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Good news . . .

State Attorney General Bill Schuette has weighed in on a constitutional guarantee that the Michigan Natural Resources Trust Fund (MNRTF) can only be used for protecting our natural resources for future generations.  Use of the MNRTF for dredging had been threatened and the Attorney General’s opinion is a decisive action to stop this pressure.  The largest threat came from a bill that has passed the State Senate that would make dredging a permissible use for the fund.

With great lakes levels at record low levels the State Legislature has already approved an emergency $21 million from the general fund and the Michigan State Waterways Fund.

I applaud the decision.  MNRTF monies are intended “to preserve and protect Michigan’s bountiful resources for generations to come” which means the purchase and development of parks and natural areas for the residents of Michigan. Hopefully this will put to rest the regular political tactics to raid the fund . . . at least it’s a strong defense!

Attorney General Opinion 7270.

Pickerel Lake In the Pinckney Recreation Area

Let’s hear what you think about the future of state public lands……

Governor Snyder has tasked the Department of Natural Resources with developing a public land management strategy which will assist regions in meeting their prosperity goals.  The plan is a requirement under a law signed by Gov. Rick Snyder last year that capped how much land the DNR can own.  The DNR has drafted a strategy and wants to hear from you.

I attended a regional meeting last week that provided an interactive discussion on our region’s priority community, economic, and environmental strategies that are impacted and enhanced by public land resources (state parks, recreation areas, access, and game areas).  We discussed the main strategies in the draft plan–the pros and cons, what is missing, the challenges to meet them, and how to have better collaboration.

To summarize:  “The draft land use strategy calls for improved access on DNR-managed public lands and, for the first time, sets a standard for public access to the Great Lakes and rivers. The draft plan also includes a new strategy for the possible disposal of approximately 250,000 acres of DNR-managed public lands and promotes increased opportunities in southern Michigan. The plan also discusses objectives to grow Michigan’s natural resources-based economy through the use of DNR-managed public lands.”

The highpoints for me are:

1. Improved management and greater collaboration are needed and I welcome the emphasis!

2. Increasing public land opportunities and/or access and recreation in Southern MI, where the greatest population lives, makes sense and supports HRWC RiverUp! efforts.

3. The word BIODIVERSITY is missing and given the current threats (see earlier blog Forests and Waters At-Risk in Michigan) I worry about an overly strong emphasis on timber and mining where the economic benefits are more easily quantified than biodiversity and habitat protection.

The Huron River Watershed is lucky to have a wealth of state public lands from Highland to Proud Lake State Rec. Areas and from Island Lake to Pinckney State Rec. Areas.  If you use these lands and care about the future of them please review the DNR strategy and comment!

Flooding in Flat Rock in 2011

Our weather patterns are definitely becoming less recognizable! Remember the really warm and early spring (and the frost snap where we lost our prized fruit!), to the summer drought and heat with little to no water in the river, and now to Sandy who devastated much of the East Coast and gave us early sleet and wind gusts that caused power outages.

And why isn’t climate change and adaptation a conversation in the current elections?  There may be disagreement about who caused the mess we are in, but there can’t be disagreement about the massive climate extremes we are experiencing. Storms are increasing in number per year, by intensity, and by the amount of rain.  Republicans and Democrats are now talking about building and re-building our cities to be more climate resilient.

Increasingly, community leaders, planners, and natural resource managers are expressing the need to understand local impacts of climate change and implement adaptation strategies. The HRWC has been leading an effort to create climate-resilient communities within the watershed by working with three sectors likely to be significantly impacted by climate change and in a position to take actions to reduce and respond to those impacts.

Downscaled climate models predict more frequent large rain events, a shift in the timing of these events, and increases in the frequency and severity of droughts. These changes threaten safety of residents via increased risk of flooding, stormwater runoff, infrastructure failure, availability and quality of drinking water and the quality of natural areas that mitigate the impacts of extreme weather events.

HRWC has created a model process for watersheds where need is determined by sector members. The process creates climate-informed decision-makers who can influence relevant practices, policies and emergency management.  Participants representing in-stream flows (dam operators, fisheries biologists, hydrologists), natural infrastructure (wildlife biologists, aquatic ecologists, natural lands managers), and water infrastructure (drinking water, wastewater, stormwater professionals) sectors have met over the last year to discuss local climate data, determine vulnerabilities and decide a course of action to reduce vulnerability to climate change.

