London Free Press - City & Region - Out with the axe; in with wheat and waves
Out with the axe; in with wheat and waves
Thu, January 10, 2008
By DEBORA VAN BRENK, SUN MEDIA
GODERICH -- Huron County is adding some zip to its image.
A major makeover that includes a new logo and website has the county shelving its staid, 19th-century public face in favour of a bold, stylized visage.
Relegated to posterity is the old crest, which includes a walking plough, a mushroom-shaped wheat sheaf and an arm ominously wielding an axe.
That crest, curiously, shows no hint of the lake that first attracted settlers and continues to draw thousands to its shores each year.
The new image suggests a bold blue sky, white waves representing Lake Huron and a silhouette of trees underlined by a golden stalk of wheat.
"It shows that we are dynamic, forward-thinking and at the same time, it shows a great deal of respect for how we got here," said Huron County Warden John Bezaire.
County planner Carol Leeming, who headed the re-branding committee, said the logo and website are intended to show the "product, personality and promise" of the county.
They will also help the county's newly redesigned economic development department attract businesses and tourists to an area that dubs itself Ontario's West Coast.
Huron's rudimentary Internet presence started in 1998 and it had a first-generation website in 2003.
The revamped site -- www.huroncounty.ca with that ubiquitous new logo -- includes a searchable database of county departments, agendas, bylaws, tourist attractions and businesses.
Now residents can pay traffic tickets online, beach-goers can check lake water quality or get directions to their favourite inn and businesspeople can see what their factories or farms look like on an interactive aerial map.
Yesterday's big splash was accompanied by a three-dimensional logo carved in ice by Ice Cultures in Hensall.
But Huron isn't frozen in time, said Bezaire.
"Sometimes rural Canada is looked at as a pace behind everyone else," he said.
"This helps show we're progressive."
The old crest will still be used for ceremonial purposes.
The new logo will adorn county vehicles, signs and marketing material.
It was designed with the help of a Kitchener marketing firm, Two Blonde Chicks Inc.
Bayfield Ontario
Thursday, January 10, 2008
Wednesday, January 9, 2008
Global warming, water diversion may become local issues on the peninsula | Ramblings and Rumblings - www.portclintonnewsherald.com - Port Clinton, OH
Global warming, water diversion may become local issues on the peninsula | Ramblings and Rumblings - www.portclintonnewsherald.com - Port Clinton, OH
Global warming, water diversion may become local issues on the peninsula
A decade ago at a Village of Marblehead council meeting, the Honorable Mayor Kathleen “Kay” Dziak presiding, a councilman asked to be heard. He suggested that Village Council draft a resolution that would put the council on record as opposing any water diversion from Lake Erie and the Great Lakes to the southern and western states. There were muffled snickers from the few visitors, and council listened politely, then the evening's agenda moved forward. There never was discussion and there never was a resolution. Most likely the moment wasn't captured in any minutes and has been long ago forgotten. The idea that a handful of elected public officials from a small Village could take any action that might have some effect on larger communities along the North Coast or make a statement that would serve as a sentinel seemed at the time to be far-fetched. So did the dire predictions of shallower water, higher water temperatures, lower oxygen levels in the water, bad fishing and, if those weren't horrific enough, water being diverted from Lake Erie to New Mexico.
But now it appears that things really are heating up. Of course, it's early January, and the temperature is above 60 degrees, but I am referring to the various reports being issued that forecast serious trouble for Lake Erie in the coming years.
A 315-page report, “State of the Strait: Status and Trends of Key Indicators 2007,” released within the last month, is the culmination of a three-year study of the Detroit River-western Lake Erie corridor. The editors of the report include members of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the University of Windsor, Environment Canada, the International Joint Commission and the Southwest Michigan Land Conservancy. Funding sources included several of the aforementioned agencies as well as the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. The gist of the report: 75 scientists from nearly 50 government, business, academic and public-interest groups claimed Lake Erie could drop 3.28 feet to 6.56 feet of water by 2066.
