On Thursday, the reauthorization of the Great Lakes Legacy Act was passed in the U.S. House of Representatives. This Act has been the cornerstone of our work to preserve and protect the Great Lakes and it has already proven effective in those efforts. I applaud the U.S. House of Representatives and their commitment to expand and continue this vital program. Now we have to keep pushing to make sure the United States Senate passes the legislation as well.
During the next month I will be participating in public meetings conducted by the Office of the Great Lakes. We are seeking your input on the draft framework that will serve as Michigan's action agenda for Great Lakes restoration.
Also, the Great Lakes Town Hall has asked me to be a guest blogger this week. Starting today, I'll be writing about the upcoming hearings and the Commission's work thus far. Later in the week, I'll explore the main issue areas covered in the Commission Draft Action Plan, and the need for continued collaboration at the local, regional, and national levels.
Above: P.H. Hoeft State Park on Lake Huron (photo: janet.powell)
This week's tour began with a stop at the City of Cheboygan, and featured a very unique program. For the past 35 years, the Noble Odyssey Foundation has operated a US Navy Sea Cadet Program under the leadership of Captain Luke Clyburn. Today the program operates out of Cheboygan. In terms of mission, the Noble Odyssey Foundation brings together young people, adults, and scientists interested in developing and supporting underwater research programs to enhance public understanding of the Great Lakes' science and history.
Exciting as this mission appears to be, it obscures an absolutely fascinating story of how a character-building program for young people has been used to uncover a spellbinding story of the geological history of the Great Lakes as told by the underwater formations of the Lakes themselves. It is a story of drowned forests, massive waterfalls, glacial rivers, and sunken beaches. All of this has been discovered by 30 years of academic research assisted by the US Navy Sea Cadets stationed on the Great Lakes.
Tuesday was an amazing day on the Detroit River. My first visit was to the Rouge Oxbow Project at the Henry Ford in Dearborn, Michigan. In its original course, the Rouge River meandered through the farm that became the grounds of the Henry Ford Museum and Historic Greenfield Village. Then in the 1970's, to prevent flooding in the river basin, the Army Corp of Engineers constructed a flood control project through a concrete realignment of the river for approximately nine miles. The effect of the realignment was to isolate several "oxbows" in the old river bed.
These "oxbow" ponds suffered from the same degradation that plagued the Rouge River itself. They became littered with trash and other discarded remnants of modern living, not to mention the pollutant loadings from the industrial runoff from surrounding facilities. These waters were unsightly, hazardous, and there probably are not enough adjectives to fully describe the condition they fell into.
(Welcome back LG Cherry! - promoted by wizardkitten)
Pam and I started our day at Thornton's Restaurant in St. Joseph. A friendly, family restaurant, Thornton's breakfast menu features a signature item-Big Bob's Big Bomb. The Big Bomb is an outrageously huge omelet whose consumption will earn you a place on Thornton's Hall of Fame. I passed up the opportunity to leave a historical mark at Thornton's, but we had a great breakfast anyways.
After breakfast we headed to Muskegon. The name "Muskegon" comes from the Ottawa Indian term "Masquigon" which refers to a marshy river or swamp. The area was home to native Americans from the earliest of times. Wikipedia points out that when the Wisconsinian glaciations retreated "nomadic; Paleo-Indian hunters" moved into the area. Subsequently in time, Muskegon became inhabited by the Ottawa and Potawatomi tribes.
Muskegon Lake, our first stop, can be found at the mouth of the Muskegon River. During the lumbering era, the banks of Muskegon Lake, which served as a natural harbor on the Lake Michigan shoreline, became a site for a number of sawmills for logs floated down the Muskegon River. Later as the State industrialized, factories replaced the sawmills. The legacy of the area is a body of water contaminated by toxic sediments, industrial waste, and the filling of shallow water habitat and wetlands.
The Tour is intended to highlight how regional partners in the Great Lakes States and Canadian partners are embracing the Great Lakes Regional Collaboration Agenda; and to draw further attention to the need for the federal government to match the regional commitment. The timing of this effort is critical. Both presidential candidates have pledged their commitment to Great Lakes restoration. Great Lakes advocates must be prepared to press our agenda as the new federal government takes power next January.
