Joel Thurtell is a former Detroit Free Press writer who currently blogs at the web site joelontheroad.  Thurtell wrote the excellent piece that I linked to about the River Rouge in the current edition of the Detroit Metro Times.  On his blog site, he has a beautifully pointed editorial related to Matty Maroun’s Riverside Park land grab underneath his privately-owned Ambassador Bridge.  It’s worth a read:

So, on the U.S. side, Matty took over part of a public park, fencing it off, placing phony “Homeland Security” signs on the fences at the east end of Riverside Park, erasing basketball courts and trees and using the park space to store construction materials.

He did more than that: Back in October, his security chief, Jack Teatsorth, explained that the bridge company did Detroit a favor by padlocking the city’s Riverside Park, replacing city gates and hanging another of Matty’s bogus “Homeland Security” no trespassing signs on the fence.  By court time Dec. 4, Matty’s people were denying they had anything to do with closing the boat ramp.

Full post:

http://joelontheroad.com/?p=1297

WLUC TV in the UP reminds Michiganders that the PIctured Rocks National Lakeshore near Munising has 22 miles of groomed cross-country ski trails for visitor use.  The winter can be an especially beautiful time at the park, which boasts ice caves, frozen waterfalls and ice climbing.  Excerpt and link:

“What our trails really offer is the opportunity to get out and enjoy quiet and solitude,” says Jim Northup of Pictured Rocks.  “Our trails are not heavily used, so quite often you can be out there or by yourself or whoever you’re skiing with and really enjoy the northwoods in the wintertime.”

Full story:

http://www.uppermichiganssource.com/news/news_story.aspx?id=233468

In other parts of the country, eagle-watching has become a tourist draw.  Visitors to Alaska, Washington State and even the Mississippi River states often draw visitors to view the majestic birds.  So, why not Michigan?  Naturalists in Monroe County talk of seeing 50 to 80 bald eagles at some of the power plant warm water discharge areas.  And the following link mentions an area of the Tittabawassee River south of Midland at which large numbers of bald eagles can be viewed.

http://www.michigan-sportsman.com/forum/showthread.php?t=265131

The Detroit News reports that the Detroit Riverfront Conservancy, the non-profit group that is constructing and maintaining the Detroit Riverwalk will announce a major new contribution tomorrow.  The story is actually kind of strange in that it mentions neither the amount nor the source.  One could make the case that this will not be an actual story until tomorrow.  But, it’s good news.  Here’s the link:

http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20081210/BIZ/812100478/1361

Several new links have passed through my reader related to the proposed and controversial dredging project on the Ottawa River.  The river passes through the City of Toledo and Erie Township before flowing into Maumee Bay.  Here are the links:

http://glasscityjungle.com/wordpress/?p=4739

http://www.toledoblade.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20081209/NEWS16/812090347/-1/RSS10

http://glasscityjungle.com/wordpress/?p=4724

Note: The map above is from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers

Todd Scott at m-bike.org has an excellent overview of trail development in the Canadian portions of our region.  Check out Windsor’s trails at the link below:

http://www.m-bike.org/blog/2008/12/10/talking-about-windsor-biking

Several weeks ago, I posted a link to some pictures of the salmon run up the Rouge River from the Michigan Sportsman forums.  Viewers of the pics were amazed by improvements along the river.  Well, Joel Thurtell at the Detroit Metro Times has a much more critical view in his amazingly detailed critique of long-term efforts to clean the river.  I HIGHLY RECOMMEND a read:

At 127 miles, the Rouge is the longest river in southeastern Michigan. It drains 466 square miles of terrain in three counties and 48 municipalities. With its headwaters in feeder creeks stretching through farmland in Washtenaw County, the Rouge flows through suburbs with homes and stores in exclusive bedroom ZIP codes like Rochester Hills, Birmingham and Bloomfield Hills, and through less-pricey burbs with homes, businesses and factories around Canton, Northville and Plymouth, Southfield, Dearborn Heights, Allen Park and others. The river stretches through miles of Detroit, winding through two big city parks.

In many of those places, the river is hidden away behind trees. Charles Beckham, one-time Detroit recreation director, explained in 2005 why both Eliza Howell and River Rouge parks are designed to keep park-goers away from the river: Because when it rains, the river can be a storm sewer, and you don’t want park-goers near it.

Where it can be seen, the Rouge often looks like a rustic stream you might encounter in northern Michigan. Except for one thing: In the watershed for Detroit and its suburbs live 1.5 million people, most of whom flush toilets. It has been the Rouge River’s downfall that, to keep from flooding streets and basements with sewage, the river must take some of the waste. And take it the Rouge does, even today, despite hard work by many people in government, engineering, architecture and environmental consulting firms.

Full story:

http://www.metrotimes.com/news/story.asp?id=13524

Turkeys are becoming ubiquitous in the state’s natural areas.  Even Wayne County, our state’s most urban county, has a growing population of the birds.  The Michigan Sportsman forums have an interesting discussion about turkey sightings within the county:

http://www.michigan-sportsman.com/forum/showthread.php?t=264863

One of the strangest attractions in SE Michigan is the Sparks Foundation County Park, more commonly known as Cascades Park.  The main point of visiting the park is to see an enormous artificial waterfall that features light shows during the warm months.  There is really nothing else like it in the state.

But the park also offers some walking paths and small lakes.  A Michigan Natural Resources Trust Fund grant will now help the park to develop better fishing opportunities for our region’s youth.  Jackson Citizen Patriot excerpt and link:

Construction on an urban fishery at Sparks Foundation County Park is expected to begin next fall after the state approved a $360,00 grant for the project this week.

The “Revive the Pride” campaign — which was created to raise money for renovations at the park — will pitch in with about $140,000 in local match money, said county parks Director Jim Guerriero.

The $500,000 project will be the first major undertaking in about $30 million in renovations planned for the park, which is home to the Cascades.

“It’s going to provide a nice recreational opportunity for the people in Jackson County,” Guerriero said. “It will be right here in an urban area.”

The project will include construction of a new picnic shelter and sidewalks, new signs, benches, tables and fishing platforms.

Full story:

http://www.mlive.com/news/citpat/index.ssf?/base/news-27/122856152455410.xml&coll=3

View Larger Map 

One of the best one-tank trips in our region centers on Cleveland’s Cuyahoga Valley National Park.  Cleveland has a national park?  Yes.  And it’s incredibly nice.  CVNP follows the hills, towpaths and riverbanks of the once-moribund Cuyahoga River.  Grit, determination and years of hard work helped the fine folks of Cleveland to assemble the parkland and activities.  Along with great hiking, the park boasts a tourist train, hostel, visitor’s centers and a winery.  The Cleveland Plain Dealer has a nice short column on the winery at the link below:

“It has exceeded what we planned for,” said Mike Lytz, a retired Akron City Schools teacher. “It’s been a challenge to keep enough wine on the shelves.”

The winery will turn out 6,000 gallons of wine this year. That’s well ahead of their business plan’s projections, and production has quadrupled over the last four years, Mike said.

So far, the Lytzes produce most of that wine from grapes and juice they buy from New York, California and elsewhere in Ohio. Only about 15 percent comes from grapes grown on the young vines they’re establishing in the heavy soil of the winery’s three acres of vineyards. They hope to increase that percentage gradually, but producing only estate-grown wines isn’t an objective, Mike said.

The couple signed a 60-year lease with the National Parks Service that calls for them to pay a percentage of gross receipts as rent. They got it through what the service calls its Countryside Initiative — an attempt to preserve and re-establish old-fashioned and ecologically friendly farms within the boundaries of a park pieced together over the last several decades by federal purchases of farmland and forest.

Full story:

http://blog.cleveland.com/metro/2008/12/cuyahoga_valley_park_winery_sa.html

Note: I think that Monroe County leaders would do well to study the Cuyahoga Valley NP project, the Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore and the Keweenaw National Historic Park for ideas about how to develop the Detroit River IWR and proposed River Raisin National Battlefield Park.