Healing Our Waters Coalition » Habitat Destruction

Modifying dam helps Lake Huron pike fishery recover

Jeff Alexander — Tue, 13 Dec 2011 20:12:10 +0000

There are thousands of dams in the Great Lakes basin, many of which alter river flows, disrupt the movement of sediment and nutrients and isolate fish and other aquatic life from valuable habitat.

Many states are working to remove or modify obsolete dams to permit fish passage and restore a more natural flow of water.

Installing rock steps in the Potagannissing River allowed northern pike to reach prime spawning areas.

One such project was completed recently on Drummond Island, in Michigan’s portion of northern Lake Huron. Learn more here.

The Michigan Department of Natural Resources worked with federal officials and a local conservation group to modify the Potagannissing Dam. Built in 1947, the dam blocked fish passage in the Potagannissing River and contributed to a decline of the northern pike population in northern Lake Huron.

The Michigan DNR installed a fish ladder in 1999, but northern pike were unable to navigate the structure. So the state removed three feet from the top of the dam and built a series of four rock-ramp structures, which allowed all species of fish to swim over the dam and reach 800 acres of prime spawning habitat areas upstream.

The Potagannissing Dam modification was one of a growing number of projects that are reconnecting the Great Lakes to more of their tributaries. Projects like these are systematically restitching the biological fabric of the sprawling Great Lakes ecosystem.

Original Intent

tpache — Fri, 26 Oct 2007 21:11:44 +0000

Using the Clean Water Act as their compass, Rep. Jim Oberstar (D-Minn.) and Sen. Russ Feingold (D-Wisc.) are navigating murky political waters to deliver legislation that would return the brawn and intent to the original Act signed by President Nixon in 1972.

More than one-third of America’s waterways are subject to “No Fishing and No Swimming” signs because polluters continue to evade the rules set by the Clean Water Act. After years of poisonous industrial waste invading U.S. waterways, the Clean Water Act was passed by Congress in 1972. It was meant to stop the abuse of all water resources. But in the intervening decades, court decisions and the deliberate whittling away at the Environmental Protection Agency’s authority have resulted in a muddled law that has lost touch with the original intentions of the Congress that approved it and has allowed more pollution to seep into our waterways.

U.S. Supreme Court decisions in 2001 and 2006 require regulators to prove a body of water’s connection to larger, navigable waters before the federal government can protect them. Unless reversed soon, the effect will surely be increased erosion, pollution, flooding and the destruction of fish and wildlife habitat.

Wetlands are especially endangered as more than half have been drained for development, farming and other reasons. At this point, 100 million acres of once pristine wetlands have been destroyed, according to the Great Lakes Restoration Council.

In a recent Op-ed in the Minneapolis Star-Tribune, Rep. John Dingell (D-Mich.) and Oberstar make it clear that the Clean Water Act was meant to cover all water not just “navigable waters” – the goal was to prevent pollution. They wrote:

“Contrary to what some would have you believe, Congress intended the Clean Water Act’s protection to extend to all waters and wetlands, including tributaries that flow only intermittently and do not have a continuous surface connection.”

The Oberstar-Feingold bill would restore the Act by clearly reaffirming its intention to protect all waters of the United States, thereby turning back recent court decisions, cleaning up the confusion among regulators, and jumpstarting stalled projects. The bill has more than 170 cosponsors from both parties in the House; 20 cosponsors in the Senate; and more than 300 organizations supporting it, including dozens of members of the Healing Our Waters-Great Lakes Coalition.

It’s now time to finish the job and pass the Clean Water Restoration Act to protect all U.S. waters that serve as the basis for our economy, public health, and way of life.

PROPOSED TECHNICAL FRAMEWORK FOR GREAT LAKES HABITAT/SPECIES CONSERVATION

Jordan Lubetkin — Thu, 10 May 2007 15:19:01 +0000

As Great Lakes Tribal peoples continue to remind us, the health of Great Lakes health is dependent on the health of these systems as well; they provide services we for pollinators and biocontrol agents. Healthy systems are the natural capital of the habitats and species is dependent on sustaining the processes and functioning of the depend on for our very existence. The Lakes, for example, provide us with drinking Great Lakes.following systems: open/nearshore waters; coastal wetlands; coastal shore; streams, water; wetlands help control floodwaters; forests reduce erosion and sedimentation;tributaries, connecting channels; inland lakes and wetlands; and uplands. Human coastal habitats provide stability; upland landscapes produce topsoil and habitats.

View the Habitat Framework as a PDF File