2009 Lake Michigan League of Women Voters Annual Meeting

Date: October 2 – 3, 2009 (Friday and Saturday)

Location: Presbyterian Camp in the dunes on Lake Michigan shore
631 Perryman Street
Saugatuck, MI  49453

Cost: $70.  Includes rustic cabin lodging and all meals (Friday dinner and Saturday breakfast and lunch.) Pricing for partial attendance to select events included in schedule.

Schedule:

Friday

11-2 pm  LMLVW Board Meeting

1-2:30 and 5-6  Registration open

3:00  Star of Saugatuck boat cruise.  Cost $14.

716 Water St, Saugatuck, MI  49453

Cruise down the scenic Kalamazoo River into Lake Michigan.  This river is an AOC contaminated with PCB’s .

5-6 pm  Cocktails at Camp available at cost with appetizers

6-9 pm  Dinner and program at Camp. The Public Trust Doctrine: Preserving the Promise of the Great Lakes. This event available separately for $15.

Guest speaker, Jim Olson, Traverse City attorney with over 25 years   experience in environmental law.  Water has been a public resource under public control for over 2000 years.  The public trust doctrine means that state governments hold public trust resources, like water, under a high, solemn, and perpetual duty to maintain these waters in trust for the basic needs of all citizens.  Can the water be legally sold or alienated for private profit or gain?  Has this trust been violated?

9-11 pm  FLOW (For the Love of Water) Award winning documentary film investigating the important political and environmental issues of the 21^st century world water crisis.

Saturday

8-10:30  Breakfast and annual meeting

11-12:30  Outdoor dune lecture, John Legge, West Michigan Conservation Director for the       Nature Conservancy

12:30-2:00  Lunch and speaker.  This event available separately for $10.

Guest speaker, Melvin Visser, author of Cold, Clear, and Deadly.  After a career with Upjohn, Mel became obsessed with the persistence of already banned pollutants in our waters and initiated a study.

Please note that lodging is cabin style, with shared bathrooms.  Couples can be accommodated in room with door.  Only lower bunks will be used for your comfort.  You provide own towels, pillows, blankets, and or sheets and toiletries.

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Lake Michigan League of Women Voters

August 3, 2009

Dear League Presidents,

Please find our invitation to you and your members to join us in Saugatuck, Michigan on the shores of Lake Michigan for our annual membership meeting this October 2-3, 2009.  We will provide a wonderful program, in a beautiful location, at a reasonable price.   Our business will include adopting the 2009-2010 budget which is included in this mailing.  We have changed the name of our “interleague” organization to better reflect our affiliation with the League of Women Voters.  We will need to adopt this name change within our bylaws.  We are also enclosing with this meeting notice a copy of LWVMI Great Lakes Ecosystem position for our discussion at the annual meeting.

We hope you will consider attending and sharing this information with your members.

PLEASE COPY AND RETURN FROM HERE>>>>>>>>>>

_____________________________________________________________________________

REGISTRATION FORM PLEASE RESPOND BY SEPTEMBER 16

Yes, I will attend the LMLWV annual meeting

Attendee’s Name and Address:

Local LWV:

Telephone and e-mail

____       Overnight and meals   $70.

____       Star of Saugatuck Cruise  $14.

____      Friday dinner and speaker only  $15

____      Saturday breakfast and meeting   $8

____      Saturday lunch and speaker only  $10

Amount enclosed  $_______________ Make payable to: ‘LMLWV’

Please note that this cabin experience requires you to bring your own sheets, blankets, pillow (or sleeping bag) towels, toiletries, etc.  Also indicate any allergies or food preferences on this form.

Mail to: Suzanne Dixon                              QUESTIONS?? Suzanne Dixon

P.O. Box 442                                               Sydbarret7@aol.com

Douglas, MI  49406                                     616-335-5076

Great Lakes Funding

More Information on this issue is available on the Great Lakes Issues Page.

As many of you may know, President Obama’s proposed FY2010 budget  includes a Great Lakes Restoration Initiative that will accelerate Great Lakes restoration by investing $475 million to confront some of  the most serious threats to the region, including nearshore health. It  represents a significant down payment on a multi-year effort to restore the Great Lakes and help revive the region’s struggling economy. The Great Lakes Restoration Initiative dollars will be specifically targeted at the following priorities:
• Cleaning up toxic substances and Areas of Concern ($147 million)
• Preventing or removing aquatic invasive species ($60 million)
• Improving nearshore health and preventing nonpoint source pollution  ($98 million)
• Restoring and protecting habitat and wildlife ($105 million)
• Evaluating and monitoring progress ($65 million).

On June 11, the House Interior Appropriations Subcommittee voted to fully fund the President’s $475 million Great Lakes Initiative.  Action still needs to be taken by the full Appropriations Committee  and the House of Representatives, but this is great news of support  for this much needed initiative.

However, a bigger challenge awaits us in the U.S. Senate.  Below is a message from partners at the Healing Our Waters – Great Lakes Coalition, urging us to contact our U.S. Senators to support the
President’s Great Lakes Restoration Initiative.  The Senate  Subcommittee for Interior-EPA Appropriations is expected to take action on this as early as next week (June 15). Those who can should  consider contacting their senators this week to let them know the  importance of the President’s Great Lakes Initiative to the health of  the Great Lakes.

Two fact sheets with additional background on the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative are
available at http://www.glc.org/advocacy. Questions regarding this campaign can be addressed to Matt Doss, policy director at the Great Lakes Commission, 734-971-9135, mdoss@glc.org.
Remember, your action this week will pay great dividends toward the  future of the Great Lakes.
Sincerely,
Christine Manninen
Communications Director
Great Lakes Commission
Ann Arbor, Mich.

Lake Michigan LWV Spring 2009 Newsletter

Latest Lake Michigan LWV Spring 2009 News letter is available for download at www.lmlwv.org

Google Earth now includes US “Third Coast”

Google Earth now includes US “Third Coast”When Google Earth 5.0 was released back in February, it included the capability to view the world ocean landscape from beneath the water surface. This capability now extends to the “Third Coast” of the United States, the Great Lakes. Through a cooperative effort with theNOAA Great Lakes Environmental Research Laboratory (GLERL) and the NOAA National Geophysical Data Center, Google Earth now incorporates detailed bathymetry for the five Great Lakes. Users will be able to explore features such as the canyons and shoals in eastern Lake Superior, the Lake Michigan mid-lake reef complex, and the old river channel, now underwater, that once connected Lakes Michigan and Huron at the Straits of Mackinac.

The Great Lakes are the largest system of fresh surface water on earth, containing roughly 18 percent of the world supply. The lakes contain enough water to cover the entire surface of the continental United States to a depth of 9 feet. The Great Lakes span more than 750 miles from west to east and their shoreline is equal to almost 44 percent of the circumference of the earth. Michigan’s Great Lakes coastline alone is over 3,200 miles long, which is more coastline than any state but Alaska.

To highlight some of the interesting coastal and subsurface features of the Great Lakes, the NOAA Great Lakes Environmental Research Laboratory has assembled a narrated Google Earth tour, which you can download here. 

Welcome!

Welcome to Lake Michigan
League of Women Voters
Information and discussion forum.