Actions currently proposed for implementation include:

-Initiate and coordinate a network of dam operators to improve preparedness and communications strategies for larger, more frequent storm events and drought conditions and allow for proactive management to changes in flow and exchange of knowledge and solutions

-Revision of regional rainfall frequency curves to improve the ability to establish appropriate stormwater management regulations and storm drain sizing, reducing risk of flooding, property damage and infrastructure failures; and

-Report and provide training on predicted impacts to species and natural communities to inform urban forestry, land management and protection.

HRWC is collaborating with NOAA’s Great Lakes Integrated Sciences & Assessments Center (GLISA) to provide local climate data. The River Network, EcoAdapt and others are following this effort in order to export the process to other watersheds.

A swimmer enjoying the Huron River

If you’ve never swum in the Huron, if you like swimming but are tired of only seeing the black lines at the bottom of a pool, if you love river and lake swimming…….

Come join HRWC and other swimmers on Sunday, July 15th at 8:30 to swim across Baseline Lake and back. That’s about a mile. The UM Sailing Club hosts us, and it’s a warm, noncompetitive swim with food and drink afterward.  We have paddlers, a lifeguard, and some motor boats on hand to help out if needed.

I’ve swum it every year and I love it!  Every year we get some of the same swimmers, along with some new who just heard about it or wanted to try it out.  It’s usually a warm, beautiful morning on the river/lake.  And swimming in a lake is so refreshing and inspiring after pool and lap swimming!

This year, we’ve added the option of going around twice for those swimmers looking for a greater challenge.

Cost is $25/HRWC members, $35 for non-members, and $40 for a family.

Register and make payment online for this event HERE.

While the Huron is not regulated under this bill, these native plants prevent shoreline erosion and frame waterfront property beautifully

While we don’t have much great lakes coastline in the Huron River watershed, this is an important issue for the health of the Great Lakes–clean water and a healthy and diverse ecosystem.

Last week the state legislature voted to pass SB 1052, which deregulates beach grooming activities between the ordinary high water mark and the waters edge, an area the Michigan Supreme Court considers part of the public trust along Great Lakes shorelines.

The bill is on its way to the Governor now, and we are asking for a veto.  His contact info is:  517.335.7858; RickSnyder@michigan.gov

In its final form, this bill:

• Removes the requirement that property owners get a permit before mowing or removing vegatation within that zone.
• Allows mowing live Phragmites all the way down to the water’s edge without any state review whatsoever ~ the very thing that spreads this destructive invasive!  It could undo the fantastic success rate of controlling it using community programs, from Mackinaw City to Manistee.
• Allow removing all plants on broad areas of shoreline ~ destroying habitat for 90% of Great Lakes fish species and decimating good fishing for future generations.
• Eliminate state restrictions for mechanical plant removal on Great Lakes shorelines ~ this is not in line with our Pure Michigan values.

Native plants provide critical habitat for breeding waterfowl, filter polluted runoff and protect the shoreline from eroding.  Removing native plants encourages invasives to take over.  AND REMEMBER: this bill replaces a successful General Permit (GP) program that has been in place for 5 years; 600 applications received and only 4 denied!  That is not an onerous regulatory program!  But the beach grooming bill it is what this legislature has decided will replace that GP program.

Please make it to the Governor to veto this terrible bill. Thanks for your work.  His contact info is:  517.335.7858; RickSnyder@michigan.gov

The DEQ today announced an April 10 public meeting and hearing on a proposal to clean sediment and riverbanks on the Huron River at the former MichCon Manufactured Gas Plant site in Ann Arbor. MichCon property owners are proposing to remove sediment, near shore soil, and some contaminated upland soil from the Huron River and its south bank at the MichCon plant site near Broadway Street. This plan requires a construction permit from DEQ.

HRWC’s River-Up project and the Wolfpack had brought together the City of Ann Arbor and DTE to discuss transforming the MichCon/DTE site on the Huron River into a public-private partnership that includes a park and river-friendly  commercial establishment.  Clean-up and restoration of this coal gasification site just below Argo Dam is underway and will revitalize this area and improve the ecology of the river environs.

The public meeting and hearing will be held at Cobblestone Farm, located at 2781 Packard Road in Ann Arbor. Doors will open in the big barn on the second floor at 6 p.m. for informal discussion with DEQ staff, followed by a public meeting at 7 p.m., and a formal hearing to gather public comment around 8 p.m.

