Nearshore

Robot week: Remote-controlled Stealth II reveals nearshore landscape

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Editor’s note: This is the third in a series of stories on how new technology is  giving researchers a glimpse of the critical nearshore area of the Great Lakes. With researchers hunched over remote controls, operating the Stealth II looks more like playing a video game than doing science. The Environmental Protection Agency purchased the underwater vehicle in May 2009. Using a hand control, agency scientists can operate the Stealth II as it hovers at various depths of the Great Lakes’ nearshore. The Stealth II’s camera allows scientists to map the bottom of nearshore areas and better understand habitat types.

Nearshore

NEMO’s new mission: Find toxic algae blooms

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By Mehak Bansil
Nov. 17, 2009
EAST LANSING, Mich. – If it looks like a fish and swims like a fish, then it must be a fish. Unless it’s a pseudo-fish named NEMO, designed to monitor water temperature, oxygen levels, invasive algae populations and pollutants. For example, a robofish will be able to navigate independently and transmit information about the location of toxic algae blooms.

“We chose to fit these fish with sensors for toxic algae blooms, but I think other researchers will use this technology in the future to monitor different aspects of water quality,” said Michigan State University zoology professor Elena Litchman.

Nearshore

Work under way on Muskegon Lake shoreline restoration

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(MI) Muskegon Chronicle – One of the largest federal “stimulus” grants for the Muskegon area is being targeted at its greatest asset – the waterfront.  
Design and engineering is well under way and construction could begin by the end of the year on a $10 million National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration grant to restore the shoreline habitat along the southern Muskegon Lake shoreline. “With the $10 million, we will see an investment in Muskegon County’s strongest economic development asset … the lake,” said Sandeep Dey, executive director of the West Michigan Shoreline Regional Development Commission. “This project is progressing much faster than we had anticipated.”  More

Nearshore

Report: Climate change greatest threat to national parks; Indiana Dunes among most at risk

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Click each park to see its threats. View Great Lakes Parks in Peril in a larger map
By Haley Walker and Yang Zhang
Nov. 4, 2009

Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore is among U.S. national parks most vulnerable to climate change, according to a recent report. The park on the southern end of Lake Michigan faces an increase in flooding, overcrowding and air pollution and a loss of wildlife, plants and fish. Other parks in the Great Lakes region are also at risk of these effects.

Nearshore

Marina bill helps cash-strapped Michigan agency focus on environmental protection

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By Mehak Bansil
Oct. 25, 2009
LANSING–A bill awaiting Gov. Jennifer Granholm’s signature would change permit requirements for those who already own a dock, pier or other anchoring structure and those looking to build one in an inland lake or stream. Renewals would no longer be necessary to maintain and operate such facilities, but boaters who don’t already have a permit would still need one. If a boater wants to build or add to a structure, the Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) would have to analyze the project to ensure it wouldn’t disrupt natural resources. Martin Jannereth, DEQ’s chief of lakes, streams and shorelands, said eliminating renewals probably won’t harm inland waters.

Nearshore

Saugatuck dunes deal great news for future

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(MI) Kalamazoo Gazette – Helen Taylor couldn’t have said it any better. Taylor, The Nature Conservancy’s state director, described the recent agreement to acquire 171 acres of dunes at Saugatuck as “a huge step forward in the marathon effort to protect this property in perpetuity for the people of Michigan.”

The area includes the south portion of the McClendon property (formerly the Denison property) adjacent to Saugatuck’s Oval Beach City Park. Announcement of the deal was made by the city of Saugatuck, the Land Conservancy of West Michigan and The Nature Conservancy. More

Nearshore

Undisturbed, Prehistoric Sand Dune Discovered at MSU

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(NY) Treehugger – The sprawling campus of Michigan State University takes in 5,200 acres. There are trees that shade the landscape and a Red Cedar River that runs through it. Researchers have just found a 16,000- to 20,000-year-old sand dune on the campus, too, beneath a grove of pine trees. The dune, between buildings called Demonstration Hall and Munn Ice Arena, is one of the most southerly located that researchers have ever seen in Michigan. More

Nearshore

Study may help manage muck in Saginaw Bay

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(MI) Bay City Times – A study by Michigan Technological University researchers aims to figure out how to best manage phosphorus inputs to Saginaw Bay. Phosphorus, a nutrient in everything from fertilizers to wastewater, helps fuel the growth of algae in the bay, which fouls shorelines when it dies and washes up on beaches. More

Nearshore

Amphibious vehicle may storm the beaches of Saginaw Bay

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(MI) The Bay City Times – State and local officials involved with the Saginaw Bay Coastal Initiative are looking at the Truxor, an amphibious vehicle, to clear muck that gathers at the shoreline and remains suspended in the water at the public beach in Bangor Township. Charlie Bauer, with the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality’s Water Bureau, gave a presentation on the Truxor at a meeting this morning at the state park Visitor Center. More

Nearshore

Dams Are Thwarting Louisiana Marsh Restoration, Study Says

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(NY) The New York Times –
Desperate to halt the erosion of Louisiana’s coast, officials there are talking about breaking Mississippi River levees south of New Orleans to restore the nourishing flow of muddy water into the state’s marshes. But in a new analysis, scientists at Louisiana State University say inland dams trap so much sediment that the river no longer carries enough to halt marsh loss, especially now that global warming is speeding a rise in sea levels. More