Great Lakes Echo (https://greatlakesecho.org/tag/lakesriverswetlands/page/8/)
(OH) Akron Beacon Journal – If the Gorge dam on the Cuyahoga River is to be demolished, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency wants to know first what’s sitting at the bottom of the lake behind it. Is it just mud, or are there dangerous contaminants? More
(MI) The Associated Press – A team studying upper Great Lakes levels has postponed a report on whether they have lost excessive amounts of water through an enlarged river channel so the group can have more time for research, officials said Wednesday. The International Upper Great Lakes Study said the document would be released Dec. 1, instead of Oct. 1 as previously scheduled. The delay will give the group more time to evaluate its research and await peer reviews of a preliminary report issued in May, spokesman John Nevin said.
(MN) Minneapolis Star Tribune – The troubled basin of the Mississippi River is set to receive a $320 million boost from the Agriculture Department. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack was announcing Thursday that he is creating the Mississippi River Basin Healthy Watersheds Initiative, which will fund efforts in 12 states along the 2,350-mile long Mississippi River, Agriculture Department officials told The Associated Press. They would speak only on condition of anonymity ahead of Vilsack’s announcement. More
(MI) Traverse City Record Eagle- There are a dozen variations — “shoot first and ask questions later,” “it’s easier to ask forgiveness than it is to get permission,” etc. We’ve heard them all. In some building and developer circles the intent is the same even if the wording is a little different; it could be “bulldoze now, get a permit if you have to.”That’s pretty much what happened in Elk Rapids about a decade ago. Developer Bill Clous started carving up a wetlands area to build a subdivision. He had permits from Antrim County and local officials but after environmentalists raised the roof, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers grudgingly agreed that the wetland in question was tied to nearby Lake Michigan, which meant Clous needed a federal permit.
(IL) Chicago Tribune – In July, the Chicago District of the Corps found that village-owned wetlands west of Mark Smith’s Prairie Park condominium development at 700 N. Wolf Rd. had been filled improperly. Smith and village officials agree Smith’s company, Smith Family Construction Inc., did the filling without authorization or approval from village officials.”We encroached on some village property slightly,” Smith said last week of the work he said his company mistakenly did on the land east and south of the Rogers Memorial Diversion Channel that takes water to the Des Plaines River. More
(MI) Lansing State Journal – It’s been 16 years since then-Editorial Page Editor Mark Nixon’s battle cry for riverine improvement. And, to the credit of many, much has been done to improve Lansing’s river. But, as a recent, eye-opening boat tour along its downtown segment illustrates, there is still much to be done to make the Grand River all it could be. More
By Jeff Gillies
jeffgillies@gmail.com
Great Lakes Echo
Sept. 17, 2009
The Great Lakes and the Chesapeake Bay both field noxious summer algae blooms fueled by dirt and nutrients from farm fields. The six northeastern states that drain into the Chesapeake Bay have a patchwork plan to curb it. It doesn’t work and never will, says a recent report by the Environmental Working Group, a non-profit lobbyist and research group. The report claims runoff prevention programs fail because they’re voluntary — farmers that don’t want to participate don’t have to.
(MI) The Muskegon Chronicle – West Michigan residents should get behind a Saugatuck Township lawmaker’s effort to save Michigan’s wetlands protection program, which will end on Oct. 1. Sen. Patricia Birkholz last week introduced a bill to keep the program, which Gov. Jennifer Granholm wants to eliminate as a cost-savings measure, running for at least two more years while new funding sources are sought. More
(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
(MI) Grand Rapids Press – Reclaimed soil from the bottom of Lake Macatawa will be heaped on dry land this summer to help build parks in four area townships. As much as 200,000 cubic yards of dried lake silt will be distributed by the Holland Board of Public Works and the Army Corps of Engineers to build or improve parks in Fillmore, Laketown, Park and Zeeland townships. Since 1997, the Corps deposited the dredgings in a 48-acre containment facility at Waverly Avenue and Lakewood Boulevard. The facility now is full of nutrient-rich black dirt that will be hauled to the four townships and three other sites. More