celery pond

As Black River Watershed Project has proved so helpful to setting up programs of such great value to the area, the Celery Pond group is especially happy to be in contact with them. Not only did Erin Fuller, project coordinator, make herself available to talk to us in our first meeting back in July 2006, she also was very instrumental in organizing the Watershed Management Program in October in Lawrence which the blog has used for its great sources of information.

Coalition is important. It is necessary with environmental issues such as water where the flow doesn’t know what the word “trespass” means. Water meanders along, unaware of political boundaries, running through counties, states and even countries. What we do to the water, affects us directly or our neighbor, up or down stream, depending on the issue at hand.

Peter M. Wege and the Wege Foundation in Grand Rapids are real leaders to watch and learn from. On October 14th they announced a $5 million, five-year grant launching the Great Lakes Coalition. This coalition intends to build public support nationally to restore the Great Lakes, America’s greatest freshwater resource.

This is among the largest private foundation grants ever for the Great Lakes protection. In May 2004 a “Healing Our Waters” summit set forth an agenda for federal government action and funding to restore the Great Lakes, a historic mark in environmental history.

If you need inspiration, just measure the dedication of Peter M. Wege, President of the Wege Foundation when he chose these words to describe the scope of the project: “The Healing Our Waters agenda is the Magna Carta for Great Lake restoration. The mission of the Great Lake Coalition will be to turn this agenda into real policies that will restore our Great Lakes.

Cleaning-up areas of concentrated toxic pollution is one of their aims, along with restoring water quality, preventing and controlling non-native aquatic invasive species. This is a call upon the U.S. federal government to take the lead role in coordinating the Great Lakes protection. To find out more about the Healing Our Waters agenda, look at www.healingourwaters.org

As South Haven is on Lake Michigan, with its Black River and the Watershed flowing into it, it behooves each and every one of us to take precautions to preserve water quality, from sweeping up after our dogs to sweeping up after ourselves to not litter with plastic bottles, paper and toxins. The wetland can purify stormwater runoff but it can’t cure our delinquent habits. It’s good to know that there is a growing awareness among professionals and lay people to begin to heal our waters and preserve our environment and the delicate ecosystems that surround us.

Note: CPA Meeting tonight at 6pm at the public Library. Tickets for Saturday night fundraiser still on sale at the Hardware Store and Whimsy on Phoenix Street.