Superior Watershed Partnership Projects...
GREAT WATERS
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If You Are A Tourist to the UP.... First visit Great Waters online at Great Waters
We would like to know how your experience was. There are a number of ways you can help us learn more about what is out there. We are interested to know the place you visited, the things you saw and maybe even the data you collected. There are a few forms you can use.
The simplest form Great Waters Experience Form - Please fill out! just highlights your general experience.
By sending us this form with information from your visit to the UP, Great Waters can determine trends and patterns at the different waypoints. This will further allow us to continue to offer you a good time!
Sediment in our streams is the #1 pollution problem our waterways face in the Upper Peninsula. The primary way sediment enters our streams are at road/stream crossings. While in your travels across the Upper Peninsula you come across a road/stream crossing. Take a look! What condition is it in? Does the stream look clean and free of sediment? Can you see rocks or small pebbles in the stream? Take a photo and fill out the Road/Stream Crossing form and email them to info@superiorwatersheds.org! This will help the Superior Watershed Partnership know where problem areas exist and where some attention is needed to protect our water!
Superior Watershed Partnership and Great Waters hosting a service outing.
The service outing will take place September 13, 2007 on Grand Island Recreation Area. Service Outings are a way for you as a tourist to lend a hand in making our trails and other natural attractions safe, accessible and clean for years to come. These events are a fun way to meet people while you travel and to have access to remote areas not often visited. More information will be posted soon. Check back for details or call our office.
We want businesses in the UP to support watershed protection!!
View the decals available for businesses to display in their windows showing they care about the UP's watersheds. Latest Decal Version
The decals are currently available to businesses that have adopted a conservation policy and are doing their part to protect the watersheds of the UP. Call our office for details.
FOR GREAT WATERS HOTELS and OTHER BUSINESSES - Conserve Water and Energy with some significant but simple steps.
The Superior Watershed Partnership has developed the Great Waters Conservation Program Checklist for hotels to take simple measures to conserve water and energy, reduce, reuse, and recycle waste, and create an overall GREEN place to stay in the U.P.
Market research shows that 87% of people would be more likely to chose a "green" hotel over a "non green" establishment.
Hotels and motels investing in energy efficient lighting upgrades can expect to yield a profit of $6.27 for every dollar spent. Now that's worth looking in to!
Please call our office if you're interested in participating in our Green Business Program. We will send you a checklist to fill out and send back. If you are doing 10 or more of the simple steps (or plan to), you will be awarded with a certificate saying you're officially a Great Waters Green Business and a sticker for your front window.
In addition, we have a Linen/Towel Reuse Program for hotels. If you sign up for the program you will receive towel tents and pillow cards for the number of rooms in your establishment. Give us a call to find out more!
WHAT IS GREAT WATERS?
With 17,000 miles of shoreline to thank for its remote location, the Upper Peninsula of Michigan is a virtual sanctuary for wildlife and humans alike. An expanse of 16,452 square miles allows deer and moose to wander freely throughout countless acres of peaceful old-growth forests. Meanwhile, some 4,300 inland lakes, 12,000 miles of stream and over 300 waterfalls flow into the world's largest ecosystem of fresh water. The Great Lakes support abundant wildlife and a diverse economy, as well as endless recreational opportunities. And at the heart of it all is a five-county region located in the U.P.'s eastern half - the place where Huron, Michigan and Superior come together to create The Great Waters. Great History: Huron, Michigan and Superior
It's no wonder that the Great Waters region has been called one of the last great places on earth. The region is a result of the Wisconsin glacier receding at the end of the last ice age, some 10,000 years ago. The melted ice created Lake Agassiz, filling five large basins that glaciers had carved. These five marvels - aptly named the Great Lakes - have since been a source of inspiration and income for millions of people. The Great Waters region specifically celebrates the place where the three largest Great Lakes meet. Lake Huron, named by French explorers that inhabited its shores, is, by way of the gorgeous Straights of Mackinac, hydrologically inseparable from Lake Michigan, whose name is derived from the Algonquin word mishigami, meaning "great water." Mighty Lake Superior was known in early days as "Le Lac Superior," meaning "Upper Lake."
A Closer Look at the Heart of The Great Waters
Discovered by European explorers, Lake Huron is labeled on early maps as "Lac de Huron" or "Lake of Huron Indians." Home to Manitoulin Island, the world's largest freshwater island, and known for its unique bays and shallow beaches, Lake Huron offers visitors diverse outdoor recreation opportunities, such as sea kayaking, biking and hiking. You can visit historical Mackinac Island, or sail between the Les Cheneaux Islands off the coast of Hessel and Cedarville, two picturesque U.P. fishing villages. The Lake Huron basin, draining from parts of Canada and both peninsulas of Michigan, is known to be heavily forested and exceptionally scenic.
