Great Lakes Commission Releases Asian Carp Study

For the last several months, the Great Lakes Commission and the US Army Corps of Engineers have been conducting parallel studies on the feasibility of re-separating the Great Lakes and Mississippi River watersheds here in the Chicago Region. This challenging process is motivated by the threat of Asian Carp moving northward from the Illinois Waterway system through the Chicago and/or Calumet Rivers and into the Great Lakes.

While the Corps’ study is wide-ranging and focused on the Asian Carp threat throughout the Mississippi River and Great Lakes basins — and thus on a much slower timetable, to the frustration of many environmentalists and regional governmental leaders — the Great Lakes Commission has just released its full report, “Restoring the Natural Divide,” to the public. As noted here by the Chicago Tribune’s Andrew Stern and Sandra Maler,

Keeping the invasive Asian carp out of the Great Lakes will involve re-reversing the flow of the Chicago River — an engineering marvel completed a century ago through a complex network of rivers, canals, and locks, a new study said on Tuesday.

The study proposed three options to separate the Great Lakes from the Mississippi River basin near Chicago and keep Asian carp and other invaders out but all three would require re-reversing the flow of Chicago river which now carries Chicago’s treated waste water away from its Lake Michigan drinking water.

“Physically separating the Great Lakes and Mississippi River watersheds is the best long-term solution for preventing the movement of Asian carp and other aquatic invasive species, and our report demonstrates that it can be done,” said Tim Eder, executive director of the Great Lakes Commission, sponsor of the study with several other interest groups.

The prolific Asian carp have populated the Mississippi River and many of its tributaries and now threaten the $7 billion fishery in the lakes, which contain one-fifth of the world’s fresh surface water and supply 35 million people with drinking water.

The invasions by Silver and Bighead carp, first introduced to control algae in commercial fish ponds, have prompted promotional efforts to catch them as a source of cheap protein or for sport fishing, but their populations have exploded.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, which is conducting its own long-term study on possible separation of the watersheds that is due to be completed in 2015, has erected electric underwater barriers at a canal bottleneck near Chicago to try to keep the carp at bay, but some marine experts fear the carp may have already bypassed the barriers.

Several states bordering the lakes have demanded stronger action and have filed a suit against the Army Corps calling for quick action to erect separation barriers and speed up its study.

Michigan Attorney General Bill Schuette, who is pursuing the states’ lawsuit, praised the Commission’s study, saying “with thousands of jobs and a spectacular ecological resource at stake, we can no longer afford to wait for the federal government.”

Commercial shippers and the recreational and tour boat industries have opposed closing locks and dams between the two watersheds, saying it would destroy their businesses. Previous federal court rulings have also noted closing locks permanently would worsen flooding during storms.

Four Indiana congressmen issued statements objecting to the economic cost to the northwest corner of the state if plans are undertaken to permanently divide the two watersheds. . . .

Environmental groups backed the separation plans, with Marc Smith of the National Wildlife Federation saying the study “puts solutions on the table that are both feasible and affordable.”

The Commission’s 18-month-long study estimated the total cost of erecting barriers to achieve ecological separation and measures to address water quality, flood prevention and alternative transportation at up to $9.5 billion.

The least costly option, the “Mid System” approach, would cost between $3.3 billion and $4.3 billion and involve erecting four barriers including one near the existing O’Brien Lock nearly Lake Calumet. At that point, a facility could be built to transfer cargo between river barges and trains, trucks, or lake-going boats. A second barrier on the Chicago River could be equipped with a system to lift and transfer recreational boats from one side to the other.

Another option would place five barriers in waterways closer to Lake Michigan, and a third would place one barrier further downstream. Both pose significant transportation and flood management challenges, raising the costs to more than $9.5 billion, the study said.

The study projected a two-phase implementation of the plans with an initial target to erect barriers by 2022. Flood protection depends in part on completion by 2029 of a $3.7 billion system of tunnels and reservoirs designed to divert Chicago area’s stormwater, a project begun in the early 1970s.

Besides Asian carp and its ability to scour the lakes’ food supply and out-compete other fish species, the Army Corps has identified 39 other invasive species — 10 poised to enter the lakes and 29 ready to invade the rivers — that could traverse the two watersheds and threaten the ecological balance. Those include fish such as the northern snakehead, plants such as the water chestnut and mat-forming hydrilla, and crustaceans such as the spiny water flea.

A total of 180 non-native aquatic species are established in the Great Lakes, and 163 are established in the Mississippi River basin.