A 41-page report published by The National Wildlife Foundation, with the support of Environmental Advocates of New York and five other environmental groups from across the Great Lakes states, appeared in late November. The report was written based on the findings of researchers at the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, the International Joint Commission, the federal government and independent researchers. The report explains the findings of scientists and puts them into an enviro-political context. The gist of the report: prepare for a new climate change reality. Higher average temperatures in the Great Lakes region by 2050 will cause a 4.5-foot drop in Lake Michigan and Lake Huron waters because evaporation will outpace rain and snow. Since Lake Huron feeds Lake Erie, the already warmest, shallowest, and most ecologically fragile part of the Great Lakes may be doomed. The report advises that higher lake temperatures likely would lead to more algae and less oxygen in the water, curtailing fish production and crimping tourism.
A 3-page report issued by the International Association for Great Lakes Research highlights problems caused by pollution, invasive species, contaminated sediments, loss of wetlands and shoreline habitat. The report does not make any direct references to climate change.
So you can take a big gulp with the 315-page report or a small drink with the 3-page report, but those who are in the know seem to be indicating that global warming has arrived in our little corner of the planet. If it feels any better, I guess you might call it Great Lakes Warming. If it hasn't arrived quite yet, apparently it will be appearing at a shoreline near you soon. If you think it is cyclical with the ups and downs of temperature and lake levels, you are not alone. But the plethora of reports, not limited to the aforementioned, seem to forecast trouble.
Such trouble appears to double in light of the Thirsty Southwest. The Great Lakes hold 20% of the Earth's fresh water, or 95% of this country's surface freshwater, and states in the southwestern part of the United States want some of it. New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson even made the notion of water sharing part of his stump speech in the early infighting in the presidential race. Whether or not the Thirsty Southwest is quenched by water from Lake Erie remains to be seen in the decades ahead. The possibility looms.
The double-trouble, or what Noah Hall from Wayne State University refers to as “a one-two punch,” is here to stay. The issues of global warming and water diversion are not going away. As global warming increases by degrees, so will problems in Lake Erie increase by degrees. As water diversion begins with a single drop, so too will the solutions to these issues begin by a single vote or act.
By STEVE PLOTTNER. Posted at 1:51 PM
Global warming, water diversion may become local issues on the peninsula
A decade ago at a Village of Marblehead council meeting, the Honorable Mayor Kathleen “Kay” Dziak presiding, a councilman asked to be heard. He suggested that Village Council draft a resolution that would put the council on record as opposing any water diversion from Lake Erie and the Great Lakes to the southern and western states. There were muffled snickers from the few visitors, and council listened politely, then the evening's agenda moved forward. There never was discussion and there never was a resolution. Most likely the moment wasn't captured in any minutes and has been long ago forgotten. The idea that a handful of elected public officials from a small Village could take any action that might have some effect on larger communities along the North Coast or make a statement that would serve as a sentinel seemed at the time to be far-fetched. So did the dire predictions of shallower water, higher water temperatures, lower oxygen levels in the water, bad fishing and, if those weren't horrific enough, water being diverted from Lake Erie to New Mexico.
But now it appears that things really are heating up. Of course, it's early January, and the temperature is above 60 degrees, but I am referring to the various reports being issued that forecast serious trouble for Lake Erie in the coming years.
A 315-page report, “State of the Strait: Status and Trends of Key Indicators 2007,” released within the last month, is the culmination of a three-year study of the Detroit River-western Lake Erie corridor. The editors of the report include members of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the University of Windsor, Environment Canada, the International Joint Commission and the Southwest Michigan Land Conservancy. Funding sources included several of the aforementioned agencies as well as the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. The gist of the report: 75 scientists from nearly 50 government, business, academic and public-interest groups claimed Lake Erie could drop 3.28 feet to 6.56 feet of water by 2066.
A 41-page report published by The National Wildlife Foundation, with the support of Environmental Advocates of New York and five other environmental groups from across the Great Lakes states, appeared in late November. The report was written based on the findings of researchers at the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, the International Joint Commission, the federal government and independent researchers. The report explains the findings of scientists and puts them into an enviro-political context. The gist of the report: prepare for a new climate change reality. Higher average temperatures in the Great Lakes region by 2050 will cause a 4.5-foot drop in Lake Michigan and Lake Huron waters because evaporation will outpace rain and snow. Since Lake Huron feeds Lake Erie, the already warmest, shallowest, and most ecologically fragile part of the Great Lakes may be doomed. The report advises that higher lake temperatures likely would lead to more algae and less oxygen in the water, curtailing fish production and crimping tourism.
