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May 13 2008
Bill Steffen, the weather blogger at WOOD TV in Grand Rapids, has a neat post about a phenomena called a fire rainbow. Basically, sun at a certain angle can refract through ice crystals in cirrus clouds. This splits the sunlight into its component colors - a rainbow. Check out Bill’s post and some neat photos at the link below:
May 13 2008
The suburban Detroit weekly, the Spinal Column, has an excellent overview of the current state of Michigan’s drive to link its trails into a regional and statewide system:
May 07, 2008 - A once revved-up initiative to connect all non-motorized trailways across the county and region has lost some steam. County trail advocates have some tough terrain to cover as they pursue different paths in search of money to fund various municipal projects and links; and with a lagging economy, the consensus is that it will remain a tough road ahead.
Michigan has added connectors along utility corridors, road rights of way, public lands and private easements to develop trailways that stretch more than 2,000 miles across the state. The current trail system reflects significant past investment by a variety of public and private parties, including federal and state natural resource and transportation programs, local governments, private donors and for-profit and non-profit organizations and foundations.
Michigan trailway efforts began in the 1970s and early ’80s with citizen groups supporting local projects. In southwest Oakland County, the West Bloomfield Trail Network was developed as a premiere pathway. Three main connector trail systems have been delineated and built in Oakland County’s lakes area since then: The Clinton River Trail, the Lakes Community Trail, and the Huron Valley Trail.
The West Bloomfield Trail Network threads through 28 acres of park land and meanders for 4.25 miles through West Bloomfield, Orchard Lake, Keego Harbor and Sylvan Lake. The West Bloomfield Woods Nature Preserve is the west trailhead and Sylvan Manor Park is the east trailhead. Where trains once whistled down the tracks, now many local residents walk, jog, cross-country ski or bicycle while taking in the scents of wildflowers and passing scenic wetlands and woodlands.
The Clinton River Trail is a recreational path along 12 miles of abandoned rail line through the heart of Oakland County, including Sylvan Lake, Pontiac, Auburn Hills, Rochester Hills and Rochester. It connects with the existing West Bloomfield trail to the west and the Macomb Orchard Trail to the east. Parts of the trail are owned by the Trust for Public Lands. They are holding the properties until communities can collect grant money and purchase them.
The Huron Valley Trail is a network of paths utilizing the former railroad corridor connecting the cities of Wixom and South Lyon. It begins at Lyon Oaks County Park, accessible from Pontiac Trail, and follows the former “Airline Railroad” corridor westward. At I-96, a connector trail heads west toward Kensington Metropark and the Island Lake Recreation Area before the path meanders to South Lyon.
The Lakes Community Trail runs southwest along Glengary Road in Commerce Township and continues toward Wolverine Lake and on toward Wixom.
“Commerce is working on a path down South Commerce and it will spur to Oakley Park Road and hook up to the one in place in Wolverine Lake in Clara Miller Park. It will attach at Hickory Glen Park in Commerce, cross Glengary Road, feed into Clara Miller Park then head west into Wixom,” she said, adding the Proud Lake Recreation Area is right across the street.
According to Miller, in 2005 the village extended the path in Clara Miller Park to a newly constructed, 1,700-foot bridge residents refer to as the Benstein Bridge. This project was paid for in part by an approximately $375,000 grant with a local match of about $100,000. With the bridge in place, the path winds all the way to McCoy along the southern boundary of the village.
For much more…
May 13 2008
The Detroit Free Press has an interesting story about “Green Guilt.” Excerpts and link:
In fact, more people (primarily women) are feeling guiltier this year than they were last year about their not-so-carbon-neutral habits.
So says the second annual green guilt survey commissioned by the Rechargeable Battery Recycling Corp., a nonprofit that wants you to recycle batteries.
In 2007, about 20% of Americans surveyed said they were feeling green guilt. This year, that number jumped slightly to 22%. Men actually felt less guilty this year (18% last year vs. 17% this year), and women were carrying the burden of guilt more (22% vs. 26%).
But guilt aside, more Americans said they’re stepping up their actions to make their lives more environmentally friendly, the survey shows. For instance, more people this year said they recycled cellphones and batteries: 41% said they recycled phones and 37% recycled rechargeable batteries, vs. 31% and 29% last year.
May 12 2008
The State of Michigan closed 20 state forest campgrounds last year supposedly because of budget difficulties. Perhaps the most controversial closure was of the Pinney Bridge Campground that served as the only legal camping site on the Jordan River Pathway. That closure essentially ended a nice weekend backpack possibility in the Lower Peninsula.
Well, today the State of Michigan announced that all 20 closed campgrounds will reopen. Excerpts and link:
Twenty state forest campgrounds that were temporarily closed last year because of tight state budgets will be reopened for the 2008 camping season.
The Department of Natural Resources made the announcement Monday.
The move comes after state lawmakers restored half a million dollars to the department’s recreation and trail program.
Michigan’s 143 state forest campgrounds will open in mid-May. Opening times by vary by local weather conditions.
The following state forest campgrounds are reopening:
–Alpena County: Thunder Bay River
–Antrim County: Pinney Bridge
–Cheboygan County: Black Lake Trail Camp, Stoney Creek Trail Camp, Twin Lakes
–Chippewa County: Shelldrake Dam
–Crawford County: Walsh Road Trail Camp
–Grand Traverse County: Forks
–Luce County: Bass Lake, Headquarters Lake, High Bridge
–Marquette County: N. Horseshoe Lake, Pike Lake
–Oscoda County: McCollum Lake, Muskrat Lake
–Otsego County: Johnson’s Crossing
–Schoolcraft County: Mead Creek, N. Gemini Lake, S. Gemini Lake
–Wexford County: Long Lake
May 12 2008
The Battle Creek Enquirer reports on Woodland Park. Like Monroe’s Petersburg State Game Area, Woodland is slated to become a haven for the Karner Blue Butterfly. Excerpts and link:
Looking over the hills, there are a few early morning walkers getting exercise in the 146-acre park just off Helmer Road. But when Luke Lindsley looks at the serene meadows, he sees much more.
“I see the children out here, excited and carrying their plants, digging little holes in the ground,” he said. “First I see the children, then I see the release of the butterflies.”
A Karner blue butterfly population was last found naturally occuring in 1986 in Monroe, said Todd Hogrefe, an Michigan Department of Natural Resources endangered species coordinator. The population has greatly decreased because of forest fire suppression. Karners that hatch in the spring can only eat blue lupine, which cannot grow under tree canopies.
“We’re looking forward to partnering as time progresses, but it’s important to remember in a project like this, when talking about federally endangered species, it takes time,” said Todd Hogrefe, an Michigan Department of Natural Resources endangered species coordinator.
A Karner blue butterfly conservation project is taking place at the Petersburg State Game/Wildlife Area in Monroe, where butterflies harvested at the Detroit Zoo will be released this summer.
The Toledo Blade has a report on funding for a land purchase between the Maumee River and Fort Meigs:
Perrysburg will get a $200,000 state grant to help pay for six acres below Fort Meigs along the Maumee River, according to two state legislators.
The city bought the property on Rapids Road last week to settle a lawsuit with a developer and ensure that the view of the fort from the river would be preserved.
State Rep. Randy Gardner (R., Bowling Green) and state Sen. Mark Wagoner (R., Ottawa Hills) announced the funding yesterday during a news conference on the site, which has a sweeping view across the river and looks straight up Conant Street in Maumee.
Dr. Richard Ruppert, president of the Ohio Historical Society, which owns Fort Meigs, noted that the Rapids Road parcel was the last piece of private property around the fort.
“It’s a very important piece of property,” he said.
Perrysburg Administrator John Alexander said the state funding would be “a significant component of the financial package for the acquisition of this historic site.”
Steve Pollick of the Toledo Blade has a story about Beaver Creek, an impoundment near Clyde, OH:
The Beaver Creek under discussion, by the way, is no creek but rather the 102-acre upground water-supply reservoir for Clyde. It lies along Seneca County Road 34, just east of State Rt. 101, southeast of the village of Green Springs. In any case, many of northwest Ohio’s fine upground reservoirs will do what Beaver Creek does, which is provide some fine spring inland fishing action.
The Kalamazoo Gazette has information about two miles of new trail in Kalamazoo County. Kalamazoo County is important because of its route along the Airline railbed that will eventually connect Lake Erie to Lake Michigan:
LANSING — A $1 million grant to build a nonmotorized trail along two miles of Riverview Drive in Kalamazoo was announced Friday by the Michigan Department of Transportation.
The trail segment from Riverview at Mosel Avenue south to Veteran’s Memorial Park near downtown is being built by the Kalamazoo County Road Commission, in conjunction with the city of Kalamazoo. It is part of a larger plan for a 14.2-mile nonmotorized system in the county, according to a MDOT news release.
Here are excerpts from a State of Michigan press release covering other state transportation enhancement grants:
http://www.michigan.gov/mdot/0,1607,7-151-9620-191697–,00.html
The State of Michigan is offering campers the chance to park their RVs at state parks for up to 15 days this summer in an attempt to head off gas-related tourism slowdowns:
The Detroit News reports on a survey that noted significant opposition to a safety path system in the city of Bloomfield Hills:
A survey taken by Bloomfield Hills residents revealed that nearly 60 percent oppose development of a citywide safety path system. The city is exploring building extra-wide pathways along major thoroughfares such as Woodward and east-west roads such as Lone Pine and Long Lake. City Manager Jay Cravens said the original proposal to build 14 miles of pathways for $8 million is being studied in smaller sections. Of the 1,621 surveys mailed, 430 — or 27 percent — were returned. Results of the survey, which focused on land use and development, natural features, transportation, library services and historic districts, will be part of the city’s Master Plan discussions at public meetings.
The Detroit News reports on a preserve dedication that happened this past Saturday in Livingston County:
The Livingston Land Conservancy invites the public to the free dedication for the Unadilla Nature Preserve at 10 a.m. Saturday. The 13-acre preserve is on Williamsville Road, west of Unadilla Road, behind the Unadilla Presbyterian Church in Gregory. Free parking will be provided at the church. The dedication will include a tour of the property hosted by Conservancy naturalists. Refreshments will be served following a walk along the Unadilla Mill Pond. For information, call (810) 229-3290, e-mail at info@livingstonlandconservancy.org, or go to www.livingstonlandconservancy.org.
The Leelanau Enterprise reports on controversy related to new “no pet” designations in sections of the Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore:
Prior to the change in April, there were nine areas where pets were prohibited: the Manitou islands; the County Road 651 beach (1/4-mile south from road end); Cannery Beach at Glen Haven, (1/4-mile northwest of Maritime Museum); Little Glen Lake beach; N. Bar Lake, including a quarter-mile north of outlet into Lake Michigan; Esch Road Beach (1/4-mile south of road access); Peterson Beach (1/14-mile south and west of road access); and Platte Point Beach (1/4-mile on both sides of Lake Michigan Road).
Under the new rules the following areas are closed to pets: from the south Lakeshore boundary line in Benzie County to the trail from Platte River Campground; from Peterson Beach parking lot north to Esch Road; from the north end of N. Bar Lake north around Sleeping Bear Point to Cannery Beach at Glen Haven; and from the County Road 669 road end north to the Count Road 651 road end.
The Leelanau Enterprise has information related to a tribal rail corridor in NW lower Michigan:
The Leelanau Enterprise also has this interesting information about the Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore:
In addition to recognition of local authority over county road rights-of-way, Road Commissioners were pleased with proposed changes to allow motor vehicle access to the Valley of the Giant Cedar on S. Manitou Island. As part of the preferred alternative, the concessionaire offering motor vehicle tours of the island, Manitou Island Transit, will be able to take visitors nearly the entire length of Shefler Road to the popular destination. Currently, people wanting to see the large cedar trees at the end of Shefler Road have to walk a entire seven-mile round trip to reach the area from the main dock area on the island.
Member Glen M. Noonan said he was happy that Park Service officials recognized the need for getting people, especially the elderly and those with special needs, close to the Valley of the Giants. “There are a lot of older residents here in the county who would enjoy visiting the site, but it was just too far for most to walk,” he said.
Ulrich said while the concessionaire will be able to bring people much closer, visitors will still have about a half-mile walk to reach the site.
Other possible developments for trails in the Lakeshore that the Road Commission supported include transforming a railroad grade that runs from the Sleeping Bear Dune Climb to Glen Lake and a Bay-to-Bay footpath that would run from the southern border of the Lakeshore in Benzie County up to Good Harbor Bay. Ulrich said the Bay-to-Bay trail would be similar to the Appalachian Trail with small, primitive campsites along the way.
