The Return of Eagles, Ospreys, Peregrine Falcons

The Return of Eagles, Ospreys, Peregrine Falcons

In 1962 Norm Spring read Silent Spring by Rachel Carson.  He wondered how anyone could read the book and not do something about the harm DDT was causing to the environment. He was living right across the street from Central Park at the time and the city of Grand Haven, Michigan would spray the elm trees for Dutch Elm disease with DDT.  He was told he could move his car, but along with his wife he had two small children and the house and places where the young children played would be coated with DDT.  The problem was DDT did not kill the elm beetle. it soaked into the ground and everyone could see robins trembling in their death throes in the grass.  The spray washed down the streets and into the storm drains so DDT entered Lake Michigan where it was caught up in food chains.  The fish became highly contaminated with DDT.

 Fish eating birds such as the American Bald Eagle were affected since their eggs became thin and cracked as a result of DDT and did not hatch.  Norm went to every meeting of the Grand Haven City Council for three years and finally the Grand Haven City Council agreed to stop their DDT program.

People came from a nearby city and asked “How did you do that?” and together they formed the Michigan Pesticides Council that met at Michigan State University.  Among the members were:  Norm Spring, chairman, Joan Wolfe, ornithologists Dr. Ted Black, Dr. George Wallace, Dr. John Kitchel,  Charles Schick, Ann Van Lente, , Joseph Kleiman, Theodore Carbine.  Due to their work DDT and like pesticides were banned in Michigan in 1972 and then the ban went nation wide and Canada followed.

Today the Eagles, Ospreys and Peregrine Falcons have returned to the shores of the Great Lakes, the United States and Canada because the democratic process worked.

Norm was inducted into The Michigan Environmental Hall of Fame in 2014 for his work on behalf of the environment.

 Think Globally and Act Locally.

Summer Time on the Great Lakes

Delight.  Happiness. Joy.  Kids love to play in water and run on the sand and build castles.  That’s what this time of the year is about around the Great Lakes. People relax to the sounds of the waves and see the blues and greens of the water. 

We share these waters with many species of birds.  Sometimes we can see the American bald eagles scavenging the beaches for dead fish or we may see other species such as the rare piping plover.

Read about the Great Lakes in my book, The Dynamic Great Lakes available at Barnes & Noble, Schulers Books and Music, The Bookman and many other stores on the web and elsewhere.