wor together to make this happen bec way we're going to get a handle - If a family has to call for si they're going to stop calling, r And because it's exhausting.

It is fully exhausting.

So, yes, to be able to eliminate all of those barriers would just peaceful, you know, just allow a family to get the s - Finding the right care in Nort Michigan can feel like an uphill but immediate support is within If you're struggling, call or text 988 to reach the Su A long legal battle over nine De is over following a veto from Go The Michigan Supreme Court decli a challenge tied to the legislat forcing House Republicans to rel the bills after an 18-month stal Hours after finally receiving th the governor vetoed all nine.

Among them was a bipartisan prop state corrections officers into police pension system.

It's a story we highlighted earl this year on "Pressing Matters."

In her veto letter, Governor Whitmer blamed House Republicans for holding the bill "Implementing these bills retroa would impose an insurmountable a This was political gamesmanship Both Republicans and Democrats, hope to use the pension system a deal with a severe staffing cris Byron Osborn, head of the Michig Corrections Organization, the union representing correctio criticized the decision, telling "The department's pay and benefi that's going to be able to effec keep people working in this line Governor Whitmer says she is wil to work with lawmakers on new ve WCMU will continue to follow thi Thank you for watching, and thank you for your continued support for public media.

We'll see you again soon for ano edition of "Pressing Matters."

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