Be Careful When You Walk the Beach

 

Ice Ridges Formed by Wind and Waves

It’s a typical January day at the beach in West Michigan. Blown in by northwest winds, wave after wave smashes against ice ridges on the shore of Lake Michigan.  Ice balls bounce and roll—their clattering sound mingles with the swoosh of the spray and the roar of wind and waves.  Children who built sand castles on this beach in the summer now look in wonder at the fantastic shapes wind and waves have carved.  It looks as though a giant ice troll had been playing there, heaping mounds of ice, gouging out ice caverns, grottos and deep crevices then smoothing off ice shelves.  Perhaps another troll came along and smashed some of the ice into huge shards that clink together in the water like pieces of a broken plate glass window.

 

Quirks of wind, waves and the configuration of the lake bottom cause the shore ice to change from day to day and even change from minute to minute.  It seems as if a sleight of hand magician were playing tricks with water, wind and ice.

 

One of these tricks is to strand wildlife, dogs or people on a floating cake of ice.  This happens when pack ice, floating pieces of ice compacted against the solid ice ridge, is blown out in the lake again by an east wind.  So be careful if you are going to the beach.

 

The Clean Water Act Turns 40

The Mackinac Bridge across the Staits of Mackinac photo by Steve Damstra

 

 

Since the Clean Water Act was passed forty years ago, the Great Lakes system is cleaner.  There is still room for improvement however.  Since ground water is not included, the water cycle will feed pollutants into rivers and lakes.  This is a loophole in the law.

Introduction to the Clean Water Act

The Clean Water Act (CWA) is the cornerstone of surface water quality protection in the United States. (The Act does not deal directly with ground water nor with water quantity issues.) The statute employs a variety of regulatory and nonregulatory tools to sharply reduce direct pollutant discharges into waterways, finance municipal wastewater treatment facilities, and manage polluted runoff. These tools are employed to achieve the broader goal of restoring and maintaining the chemical, physical, and biological integrity of the nation’s waters so that they can support “the protection and propagation of fish, shellfish, and wildlife and recreation in and on the water.”

For many years following the passage of CWA in 1972, EPA, states, and Indian tribes focused mainly on the chemical aspects of the “integrity” goal. During the last decade, however, more attention has been given to physical and biological integrity. Also, in the early decades of the Act’s implementation, efforts focused on regulating discharges from traditional “point source” facilities, such as municipal sewage plants and industrial facilities, with little attention paid to runoff from streets, construction sites, farms, and other “wet-weather” sources.

Starting in the late 1980s, efforts to address polluted runoff have increased significantly. For “nonpoint” runoff, voluntary programs, including cost-sharing with landowners are the key tool. For “wet weather point sources” like urban storm sewer systems and construction sites, a regulatory approach is being employed.

Evolution of CWA programs over the last decade has also included something of a shift from a program-by-program, source-by-source, pollutant-by-pollutant approach to more holistic watershed-based strategies. Under the watershed approach equal emphasis is placed on protecting healthy waters and restoring impaired ones. A full array of issues are addressed, not just those subject to CWA regulatory authority. Involvement of stakeholder groups in the development and implementation of strategies for achieving and maintaining state water quality and other environmental goals is another hallmark of this approach.

As described by the Environmental Protection Agency.

Write to Washington: Asian Carp

I wrote to my congressman and got this interesting letter back.

Dear Mrs. Spring:

     Thank you for contacting me about Asian carp.  I appreciate hearing your views on this important matter.

     I have long been concerned about the threat posed to the Great Lakes by invasive species, including Asian carp.  These species are introduced from other ecosystems and often encounter few, if any, natural enemies in their new environments and, therefore, can wreak havoc on native species.

In an effort to address this issue, I cosponsored the National Invasive Species Act of 1996 (P.L. 104-332).  This law authorized the Army Corps of Engineers to build a dispersal barrier (Barrier I) in the Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal (CSSC) to stop invasive species from entering Lake Michigan.  As co-chair of the Senate Great Lakes Task Force, I, along with the other members of the Task Force, have repeatedly sought and have been successful in securing authorizing language and funding for the Army Corps to complete and enhance the three electrical dispersal barriers in the CSSC.  Most recently, at the urging of Senator Mark Kirk (R-IL) and myself, the Army Corps of Engineers agreed to enhance the protections of the electric barriers at the CSSC by modifying some of the operating parameters, including increasing the barrier voltage by 15 percent this fall.

Congress provided $12,650,000 for the electric dispersal barriers in FY2011.  The Senate Committee-approved FY2012 Appropriations bill is consistent with the president’s request and includes $24,065,000 for these electric barriers.  The House-passed FY2012 appropriations bill includes $21,805,000 for the barrier project.

Some have suggested that a hydraulic, or physical, separation of the Mississippi River from the Great Lakes Basin, which also maintained commercial and recreational transport on these waterways, could serve as a long-term solution to the threat of the Asian carp getting to the Great Lakes.  At my request, the Water Resources Development Act of 2007 included a provision that authorized the Army Corps to study how to prevent the spread of aquatic invasive species between the Great Lakes and the Mississippi River Basins through the CSSC and other aquatic pathways.  This study, known as the Great Lakes and Mississippi River Interbasin Study (GLMRIS), includes an analysis of the hydraulic separation of the basins.  Congress provided $750,000 for the GLMRIS study in FY2011.  The FY2012 Senate Committee-approved appropriations bill included $3,000,000 for the GLMRIS and the House-approved appropriations bill included $3,000,000.

