|
WORD COUNT 698
NOVEMBER 17, 2004
LAKE BOTTOMS NEED
PROTECTION TOO – by Joyce Braithwaite-Brickley
While most of us --
except for anglers -- focus on the surface of the
Great Lakes for
recreation, scenery, and transportation, a lot has happened beneath. Some of
the most fascinating natural and human
Great Lakes
history, in fact, lies submerged anywhere from dozens to hundreds of feet
down.
Shipwrecks, of course,
come to mind.
Twenty-nine years after
the loss of the Edmund Fitzgerald in
Lake Superior, evidence
of past maritime tragedies has become an important part of the
Great Lakes
tourism industry. Approximately 1,500 shipwrecks took place within
Michigan
waters and an estimated 10,000 have been scattered at various times on the
bottom of the Lakes and Lake St. Clair. Although a great many of these have
been salvaged, thousands remain, providing targets for divers.
Michigan has 11
underwater preserves, designated under a 1982 state law. The statute
empowers the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) and the
State Department of History, Arts and Libraries (HAL) to manage the
preserves and requires a permit for the removal of any artifacts from
shipwrecks. When a Cheboygan man pled guilty to taking a beam without a
state permit from the William H. Barnum in the Straits Underwater Preserve
earlier this year, he was ordered to pay $4,650 in fines and costs. It was
an expensive price for what he intended to make into a fireplace mantel.
Unfortunately, as one
state official says, "the Legislature in its infinite wisdom" has never
appropriated a dime for implementation of the underwater preserve program.
The state has dedicated some federal money under the Coastal Zone Management
Act for the preserves. Scraping together staff from other programs, the two
agencies have designated the 11 preserves but can't regularly police them or
enforce the statute. Cathie Cunningham Ballard, who administers DEQ's
coastal management program, says a small amount of federal funds have been
used to set up an "underwater trail" at the Alger Underwater Preserve near
Munising. Signs will lead scuba divers from one wreck to another in one of
the first such trails of its kind in the
Great Lakes.
The cool water conditions
of the upper Lakes can preserve some underwater cargo longer than you'd
expect. When diver Frank Hoffman salvaged the 218-ton Alvin Clark from a
depth of 110 feet in
Green Bay in 1969 after
105 years underwater, a crock of unspoiled cheese was retrieved.
Unfortunately, once the wooden ship returned to the surface, decay attacked
it. Without funds to protect the Clark, it rotted at Menominee, Michigan,
within 25 years.
But shipwrecks aren't the
only underwater marvels of the
Great Lakes. Researchers
associated with Oakland University investigated a "drowned forest" in
Lake Huron
almost 3 miles east of
Lexington between 1998
and 2001. Dating back between 7,400 and 7,900 years, the logs, branches,
roots and stumps are evidence that the lake was much lower millennia ago.
They're also prime
habitat for an aquatic invasive species, the round goby. As researcher R.
Douglas Hunter noted, "These aggressive little fish are unafraid of divers
and aggregate in surprising numbers whenever a diver is digging, sawing or
engaged in any activity that creates vibrations (or) sound and disturbs the
sediment.” The extraordinary success of the round goby in the moderately
shallow waters of southern
Lake Huron can hardly be
overstated.
Also supported by federal
funds passed through the state's coastal program, divers have been exploring
an underwater archaeological site near
Norwood, at the north end
of the east arm of Grand Traverse Bay. About 8,000 to 10,000 years ago, when
Great Lakes
water levels were as much as 130 feet below current levels, ancient peoples
mined chert for use in making stone tools at the site. Researchers hope to
find evidence of settlements as well as spear points, fire rings or stone
net weights.
Interestingly, the
Michigan law establishing
preserves permits them to be created for "geological or environmental"
purposes as well as for the preservation of shipwrecks and other historical
artifacts. Someday, perhaps, when legislative bodies fund environmental
protection again and science has advanced,
Michigan
will have preserves that protect prime fish spawning grounds, as well as
evidence of the first peoples who inhabited the Great Lakes region.
--
Joyce
Braithwaite-Brickley was assistant to the Michigan Republican Party chairman
and political advisor and campaign manager for former Gov. William G.
Milliken. Her essays have appeared widely in the state.
priorities@charter.net --
A photo of Joyce Braithwaite-Brickley is available
CLICK HERE
#
# # # # # |
