Detroit River cleanup approved for newest Michigan historical marker

Michigan
Environmental Report

Volume 25 . Number 1
Winter 2007

MEC STAFF

President
Lana Pollack

Office Manager and
Assistant to the President
Judy Bearup

Policy Director
James Clift

Senior Policy Advisor
Dave Dempsey

Campaign Coordinator
Roshani Deraniyagle-Dantas

Development Director
Andy Draheim

Education Specialist
Keith Etheridge

Communications Specialist
Elizabeth Fedorchuk

Energy Program Director
David Gard

Land Programs Director
Brad Garmon

Project Manager and Development Associate
Brianna Gerard

Health Policy Director
Tess Karwoski

Deputy Policy Director
Kate Madigan

Communicatons Director
Hugh McDiarmid, Jr.

Land Use and Energy Program Associate
Ariel Shaw

Land Programs Associate
Benjamin Stupka

MER Design & Layout
Rose Homa

GREAT LAKES

Detroit River cleanup approved for newest Michigan historical marker

The first historical marker for an MEC-sponsored Michigan Conservation Trail was approved by the Michigan Historical Commission in December. The environmental recovery of the Detroit River is the theme of the marker, which will be installed at the entrance to the visitor center of the new Detroit River International Wildlife Refuge in Trenton.
“The Detroit River, home to Michigan’s early Native Americans and used for transportation and power generation, was threatened by pollutants such as oil and phosphorus,” stated Department of History, Arts and Libraries Director William Anderson. “The subsequent cleanup of the river and its ultimate recovery is one of Michigan’s great environmental successes.”
The discovery of industrial mercury in the river in 1970 helped encourage passage of the federal Clean Water Act. The marker is a joint project of MEC and the Michigan Historical Center, with funding from the Americana Foundation. Other markers proposed by MEC include one honoring the conservation work of parks pioneer E. Genevieve Gillette and another celebrating the recovery of the Kirtland’s warbler, whose summer breeding range is almost exclusively in northern Michigan.

—Dave Dempsey, MEC

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