What will be interesting to see is how the Great Lakes Commission’s report impacts the current dialogue about the best way to proceed in keeping the Asian Carp at bay while simultaneously assuring the economic and environmental sustainability of the Great Lakes-to-the-Gulf of Mexico shipping connection. In the meantime, I recommend the Report’s extensive website, which also features abundant video and image resources.

Student Initiatives in Sustainable Agriculture Conference (March 31-April 1)

Lawrence University in Appleton, Wisconsin, will host a student-focused conference on sustainable agriculture on March 31 and April 1, 2012. One of the keynote speakers is John Ikerd, a noted author and longtime advocate of sustainable farming; I’ve assigned some of his writings in my SUST and PLS classes.

See this post on the Schaumburg’s Sustainable Future blog for more details on the conference and how to register. It’s cheap ($30) and includes food and lodging. Very cool stuff is on the conference slate for people interested in community/college gardens and farms, sustainable agriculture, etc.

Snowfall in an Urban Woodland

Last week we finally made the transition from autumn to winter, after weeks of unseasonable warmth that gave us a brown holiday season and made small children throughout the Chicago region wonder if it would ever snow again.

A "crick" that feeds into Hickory Creek; Pilcher Park, Joliet IL (M. Bryson)

When last week’s storm blew in, I was lucky enough to be deep in a wooded wilderness — rather than stuck in snarled traffic or confined to a windowless office, where we think of snow as irritating or irrelevant, rather than the miracle it is. But I wasn’t on a fancy ski trip at a remote Colorado resort, or  snowshoeing in the northern woods of Michigan’s Upper Peninsula; I was right here in Joliet, Illinois, in the middle of a perfectly ordinary weekday.

As I dropped my younger daughter off for pre-school at the Nature Center in Joliet’s Pilcher Park last Thursday morning, the snow began to fall, gently and steadily. The children gathered to start their day in the woods, all bundled up with thick mittens and noisy snow-pants and stout boots, their sense of joy infectious. Instead of lining up quietly as usual, they whooped and ran, skidded and flopped, embracing the snow with the full passion of childhood.

I was inspired, both by the kids’ delightful gamboling and the utter beauty of the woodland scene before me. Normally I leave the park and work dutifully answering email and meeting writing deadlines at the nearby downtown library or Jitters Coffee House before returning to retrieve my four-year-old naturalist. But that day I ignored my to-do list and took a winter ramble in the park as the wet snow coated my glasses and clung to my beard.

I am particularly fond of the Outer Loop trail, which winds through the northernmost and most remote section of Pilcher Park, a hill-and-valley landscape of towering trees and meandering creeks. Though beautiful in any season, the forest now displayed stunning visual complexity: every branch, twig, seed pod, dried stem, and piece of leaf litter was coated with snow; every textured surface outlined in delicate white.

Soon I came to my favorite spot in the park, an overlook marked by a low stone wall. Here one has a commanding view of a broad wooded valley from a sixty-foot-high bluff. The only sounds were the ticking of snow upon my coat, the cheep of a lone sparrow, and the distant whistle of the Rock Island train.

Looping my way back, I meandered along Hickory Creek, which defines the park’s southern border. Few things beguile more than a flowing stream in a snowy woodland, its rippling music foretelling of colder days ahead — when the restless water turns to ice, and the river sleeps with the woods.

Winter in Pilcher Park: Hickory Creek, 19 Jan 2012 (M. Bryson)

In such places, liberated from human noise and litter by the gathering snowfall, one may comprehend the value and special magic of urban wilderness — the wild close at hand, even here in our cities and suburbs.

Yes, winter is here again, with its short days, slower rhythms, cold nights . . . and, at long last, snow. It’s good to see it back.

A version of this essay was published as “Winter Is Back, and It’s Good To See” in my monthly op-ed column for the Joliet Herald-News on 19 January 2012. Download a pdf of Pilcher Park’s Trails to see the park’s extensive trail network for hiking and nature exploration. See more photos of Hickory Creek and Pilcher Park here.