I have supported an expedited analysis of the separation option and have urged the Corps to move forward with the analysis.   On March 3, 2011, Senator Debbie Stabenow (D-MI) introduced the Stop Asian Carp Act (S.471).  This legislation, which I have co-sponsored, would require the physical separation analysis to be completed in 18 months rather than the current expected date of completion in 2015.

In addition to preventing Asian carp from moving from the Mississippi River Basin to the Great Lakes, it is important to do what we can to keep carp from entering the lakes through other means, such as importation.  I introduced the Asian Carp Prevention and Control Act (S.1421), which was signed into law by the president on December 14, 2010.  This law places the bighead carp on the list of injurious species under the Lacey Act.  Such a listing prevents the importation and interstate commerce of live Bighead carp without a permit, and as a result, lowers the risk of an introduction of this species in the Great Lakes.  We have already invested over $40 million on the construction and operation of the electric dispersal barriers, on Asian carp monitoring, and on studies. It would undermine these efforts to allow live Asian carp to be introduced into the Great Lakes because we did not do everything in our power to block other pathways of introduction into the Lakes.

     The Great Lakes hold one-fifth of the world’s freshwater, supply drinking water to tens of millions people, and support a $7 billion fishing industry.  We owe it to current and future generations to preserve this immensely important natural resource.

Sincerely,

Carl Levin

Steelhead: Lake Run Rainbow Trout

A dappled and rosy steelhead

Last night we had steelhead for dinner.  It was just caught in a cold tributary to Lake Michigan. A steelhead is a large strain of rainbow trout that ascends rivers from the Great Lakes to spawn.  Such fish are called anadromous.  Its skin was bright red and steely; its flesh salmon color.  Delicious.  I baked it in a little olive oil and some seasonings.  The trick is not to over cook.  It’s done when the flesh just begins to flake when poked with a fork.

Read more about Great Lakes fish in my book, The Dynamic Great Lakes.  It’s widely available on the www and in brick and mortar stores such as Barnes & Noble.

Today I saw a Bald Eagle on the Beach

watercolor by Barbara Spring

Years ago we nearly lost the American bald eagle, but now we see them on the shores of the Great Lakes.  We saw one this morning trying to carry a very large lake trout that had washed up on the beach.

The eagle didn’t get it though.  A flock of herring gulls chased it away.

 

photo by Steve Damstra

Epiphany

I intended a peregrine—

it arrived at Godspeed.

There had been a dearth of peregrines you see.

I longed for eagles

and after many years, they returned to us

in abundance,

dancing on air streams,

spiraling courtships high in the air

then talons clasped

plummeting then

nesting in white pines.

After a dry season

our mountain ash bows with orange fruit

whereupon flocks of eager waxwings

gorge on orange berries this cold winter day.

I intended for the Holy Spirit to descend

in this season of epiphany

and its fire entered me and surrounded me

as a haze around Saturn in the

evening sky just above the horizon line.

It glowed unearthly bright that night.

On epiphany, my wishes and intentions are

for peregrines, eagles, waxwings

and the little Holy Child to stay with me

as eagles play in the airstreams,

as trees burst with nurture

and brightness forms our days.

This poem is from my book, Sophia’s Lost and Found: Poems of  Above and Below.  It is available from Barnes & Noble, Amazon.com and many other fine bookstores.

Sophia's Lost and Found

The Dynamic Great Lakes for our Planet

A critically acclaimed non-fiction book.

 

 

I wrote my non fiction book, The Dynamic Great Lakes to share some of the important information I have learned over the years, even before the first Earth Day. The book has a search inside feature on Amazon.com with key words, reading levels and now it is available for the Kindle reader. It is also available at Barnes & Noble and many other bookstores.

Above all, it is a book that encourages people to take care of the planet. It’s the only one we have.

Maybe the Manitous

The Wilderness Within by Barbara Spring

It’s getting colder now on the Great Lakes. The water looks heavy, dense, and usually by Thanksgiving, the first ice begins to form on the shore. First one crystal grabs a grain of sand and then it begins and a stiff collar of ice forms along the shore on the eastern side of Lake Michigan. Maybe the Manitous is a poem from my book, The Wilderness Within.

Maybe the Manitous

Eastward rolling water
pellucid dense and slow
Karo syrup gloss or
flowing molten glass.
One crystal grabs
one grain of sand and
the beach blooms
with frost flowers—
a stiff white collar grows
all along the sandy shore.
Cold.
Icy winds blast.
Ice balls bob, wink, crash.
An eagle’s cry hangs
midair
above a white horizon line—
when sweetwater seas
freeze.
Late afternoon sun—
deep blue shadows on snow
manitous whisper to ice shelves
sibilant spirits speak —
murmur to structures below.
From Milwaukee to Muskegon
cold rollers flow, then splash through
ice volcanoes on the shore
troll caves and canon balls
shot from polar storms
or maybe the manitous.

The Dynamic Great Lakes

A Critically Acclaimed non-fiction book about the five Great Lakes

The Dynamic Great Lakes is available in the new edition at Barnes & Noble online or in stores. It is also available at Schuler Books and Music, The Bookman, Amazon.com (paper and Kindle edition) and many other fine stores.

Looking into the Future of Lake Erie

For basic information about the Great Lakes system read The Dynamic Great Lakes now available for $7.95 on Kindle.