Return of the American Bald Eagles
February 11, 2015
Years ago there were practically no eagles, peregrine falcons or ospreys around the Great Lakes due to DDT. Their eggs would not hatch because DDT and like pesticides caused the shells to break.
After reading Rachel Carson’s book, Silent Spring, Norm Spring worked to ban DDT in our community. He went to the city council in Grand Haven for three years before the city decided to stop the wholesale spraying of elm trees in Central Park for the Dutch elm beetle.
With this success, people from Holland, MI came and together with professors from M.S.U. formed the Michigan Pesticides Council. Because of their efforts, Michigan banned DDT.
It took a long time for DDT to purge out of the Great Lakes system, but now we rejoice every time we see an eagle fly. This environmental success story was the inspiration for me to write The Dynamic Great Lakes. I wanted to show that people can make a difference when the environment is at stake.