May 12 2008
Tecumseh’s new high school was built on property with some nice natural characteristics. On both the west and south sides of the property, a stream follows a bubbling and sometimes rocky course. I don’t think that this is the main stem of the River Raisin, but a tributary.
As with any hike on school property, it is best to use care and respect when arriving at hike times and routes. This particular south end hike is quite far from the actual school buildings, but there are several ballfields that could bring a hiker into contact with school students and officials.
This isn’t necessarily a bad thing. A public trail actually connects the school to the city cemetery and walkers do use the grounds. But I think that a hike during school hours would probably be a bad idea.
That said, this walk is really quite nice. I plotted a one-way route on Microsoft Virtual Earth below that follows my route. I started on Union Street and entered the cemetery. The stream is obvious from the cemetery entrance.
A few hundred feet west, a walker has several options. The cemetery access roads bear north. A paved pathway heads straight west to Tecumseh High School. I choose to follow the actual riverbank. There is no official trail, but the grass is mowed occasionally and it’s pretty easy to walk.
The public property boundary does not completely follow the stream. Once past the school/city dirt piles, the route follows the line of a woodlot to a corner and then heads south along the woods back to the watercourse.
At this point an interesting bushwack trail heads into the woods. I walked it for about 30 feet and figured that it heads into a small neighborhood, but I am unsure of this.
The main woodline moves west and soon rejoins the stream. A walker needs to move past a utility garage and some ballfields to an opening in the woods. This opening follows a two-track down to a floodplain area.
This are is quite a surprise. Just across the stream are several gas stations and a CVS. These are, at times visible through the trees. M-50 is within sight and sound distance. That said, the prevailing mood here is one of calm and quiet. The stream gurgles. Heavy vegetation makes the area seem surprisingly natural.
Most interesting is a grove of very old and tall trees in a small floodplain hollow. These trees are sheltered on all sides by the river valley. They are impressive. A few moments with these giants make the entire .75 mile one-way route worth it.
Here is my route on Microsoft Virtual Earth:
May 12 2008
Indiana’s Lake Michigan coastline is a study in contrasts. In some spots, one can see the hulking factories of Indiana’s steel industry. In other spots, sand dunes and lighthouses dot the shore. The Booth News Service has a nice overview of recreational opportunities along the Hoosier shore:
MICHIGAN CITY, Ind. — Indiana’s Old Lighthouse Museum has stood as a sentinel for more than 150 years, the sole light on the state’s 40 miles of Lake Michigan coastline.
With its gabled roof and Grecian-trimmed windows, the museum’s special features include a lantern room, a 40-foot climb to the top of the light tower and artifacts from past residents, including one whose ghostly presence still is felt by some.
“The ghost trackers have been here three times with all their equipment,” museum director Jackie Glidden said. “They think there’s something here.”
Next, travel farther west to where the Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore and the Indiana Dunes State Park preserve the ruggedly beautiful sand mountains and pristine beaches that form the Indiana dunes.
In Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore sit two historic settlements, Chellberg Farm and Bailly Homestead. Chellberg offers costumed interpreters and visitors can watch horses pulling plows through the fields. At Bailly, visitors can help farm workers feed the animals.
Comprising more than 15,000 acres with vast stretches of woodlands, eight beaches and the tallest sand dune in the state — the 153-foot-tall Mount Baldy — the lakeshore attracts 1.8 million people annually.
“We have more than 1,135 native plant species here,” said park ranger Ryan Koepke, noting the lakeshore ranks seventh among all the national parks in the U.S. in plant diversity.
Next door, the 2,182-acre Indiana Dunes State Park also offers a bucolic blend of beaches, coastline and miles of hiking trails that wander through woods dotted with ferns and wildflowers.
Here are towering sand dunes to climb for vast panoramas of the coastlines of three states — Michigan, Indiana and Illinois. In the early evening, as the sunset turns the water and sand sherbet colors of pink and orange, the Chicago skyline looms large (as do the nearer steel mills of Gary and East Chicago).
The images above come from the U.S. EPA, the U.S. Coast Guard and publicly available satellite weather images.
May 11 2008
Several articles related to kayaking passed through the Google reader in the past week or so. Here’s a digest focused on paddling:
The Detroit Free Press has an article on buying a kayak:
If you’re looking for a kayak, the best thing to do is read all you can about them online (Google “buying a kayak”) and visit several kayak shops. Then go to one of the kayak demo days held around the state, when manufacturers bring dozens of boats to a venue where people can try before they buy.
