For Friday, March 10, 2023

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1 – A draft supplemental restoration plan for the Tittabawassee River, Saginaw River and Saginaw Bay is open for public review and comment through March 27.

State officials say the plan provides an overview of the Saginaw Bay watershed and information on the process used to solicit restoration ideas from stakeholders.

Natural resource trustee councils developed the plan. 

Funding comes from two settlements for damage to natural resources in the watershed, with The Dow Chemical Co. and General Motors.

The trustee councils have allocated up to $5.75 million to fund restoration projects. Projects in the plan relate to land conservation, wetland restoration, recreation and helping conserve endangered lake sturgeon.

More information is available from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. 

Comments may be e-mailed to T.River.NRDA@FWS.gov, or mailed to Lisa Williams or Clark D. McCreedy, U.S. FWS, 2651 Coolidge Road, Suite 101, East Lansing, Michigan 48823.

If you have any questions, please contact Lisa Williams at 517-351-8314 or Lisa_Williams@FWS.gov; or Clark McCreedy at 517-351-8273 or Clark_McCreedy@FWS.gov.

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2 – Close to 300,000 scrap tires were cleaned up last year in Michigan.

Scrap tires can be hazardous to the environment and public health if not properly managed. 

Runoff from tire fires can contaminate water, and scrap tire sites are an ideal habitat for the breeding of mosquitoes.

The 2022 cleanups involved more than $610,000 in grants, cleaning up the equivalent of 287,377 passenger tires. 

For the cleanup and recycling of tires determined to have been dumped or collected after 1991 on private sites, grants are subject to repayment.

For this year, the department has approved 90 applications for 2023 cleanup grants, including to Bay County and the city of Bay City.

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3 – Great Lakes Day was this week in Washington, D.C. 

A binational coalition released shared priorities for restoring the Great Lakes and supporting the region’s economy. 

The agenda urges Congress and the Biden administration to spend at least $425 million for the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative in Fiscal Year 2024.

It also advocates for investments in water infrastructure and coordinated regional science plans, strengthening Great Lakes ports and the maritime transportation system, addressing harmful algal blooms, and protecting the basin from invasive carp and other aquatic invasive species.

The priorities were endorsed by the Great Lakes Commission, Great Lakes Fishery Commission, Healing Our Waters-Great Lakes Coalition and other groups.

– Mr. Great Lakes is heard Fridays at 9:30 a.m. in Bay City, Michigan, on Delta College Public Radio 90.1 FM (listen live). Follow @jeffkart on Twitter #MrGreatLakes

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