Tag: detroit river

Investigation Into Mailboat Sinking

The Coast Guard has completed its investigation into the capsizing and sinking of the J.W. Westcott II. The J.W. Westcott delivers mail, miscellaneous items, and crew members to Great Lakes freighters as they pass through the Detroit River. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Tamar Charney reports:

Transcript

The Coast Guard has completed its investigation into the
capsizing and sinking of the J.W. Westcott II. The J.W. Westcott
delivers mail, miscellaneous items, and crew members to Great
Lakes freighters as they pass through the Detroit River. The
Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Tamar Charney reports:


Last October, the J.W. Westcott II sank while attempting to drop-off and pick up a pilot from a tanker. The J.W. Westcott’s captain and a crew member died in the accident. The coast guard has concluded that the captain misjudged the effects of the water and waves surrounding the tanker. However, the coast guard’s report and an earlier report from the Transportation Safety Board of Canada found several contributing factors. The J.W. Westcott II was early, there was no communication between the two vessels, and the tanker hadn’t slowed down yet. The coast guard’s report recommends changes in training and procedures for how the J.W. Westcott II approaches, meets, and conducts transfers with ships. Since the accident the J.W. Westcott II was pulled up from the bottom of the river, fixed, and is back delivering mail to the passing ships.


For the Great Lakes Radio Consortium, I’m Tamar Charney.

An International Wildlife Refuge?

An effort to create North America’s first international wildlife refuge is gathering speed. The refuge will be a partnership between Canada and the U.S. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Mark Brush has more:

Transcript

An effort to create North America’s first international wildlife refuge is gathering speed. The refuge will be a partnership between Canada and the U-S. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Mark Brush has details:


The Detroit River was once home to a thriving set of coastal wetlands and marshes. It was an area teeming with wildlife. But after more than a century of development – most of that habitat has been lost. The proposed international wildlife refuge hopes to turn back the pressures for more development.


The refuge would include the Canadian and U-S sides of the lower Detroit River – lands from the coal-choked Zug Island to the mouth of Lake Erie.


If established, the refuge will be a patchwork federal, state, and privately owned land. And so far, they’ve had some success. Several small islands have been donated or are being bought for inclusion into the refuge.


The first step will be to set up the boundaries of the refuge. Once established, funds may be appropriated for things like buying more land, establishing conservation agreements, and re-creating wildlife habitat.


For the Great Lakes Radio Consortium I’m Mark Brush.

New Ballast Treatment on Display

The state of Michigan is trying a new approach to stop the spread of foreign aquatic species in the Great Lakes – using a new system to clean ships’ ballast water. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Quinn Klinefelter has more:

Transcript

The state of Michigan is trying a new approach to stop the spread of foreign aquatic species in the Great Lakes – using a new system to clean ship’s ballast water. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Quinn Klinefelter has more.


A generator deep in the bowels of the Canadian freighter “Federal Yukon” spits copper ion particles at a cargo hold filled with ballast water. The particles poison any creatures living in the water…a second process cleanses the ballast before it’s drained into the Detroit River. It’s a test designed to find – and hopefully eliminate – any species carried in the water that is NOT native to the Great Lakes. Michigan Lt. Governor Dick Posthumous warned the threat from foreign species like zebra mussels is very real.


“Like an uninvited house guest…they come in uninvited…they eat all your food…and then they leave the house all messed-up.”


Posthumous says the Great Lakes Governor’s Association will meet with Canadian leaders this fall in Chicago to try and find ways to prevent the spread of foreign aquatic species. For the Great Lakes Radio Consortium, I’m Quinn Klinefelter.

Is Race Behind Effort to Block Development?

The battle of the Humbug Marsh is being fought just south of Detroit.
Developers have said they want to build upscale homes near the last stretch
of undeveloped wetland on the U-S side of the Detroit River.
Environmentalists are lobbying to defeat the deal. But developers say race
is the real reason for opposition to the project. The Great Lakes Radio
Consortium’s Jerome Vaughn has more:

Battle Over the Humbug Marsh

Environmentalists and housing developers are engaged in a battle
over a 400 acre piece of land. Humbug Marsh is one of the last
undeveloped sites on the Detroit River – the international border
between the U.S. and Canada, and a river recently designated as an
American Heritage River. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Marisa
Helms reports: