Report Looks At "Ecological Separation" Of Great Lakes & Mississippi

Nov 12: The Great Lakes Fishery Commission (GLFC) and the Great Lakes Fishery Trust (GLFT) announced the release of a three-year study by the Alliance for the Great Lakes (Alliance) that takes a first look at stopping the transfer of invasive species between the Great Lakes and Mississippi River systems. While an electrical dispersal barrier currently provides some control on the Chicago Sanitary and Ship canal, long term solutions are needed to further reduce the risk of invasions.

The report -- Preliminary Feasibility of Ecological Separation of the Mississippi River and the Great Lakes -- co-funded by the Fishery Trust and the Fishery Commission, is the first systematic look at commercial and recreational traffic on the waterway and at potential, long term solutions to prevent biological transfers. The study was funded pursuant to a recommendation from an Invasive Species Summit meeting convened in 2003 by Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley that called for a project to examine long-term solutions to reduce the risk of invasive species in the waterway.

According to a release from GLFC and GLFT, the Chicago Waterway System, a series of canals built in the 1800s that famously “reversed the flow” of the Chicago River to improve sanitation, artificially connects the Great Lakes and Mississippi River basins. The waterway serves as a transportation corridor and provides access for recreational boaters. The connection, however, also is a conduit for invasive species, with zebra mussels and round gobies moving from the Great Lakes to the Mississippi basin and with Asian carp currently threatening to enter the Great Lakes from the Mississippi. With increasing global trade, the threat of invasive species is only expected to grow.

Rebecca Humphries, Chair of GLFT and Director of the Michigan Department of Natural Resources (MDNR) said, “Invasive species continue to pose one of the biggest threats to the future of the Great Lakes and the Chicago waterway is a direct link for species to enter Lake Michigan. This study helps establish a course to address this important link." GLFC Chair Michael Hansen, a professor at the University of Wisconsin -- Stevens Point said, “With the benefit of hindsight the Great Lakes and Mississippi systems should never have been connected in so direct a way. Our task now is to find permanent and effective solutions to the threat that this waterway poses. The commission calls upon the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to consider the Alliance’s recommendations and launch a full-scale study, with the ultimate goal of achieving long term separation between the two basins.”

According to a release from the Alliance leading Great Lakes advocates are calling for Federal leadership and funding for “ecological separation” of the Great Lakes from the Mississippi River basin to protect both great watersheds from the perils of invasive species. Alliance VP for Policy Joel Brammeier, lead author of the report said, “The Great Lakes and the Mississippi River are at risk because of a connection that’s nothing natural. Fifteen miles of water and an experimental electric barrier are all that’s standing between the Great Lakes and Asian carp. We’ve got to get serious about a real solution.”

Herb Gray, Canadian Section chair of the International Joint Commission (IJC) said, "We must find a way to stop Asian Carp and other species before they use the Chicago Sanitary Canal to invade the entire Great Lakes system that is shared by Canada and the United States." A release from IJC indicates, "The IJC strongly supports the maintenance of the electric fish dispersal barrier and construction of a second electrical barrier in the Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal, but recognizes the limitations of these measures. While not endorsing any specific long-term strategy, the IJC is impressed with the creative effort to engage as many stakeholders as possible and to carefully examine a range of actions to stop the movement of invasive species between the two watersheds while taking the economic and social dimensions into account."

Access a release from GLFC and GLFT (click here). Access a release from the Alliance with links to related information (click here). Access a release from IJC (click here). Access an Executive Summary of the report (click here). Access the complete 112-page report (click here).

Groups Appeal Ohio Lake Erie Access Decision

Jan 8: Conservation groups took the first step to appeal an Ohio lower court decision that blocks Ohio citizens from walking, fishing and recreating along the shores of Lake Erie. The groups seek to overturn a December 11th decision by Lake County Common Pleas Court Judge Eugene Lucci, which redefines the boundary separating public and private property along the Lake Erie shoreline from the ordinary high water mark to the point at which the water meets land from moment to moment -- effectively barring citizens from the shores of Lake Erie unless they are in the lake itself. The case is, Merrill v. State of Ohio and NWF, et. al (Case No. 04CV001080). The National Wildlife Federation, Ohio Environmental Council and League of Ohio Sportsmen filed the notice of appeal with the Eleventh District Court of Appeals of Ohio.

Neil Kagan, senior attorney for the National Wildlife Federation (NWF) said, “We are filing this appeal to protect the historic right of all citizens to stroll, fish and recreate along the shores of Lake Erie. The law is clear: The Lake Erie shoreline is a public trust for all to enjoy.” The lower court ruling goes against more than 100 years of Ohio legal precedent, which holds that the land up to the high water mark be held in public trust.

Keith Dimoff, executive director for the Ohio Environmental Council said, “Our appeal comes down to one thing -- beating back an attempt to strip Ohio citizens of their centuries-old right to access the shores of Lake Erie. This flawed decision will mean fences and 'KEEP OUT' signs along our shore; we will not let that happen.” The groups said that Ohio Attorney General Marc Dann is also expected to file a notice of appeal today, even though Ohio Governor Ted Strickland has sided publicly with the plaintiffs who are attempting to keep Ohio citizens off the shores of Lake Erie.

The case is similar to a landmark Michigan lawsuit that resulted in a unanimous Michigan Supreme Court decision upholding the public trust up to the high water mark. On July 29, 2005 the Michigan Supreme Court decided, Glass v. Goeckel, Case No. 126409. In the 5-2 decision, the Michigan Supreme Court overruled , a highly controversial Appeals Court decision, and said that under the public trust doctrine individuals retain the right to walk freely along the shoreline of the Great Lakes up to the ordinary high water mark. In its decision the Michigan High Court defined the "high water mark" using a Wisconsin definition, and clarified the distinction between "littoral property" pertaining to property on the seas, oceans or Great Lakes; and "riparian,” pertaining to property on rivers and streams.

Access a release from NWF (click here). Access Judge Lucci's decision (click here). Access the Ohio Attorney General's website (click here). Access the complete Michigan Supreme Court opinion and dissent (click here). Access links to all of the briefs filed in the Michigan Supreme Court case (click here).