A 3-page report issued by the International Association for Great Lakes Research highlights problems caused by pollution, invasive species, contaminated sediments, loss of wetlands and shoreline habitat. The report does not make any direct references to climate change.
So you can take a big gulp with the 315-page report or a small drink with the 3-page report, but those who are in the know seem to be indicating that global warming has arrived in our little corner of the planet. If it feels any better, I guess you might call it Great Lakes Warming. If it hasn't arrived quite yet, apparently it will be appearing at a shoreline near you soon. If you think it is cyclical with the ups and downs of temperature and lake levels, you are not alone. But the plethora of reports, not limited to the aforementioned, seem to forecast trouble.
Such trouble appears to double in light of the Thirsty Southwest. The Great Lakes hold 20% of the Earth's fresh water, or 95% of this country's surface freshwater, and states in the southwestern part of the United States want some of it. New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson even made the notion of water sharing part of his stump speech in the early infighting in the presidential race. Whether or not the Thirsty Southwest is quenched by water from Lake Erie remains to be seen in the decades ahead. The possibility looms.
The double-trouble, or what Noah Hall from Wayne State University refers to as “a one-two punch,” is here to stay. The issues of global warming and water diversion are not going away. As global warming increases by degrees, so will problems in Lake Erie increase by degrees. As water diversion begins with a single drop, so too will the solutions to these issues begin by a single vote or act.
By STEVE PLOTTNER. Posted at 1:51 PM
Sunday, January 6, 2008
Bayshore Broadcasting Corporation
Bayshore Broadcasting Corporation
Point Clark now highlighted on stamp
Written by Mark Beaton
Canada Post has released it's new 2008 definitive stamps.
Part of the collection includes the Canadian flag over 5 different lighthouses coast-to-coast across Canada including Point Clark
Point Clark was originally referred to as "Pine Point" and was built between 1855 and 1859.
Canada Spokesperson Nicole Lemire says Point Clark was built to warn of the dangers posed by the reefs about two miles off Lake Huron's shoreline.
Lemire says Point Clark was a good selection because it is a tourist friendly community and it's a big attraction in the Lake Huron area.
Lemire says it took alot of time and effort to select the lighthouses used in the stamps.
More information on these new definitive stamps is avaliable on-line at www.canadapost.com and can be purchased at any Canada Post office
Point Clark now highlighted on stamp
Written by Mark Beaton
Canada Post has released it's new 2008 definitive stamps.
Part of the collection includes the Canadian flag over 5 different lighthouses coast-to-coast across Canada including Point Clark
Point Clark was originally referred to as "Pine Point" and was built between 1855 and 1859.
Canada Spokesperson Nicole Lemire says Point Clark was built to warn of the dangers posed by the reefs about two miles off Lake Huron's shoreline.
Lemire says Point Clark was a good selection because it is a tourist friendly community and it's a big attraction in the Lake Huron area.
Lemire says it took alot of time and effort to select the lighthouses used in the stamps.
More information on these new definitive stamps is avaliable on-line at www.canadapost.com and can be purchased at any Canada Post office
Big Lake's fish population plummeting - Muskegon Chronicle - MLive.com
Big Lake's fish population plummeting - Muskegon Chronicle - MLive.comThe quantity of fish food in Lake Michigan hit a record low for the second straight year in 2007, a trend that could be disastrous for the salmon fishery if it continues.
The volume of all prey fish in the lake -- alewife, bloaters and other small fish eaten by salmon, lake trout and whitefish -- dropped by half, from 61 kilotons in 2006 to 30 kilotons in 2007, according to data compiled by the U.S. Geological Survey's Great Lakes Science Center.
That's the lowest volume recorded since the government began tracking prey fish densities in 1973. Prey fish abundance last year was 92 percent below the record volume of 400 kilotons recorded in 1989, said Chuck Madenjian, a USGS research fishery biologist.
At the same time prey fish numbers are plummeting, the volume of foreign dreissenid mussels in Lake Michigan -- quagga and zebra mussels -- increased 13 percent in 2007, according to USGS data. There were 245 kilotons of quagga and zebra mussels in the lakes, eight times the volume of all prey fish; quaggas account for 98 percent of the mussels in the lake, according to government data.