Home to the world's largest freshwater dunes, Lake Michigan's beaches are known for their soft offwhite sand. Natives often refer to the "singing sands," named for the unique noise (caused by high quartz content) it makes when beach-goers walk along the shore. Because its beaches are so breathtaking, visitors often spend leisure time camping along the shoreline or admiring abundant wildlife. In addition to some Michigan streams and in-land lakes, parts of Wisconsin, Illinois and Indiana drain into Lake Michigan's basin, which varies in population and economic influence from its northern and southern parts. St. Ignace, Brevort and Naubinway are a few U.P. towns that boast Lake Michigan views.
Known for its clear, cold water and agate beaches, Lake Superior is remarkable in terms of coastal points of interest. Because many state and national parks and recreation areas line the coast, there are plenty of opportunities for camping and hiking. Parts of Minnesota, Wisconsin, Canada and Michigan make up the Lake Superior basin. The eastern end of the lake drains into the St. Mary's River before water eventually flows into Lake Huron. A series of channels and locks called the Soo Locks were built to move ships between the two uneven lake levels. The Locks also mark where Sault Ste. Marie, MI, meets Sault Ste. Marie, Canada. Along Lake Superior's rocky coast in the U.P., you'll also find striking scenic communities such as historical Grand Marais and sunny Paradise, where avid birders flock to witness spring and fall migration.
Great Watersheds - An Introduction to Watersheds
We all live, work and play in a watershed. Watershed health affects almost every aspect of life - our water, wildlife, forests, farms and communities. A watershed is simply an area of land that drains to a common point; such as one of the Great Lakes. It might help to think of a watershed as a big bath tub. The hills and ridges resemble the walls of the tub and the streams and rivers all drain to one point, just like all the bath water eventually goes down the tub drain. Each watershed catches the rainfall and precipitation we see through the changing seasons and channels it into to a stream or inland lake, and ultimately to one of the Great Lakes. It also helps to remember that each watershed is unique. When you visit the Upper Peninsula, you are visiting a unique Great Lakes landscape surrounded by water.
In order to maintain healthy watersheds, we should remain aware of a variety of threats:
1) Sprawl and poorly planned development.
2) Improper use of pesticides, herbicides and other hazardous products.
3) Contaminated storm water runoff from parking lots and roads.
4) Invasive plants and aquatic species.
5) Loss of terrestrial and aquatic habitat.
6) Clogged streams due to harmful sediment from erosion.
Watersheds Within The Great Waters
The Upper Peninsula of Michigan is primarily made up of three large watersheds that drain into Lake Superior, Lake Michigan and Lake Huron. Each of these large watersheds is made up of smaller watersheds that are drained by rivers and streams. In fact, over 150 smaller watersheds make up the three Great Lakes watersheds in the Upper Peninsula.
Sustaining Our Natural Resources
Perhaps you have a special place that you like to visit: a favorite trail, waterfall or forest. You can get involved with Great Waters and help protect your favorite place, and others, in the Upper Peninsula. Visitors and local residents act as eyes and ears as they hike, bike, ski or drive through the many watersheds in the U.P. Here are some ways you and your family can help maintain our watersheds to ensure a healthy, beautiful region for many visits to come: Send us a digital photo of a unique natural feature, erosion site or other things you encounter (good or bad) as you explore (we call it taking 'field inventory') the Upper Peninsula. If you have a Global Positioning System (GPS), please share the location coordinates with us.
1) Participate in one of the many volunteer service projects and help protect and restore water quality, wildlife habitat, and public access sites throughout the Upper Peninsula.
2) Join an active Earth Keeper citizen watershed advisory council as a "watershed liason." Or, become a member of the Superior Watershed Partnership and receive regular updates on U.P. watersheds and volunteer opportunities. See website for details.
3) Learn online about basic stream monitoring. It's so easy that even the kids can do it! Monitor a section of stream that you care about and share the information with us by filling out the form online. You can also print it off and mail it to us.
View a map of the watersheds of the U.P. Soon we will have an interactive map in the Watersheds section of our site UP Watersheds. At this site the user will be able to obtain detailed information for each of the 158 watersheds of the U.P in all 15 counties. Check back soon!
This site is constantly changing. Look back soon for more forms and other ways to communicate your experience.
For more information visit Great Waters.
