Great Lakes Section
The Great Lakes Section of SCO started in 2010. It is led by veteran Great Lakes advocate Mary Muter and comprised of Sierra Club members with specific experience and focus on Great Lakes issues. They are addressing the multiple components of the Great Lakes ecosystem using bi-national coordination of activities with the Sierra Club in the States.
Current work includes focus on protecting the ecosystem from invasive exotic species like Asian Carp, sponsoring wetland research by McMaster University, and advocating for restoration of healthy water levels in the Middle Great Lakes (Huron, Michigan & Georgian Bay)
Sierra Club’s substantial body of work includes a leading role in the agreement of Great Lakes jurisdictions to ban new diversions of water out of the basin.
For further information contact Mary Muter at (marym<at>sierraclub.ca) or SCO Chapter Director Dan McDermott at (dmcd<at>sierraclub.ca)
McGuinty Government promises a Great Lakes Protection Act
Submitted by Dan McDermott on Tue, 2012-01-31 13:18By Dan McDermott, Chapter Director
Premier Dalton McGuinty’s commitment to enact a Great Lakes Protection Act (GLPA) was the one new environmental commitment put forward by the Liberals during last fall’s election. The environmental community responded positively to the pledge while noting that the funding component mentioned by the Premier was a modest one. It was also noted that the commitment contained no specifics as to what McGuinty saw as priority Great Lakes issues.... Read more »
Great Lakes–Mississippi River Separation is Possible, Practical and Preventive
Submitted by Guest on Tue, 2012-01-31 12:56Study shows Canadian waters can be protected from an Asian Carp Invasion
MEDIA RELEASE
For immediate release
Tuesday, January 31, 2012... Read more »
Progress Rpt on Wetlands Research (McMaster University)
2011-10-15
This report is a progress report on the research funded by Sierra Club carried out from May to October in 2011. The three main projects share an overarching theme that examines threats to coastal biodiversity because of changes in the hydrologic regime of Lakes Huron and Erie.
The first project provides an initial glimpse of how northern pike utilize wetland and nearshore habitat in Tadenac Bay and the surrounding region.
The second is a comparison of home ranges of the Blanding's turtle (species at risk) in two protected areas (Beausoleil Island of Georgian Bay Island National Park and Rondeau Bay Provincial Park) that have very different landscape features and experience different stresses. Since this is the first documented study of a Blanding's population on an island, a sub--‐project has been carried out to determine if turtles select for specific habitats before, during and after nesting as has been suggested by the literature.
The third project examines the effects of rain effects and agricultural practices on the water quality of first--‐order streams in the Beaver River watershed.
Click on the pdf attachment below to see the 14 pg. McMaster University report
Sierra Club Great Lakes Policy on Asian Carp
Submitted by Kristina Jackson on Mon, 2012-01-23 15:59
Final as approved by Sierra Club (US & Canada) on 5 December 2011
Whereas the Asian carp (bighead, silver, grass and black) have invaded extensive portions of the United States waters and the silver and bighead carps present a serious and immediate threat of invasion into the Great Lakes ecosystem, via the Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal; and
Whereasthe Asian carp have caused ecological devastation in the Illinois and Mississippi River systems in specific river sections where they have become well established—95 percent of the biomass in some river sections is composed of Asian carp; and
Whereasthe Asian carp cause this devastation through highly efficient reproduction and filter feeding that effectively removes the plankton that serve as the base of the food chain—without enough plankton to support forage fish, shellfish and other species, native species decline ; and... Read more »
Sierra's new bi-national policy on Great Lakes water levels
Submitted by Kristina Jackson on Fri, 2011-12-09 13:50Sierra Club is the only grassroots environmental organization active in all Great Lakes jurisdictions. The Ontario Chapter and Sierra Club Chapters in all eight U.S. Great Lakes States support ecosystem-wide stewardship of Great Lakes levels. As well, Sierra Club Ontario now has the policy support of those US Chapters for the gradual restoration of Upper Great Lakes levels. Our Great Lakes Bi-national Policy simply and clearly now states:... Read more »
The Township of Achipelago recognizes Mary Muter for her Great Lakes work
Submitted by Kristina Jackson on Thu, 2011-12-08 13:37Great Lakes Section Chair Mary Muter was honoured earlier this year by the Township of the Archipelago "for her dedication and hard work in seeking solutions to the current problems facing the water quality and water levels of the Great Lakes." See more online here:
We're proud of you Mary!
Is multi lake regulation a feasible or even a good idea?
2011-11-25
Bill Bialkowski, an engineer with extensive professional expertise dealing with flow dynamics, reviews the International Joint Commission's summary of multi-lake management for the Great Lakes and poses some interesting questions.
(To see the report & graphs you must click on the Attachment link below)
Summary of content here:
IJC ’93 Level Reference Study Chapter 4
Note by Bill Bialkowski, 25 November, 2011,
The 1993 IJC Level Reference Study was the largest study ever conducted by the IJC on water levels ($20m). It came after two significant events. 1) The completion in 1977 of sill designs for the St. Clair River (SCR) to compensate for the dredging up to 1962, and 2) the 1974 high water followed by the record setting high water of 1986. This second event guaranteed that nothing would be done to compensate the SCR as Orders for Approval and funding were withdrawn. With the IUGLS’s 2009 ‘do nothing’ recommendation, and the flawed 2011 Restoration Report, some Georgian Bay people are claiming that the IUGLB is now ‘in favour’ of recommending multi lake regulation based on comments at public meetings.... Read more »
Water level trends btw Great Lakes (to Oct 2011)
Submitted by Kristina Jackson on Wed, 2011-12-07 17:00
McMaster site for Great Lakes research online
Submitted by Kristina Jackson on Thu, 2011-11-24 14:03
Anyone interested in Great Lakes wetland research has gotta check out http://greatlakeswetlands.ca/
This is where the Coastal Wetland Research Group at McMaster University (Hamilton, Ontario) share research on the ecological functions of the Laurentian Great Lakes' coastal wetlands. You can find a variety of publications here - not just McMaster research.