Internship Opportunity at Alliance for a Greener South Loop

Looking for a cool sustainability-themed internship opportunity here in downtown Chicago? Want to hone your research and writing skills in a professional context, while furthering the progressive goals of a local environmental organization? The Alliance for a Greener South Loop (AGSL), an environmental advocacy non-profit dedicated to improving and encouraging green practices in the South Loop neighborhood of Chicago, is seeking an intern this winter/spring to work on the following:

  • Research/document local resources to support green efforts (e.g., buying electricity in Illinois’s open market)
  • Writing up best practices locally (business, residential, and/or institutional) using input from AGSL award applications and further research as needed
  • Answering questions received by residents, organizations, and companies about green practices such as green roof planning/installation, wind turbines, and composting
  • Generating community engagement through developing online surveys about, for example, green purchasing attitudes and patterns about paper, electricity, etc.
  • Developing ideas to support individual and collective behavioral change and creating a voice to influence local policy decisions related to sustainability

Application Deadline: 1 February 2012

Internship Requirements:

The application process for this internship is competitive, as strong writing, research, time management, and deadline-meeting skills are a must. Knowledge about current environmental issues and sustainability practices (such as those covered in RU’s SUST curriculum) is important, as well. Experience analyzing data and/or developing information for websites is desirable, though not required. Current RU undergraduates may apply; preference is given to Sustainability Studies majors. Applicants should have sophomore standing, at least one SUST course with a grade of B or better, and a minimum cumulative 3.0 GPA.

Workload / Hours / Academic Requirements:

The selected intern will be supervised by Ms. Gail Merritt of the AGSL, with academic support/direction by Professor Mike Bryson in the Sustainability Studies program. The basic work requirement is a minimum of 10 hours per week for twelve weeks (120 hours total) of on-task work at the AGSL, some of which may be completed off-site (depending upon the intern’s school/work schedule). Other requirements include submitting weekly timesheets to the on-site supervisor and faculty instructor; holding 2-3 meetings with the instructor to discuss the progress of the internship; keeping an informal weekly journal of notes and reflections summarizing that week’s work; and submitting a final research paper (7-10pp) that synthesizes reflections on the internship experience within the context of a sustainability issue(s) of particular interest to the student.

This internship is unpaid but may be taken for SUST 350 course credit (Service & Sustainability, 3sh, pre-req ENG 102). SUST majors may use this class as a major requirement, relevant elective, or general elective; non-majors may use it as elective credit. The successful applicant may register for SUST 350 as a “course by arrangement” for the Spring, Summer, or Fall 2012 semesters. Regardless, the internship would begin in early February, 2012.

Application Deadline: 1 February 2012

To apply, send an email application to Professor Mike Bryson (mbryson@roosevelt.edu) that includes the following:

  • Your name, contact information, student ID, RU major, and previously completed SUST courses (semester and grade noted)
  • Personal statement indicating your interest in the internship experience (500 words max)
  • Work availability (days/times), assuming a ten-hour/week commitment with flexible scheduling possible
  • A writing sample of two graded RU essays, with class/instructor/date noted (attached to your email as Word or PDF documents)

For More Information

Contact Mike Bryson (mbryson@roosevelt.edu; 312.281.3148 office; 815.557.3153 cell) and/or check out the Alliance for a Greener South Loop website.

New Book on the Chicago River’s Reversal

The reversal of the Chicago River — one of the great engineering projects of the late 19th century — impacted both the watersheds of the Chicago Region as well as the economy of the city and its suburbs. While that transformation and its consequences have been much discussed, a new photo book significantly adds to that documentation, as discussed by a recent article in the Chicago Sun-Times:

Beginning in 1894, photographers set out to document the mammoth project. Some of those 22,000 images are now featured in the recently released book by Richard Cahan and Michael Williams, “The Lost Panoramas; When Chicago Changed its River and the Land Beyond.” Few of the images have ever been seen before, the authors say. The negatives were recently discovered by accident in a basement of the James C. Kirie Water Reclamation Plant in Des Plaines.

“Nearly every photo is panoramic in nature — wide-angle, unobstructed views of a world that no longer exists,” the authors write.

The book, published by CityFiles Press, retails for $45. Cahan is a former Chicago Sun-Times picture editor.

Heather Diedrich Is First Sustainability Studies Graduate

After less than two years as a formal degree program, I’m pleased to announce that our first Sustainability Studies graduate walked across the stage at Roosevelt’s storied Auditorium Theater on Dec. 16th, 2011. Congratulations to my former student and advisee, Heather Diedrich!

Heather Diedrich with SUST professors Greg Buckley (left) and Mike Bryson

In November, the Chicago Tribune interviewed Heather about her choice to come here:

Heather Diedrich didn’t know what she wanted to do after high school, so she entered the workforce instead of going to college. “I didn’t want to waste time or money until I knew what I wanted to do,” she says.

But after several years of working as a server and in retail, Diedrich was ready to get serious about her education. She stumbled upon an announcement for Roosevelt University’s brand-new undergraduate sustainability studies program and was intrigued. “It was just perfect for me. The topics to be studied — food, water, social responsibility — are what I like to read about and what I care about in life.”

