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Muck is measured on the shore of Saginaw Bay at Bay City State Recreation Area.

CLEAN BEACH? New Efforts Underway to Keep Muck Off State Park Swim Area

"Where People Meet the Muck" Title of Two-Year Sea Grant Study

August 16, 2014       2 Comments
By: Dave Rogers

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Can the Bay City State Park beach be returned to its glory days of yesteryear?

We may find the answer to that conundrum soon.

After more than half a century of mysterious muck fouling the Bay City State Park Beach, keeping swimmers away and grossing out visitors, the government is springing into action to address the problem.

"Where people meet the muck -- muck in the Saginaw Bay," is the title of a two-year $247,794 study, underway with Donna Kashian, Wayne State University, principal investigator.

"This research will help local communities address some of the challenging issues they are facing now, and in the future," said Catherine Riseng, Michigan Sea Grant research program manager and an assistant research scientist at University of Michigan's School of Natural Resources and Environment (SNRE). "It will also help make use of and build upon previous research and will be applicable to other communities."

The muck is the result of half a century of growth of "excessive nutrient inputs" (organic algae) into Saginaw Bay from home owner septic systems, municipal sewage treatment plants, agricultural runoff, lawn fertilizers, nutrient laden storm water, farm and animal wastes from pastures and feedlots.

Certainly only the most prescient observers could have anticipated the addition of the waste more than 250,000 cattle and hogs now populating Huron and Tuscola counties. Factory farms are a recent development, and a mounting problem, in agriculture. And the runoff of their waste is part of the Saginaw Bay muck problem.

No doubt the only two permanent residents of the state park, a pair of bald eagles nesting at the south end of the area, are querulously, and perhaps bemusedly, peering from their perch at the strange antics of confused humans below them.

My wife Dolores and I, both growing up on the West Side in the 1940s and 1950s, recall enjoying the State Park beach and swimming in the lagoon, then clear and seemingly clean. Those days ended in the late 1950s -- scientists now know -- when nutrient loading from sewers and animal waste created obnoxious muck that washed up on the beach and was almost impossible to remove.

As a news reporter in the 1970s, I recall watching big shots from Allis-Chalmers with fancy new beach cleaning equipment up to their knees in muck trying to free their expensive machine. An disappointed crowd of local officials and news reporters drifted away until the sun went down, shaking their heads, leaving the hapless sales manager with an expensive ruined suit and shoes and his once shiny contraption stuck in the muck.

Over the years local inventors have tried out their Rube Goldberg devices with similar results. The muck always won and the inventors had to get tow trucks to extract their machines.

Ernie Krygier and Kim Coonan, county commissioners and heroic volunteers, have groomed the beach for years but ultimately were always foiled by the muck. Providing a 1930-1940s environment at the beach remains only a dream of past glory.

Floating docks to bridge the muck have been tried and only the hardiest swimmers have the courage to jump the smelly muck to enjoy the water like in olden days.

Now comes a new attempt with a wheelbarrow full of Uncle Sam's bucks and an eminent Ph.D. in command for a scientific approach to solving the muck issue.

The official word: "Matching funds from SNRE and Michigan State University's Greening Michigan Institute, as well as support from partners, is critical to leveraging NOAA funding to address strategic coastal issues in Michigan."

Michigan Sea Grant is part of the NOAA-National Sea Grant network of 33 university-based programs in coastal areas around the country.

Subtitled "An Integrated Assessment of Beach Muck and Public Perception at the Bay City State Recreation Area, Saginaw Bay, Lake Huron," the study began this summer under direction of Dr. Donna Kashian.

"The results will provide stakeholders with a shared understanding of the current state of knowledge related to much and the options for effectively managing its impacts," states the BCSRA Lakefront and Beach Access Study Report received last Tuesday by the Bay County Board of Commissioners.

