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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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Beach bacteria: Sand may be major source

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(IN) The News Dispatch – For years researchers looked at the water of Lake Michigan to find the source of high bacteria readings, but one source of outbreaks of E. coli may be in the beach sand. Bacteria counts tend to be much higher after storms send waves splashing ashore, with water returning to the lake through the sand. If the sand is aerated and allowed to dry in the hot sun, the bacteria die or diminish. The Michigan City Parks Department is testing that theory with a new method of beach grooming that puts little furrows into the sand instead of leveling it. That method of beach sand grooming in Racine, Wis., resulted in a 96 percent decline in the number of beach advisories for bacteria.

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City looks to Racine, Wis., for help on reducing E. coli

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(IN) The News Dispatch – How can we reduce the amount of E. coli bacteria along the beach in Washington Park? That’s a question we asked Dr. Julie Kinzelman, research scientist and laboratory director for the city of Racine, Wis. While snowflakes were flying during a winter storm in February, Kinzelman came to Michigan City to share her expertise with several different local groups desiring to reduce the levels of E. coli in our local beaches. More

Nearshore

To weed or not to weed is the question around West Michigan lakes

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(MI) Grand Rapids Press – When Ron Myszak’s four fishing buddies came to his home on Myers Lake for the start of bass season Saturday, he hoped for pristine boating and angling conditions. “I like to fish, so I like to see a few weeds,” said Myszak, 71, who has lived on the Courtland Township lake for more than four decades. “Yet they do a good job of keeping it clean after they treat the lake.” Weed-control crews were on Myszak’s lake last week for the first of several herbicide treatments, a process that hundreds of local lakes and ponds will undergo this spring as boaters, swimmers and fishing enthusiasts return to the water. More