Once you decide on the type of kayak best suited to you, make a few trips in rentals from kayak shops and canoe liveries to try different brands. Try to put one on top of your car, and carry a few from the car to the water to determine how much more you’re willing to pay for a lighter boat.
First, more money usually means less weight. Most modern kayaks are built in three ways: rotomolded polyethylene plastic, which produces the heaviest and cheapest boats; laying up a hull from fiberglass or exotic fibers and resin, which makes the most expensive and lightest boats; and building them from new hard plastics like Royalex, which results in boats midway in price and weight.
Something we have going for us in Michigan that kayakers in few other states can match is unparalleled access to fabulous paddling, from the big water of the Great Lakes to quiet inland lakes to thousands of miles of rivers.
Eric Sharp also has some tips on the equipment needed to kayak:
Eric Sharp also has a third column with lots of tips for new kayakers. The article has a special focus on fishing from kayaks:
The Muskegon Chronicle has a story with tips on purchasing a kayak:
May 11 2008
The Chicago Sun-Times has a story about an interesting phenomena. In reaction against America’s buy-everyting, consume-everything culture, a cohort of affluent young people seems to fit this acronym: Young And Wealthy, but Normal (YAWN). Excerpt and link:
SAN FRANCISCO — They drive hybrid cars, if they drive at all, shop at local stores, if they shop at all, and pay off their credit cards every month, if they use them at all.
The acronym comes from the Sunday Telegraph of London, which noted that an increasing number of rich young Britons are socially aware, concerned about the environment and given less to consuming than to giving money to charity.
Yawns sound dull, but they are the new movers and shakers, their dreams big and bold. They are men and women in their 20s, 30s and 40s who want nothing less than to change the world and save the planet.
The high-tech world has spawned some Yawns, but they can sprout anywhere. In fact, Yawns are a subset of a growing global movement of the eco-socially aware. The state of the economy and the state of the planet have inspired people to consider what they buy and how they spend in ways not seen since the ”Small is Beautiful” and ecology movements of the 1970s.
The movement makes perfect sense, said David Grusky, a sociologist at Stanford University, since society tends to follow cycles, with anti-materialist periods like the hippie movement generating a pro-materialist reaction — the yuppie period — and so on. Not to mention, he adds, that the evidence of major climate change and a concern with terrorism give rise to more interest in spiritual as opposed to material objectives.
That helps explain why Earth Day has become so big again, why products are all going ”green,” and why freecycle.org, an Internet community bulletin board where members offer items for free, has grown in five years from a dozen members in Tucson, Ariz., to a network of more than 3,000 cities in 80 countries.
”Americans have been on a buying binge for the last 10 years,” she said. ”Our closets are full. Our attics are full. Our garages are full. Enough already!”
Note: I assume that the picture above is under copyright. My apologies. I just had to do it.
May 11 2008
Apple Island in the center of suburban Detroit’s Orchard Lake. The Observer & Eccentric newspapers report that the area historical society will provide $10 boat rides and tours to the island this coming weekend. Excerpts and link:
Public tours of the island - located in the center of Orchard Lake - are set for noon to 4 p.m., Saturday, May 17 and noon to 3 p.m., Sunday, May 18, on a first come/first served basis.
Tours, which will be led by members of the Greater West Bloomfield Historical Society, begin at the Orchard Lake Museum, at the corner of Orchard Lake and Long Lake roads.
Cost is $10 for adults and $5 for children 12 years and under. For more information, call (248) 682-2279 or log onto www.gwbhs.com.
Around the time West Bloomfield Township was formed in 1833, horses and wagons or carriages were common as more roads were built. With the completion of the Detroit and Pontiac Railroad line in 1844, residents of Detroit, Chicago, Cleveland and other areas could reach the lakes area, giving rise to vacationers who spent the summer here.
Win Hamlin, son of Apple Island’s caretaker, wrote a memoir of life on the island, beginning in 1903, that mentions the types of transportation he and his sister used to get to school.
Hamlin wrote, “We had to cross the lake, then walk a mile to the Old Scotch School. In the winter my mother would take us with the one horse sleigh. In the spring, summer and fall she would take us across the lake by boat and we would have the mile to talk to school.”
