Saturday, April 26, a group of residents turn out for the first community project by the Straits Watershed Council, including members of the council, Zion Evangelical Lutheran Church's senior high school group, and the Sault Ste. Marie Tribe of Chippewa Indians Tribal Youth Council. They pose while removing trash from the sand dunes along US-2. Pictured (back, from left) are Sue St. Onge, Desiree Nordstrand, Andy Meyers, Daniel Range, Lawrence O'Boyle, Jerry Fenlon, Ben Idalski, Ryan Marshall, Mark Elmblad, Tim Idalski; (front) Colleen St. Onge, Toby Ferguson, Misty Mitoska, Tari Stage- Harvey, Joshua Lennington, Teagan Ferguson, Cierra Barker, Rebecca Idalski, and Dena Barker. The Straits Watershed Council found more than it expected during its first community project Saturday, April 26, in which 32 people turned out to clean the sand dunes along US-2. They covered a seven-mile stretch along Lake Michigan, gathering far more trash than they anticipated and finding bird carcasses that may signify lake environmental problems.

Among the helpers at the clean up were NOIZ, Zion Evangelical Lutheran Church's senior high school group, and members of the Sault Ste. Marie Tribe of Chippewa Indians Tribal Youth Council.

At right, Volunteers pose while helping the Straits Watershed Council clean the dunes along US-2 Saturday, April 26. Pictured (from left) are Mike McNeely, Patric Schlehuber, Andy Mullins, James Halberg, and Mark Elmblad, all of St. Ignace. The effort was the Council's first community project. Organizer Tari Stage-Harvey, pastor of Zion Evangelical Lutheran Church in St. Ignace, found the diversity of helpers' ages and backgrounds encouraging. The watershed council successfully drew community members into the project with the goal of improving the watershed through action and education, she said.

The group filled 35 bags of trash along the dunes Saturday.

"When you drive through, it does not look like that much, but there is a lot of trash there," she said.

The group looked for signs of wildlife, invasive species, and assessed water quality. They noted a lot of invasive zebra and quagga mussels, which have damaged Great Lakes ecosystems, and discovered a number of bird carcasses and sizable algae growths near shore. All may be signs of lake health problems identified by the Department of Natural Resources (DNR).

Information collected by such activity is useful to biologists, said Cheryl Ozanich of the DNR field office in Naubinway.

"Any time there is a large die-off of anything, we want to be notified," she told The St. Ignace News.

The carcasses may be left from birds killed by botulism last fall, and the DNR will take samples for testing.

The DNR reported a bird die-off that reached the thousands last fall, as reported in The St. Ignace News November 8, 2007.

The department attributed it to type E botulism that grows in algae, is eaten by mussels, and travels up the food chain, killing fish and birds.

If another die-off occurs, it will likely be in the fall, when the water is warmer.

A second dunes clean up and ecological analysis is planned by the watershed council for this fall.

To raise awareness, the council is also planning to paint area storm drains with messages noting that anything dumped in city drains ends up in local waterways.

Similar projects have been done in Ann Arbor, where stenciled statements are found at storm drains, encouraging people not to dump chemicals.

The group plans to place trash cans at the dunes, particularly where stairs lead to the beach. Members also hope to get schools interested in protecting area waters by providing

water testing kits to students.

Next year, the group plans to focus on rain barrels used for watering

gardens and lawns.

With the high cost of water in St. Ignace, it makes sense to collect rainfall, she said, noting that rain barrels are used to water plants at the community garden behind St. Ignace Area Schools.

The watershed council recently completed a recycling handbook, printed on recycled paper, which is being distributed at area churches. It explains how to stop junk mail as well as where to dispose of plastic, paper, cardboard, and compact disks.

More recycling is in order in this area, particularly by schools, the county government, and the hospital, she added.

The pamphlet calls on residents to contact St. Ignace City Manager Eric Dodson to express an interest in recycling.

The Straits Watershed Council includes members of the local forest service, the Sault Ste. Marie Tribe of Chippewa Indians, churches, and other individuals.

There are no leadership positions. Members act on consensus and individuals take on projects that interest them.

Saturday's dunes clean-up effort was funded with a grant by Thrivent Financial for Lutherans as part of Join Hands Day.

The next Straits Watershed Council meeting is 7 p.m. Tuesday, May 13, upstairs, at Zion Lutheran Church in St. Ignace.