Before and After Tale from our Great Lakes

(9 am. – promoted by ek hornbeck)

I recently had an opportunity

to visit some shorelines on Lake Michigan

and Lake Huron (after almost 2 decades away)

and the peaceful inland seas,

were beautiful and restoring.

But what stunned me most

was the green algae mats, most places

(both dead and living).

It was like nite and day.

The lakeshores from my memories,

looked tempting enough to drink —

now they looked gross.

All the polished stones were now covered

with a muddy mash of dead algea, from previous seasons.

Turns out the algae is “harmless to humans”,

(except for maybe Tourism).

And studies are starting to show

this may be a result of the Zebra Mussel invasions,

through a complex chain of events.

It was sad to see hordes of these tiny shellfish too.

In some places, their shells were piling up

more than the rocks.  So much for Ecology knowing best, eh?

what-is-the-zebra-mussel-doing-to-lake-michigan

usgs research invasive zebra mussel

usgs factsheet mussels (pdf)

The Great Lakes need to be preserved —

before they become the “Not So Great Lakes“!

Muskegon Critic makes the case, to preserve the Lakes:

This is Why We Gotta Close Great Lakes Compact Loopholes

Water will be the “liquid gold” of this next Century, replacing Oil, I predict.

Lol, Greenland will probably become “Prime Real Estate” —

Better buy a stake now — before all the Ice is Gone!

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    • jamess on April 5, 2010 at 04:33
      Author

    I went back to Ohio

    But my city was gone

    There was no train station

    There was no downtown

    Southtown it had disappeared

    All my favorite places

    My city had been pulled down

    Reduced to parking spaces



    I was stunned and amazed

    My childhood memories

    Saw this world past

    Like the wind thorugh the trees

    Ay! Oh! Where did you go, Ohio?

    — Pretenders

    http://www.lyrics007.com/Prete

    And so it goes …

  1. but I have to say ecology does know best, Industry not so much.

    Invasive species are still being dumped with bilge water throughout my Lakes, and it is doing horrific damage to my sweet lakes.

  2. The zebra mussels have been here for a couple of decades now, but there is another related invader that has not received as much notariety called the Quagga mussel. Both the Quagga and Zebra mussels are capable of filtering Saginaw Bay’s entire water volume in one to four days. This filtering removes an important constituent in the water: zooplankton.

    This extensive filtering leaves the water amazingly clear and devoid of a necessary components of the Great Lakes food web. It also allows sunlight to penetrate sometimes up to as much as 20 to 30 feet from the surface, encouraging certain forms of a blue-green algae named Microcystis, which are toxic to fish and cause gastro-intestinal distress in humans.

    Lake Erie had a huge bloom last year.

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