Those visiting the Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore in the next few weeks might want to help the area recover from an aftereffect of the “hundred year floods” that plagued Mason and Manistee Counties.  The floods washed an enormous amount of debris into Lake Michigan.  Northward lake currents have brought some of that debris to SBDNL beaches.

Leelanau Enterprise excerpt and link:

Currents moving northward have left enough trash on Lakeshore beaches to catch the attention of the Friends of Sleeping Bear advocacy organization, which coincidently had begun an “adopt a beach” program just last fall.

Members of the Friends group’s Board of Directors learned at a meeting Sunday that some 20 people signed up for the Adopt a Beach program just in time to start tackling the extra messes found along the Lakeshore’s sandy beaches.

Good news: Some 15 million gallons of raw sewage released from a treatment plant in the Ludington area that was overwhelmed by a flood have not been detected in Lakeshore beaches. A health advisory was issued for Hamlin Lake, created by a dam on the Pere Marquette River. Lake Michigan beaches even near Ludington remain open.

[Note: This is especially good news for backpackers in the region who filter their water.]

http://www.leelanaunews.com/blog/2008/06/29/trash-washes-ashore-in-empire/

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