Michigan Tries Wi-Fi for Travelers

Wi Fi Planet is carrying this press release regarding the joint SBC / State of Michigan venture to install wireless access points in select Michigan camp grounds, rest areas, state parks and welcome centers throughout Michigan:

Visitors to the Ludington State Park, New Buffalo Welcome Center, Coldwater Welcome Center, Clarkston Rest Area, Grand Haven State Park, Holland State Park, Mackinak Island State Dock, Charles Mears State Park, Sterling State Park, and East Tawas State Dock can purchase wireless access to SBC FreedomLink hotspots in 24-hour blocks for $7.95. Existing SBC customers pay significantly less.

The pilot program is intended to run for three years, but at the end of this summer, planners will conduct their first serious assessment of the success of MiWiFi and determine whether to go forward. As cities and communities around the country struggle to find a successful model for incorporating public Wi-Fi, Michigan has opted for the pay-as-you-go method that requires that virtually no burden be placed on taxpayers.

With the initial rollout of MiWiFi last fall, Michigan became the first state in the nation to offer Wi-Fi at state parks.

See the Michigan Wi-Fi home page (MIWIFI) for additional information.

Bridge repairs under way on bridge over Au Sable River

The Bay City Times carries this story regarding the bridge construction across the AuSable River:

Drivers who frequent the Au Sable River Bridge in Oscoda will endure about two more months of construction before it is fully repaired and revamped, officials said. The bridge, on US-23, will see a new layer of concrete, new barriers and a new 8-foot pedestrian walkway by July 29 if everything goes as scheduled.

Workers removed 4 inches of concrete from the 10-inch-thick bridge, and will overlay it with 4 inches of new concrete. They plan to pour the new concrete this week.

Traffic has been directed to two lanes on the east side of the bridge. Hilberg said traffic will switch sides sometime after Memorial Day and similar work will begin on the east side.

DeTour Light Listed on Historic Register

The St. Ignace News reports on the DeTour Reef Light Station:

The DeTour Reef Light Station in Chippewa County was officially listed on the National Register of Historic Places Tuesday, March 15, the National Park Service reported.

Built in 1931, and standing a mile offshore in northern Lake Huron at the far eastern end of Michigan�s Upper Peninsula, the DeTour Reef Light rises 83 feet above the water. The structure, sitting on a 60-foot square, 20-foot high concrete crib, is a steel-framed square tower of three distinct levels. It marks a dangerous reef to help guide ship traffic from and to Lake Huron and Lake Superior via the strategic St. Mary's River. The Light was automated in 1974. In 1997, the lighthouse was declared surplus property by the U. S. Coast Guard due to sophisticated navigational systems aboard ships, and the Coast Guard's not having the funding to care for the structure in accordance with historic preservation guidelines.

In 1998, local citizens formed the DeTour Reef Light Preservation Society (DRLPS) to restore and preserve the lighthouse between the communities of DeTour Village and Drummond Island. The society completed major interior and exterior restoration of the lighthouse in 2004, and public tours to this historic structure will begin in July.

Lake Huron salmon numbers fall; fish go to Canada

The San Jose Mercury News provides this update on the fate of Lake Huron salmon:

Five years ago, about 15 percent of the chinook salmon that biologists sampled from Lake Huron were wild fish, and the other 85 percent were produced by hatcheries in Michigan. Today, that number has turned around, with 20 percent of the fish coming from hatcheries and 80 percent from salmon that run up tributary streams to produce the next generation without human help.

In most parts of the country that would be good news. But not on Lake Huron, where the glut of salmon has overwhelmed the alewives that once formed their prey base. And most of the salmon are produced not by Michigan streams but in rivers on the Canadian side of the lake 80 to 100 miles away, which means that in August, the adult chinooks head back to their native streams to spawn and largely disappear from the Michigan side.

When there was a similar decline in prey fish in the late 1990s, biologists responded by reducing the number of salmon they stocked. But with most of the fish now being produced naturally in rivers in Canada, there is no way to shut off the spigot. The actual number of salmon in Lake Huron a few years ago might have been two or three times the official estimate of 4 million to 5 million, Johnson said.

Johnson said there are several possible scenarios for the future of Lake Huron, all of which are largely out of the hands of biologists. Decreased predation by salmon and mild winters could result in a resurgence of alewives, followed by a resurgence of salmon in boom-and-bust cycles. The DNR is considering reintroducing lake herring, a native prey and food fish that was largely wiped out by the changes in recent decades. This would lead to lake trout as the primary sport fish, with salmon playing a lesser role. Johnson said that's what happened in Lake Superior when the lake trout was brought back from near-extinction.

"Lake Huron really is a lot like Lake Superior,'' Johnson said. "Most of it is very deep and very cold, with relatively few shallow shelf areas. That's why Huron is much less productive than Lake Michigan.''

Water level up, latest readings show

According to the latest readings from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the water level in Lakes Huron and Michigan are six inches higher than last year, and only nine inches below its long-term average.

Over the last two years, the lakes have slowly been recapturing their water volume after an extended low period. Seasonal rises are typical in spring, and drops are typical in fall and winter, but the lakes are currently above their level even for last spring at this time.

As it stands, only Lakes Michigan and Huron are below their long-term averages among the Great Lakes, with Lake Superior just reaching its long-term average this month.