February 23rd Book Discussion of Great Lakes Champions

The Great Lakes have suffered greatly from human use and abuse starting with the onset of the fur trade in the late 1600s when fur trappers exploited beaver to meet European fashion demand for fur hats. This degradation of the Great Lakes then accelerated under the agricultural and industrial revolutions. But today progress is being made, and at the helm have been local champions.

My new book, titled "Great Lakes Champions", is the story of 14 such people who love the Great Lakes, have led grassroots efforts to clean up their most polluted watersheds, and inspired others to follow. They have had to persevere over decades and not give up in the face of adversity. They are well respected and trusted in their communities and are not in it for acclimation or commendation. They simply and profoundly love the Great Lakes, show reverence for them, and work tirelessly to pass them on as a gift to future generations. Their stories are compelling, provide proof that individuals can indeed change the ecosystems where they live, and will give hope to a new generation of champions.

My History with Areas of Concern

Back in the late 1970s and early 1980s, I worked for the Michigan Department of Natural Resources and had to report on the cleanup of Michigan’s pollution hotspots called Great Lakes Areas of Concern. As part of my responsibilities, I served on several International Joint Commission committees. While serving on committees of the Commission’s Great Lakes Water Quality Board, I helped write their 1985 report that concluded that progress had stalled in the cleanup of these pollution hotspots, and the Board recommended that remedial action plans be developed and implemented to restore all impaired beneficial uses in each Area of Concern.

It was a watershed moment. Governments were used to implementing permit programs in an autocratic style of command-and-control decision-making. The Board recommended that a collaborative ecosystem approach was needed to involve all stakeholders to address seemingly intractable problems like stormwater runoff, contaminated sediments, and loss and degradation of habitats. As a result of that 1985 recommendation, all eight Great Lakes states, the Province of Ontario, and the federal governments of the United States and Canada committed to developing and implementing remedial action plans to restore uses in each Area of Concern within their political boundaries. It was a paradigm shift in the approach to the restoration of these pollution hotspots.

I then took a job with the Commission’s Great Lakes Regional Office in Windsor, Ontario in 1985 to help further develop and oversee the remedial action plan program for 14 years. In 1999, I accepted a five-year appointment as River Navigator for the Greater Detroit American Heritage River Initiative - one of 14 American Heritage Rivers in the United States designated by presidential executive order. This involved helping restore the Detroit River Areas of Concern, helping reconnect people to the river through greenways and water trails, and promoting sustainable redevelopment. Following the completion of this five-year appointment, I became Refuge Manager for the Detroit River International Wildlife Refuge, which includes the River Raisin and the Detroit and Rouge River Areas of Concern.

Throughout my more than 40-year career, I have had the honor and privilege of working with and becoming friends with many people who had devoted their careers to these watershed cleanup efforts. They so inspired me that I decided to write a book about them called "Great Lakes Champions."

Champions

Champions come from all walks of life but share a love of the Great Lakes and a desire to make a difference in the watershed they call home. Examples of Great Lakes champions include:

• a husband-and-wife team of a water resources planner and a university professor who helped orchestrate a more than $1.6 billion cleanup of one of the most polluted bays on the Great Lakes;
• a local environmentalist working for a nongovernmental organization who brought stakeholders together to realize $50 million of contaminated sediment remediation and more than $22 million of habitat rehabilitation;
• a provincial civil servant who brought all stakeholders together to clean up their Area of Concern which was the first to be removed from the international hotspot list and worked through a nongovernmental organization to help the local town to rebrand itself as a town committed to excellence in pursuit of sustainability;
• a drain commissioner who helped bring together 48 communities in his watershed to become the first U.S. watershed to have all communities with national stormwater permits;
• a head of an environmental justice organization who championed a local mercury pollution prevention campaign that became a national model and who spearheaded a climate change action plan;
• a member of the Waterkeeper Alliance who led their organization to become the first nonprofit to fulfill the role of non-federal sponsor of Great Lakes Restoration Initiative projects that would serve as a model for the rest of the Great Lakes;
• a local land use planner who brought together federal, provincial, and local stakeholders to restore fish and wildlife habitats and help create an EcoPark system; and
• a First Nation council member who fought for the cleanup of industrial processes and lands and to get others to view their waters and lands as sacred, requiring a stewardship ethic.

Learning More

If you want to learn more about the story of Great Lakes Champions, please join us in-person or virtually on Thursday, Feb. 23, 2023 at 6 PM. The talk will be given at Trenton Veterans Memorial Library and live-streamed via Zoom. See link for more information - https://www.trenton.lib.mi.us/events-1#/events/rPsbsJPT0C/instances/ymID33hxa5/. All are welcome.