Heather and RU's President, Chuck Middleton

My colleagues and I are delighted that Heather made her choice and proud to see her complete the program. One thing that has really struck me as I’ve taught my first several SUST courses is the intelligence, motivation, and passion of the students who’ve enrolled as majors in Sustainability Studies. They’re among the most talented folks I’ve ever worked with.

Summer 2012 Great Lakes Research Opportunities for Undergrads at UWM

Here’s an exciting summer research opportunity for SUST majors with interests in science and water. The National Science Foundation’s Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU) program funds summer research programs all over the US each year, and one noteworthy prospect is the summer internship program at the Center for Great Lakes Studies at the University of Wisconsin — Milwaukee.

Research Opportunities at the Center for Great Lakes Studies (Univ Wisc - Milwaukee)

Information about the program (pdf)
Duration: 4 June through 10 August 2012
This is nice: $5,000 stipend + travel and housing support
Application deadline: 5 March 2012

For those SUST majors with some science in their background, particularly biology and/or chemistry, this is a potentially outstanding opportunity to do original research under the guidance of a professional scientist on a Great Lakes science/sustainability topic of your choice. Back in my undergrad years in the 1980s, when the REU program was new, I benefited from two summer internships — one studying avian ecology at the University of Michigan Biological Station (northern Lower Michigan), the other learning about the biogeochemistry of salt marshes and coastal marine ponds at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (Cape Cod). Both were tremendous learning experiences I’ve never forgotten.

Debut of the Water in Schaumburg Project

This past fall semester, students in my Sustainability Studies 220 Water seminar at Roosevelt University’s Schaumburg Campus collaborated on a semester-long research endeavor, the Water in Schaumburg Project. Small groups of students researched water resource issues related to water supply, wastewater treatment, wetlands, and the Salt Creek watershed — all within the context of the Village of Schaumburg and surrounding communities. They wrote essays, gathered images, and collected/annotated internet resources on their four key topics; and after synthesizing and editing their work, I uploaded it to the Schaumburg’s Sustainable Future website — a collaborative endeavor that originated in the spring of 2011 with my SUST 210 Sustainable Future class.

Congratulations to the members of SUST 220 for their hard work on this project! And coming up in spring 2012 — a transportation-focused project from my online SUST 210 class.

The “Development” of Teale Woods in Joliet: A Personal Critique

Teale Woods, winter 2011 (M. Bryson)

A year and a half ago, I wrote an op-ed column in the Joliet Herald-News (reprinted later on this blog) about an obscure tract of urban forest in Joliet called Teale Woods. Heretofore an overgrown and litter-strewn city woodland, the place nevertheless possessed an air of mystery and enchantment.

No doubt my fascination with this humble woodland was partly due to its namesake, Edwin Way Teale (1899-1980), a Joliet native and one of America’s foremost nature writers and photographers during the 20th century. A skilled naturalist and brilliant observer of plants, animals, and human nature alike, Teale’s eloquent descriptions of the natural world included not just remote wilderness areas, but everyday landscapes familiar to us all — backyards, farms, even urban spaces.

Edwin Way Teale
Edwin Way Teale

I like to think Teale would’ve found much here to appreciate and value. He had a knack of seeing wonderful things — whether a locally rare bird species making its spring migration, or a beautifully-patterned lichen on the rough bark of an oak tree. Such treasures abound if we take the time to notice them, even in ecologically compromised patches of urban nature.

Not long after my March 2010 article appeared, the Will County Forest Preserve District revealed a Preserve Improvement and Management Plan (pdf) to convert Teale Woods into a 15-acre recreational space, and then solicited public input on their ideas. I was one of seven people to provide written comments that summer, and I urged the WCFPD to avoid over-developing the site and keep the woodland as natural in appearance as possible, in accordance with the spirit of conservation espoused by Teale in his decades of writing about and advocating on behalf of the environment. This fall, the Forest Preserve completed $100,905.50 worth of work building a 0.3-mile paved trail and clearing a large lawn area at the trail head. It’s fair to say, then, that I have a vested interest in the results of these labors.

I should emphasize at this point that I unequivocally support the Forest Preserve’s untiring efforts in acquiring open space, providing outdoor recreation opportunities, educating citizens, and restoring native ecosystems. The WCFPD is the driving force for environmental conservation in Will County as well as a major contributor to its citizens’ quality of life. I have deep respect and sincere appreciation for the work of the Forest Preserve and the many preserve units my family and I visit and enjoy regularly.

Nevertheless, I feel that the development of Teale Woods has missed the mark.

