Wojtek, the river project is called "The Whitewater Project". The plan involves bringing in 200,000 tons of material to recreate what the Grand River looked like in the early 19th century, and changing it from a river with a ?uni-directional? current into a wild river with a twisting, turning flow around rocks and boulders. Engineers suggest that much of the cost comes from putting boulders, gravel and other material back in the river. Also, placement of material is crucial, which requires a significant amount of engineering. By removing the dams and returning some of the riverbed's native content, they hope to make it look as natural as possible, creating whitewater features along with restoring the habitat. At this point in time, there are no serious problems with the dams, but I think that in an effort to sell the project, the engineers suggest that dam maintenance will be necessary sooner rather than later. Funding for the project is complex and comes from a variety of sources.

Ray