It's summer! Let's get out on the water and celebrate. Swim, kayak, SUP, boating, sailing, canoeing, fishing, snorkeling...all ways we love to play and be at one with the water.
Take time to think of the efforts that go into protecting the waters to keep them clean, free of toxins, free of invasive species, free of pollution. Wash and drain your boats when going from one lake to another to prevent the spread of invasive species. Wash your fishing equipment - boots etc.
Here is the newest threat to our streams in Michigan - the New Zeeland Mud Snail. Due to it's asexual reproduction there becomes a virtual explosion of population. In a single season one snail can produce a colony of 40 million snails.
Fish consuming the snails suffer from malnutrition as they are of no nutritional value.
Image courtesy Michigan DEQ
Read more about New Zealand Mud Snail here: http://www.michigan.gov/documents/dnr/InvasiveSpeciesAlert-NewZealandMudsnail_494205_7.pdf
For several years hundreds of dead loons have washed ashore from Sleeping Bear Dunes north to the Upper Peninsula.
Most of the time hiking is enjoyable, nourishes the soul, a great exercise. But every now and then a hike occurs which leaves you disturbed. This happens when you are a regular beach walker. There are occasional die offs. In Lake Michigan the alewives die off and now there is a hemorrhagic fish disease leaving piles of fish and millions of flies. The last several years in the fall along the northern shoreline of Lake Michigan one needs to be prepared to encounter dead birds, by the thousands. It is hard to see especially the loons. The loons are special because of their beauty, size and sound. We work to protect the loons by decreasing use of lead in hunting and fishing, we build and protect nesting sites from humans and predators, we have loon rangers who count their numbers throughout the year. So encountering hundreds of dead loons over a few short weeks while walking the beaches can be disturbing.
Here is what we know about the die off.
Conditions are Right
Warm water temperatures and low lake levels are associated with outbreaks of avian botulism, and the conditions have been right for several years along the Northern Michigan coastline of Lake Michigan. A research team monitoring Sleeping Bear Dunes Lakeshore reports three hundred dead loons plus other shorebirds in the one week were discovered. Tests of birds confirm the toxin from type E botulism is present. The sad thing is the birds are making their migration south for the winter months and follow the Great Lakes as they fly to the Gulf of Mexico.
It’s thought that changes in the food web caused by invasive mussels create conditions that spread the toxin to fish and shorebirds. Steven Riley head of the U.S. Geological Survey team at Sleeping Bear says scientists haven’t been able to confirm the pathway by which botulism toxin gets from the bottom of the lake into shorebirds. Read more at my blog site https://allthosetrails.wordpress.com/2013/03/07/dead-bird-hike/
Read a full report about the avian botulism monitoring from the State of Michigan
http://www.michigan.gov/dnr/0,4570,7-153-10370_12150_12220-26493--,00.html
Toxins in the Water
Old factories and businesses have pollluted our waters with improper disposals of toxic chemicals. One example is a very large plume of TCE (trichloroethlylene) is a degreasing solvent that was dumped in shallow sandy pits in Mancelona, Michigan from 1947-1967. TCE has contaminated 13 trillion gallons of groundwater. The plume is being carried by the inland streams to the inland lakes, and is dispersed within the groundwater which is the well water most rural families consume. The TCE Plume is the largest TCE plume in Michigan and one of the largest groundwater contaminations in the United States.
Learn more about the toxic plume and what is being done to protect the drinking waters at http://www.conservetorch.org/tce-plume/
Do your part today if you love the precious resources of our fresh water, become a member, volunteer, donate to any of the following non profits that are committed to protecting our lakes and streams:
http://www.conservetorch.org/
http://3lakes.com/
https://www.watershedcouncil.org/
http://www.gtbay.org/our-programs/grand-traverse-baykeeper/
https://greatlakes.org/get-involved/
