« Courts - "Feds, states in dispute over court interpreters;" and more from Indiana | Main | Ind. Gov't. - "Study committees tackling two issues state must resolve" »

Sunday, July 17, 2011

Environment - "Endangered Indiana beaches"

Some of you may remember the beginnings of a nationwide push for clean water, one that was spurred on in 1969 when Cleveland's Cuyahoga River, which emptied into Lake Erie, erupted in flames. From Wikipedia:

Lake Erie infamously became very polluted in the 1960s and 1970s as a result of the quantity of heavy industry situated in cities on its shores, with reports of "bacteria-laden beaches" and "fish contaminated by industrial waste." In the 1970s, patches of the lake were "declared dead" because of industrial waste as well as sewage from runoffs; as New York Times reporter Denny Lee wrote in 2004, "The lake, after all, is where the Rust Belt meets the water."
Much has improved since the fire. But one wonders if we are on a fifty-year cycle with the Great Lakes. Earlier this month the ILB had two entries headed "'Dr. Beach' picks top 5 Great Lakes beaches; Indiana Dunes not mentioned." The second referenced a story on The Lake's water quality declining.

Today the Fort Wayne Journal Gazette has an editorial, headed "Endangered Indiana beaches," that concludes:

For nearly two decades Florida International University professor Stephen Leatherman – aka Dr. Beach – has released a list of the nation’s top 10 coastal beaches. This year he picked the Top 5 Great Lakes Beaches. Indiana Dunes did not make Dr. Beach’s Top 5, likely because he disqualifies any beach that’s frequently closed for e-coli contamination.

On Wednesday, the [National Environmental] Defense Council, along with the Rocky Mountain Climate Organization, released a separate report detailing the damage climate change is wreaking on the five Great Lakes national parks, including Indiana Dunes.

According to the report, climate change is causing more frequent severe weather, less ice cover, increased water temperatures, erosion and loss of wildlife diversity.

The last decade was the hottest decade, and temperatures at Indiana Dunes were 1.6 degrees hotter than the 20th century average.

Warmer temperatures contribute to lower lake levels, the spread of invasive species and declining wildlife.

Indiana Dunes – boasts of more than 1,100 flowering plant varieties and the greatest biological diversity of any Great Lakes park – is especially at risk. The Dunes are already reporting a population decline of the endangered Karner blue butterfly. The butterflies depend on snow cover to survive winter. The report also projects an imminent kudzu invasion.

Hotter temperatures also increase ground-level ozone, an air pollutant that can irritate the respiratory system. The Indiana Dunes area already exceeds federal air quality standards for ozone.

The Dunes brought in more than $54 million in 2009. The studies should prompt residents in the Great Lakes states to demand greater protections of this important resource. The Great Lakes are not only a nearby source of recreation they also are the largest source of drinking water in the world.

More here from a story July 13th in the Minneapolis Star-Tribune, and this one from July 13th by Kathleen Quilligan of the NWI Times, that begins:
By the end of the 21st century, summers at the Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore could be as hot as recent summers in Gainesville, Fla., according to a report released Wednesday by several environmental groups.
For the report, "Great Lakes National Parks in Peril," check here.

Posted by Marcia Oddi on July 17, 2011 01:52 PM
Posted to Environment