Asian Carp in the St. Marys River-Let's Hope Not!

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These photos were taken at the Masters Walleye Circuit Tournament held in Sault Ste. Marie on August 26-27th this summer.  My husband and I had a great time volunteering at the tournament.

I had a very interesting meeting with Dr. Dan O'Keefe who is pictured in the 2nd photo holding an Asian Carp that is used for display. (It didn't come out of the St. Marys River)


Dan is with the Michigan Sea Grant  SW District Extension Educator.  Dr. O'Keefe explained many things about the Asian carp to me.  To summarize what he said, Asian carp may indeed make their way to the St. Marys River but he predicts they won't thrive because of the cold temperatures.  He thinks if they do reach the St. Marys River, they will never reach the numbers found in the Illinois River.

Dr. O'Keefe produces an interesting newsletter called West Michigan Angler News.  You can link through here to read the newsletter.

The Grand Rapids Press ran an article today about an upcoming first Asian Carp regional coordinating Committee meeting to be held in Michigan.  The meeting will be held Sept. 23 at Saginaw Valley Community College.

"Some Asian carp may grow to 4 feet in length and weigh up to 100 pounds. The fish could crowd out and deprive other species in the foot chain, critics fear. Silver carp, a variety of Asian carp, are known to jump as much as 10 feet out of the water at the sound of boat engines.

Committee members will detail strategies authorities have taken to monitor and harvest Asian carp, barriers constructed to prevent their movement into the lakes and biological controls, among other priorities."

 The meeting will be webcast at https://www.mymeetings.com/tetratech/join. The conference number is: PG4559418 and the passcode is ASIAN CARP. To listen in to the meeting, dial 888-603-8914. For information, log onto http://asiancarp.org.

What do you think?  Are you filling to get involved to prevent the ecological disaster of Asian carp coming to our precious waterway?

The Last Blooms of Summer

My hydrangea tree in full glory-Sept. 1, 2011

 Every season has its glory.  I can never decide which season I like the best.  Right now I'm thinking that it is fall. There is something comforting about fall.  Maybe it is because I've been a teacher for so many years and fall always reprsenting the known.  We are back in a schedule.  I know what every day is going to bring-at least schedule-wise.  No more lazy days of summer with spur of the moment decisions to take off to go swimming or berry picking. 

But last summer is glory days for my hydrangea tree here at the cabin.  My hydrangea tree was planted by my grandmother decades ago.  We bought the cabin from her in 1999 and I've enjoyed it every summer.   Even though it was broken off at the root by a fallen tree one time.  But that's another story.  The tree returned in full glory the following summer.

We are also having a large bloom of purple loosestrife here on the St. Marys River.  This plant is dangerous and an invasive species.  I spoke with some authorities this summer on how to eliminate it and I will share that in a later post.  But there isn't much we can do about it as land owners.

Purple loosestrife on the St. Marys River

Our cabin invites us to relax and enjoy the views.

Relaxing with the neighbor as summer draws to a close.

We have had some of our busiest shipping days of the season this week.  I only record the boats that I see, so it may be that I am home more this last week getting ready to move south and return to work soon.  But on Tuesday, August 30, 2011,  we had 19 boats pass by the cabin.