Kite Contest on Lake Michigan
May 20, 2013
water color by Barbara Spring
Why I Wrote The Dynamic Great Lakes
May 18, 2013
When I think of the 500 year old white pines that used to be where I live, I feel a sadness. White pines were called white gold and used for the masts of ships, and in West Michigan, these trees rebuilt Chicago after the great fire.
When I think of the sturgeon that were killed and burned like cordwood because they fouled fishermen's nets, I want to cry.
Nuclear Power plants on Lake Michigan
May 13, 2013
Between Sweetwater and Sand
May 5, 2013
Soon this poem “She Runs” will be published in my new book, Between Sweetwater and Sand
She Runs
She runs filled with sun
she runs in the rays
and runs in the wind
and roaring waves.
So fast she runs her feet
play the shore
of singing sands
of ringing quartz sands—
her watery reflection runs
beside her.
Sandpiper swift
She runs.
Chinook Salmon Planted Today
April 29, 2013
Chinook salmon smolts are being released into the Grand River today. The Grand Haven and Grand Rapids Steelhead organizations in cooperation with the Michigan Department of Natural Resources release the young fish at a certain stage in their development so they will imprint on the place where they were released. Normally the young fish are held in pens for a while, but due to the pollution in the river, they will not be held in pens in the river but released where they can swim out into Lake Michigan.
Some will be lost to predators such as sea gulls and diving ducks. But hopefully, the Chinook will return to the river as full grown Chinook salmon ready to breed and start a new generation.
Read about how and why Pacific salmon were planted in the Great Lakes in my book, The Dynamic Great Lakes. 
This book is available on Amazon.com, Barnes & Noble and the Kindle reader.
Plume of Grand River Flows into Lake Michigan
April 23, 2013
Photo by Marge Beaver
Although the beach has been cleaned, debris continues to wash up on shore after two weeks.
Floods upstream on the Grand River in Michigan have sent debris on the sandy beaches along Lake Michigan. I walked the beach yesterday and there were pods of water lilies, cat tails and all sorts of debris the river swept downstream. Today bulldozers are scooping it all up and taking it away. There is a no contact advisory for the Grand River. It’s easy to see why.
Kite Boards on a Windy Day
April 17, 2013
http://youtu.be/fxNXYd_bHho
First Coho salmon caught in Lake Michigan
April 11, 2013
Phoebe’s Time
April 10, 2013
Recently I visited Hemlock Crossing County Park near Holland, MI where a phoebe was working on a nest just above the entrance to the nature center. I have a new book coming out soon: Between Sweetwater and Sand . Here is a poem from it:
Phoebe’s Time
What year
does the phoebe
think it is?
She thinks
it’s the best year
for a nest
above
our cottage door—
no care for
what year.
She loves the time
she is in.
Piliated Woodpecker
March 24, 2013
Today we heard a piliated woodpccker with its wild cry and then saw it making a huge hole in a basswood tree. We saw a downy woodpecker working on the small upper branches of catelpa trees. These birds are hungry and need energy to nest. We watched while they worked on the trees. The Great Lakes are alive with birds that stay all winter and those that migrate. We will be seeing warblers soon and a good time to see them is before leaves pop out on the trees. Then we will see monarch butterflies that migrate along the shorelines of Lake Michigan.
Fish are migrating into the rivers just now: whitefish, steelhead.
