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High & Dry on Sleeping Bear Pt.
Yesterday I was walking the beach from the Maritime Museum to North Bar Lake picking up trash and doing the botulism survey looking for dead birds and fish. My bag wasn’t big enough to haul away everything that washed up on the beach.
This sailboat was washed ashore sometime before Friday and is from Milwaukee. I’m not sure how it got here, but the Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore rangers were notified and as I understand it, they are working with the Coast Guard to find the owner and remove the boat.
That’s not all we’re getting from Milwaukee. Probably unrelated to this incident, there was heavy flooding in the Milwaukee area in July leading to a huge amount of trash being washed into Lake Michigan. It takes several weeks for the lake currents to bring it all around to our beaches, but it’s here!
The first beaches in Sleeping Bear Dunes to be assaulted by the trash wash-up were in the southern part of the park – around the Platte River/Esch Road area. A group of about 40 young people from Calvin College and some Boy Scouts and an American Hereditary girl were out last week and over the weekend cleaning beaches in that area. They picked up 2 pick-up trucks full of trash, and there is more out there. There is still a lot of trash in the lake and over the course of the next few weeks, it’ll make its way to the shore.
I’d like to encourage anyone who wants to help us keep our beaches clean to get in touch with me (Kerry Kelly 231-421-1645 kellykj@charter.net or call Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore (231-326-5134) to sign up as a volunteer to help us clean the beaches.
Comment
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Comment by Kerry Kelly on August 30, 2010 at 6:33pm -
I checked with the Chief Ranger at Sleeping Bear Dunes. He says that the law allows the US Magistrate to set the amount of the fine and that any costs associated with removing the ship and salvaging it would have to be paid by the owner.
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Comment by Rachel North on August 26, 2010 at 12:58pm -
Kerry, is there a fine associated with abandoning a boat like that? Seems to me that sort of irresponsibility should be officially discouraged ... And to arrive with the sails still attached, wow. It must have been the strangest sight to see it "come in."
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Comment by Alexandra M on August 25, 2010 at 11:15pm -
Last Wednesday I was swimming right down from the location of this sailboat after hiking the dunes! So, to add to the investigation, the boat must have arrived before noon time Wednesday August 18th! It is definitely quite the sight.
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Comment by Kerry Kelly on August 25, 2010 at 12:02pm
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I've had some people ask about informally just picking up trash and not being part of our Adopt-A-Beach program.
We are happy to have people do this. It would be great if everybody who goes to the beach would take a garbage bag and pick up any trash they saw. Anyone who does this can leave their garbage bags by the trash cans at the beach access points.
There is a benefit to being part of the Adopt-A-Beach program in that we work with the Alliance for the Great Lakes at www.greatlakes.org where they keep track of the type and amount of trash that is picked up. They also work with the Coast Guard to identify the source of trash wash-ups like we have today.
So, having a lot of people involved in keeping our beaches clean is really good. If you can be part of the organized effort, that's even better.
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