In place of the narrow footpath that once afforded intimacy with the woods is a winding stretch of 10-foot-wide pavement that resembles a road more than a trail. Such an “improvement” feels like overkill within such a small tract of land, where scale is important and every square yard of green space counts.

Bench and path at Teale Woods (M. Bryson)

While it’s supposed to be accessible, parts of the path are so steeply sloped that it’s frankly hard to imagine a person in a non-motorized wheelchair being able to traverse it comfortably. Nor is the path well-suited for biking, for unlike many other preserve trails elsewhere in Will County the trail is extremely short (just a third of a mile) and goes literally nowhere: from the Center/Theodore intersection down to traffic-choked Route 53/Broadway, well north of the existing trail segment within Joliet’s Broadway Greenway. The contrast of this stubby and isolated trail with the continuous trail networks throughout the Rock Run and Theodore Marsh preserves on the far West Side is striking, to say the least.

Just as disappointing is the unattractive and poorly-placed bench on an incongruous concrete pad near the public access at Theodore and Center Streets. Marooned within an enlarged lawn area that was bulldozed of shrubs and small trees, this uninviting “rest stop” has a decidedly uninspiring view of a garbage can and the blacktopped path.

Bench and grassy meadow at Teale Woods, November 2011 (M. Bryson)

The cleared meadow may have been populated formerly by scrubby non-native plants of little ecological value, but I’m not sure the open space as currently conceived is much better. What’s lost now is the visual buffer the imperfect woods provided along busy Theodore Street, which also effectively shielded the preserve from nearby traffic noise. Now the clearing merely feels exposed and lonely, and of dubious value as a recreational space. For what? one is inspired to ask. Instead, I’d advocate using this area as a prairie restoration site, as has been done on many other Preserve holdings.

Teale Woods is still a valuable green space in the heart of Joliet’s urban core. But in sacrificing modest and aesthetically-sensitive design for the dubious recreational values of a road-like trail and a turfgrass field, its stewards have compromised the forest’s fundamental character.

The old path at Teale Woods, winter 2011 (M. Bryson)

I’m not exactly sure what Edwin Way Teale would think of the woods and the changes that have occurred these last few months. But I seriously doubt he’d be much impressed.

This is a revised and expanded version of my regular op-ed column that appears today as “Improvements” Strip Forest of Its Greenery (Sunday 18 December 2011) in the Joliet Herald-News. More information on the Will Country Forest Preserve District’s development plan for Teale Woods can be found here. You can view some photos of the preserve’s transformation and its finished state from this fall.

Russell Hoban (1925-2011), renowned author for young and old

One of my favorite children’s authors, Russell Hoban, died this past Tuesday at the age of 86. Hoban was a skilled and highly-praised novelist, as well; but as a father of young girls, I came to know his work through his immortal Frances the Badger series of books from the 1960s, which featured brilliant illustrations — first from Garth Williams, then from Hoban’s wife, Lillian Hoban.

The first page of "Bedtime for Frances" (1960); illustration by Garth Williams.

This appreciation published today the Lawrence Downs of the New York Times aptly describes the remarkable level of craft and insight Hoban brought to his work.

It’s hard to write a book. It’s harder to write one with living characters, clever scenes, warmth and wit. And it’s harder still when the people you’re writing for can’t read, or read only a little, when the words you choose must be simple, short and sweet. And if not always sweet, at least short.

Pictures help. They help a lot, sometimes more than they should. If pictures in a picture book are an enchanted countryside, the words are often just the tracks the story chugs along toward bedtime, more functional than lovely.

Russell Hoban, who died on Tuesday in London, age 86, was an author whose books for youngest readers contained writing as good as the drawings. He wrote grown-up books, too, which were praised for dazzling and inventive language. A Times reviewer called “Riddley Walker,” Mr. Hoban’s 1980 novel about a postnuclear dystopia, Beckettian, Boschian and Twain-like. Mr. Hoban knew what he was doing.

Which is obvious from his seven books about Frances. Frances is a badger who has a mother, father, baby sister and friends whose stories unfold in sentences that will delight you and make you laugh. Frances is witty and stubborn. She is adorable not because the author tells us she is. She just is:

“Frances did not eat her egg.
She sang a little song to it.
She sang the song very softly:
I do not like the way you slide,
I do not like your soft inside,
I do not like you lots of ways,
And I could do for many days
Without eggs.”

Children’s books, like pop songs, are simple things we’ll never run out of, partly because so many people want to write them and think they can. But simplicity is harder than it looks. So are depth and beauty. Mr. Hoban’s Frances books take us all the way to delight, using an easy-reader vocabulary.