"Most of the stuff we bring up in our bottom trawl now is quagga mussels," Madenjian said. "Their population has just exploded in the lake in the last five years."
The divergent trends of more mussels and fewer prey fish doesn't bode well for the Lake Michigan ecosystem or the sport and commercial fisheries.
FISH FAMINE
Here is a comparison of prey fish abundance in Lake Michigan in 2006 and 2007. Prey fish are bloaters, alewife and other species eaten by larger fish: salmon, lake trout and whitefish:
400: Kilotons of prey fish in 1989, the highest volume recorded since data was first collected in 1973.
61: Kilotons of prey fish in 2006.
30: Kilotons of prey fish in 2007.
92: Percentage difference in prey fish abundance in 1989 and 2007.
212: Kilotons of quagga and zebra mussels in 2006.
245: Kilotons of quagga and zebra mussels in 2007.
-- Source: U.S. Geological Survey's Great Lakes Science Center
Quagga mussels hog the plankton that comprises the base of a food chain that supports most fish species. The dime-sized mussels, which snuck into the Great Lakes in ocean freighters' ballast water, have been linked to the collapse of Lake Huron's salmon fishery.
They are shrinking salmon and whitefish in lakes Michigan and Ontario and causing algae blooms that foul beaches and botulism outbreaks that have killed 75,000 fish-eating birds around the Great Lakes over the past decade.
A state biologist said anglers should expect to catch fewer salmon, and smaller salmon, in Lake Michigan in the coming years. There aren't enough prey fish in the lake to support the near-record salmon catches anglers have enjoyed in recent years, said Randy Claramunt, research biologist for the Michigan Department of Natural Resources.
"I think we're going to see reduced salmon catches in the near future," Claramunt said. "This is not a crash of the salmon fishery, it's more like a soft landing."
The lake's alewife population held steady in 2007, Madenjian said. But the quantity of those fish has dropped by more than half in recent years.
Lake Michigan salmon have been shrinking in size because the food supply is dwindling. Anglers have caught numerous salmon in the past three years, but 20-pound fish have become scarce. In the 1980s, salmon weighing 30 pounds or more were common, according to state data.
The reason is that Lake Michigan, for fish, is like a grocery store whose shelves are being picked clean by a foreign invader, the quagga mussel. As a result, sport and commercial fish populations are vying for meals from shrinking stocks of plankton and prey fish.
Claramunt said he doubts the Lake Michigan salmon fishery will go the way of Lake Huron. Alewife disappeared from Lake Huron in 2003 and the salmon fishery collapsed the following year, according to state data.
The four states surrounding Lake Michigan reduced salmon stocking by 25 percent in 2006 due to concerns there were more fish than the lake could support. Those concerns were fueled in large part by the decline of alewife, the primary food source for salmon.
Great Lakes fish expert David Jude said the precipitous decline of prey fish in Lake Michigan is startling.
"I think we're starting to see what quagga and zebra mussels have wrought," said Jude, a University of Michigan research scientist. "When they first arrived we wondered what kind of impact they might have and now we're starting to see it in lakes Michigan and Huron; I didn't think it would happen this quickly."
Madenjian said he is not yet convinced that zebra and quagga mussels are the lone culprit behind a steep drop in prey fish abundance in lakes Michigan and Huron, which geographically are one lake.
"The natural urge is to blame the mussels but I've resisted that," Madenjian said. He said other factors, such as natural fluctuations in the bloater population and the possible presence of too many salmon in Lake Michigan could be depleting prey fish populations.
Madenjian said the next three to five years will be very telling for the Lake Michigan fishery. He said a rebound in the bloater population could pump new life into the salmon, whitefish and lake trout fisheries.
The volume of bloaters in the lake dropped from 13 kilotons in 2006 to 5 kilotons last year, Madenjian said. The current bloater abundance is about 1 percent of the record volume recorded in 1989, he said.
"The big cause for concern in my mind is whether the bloaters are going to come back or not," Madenjian said.
The lone bright spot in data generated by the USGS' annual sampling of the lake bottom was the abundance of perch. Madenjian said he believes there will be terrific perch fishing this summer.
