YANKEE SPRINGS TWP., Mich. — The ‘Yankee Springs’ community, and now officially, too, township officials, are banding together against a proposal by the Department of Natural Resources (DNR) to decommission a dam and partially drain Hall Lake, a beloved 40-acre body of water in Barry County’s Yankee Springs Recreation Area.
The Yankee Springs Township Board of Trustees (BOT) voted unanimously Tuesday night to formally oppose the DNR’s plan, passing a motion pledging support for the community’s efforts to preserve the lake by writing, signing, and sending letters to the DNR, Governor Gretchen Whitmer, the Parks and Recreation Division and other state agencies, expressing the lake’s importance.
The decommission plan comes after it was deemed a “significant hazard,” by the Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy (EGLE), because it could potentially lead to economic and environmental damage if it fails, though not likely loss of life…