Fall-Winter LM LWV Newsletter

Happy New Year to all,

Let’s all celebrate the funding for preservation  of the Great Lakes that  became law in 2009. We need to be sure the monies are spent appropriately  in 2010 and that we are successful in keeping the Asian Carp out of the  Lakes.

Please forward the Winter Newsletter to all you think would find it of  interest. Should you know of anyone who needs a paper copy, feel free to print it. The Newsletter is available at  our website:  http://www.lmlwv.org

The Winter Newsletter includes information about this Fall’s Annual Conference, State Reports etc.

Feel free to contact us at: jgvneagu@yahoo.com  or call if you  have any questions or concerns.

Thanks for all your interest and support in the past  as well as any efforts  you will make this year to keep our Great Lakes preserved and protected.

Judy Johnston, Co-President
jrjohn246@yahoo.com
847-433-9375
Jeanette Neagu, Co-President
jgvneagu@yahoo.com
219-879-0431

Action Alert

HEALING OUR WATERS® – GREAT LAKES COALITION
ACTION ALERT

There is alarming news that Asian carp are within a mere 6 miles of invading Lake Michigan. The electric barrier designed to prevent that needs maintenance. The concerns and issues over how to keep these enormous interlopers from expanding even further can be reviewed at

http://www.asiancarp.org/rapidresponse

A search on YouTube will amply illustrate how serious this is.

Great Lakes Great Waters – a National Wildlife Federation initiative

1. Proposed Coast Guard Ballast Rule – check the web site for more information

http://www.healthylakes.org/

2. Asian Carp Update
The Army Corps of Engineers, US Coast Guard, EPA, USFWS, and Illinois DNR updated the press on their plan for carp barrier maintenance and any additional response they will undertake as a result of the eDNA testing which showed evidence of Asian carp above the barrier.
The press advisory for the press conference is available at: http://www.fishbarrierinfo.com/go/doc/1295/404267/.

In addition, the USFWS and other agencies are maintaining a website with information on the situation:
Asian Carp Management: Invasive Species Coordination Website The site is: http://www.asiancarp.org/rapidresponse/index.htm

2009 Lake Michigan League of Women Voters Annual Meeting

Was held: October 2 – 3, 2009

Location: Presbyterian Camp in the dunes on Lake Michigan shore

Friday

11-2 pm  LMLVW Board Meeting

3:00  Star of Saugatuck boat cruise.

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

6-9 pm  Dinner and program at Camp. The Public Trust Doctrine: Preserving the Promise of the Great Lakes.

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. 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.

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. 

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