Our own Mary Muter, Chair of Sierra Club's Great Lakes Section has a piece posted there - tho a couple years old it is still relevant. Down the Drain: Georgian Baykeeper battles to save the Middle Lakes
Another Coal Ash Spill - This Time in Lake Michigan
Submitted by Kristina Jackson on Wed, 2011-11-09 10:32From Sierra Club Compass - newsletter of the Beyond Coal Campaign
How many more coal ash spills need to happen before Americans are protected by coal ash safeguards? The latest happened Monday in Oak Creek, Wisconsin, at the We Energies Oak Creek Power Plant.... Read more »
Sierra Club Ontario At Chicago Waterway System Meeting
Submitted by Andrew Holownych on Mon, 2011-10-31 10:24On October 25 Sierra Club Ontario’s Great Lakes Section was represented at the Toronto Public Meeting of Envisioning a Chicago Waterway System for the 21st Century (website). This is a joint project of the Great Lakes Commission and the Great Lakes & St. Lawrence Cities Initiative, sponsored by $2 Million in funding from six regional entities.... Read more »
Thank you card to Mary Muter
Submitted by Andrew Holownych on Tue, 2011-10-11 09:48
Mary Muter was out a few weeks ago with the McMaster research team and was joined by some children who really enjoyed themselves. Check out the thank you card here!
Great Lakes set to collapse: Eco group
Submitted by Andrew Holownych on Wed, 2011-10-05 14:22The five lakes, which contain one-fifth of the world's fresh water and supply tens of millions of people, may be "veering close to ecosystem collapse," the report by the National Wildlife Federation said.
Read the whole story from the Windsor Star by clicking here.
Crazy diking plan for Geo. Bay wetlands - getting local push-back
Submitted by Kristina Jackson on Fri, 2011-09-30 14:35From the weekly paper: The Manitoulin Expositor:
Georgian Bay advocate nixes dike proposal
by Alicia McCutcheonSeptember 28, 2011
MANITOULIN—Members of the water sub-committee of the Manitoulin Area Stewardship Council concerned with falling Lake Huron water levels have their backs up with two proposed recommendations from the International Upper Great Lakes Study Board (IUGLSB) that arose after meetings such as the one in Kagawong this summer.... Read more »
ENGOs frustrations with GLWQA process submitted
Submitted by Andrew Holownych on Mon, 2011-09-26 08:54
Sierra Club Ontario along with 41 groups, jointly submitted its “Comments and Recommendations In Response to Canadian and U.S. Negotiators Final Consultation On the Renegotiation of the Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement.” The GLWQA has not been renegotiated since 1987; issues such as Climate Change, Invasive Species, Pharmaceuticals, etc. must now be added to a revised Agreement.
Unfortunately, citizen and ENGO engagement was lacking, with little opportunity for groups to comment on proposed Agreement language, and very little time allotted for final comments. ... Read more »
Ontario's plans to store nuclear waste under Lake Huron have Michigan upset
Submitted by Andrew Holownych on Tue, 2011-09-20 11:55
Where does all that nuclear waste go? Unlike in the 1980's when nuclear waste was dumped into oceans, now the preferred method is to bury it somewhere deep. The problem that is no community wants it in their neighbourhood.
One option that has been ignored by goverment and the nuclear industry is above-ground Monitored Retrievable Storage. Instead, the cheapest method - burying the waste deep in old mines - seems to be the only method considered. Not surprisingly, this method saves nuclear companies billions of dollars, not to mention "out of sight, out the mind". ... Read more »
A revealing report and summary of inconsistencies in recent IUGLSB Report
Submitted by Kristina Jackson on Thu, 2011-08-04 11:31Upon careful review by Bill Bialkowski, an engineer with extensice professional expertise dealing with flow dynamics, the report that was released by the IUGLS was found to have inconsistencies.
To read a brief summary on inconsistencies in the May 26, 2011 IUGLSB's Restoration Report click here.
IUGLS Restoration Report May 2011
Submitted by Andrew Holownych on Tue, 2011-08-02 23:00The International Upper Great Lakes Study released a report on the tradeoffs of restoring water levels on Lake Michigan-Huron to their past levels.
The Study investigated the impacts of raising the levels of Lake Michigan-Huron for five different restoration scenarios: from a base case of 0 cm to 10 cm (3.9 in), 25 cm (9.8 in), 40 cm (15.7 in), and 50 cm (19.7 in). This was done to account for various channel changes and drops in water levels from navigational and other dredging projects dating back to the mid-1800s.
The 187 page report can be read here.
Prof. Ostrom letter to IUGLS: condition of Lake Huron is 'distressing'
Submitted by Andrew Holownych on Fri, 2011-07-29 12:01A recent letter from Professor Ostrom, a scholar in policy analysis and natural resources, urges the members of the International Great Lakes Study Team to do something. She says the "substantial costs to ecology of Lake Huron have not been taken into account" - and this woman knows her cost accounting!