"Perch might be on their way to a recovery in Lake Michigan," he said.
The volume of all prey fish in the lake -- alewife, bloaters and other small fish eaten by salmon, lake trout and whitefish -- dropped by half, from 61 kilotons in 2006 to 30 kilotons in 2007, according to data compiled by the U.S. Geological Survey's Great Lakes Science Center.
That's the lowest volume recorded since the government began tracking prey fish densities in 1973. Prey fish abundance last year was 92 percent below the record volume of 400 kilotons recorded in 1989, said Chuck Madenjian, a USGS research fishery biologist.
At the same time prey fish numbers are plummeting, the volume of foreign dreissenid mussels in Lake Michigan -- quagga and zebra mussels -- increased 13 percent in 2007, according to USGS data. There were 245 kilotons of quagga and zebra mussels in the lakes, eight times the volume of all prey fish; quaggas account for 98 percent of the mussels in the lake, according to government data.
"Most of the stuff we bring up in our bottom trawl now is quagga mussels," Madenjian said. "Their population has just exploded in the lake in the last five years."
The divergent trends of more mussels and fewer prey fish doesn't bode well for the Lake Michigan ecosystem or the sport and commercial fisheries.
FISH FAMINE
Here is a comparison of prey fish abundance in Lake Michigan in 2006 and 2007. Prey fish are bloaters, alewife and other species eaten by larger fish: salmon, lake trout and whitefish:
400: Kilotons of prey fish in 1989, the highest volume recorded since data was first collected in 1973.
61: Kilotons of prey fish in 2006.
30: Kilotons of prey fish in 2007.
92: Percentage difference in prey fish abundance in 1989 and 2007.
212: Kilotons of quagga and zebra mussels in 2006.
245: Kilotons of quagga and zebra mussels in 2007.
-- Source: U.S. Geological Survey's Great Lakes Science Center
Quagga mussels hog the plankton that comprises the base of a food chain that supports most fish species. The dime-sized mussels, which snuck into the Great Lakes in ocean freighters' ballast water, have been linked to the collapse of Lake Huron's salmon fishery.
They are shrinking salmon and whitefish in lakes Michigan and Ontario and causing algae blooms that foul beaches and botulism outbreaks that have killed 75,000 fish-eating birds around the Great Lakes over the past decade.
A state biologist said anglers should expect to catch fewer salmon, and smaller salmon, in Lake Michigan in the coming years. There aren't enough prey fish in the lake to support the near-record salmon catches anglers have enjoyed in recent years, said Randy Claramunt, research biologist for the Michigan Department of Natural Resources.
"I think we're going to see reduced salmon catches in the near future," Claramunt said. "This is not a crash of the salmon fishery, it's more like a soft landing."
The lake's alewife population held steady in 2007, Madenjian said. But the quantity of those fish has dropped by more than half in recent years.
Lake Michigan salmon have been shrinking in size because the food supply is dwindling. Anglers have caught numerous salmon in the past three years, but 20-pound fish have become scarce. In the 1980s, salmon weighing 30 pounds or more were common, according to state data.
The reason is that Lake Michigan, for fish, is like a grocery store whose shelves are being picked clean by a foreign invader, the quagga mussel. As a result, sport and commercial fish populations are vying for meals from shrinking stocks of plankton and prey fish.
Claramunt said he doubts the Lake Michigan salmon fishery will go the way of Lake Huron. Alewife disappeared from Lake Huron in 2003 and the salmon fishery collapsed the following year, according to state data.
The four states surrounding Lake Michigan reduced salmon stocking by 25 percent in 2006 due to concerns there were more fish than the lake could support. Those concerns were fueled in large part by the decline of alewife, the primary food source for salmon.
Great Lakes fish expert David Jude said the precipitous decline of prey fish in Lake Michigan is startling.
"I think we're starting to see what quagga and zebra mussels have wrought," said Jude, a University of Michigan research scientist. "When they first arrived we wondered what kind of impact they might have and now we're starting to see it in lakes Michigan and Huron; I didn't think it would happen this quickly."
Madenjian said he is not yet convinced that zebra and quagga mussels are the lone culprit behind a steep drop in prey fish abundance in lakes Michigan and Huron, which geographically are one lake.
