Helping Coastal Communities Evaluate Wind Energy Options
Michigan is recognized as a state with strong wind energy development potential. As a result, coastal communities are likely to face pressure to develop wind farms. Currently, there is limited information about how coastal wind turbines might impact communities, businesses and the environment. Many towns are not prepared to evaluate future wind energy proposals.

See: Details (PDF)

Restoring Natural Flows in the Clinton River Watershed
The 80-mile long Clinton River has its headwaters in rural and urbanizing areas and then flows through heavily urbanized sections of southern Oakland and Macomb counties before eventually draining into Lake St. Clair in southeast Michigan. Although water quality in the Clinton River has improved over the last 30 years, the river faces a number of environmental challenges, including extreme fluctuation of water flow.

See: Details (PDF)

Evaluating Potential Wind Energy Conflicts in Coastal West Michigan
Wind energy has the potential be an environmentally sensitive alternative to fossil fuels because wind is renewable and can be used to generate electricity without emitting greenhouse gases and other pollutants. Michigan’s coastal zones possess abundant wind resources. However, wind energy development might present challenges for tourism-dependent lakeshore communities. Poorly sited wind farms may interfere with other uses of the coast, such as recreation, commercial fishing, and nature preservation, and not all communities are prepared to manage these conflicts.

See: Details (PDF)

Economic Opportunities for Southern Lake Huron Communities
The declining recreational Chinook salmon fishery has negatively impacted the coastal economies of communities located in Michigan’s “Thumb” area, from Tuscola county to Port Huron in St. Clair county. Historically, individual port towns and coastal businesses in the thumb area have worked in isolation. However, a regional assessment could help communities work collaboratively to adapt to these changes and challenges.

See: Details (PDF)

Integrated Assessment of Coastal Brownfield Redevelopment in Michigan: A Spatial Decision Support Systems Approach
Michigan’s coastline includes many brownfields – underused properties that contain hazardous or toxic substances making redevelopment difficult. Using GIS-analysis based on interviews with people involved in cleanup and redevelopment efforts, decision-analysis theory, and various computer algorithms, a spatial decision support system will be developed to help evaluate project data against different redevelopment possibilities and alternative policy scenarios. The target outcome will be a user-friendly system that will enable policy makers, managers and stakeholders to more effectively accomplish the goals of coastal brownfield redevelopment, and provide a model system that could be adapted for use in other redevelopment efforts throughout the Great Lakes region.

See: EMU Exemplar article (PDF)

Dr. William Welsh, Eastern Michigan University, wwelsh@emich.edu
Dr. Robert Jones, Eastern Michigan University

Rein in the Runoff: Alternative Stormwater Management Practices that Address the Environmental, Social, and Economic Aspects of Water Resources in Spring Lake Township and Village
 
Stormwater management is a major issue for municipalities. As increasing amounts of land are converted to impervious surfaces, water that was once absorbed naturally is now conveyed by storm drains and canals to nearby surface waters. This stormwater runoff increases both pollutant loads and water temperatures, which have adverse impacts on water quality, fish and aquatic insects, and can lead to an unstable system. This issue is especially pertinent in two fast-growing west Michigan communities—Spring Lake Township and the Village of Spring Lake—located along the shores of Lake Michigan at the mouth of the Grand River. Spring Lake and the Grand River already suffer from high levels of phosphorus and potentially toxic cyanobacteria blooms. Nearshore areas of Lake Michigan are now showing signs of impairment from nonpoint source pollution. The research project takes an integrated approach to address stormwater issues in these communities given their intimate connection to several economically and recreationally important aquatic systems.

See: Project website

Alan Steinman, Annis Water Resources Institute, Grand Valley State University, steinmaa@gvsu.edu
 

What are the Causes, Consequences and Correctives of Fish Contamination in the Detroit River AOC that Cause Health Consumption Advisories?

The Detroit River remains under several fish consumption advisories that are in place to protect human health but which also impact the local economy. Despite the impact of these advisories, little progress has been made in developing effective strategies that address them. For example, although more than $120 million dollars has been spent removing toxic sediment in the river, there is little evidence of ecosystem improvement. There are also many uncertainties about the most important aspects of these advisories, including the relative contribution of sediment hot spots, the role of point compared to nonpoint sources of contaminants, and the appropriateness of the current method for developing consumption advisories. Because of these complexities, the research will seek solutions for remedying consumption advisories through two approaches:

• Decreasing toxic levels in fish over the long-term
• Reducing human health risks over the short- and long-term

See: Project Website

Donna Kashian, University of Michigan, dkashian@umich.edu