MONTAGUE — The Montague branch of the Muskegon District Library hosted “Shaping the Landscape: West Michigan’s Environmental History,” a presentation by educators from Lakeshore Museum Center, Wednesday, Nov. 19. This was the third and final installment of the “Shared Waters” community conversation series put on by several area libraries, meant to foster ecological interest and discussion about the water so integral to our everyday lives in Muskegon County.
Lakeshore Museum programmers Jennifer Reeths and Kimberlyn Carlson regaled a modest but engrossed audience with the last 200 years of Michigan’s water history, and its primary pollutants, specifically in Muskegon and White Lakes.
Starting in the 1830s and ending in 1907, the lumber industry drastically changed White Lake’s topography - infilling the lake to provide land for saw mills, dredging and straightening channels for shipping, and lumber debris clogging up the lake bottom. The construction of the Welland Canal in the 1930s allowed for greater cargo shipping through the Lakes through connecting Ontario and Erie; however, it also introduced stowaways in cargo ships’ ballast compartments from the St Lawrence River and oceans beyond - invasive species such as sea lampreys, round goby, and zebra mussels, which have remained constant ecological threats to the Great Lakes since. It is estimated that half of invasive species in the Great Lakes have come from cargo shipping.
Particularly in the case of lampreys, various prevention measures such as dams and pheromone releasing have discouraged them from spawning further upstream. Prototype traps have also been created to remove adult specimens and lampricide introduced early in populations’ life cycles can reduce numbers. Improvements have also been made to ballast contaminants on cargo ships to prevent further introduction of new invasive species. Individuals can help through reporting species at michigan.gov, properly disposing of caught species, and washing boats before transporting between waterways.
In the mid-20th century, chemical pollutants were introduced in White Lake from various factories such as the tannery, Occidental, DuPont and Muskegon Chemicals - primarily in the forms of chromic sulfate and chlorinated solvents respectively. These pollutants drew concern from White Lake area citizens, and the latter half of the century saw a slew of investigation and cleanup efforts from governmental entities, volunteers, and the companies themselves.
In the 1980s, the US and Canada joined forces to identify “Areas of Concerns" in their shared shorelines and waterways. White Lake was identified as an Area of Concern in 1987, and through federal support and remediation efforts, was delisted in 2014. With a greater area and population, Muskegon Lake saw many of the same issues as White Lake, but on a larger scale - and was subsequently listed as an Area of Concern in 1985. An estimated 27% of open water was filled to provide industrial space and 74% of wetlands were cemented over. Muskegon and Bear Lakes were cut off at Bear Creek with the introduction of celery fields, and were only recently reconnected. Unfortunately, other features of the Muskegon Lake landscape are gone forever, such as the massive Pigeon Hill sand dune, which was mined until it was completely leveled in the 1970s. Through the same hard work and dedication, Muskegon Lake was finally delisted just last month.
The ecological future is delicate for White and Muskegon lakes, Reeths saying, “just [because] we’re released as areas of concern, doesn’t mean that all of the work is done.” Following their delistments, they will no longer receive federal aid, leaving their continual monitoring to local and state departments, along with nonprofit organizations.
Reeths provided considerable historical insight on the various industries in West Michigan, alongside visuals provided from museum archives, such as photographs and maps. Carlson was happy to share her special interest in the Arctic Greyling, a fish species once common in Michigan. After years of habitat loss, overfishing, and competition from other introduced stock fish, the visually stunning Greyling could no longer sustain a population in the Great Lakes. Efforts to reintroduce the species in collaboration with MSU, the Little River Band of Ottawa Indians, and Odin Fishery have seen their first brood released in upper Michigan rivers earlier this summer.
For those curious about the topics discussed, Reeths and Carlson encouraged checking out the Lakeshore Museum Center’s podcast, "Muskegon History and Beyond.”