"The natural urge is to blame the mussels but I've resisted that," Madenjian said. He said other factors, such as natural fluctuations in the bloater population and the possible presence of too many salmon in Lake Michigan could be depleting prey fish populations.
Madenjian said the next three to five years will be very telling for the Lake Michigan fishery. He said a rebound in the bloater population could pump new life into the salmon, whitefish and lake trout fisheries.
The volume of bloaters in the lake dropped from 13 kilotons in 2006 to 5 kilotons last year, Madenjian said. The current bloater abundance is about 1 percent of the record volume recorded in 1989, he said.
"The big cause for concern in my mind is whether the bloaters are going to come back or not," Madenjian said.
The lone bright spot in data generated by the USGS' annual sampling of the lake bottom was the abundance of perch. Madenjian said he believes there will be terrific perch fishing this summer.
"Perch might be on their way to a recovery in Lake Michigan," he said.
Saturday, January 5, 2008
Waterfront homes have more beach; ships sail lighter
Times Herald - www.thetimesherald.com - Port Huron, MILake levels nearing record lows
Waterfront homes have more beach; ships sail lighter
By BOBBY AMPEZZAN
Times Herald
When Jerry Eschenburg, 49, surveys the scene in front of his East China Township home there are a few things that stand out: a two-year-old "For Sale" sign, a beach spreading in front of a flood wall, a Jet-Ski lift suspended above sand that once was covered by water.
Eschenburg said he doesn't think low water levels in the St. Clair River and Lake Huron are turning prospective homebuyers away from his waterfront property - "nothing's selling right now, let's face it" - but it's not helping.
ADVERTISEMENT
Water levels in lakes Huron and Michigan are teetering just above an all-time low, and everything from shipping to power generation, to recreational boating to water habitat may be hurt.
On Friday, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers released a six-month forecast that predicts water depths for the lakes will hover just above record-setting lows through the winter months.
The all-time low water depth for the lakes for the month of January - 576.12 feet - was set in 1965. As of Friday, the depth was 576.31 feet.
Lake Huron is more than 2 feet shallower than average, and 5 feet shy of the record high set in 1987.
"We have been below average on Michigan-Huron for quite some time, since about 1999," said Keith Kompoltowicz, a meteorologist with the corps. "There have been times where we've seen above average rainfall, but it hasn't been enough to get the level climbing back to closer or higher than average."
Kompoltowicz said lake water levels are determined largely by the amount of water running into the lake basin, fueled either by rain or melted snow and ice, and the amount of water evaporating from the surface of the lakes.
"Looking back at January (and) February, 2007, almost 8 inches evaporated just in that two month period," a period when the average evaporation rate is 5½ inches, the meteorologist said.
The low lake levels have meant area boaters are doing more with less.
Eschenburg said his neighbor takes her Jet Ski to a local marina to put it in the water, and his brother had to push the family's 40-foot house boat out into the St. Clair River before he could reach water deep enough to run the propeller.
Cynthia Sellinger, a hydrologist for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Great Lakes Environmental Research Laboratory in Ann Arbor, said marinas on lakes Huron and Michigan are spending more money on dredging, hydropower plants are running at half capacity or less, and floodplains and wetlands are drying up.
But the biggest impact has been on commercial shipping. For every inch of clearance lost in the lakes, freighters must shed between 11,000 and 22,000 pounds.
Glen Nekvasil, spokesman for the Lake Carriers' Association, said the largest recorded shipment carried through lakes Huron and Michigan in November was about 63,000 tons. When the water is high, freighters may carry upward of 72,000 tons in a trip.
Shipments of coal to Detroit Edison's St. Clair Power Plant were down 10,000 tons in December to about 61,000 tons, he said. The reduced amount of coal could produce electricity for the entire greater Detroit area for three hours.
In a three-week span in August and September this year, two 1,000-foot freighters ran aground in the mouth of the harbor in Muskegon.
"We can't control evaporation. We can't control precipitation, but we can dredge the Great Lakes," Nekvasil said.
Commercial shippers pay into the federal Harbor Maintenance Trust Fund, which Nekvasil said has a surplus of between $3 and $4 billion, some of which he thinks should be used for dredging.