As part of the permit review process, the DEQ also is accepting written public comment on the plan through April 30, 2012. A copy of the plan can be viewed at: ftp://ftp.deq.state.mi.us/deq-outgoing/ Insert the user I.D.: deq-public-ftp, and the password “Jumbl355#.”

A copy of the construction permit application may be viewed at this web site: www.deq.state.mi.us/CIWPIS/ (enter file # 11810066, select Search, then click on the folder icon for specific information).

In addition, copies of both the plan and permit application can be viewed at the downtown Ann Arbor District Library, 343 South Fifth Avenue, and at the DEQ Jackson District Office, 301 E. Louis Glick Highway in Jackson (517-780-7690).

For More Information: Brad Wurfel, 517-373-7917, wurfelb@michigan.gov
Ray Spaulding, 517-780-7832; spauldingr1@michigan.gov
James Sallee, 517-780-7910; salleej@michigan.gov

These severe flow fluctuations kill a river ecosystem

With the huge rain last week and the flood warnings, I visited the U.S. Geologic Survey’s (USGS) real-time stream flow gages on the river to see how the river reacted .  In the Huron, we have 4 permanent USGS gages in the river that measure stream flow constantly. The sites are the Huron River near New Hudson, the Huron River near Hamburg, Mill Creek in Dexter, and Wall Street in Ann Arbor.  These gages allow us to see how the river responds to rain and snowmelt.  A slow, gradual rate of stream flow increase (and corresponding decrease) is indicative of a more natural and higher quality river with natural areas for infiltration.  An erratic rate of increase (and decrease) is indicative of a more impacted and degraded river where pavement and pipes prevail.

The USGS also has a map of real-time streamflow compared to historical streamflow for the day of the year for Michigan.  Only one of the sites on the Huron, that farthest up on the system, is “normal”, two other sites being “above normal” and the stream flow at Wall St. in Ann Arbor is “much above normal”.  Normal flow patterns change due to increased impervious surfaces such as roads and rooftops, a loss of natural areas such as wetlands, floodplains, and forests, and dams that alter the natural flow of the river. There may also be a regional variation in annual rain amounts.  

In this and coming decades, meteorologists project more intense storms for Michigan, warming and cooling periods in close succession, and an overall warming trend.  HRWC is working hard to restore the river and creeks to a more natural and healthy system so they can respond to the “weird” weather–taking up and storing more rain water in storms, slowly releasing the water in to the groundwater, creeks, and rivers over time to keep steady flows in drier weather–overall, allowing for a more dynamic system to respond to the extreme weather.  Examples of this kind of work include the recent protection of 40 acres of wetland in the watershed and in cumulative over 6,000 acres in Washtenaw County, the removal of Mill Pond Dam in Dexter, buffer ordinances passed in 4 watershed communities in the last 4 years, the installation of over 1300 rainbarrels and 2 dozen rain gardens,  and much more.

Without funding from the USGS and local government partners to maintain these gages, it would be far more difficult to “read” the river through stream flows. Unfortunately, the gage in Milford was discontinued in the past year due to tight budgets. More, not fewer, gages are what we need on the river.

Please join us in building resilient communities and watershed.  Visit our website at hrwc.org.

The next nationally designated water trail?

The Secretary of the US Department of Interior Ken Salazar just announced a new National Water Trails System as part of President Obama’s America’s Great Outdoors Initiative.  This comes in advance of a White House conference this Friday on Conservation: Growing America’s Outdoor Heritage and Economy, that I will be attending in Washington, DC.

I am very excited about this focus on rivers as one of the pillars of the America’s Great Outdoors Initiative and the emphasis on the conservation of rivers.  In introducing the National Water Trails System, Secretary Salazar used the same language as HRWC’s RiverUp! project,  “Historically, we have had the backs of our communities to our rivers and waterways, and we want to turn the faces of our communities toward the river to transform the Huron River corridor”.   This recognition of the integral and important role of rivers in our communities–as economic drivers, recreational havens, and opportunities for art and cultural destinations–is exactly the direction we are aspiring to.

Atlanta’s Chattahoochee River became first national water trail designated and we hope the Huron River will receive this designation soon.

Reusing Waste Water?

Is it okay for irrigation, watering lawns, manufacturing, drinking water, …oops, too far?

The New York Times reports that more and more communities are looking to reuse their wastewater.

A new report from the National Academy of Sciences said that if coastal communities used advanced treatment procedures on the effluent that is now sent out to sea, it could increase the amount of municipal water available by as much as 27 percent.  Right now most of these communities are in the arid west or south, but when will we see this in the Great Lakes?