The report includes the goal statement: "Work collaboratively to support the expansion of the current maintenance activity for muck removal to the entire length of the non-vegetated sandy shoreline above the water's edge at BCSRA," and "DNR to seek and/or support efforts by others to secure permits to allow for on-going muck removal along the non-vegetated sandy shoreline above the water's edge."

The goals also include "a feasible plan for safe, appropriate disposal of the muck."

Dr. Kashian has a Ph.D. in Zoology from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, Wisconsin, M.S. Fisheries and Wildlife. 1998. Michigan State University, East Lansing, Michigan, B.S. in Biology and Earth Science (double major). 1993. Eastern Michigan University, Ypsilanti, Michigan.

Her fields of specialization include assessing the influence of global climate change on contaminants in the Great Lakes; Understanding ecological thresholds in the Great Lakes; Investigating long-term trends in benthic (ecological region at the lowest level of a body of water) population.

The Michigan Sea Grant College Program has received $2.1 million from the federal government, universities and partners in the first year of a four-year, $5 million grant award to support Great Lakes research, education and public outreach efforts in the state.

Michigan Sea Grant received about $1.4 million from the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and about $721,000 from the University of Michigan, Michigan State University and other partners for the first year of the grant.

"Our program focuses on the goals of research, outreach and education about coastal issues, and on understanding and improving the economic status of coastal communities," said Jim Diana, director of Michigan Sea Grant and a professor at the U-M School of Natural Resources and Environment. "Funding will support training for coastal businesses, public outreach about critical issues and three new research projects."

Michigan Sea Grant, a collaborative effort of the University of Michigan and Michigan State University established in 1969, will continue its work connecting people to the Great Lakes. For example, in partnership with Michigan State, Sea Grant extension educators based in coastal communities will continue to focus on Michigan's Great Lakes coastal issues.

Efforts that bring NOAA science and data to citizens, as well as communications on dangerous currents and other public health issues, will continue to be a priority.

In addition, coastal specialists will continue supporting fish habitat efforts to restore spawning and nursery areas for native fish, such as the lake whitefish and lake sturgeon, and many other important initiatives throughout the state.

Maybe, after lo these many decades, local folks and visitors from far and wide can again enjoy a pristine beach at Bay City State Park.

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"The BUZZ" - Read Feedback From Readers!

sheridangabriel Says:       On August 18, 2014 at 10:56 AM
This muck is the single, most important issue, for driving our economic and domestic revival back to a thriving and livable city. The muck that Bay City is stuck in, and has been stuck in for 50 plus years has driven away our tourist image, and the tourists themselves, with all their dollars and energy.Everything else is waiting for the return of our economic engine that a swimable,viable, enjoyable Saginaw Bay beach will return to our city. Imagine if we had done this over 50 years ago,with Wenonah Beach and Casino operating, all the small shops lining State Park drive from North Henry St.,a restored streetcar line,connecting downtown to the beach, and all the other spin offs the Beach would create. There is a Bay City gaining, not losing population.There is a Bay City bringing millions of dollars back into the community to improve and expand our historic districts. It is not too late. Wake up and get the muck out of here.
tennis1960 Says:       On August 20, 2014 at 12:45 AM
I remember growing up on Racoma beach in the 70's and as a teenager went to State Park Beach. As one of the younger beach comers we never ever thought to enter this area of abundance beach entrances and sprawling Bay City coastal area way due to the "MUCK". It just didn't make sense and was known to be a chemical hazard. But the upside was the entrance to the Tobico Marsh area which was opened and cut off twice a year created an overflow of Pike, Carp and Bass which as a beach dweller was a fishing frenzy for us beach kids. We just adapted to another way to enjoy this area. It was a great experience and because of this article I have remembered yet another part of this great community, as well as, my childhood. If you fix it....they will come. good job nice read
Agree? or Disagree?


Dave Rogers

Dave Rogers is a former editorial writer for the Bay City Times and a widely read,
respected journalist/writer in and around Bay City.
(Contact Dave Via Email at carraroe@aol.com)

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