Nekvasil said according to estimates from the Army Corps of Engineers $230 million is needed to "clear up the dredging backlog on the Great Lakes."
Dredging may be part of the problem.
Sellinger said the International Joint Commission, a bi-national organization formed to solve water management disputes, has commissioned a $14 million study that will in part evaluate whether dredging - particularly in the St. Clair River - has accelerated the speed at which water in lakes Huron and Michigan is draining into Lake Erie.
She said the study may recommend the corps implement "compensating work," such as a weir, which would slow the flow of water out of the lakes.
Waterfront homes have more beach; ships sail lighter
By BOBBY AMPEZZAN
Times Herald
When Jerry Eschenburg, 49, surveys the scene in front of his East China Township home there are a few things that stand out: a two-year-old "For Sale" sign, a beach spreading in front of a flood wall, a Jet-Ski lift suspended above sand that once was covered by water.
Eschenburg said he doesn't think low water levels in the St. Clair River and Lake Huron are turning prospective homebuyers away from his waterfront property - "nothing's selling right now, let's face it" - but it's not helping.
ADVERTISEMENT
Water levels in lakes Huron and Michigan are teetering just above an all-time low, and everything from shipping to power generation, to recreational boating to water habitat may be hurt.
On Friday, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers released a six-month forecast that predicts water depths for the lakes will hover just above record-setting lows through the winter months.
The all-time low water depth for the lakes for the month of January - 576.12 feet - was set in 1965. As of Friday, the depth was 576.31 feet.
Lake Huron is more than 2 feet shallower than average, and 5 feet shy of the record high set in 1987.
"We have been below average on Michigan-Huron for quite some time, since about 1999," said Keith Kompoltowicz, a meteorologist with the corps. "There have been times where we've seen above average rainfall, but it hasn't been enough to get the level climbing back to closer or higher than average."
Kompoltowicz said lake water levels are determined largely by the amount of water running into the lake basin, fueled either by rain or melted snow and ice, and the amount of water evaporating from the surface of the lakes.
"Looking back at January (and) February, 2007, almost 8 inches evaporated just in that two month period," a period when the average evaporation rate is 5½ inches, the meteorologist said.
The low lake levels have meant area boaters are doing more with less.
Eschenburg said his neighbor takes her Jet Ski to a local marina to put it in the water, and his brother had to push the family's 40-foot house boat out into the St. Clair River before he could reach water deep enough to run the propeller.
Cynthia Sellinger, a hydrologist for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Great Lakes Environmental Research Laboratory in Ann Arbor, said marinas on lakes Huron and Michigan are spending more money on dredging, hydropower plants are running at half capacity or less, and floodplains and wetlands are drying up.
But the biggest impact has been on commercial shipping. For every inch of clearance lost in the lakes, freighters must shed between 11,000 and 22,000 pounds.
Glen Nekvasil, spokesman for the Lake Carriers' Association, said the largest recorded shipment carried through lakes Huron and Michigan in November was about 63,000 tons. When the water is high, freighters may carry upward of 72,000 tons in a trip.
Shipments of coal to Detroit Edison's St. Clair Power Plant were down 10,000 tons in December to about 61,000 tons, he said. The reduced amount of coal could produce electricity for the entire greater Detroit area for three hours.
In a three-week span in August and September this year, two 1,000-foot freighters ran aground in the mouth of the harbor in Muskegon.
"We can't control evaporation. We can't control precipitation, but we can dredge the Great Lakes," Nekvasil said.
Commercial shippers pay into the federal Harbor Maintenance Trust Fund, which Nekvasil said has a surplus of between $3 and $4 billion, some of which he thinks should be used for dredging.
Nekvasil said according to estimates from the Army Corps of Engineers $230 million is needed to "clear up the dredging backlog on the Great Lakes."
Dredging may be part of the problem.
Sellinger said the International Joint Commission, a bi-national organization formed to solve water management disputes, has commissioned a $14 million study that will in part evaluate whether dredging - particularly in the St. Clair River - has accelerated the speed at which water in lakes Huron and Michigan is draining into Lake Erie.
She said the study may recommend the corps implement "compensating work," such as a weir, which would slow the flow of water out of the lakes.
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