Low water levels and copious weed growth in the Les Cheneaux Islands have become a serious concern for the local economy and, if not addressed, may become a safety problem, said Gary Reid, chairman of the Les Cheneaux Islands Waterways Restoration committee. To address these issues, the group will hold a meeting for invited participants at 1:30 p.m. Saturday, September 20, at Great Lakes Boat Building School in Cedarville.

The area's main commercial district along Cedarville Bay has become increasingly difficult to access by boat, restricting travel to and from islands, whose residents comprise the backbone of the local economy, Mr. Reid said.

A navigation channel needs to be dredged again that was dredged in 1967 by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

The channel, 7.5 miles long and 100 feet wide, must allow boats to travel in seven feet of clear water to achieve federal navigation standards. This is one foot deeper than the channel is now in some areas. According to recent studies by the Corps of Engineers, 80,000 cubic yards of material must be removed.

Earlier estimates reported 140,000 cubic feet.

Cottagers on islands who may need emergency medical help are endangered by the fact that boat passage is difficult through heavy weed growth, Mr. Reid said. Access problems have reduced commercial activity such as home maintenance services, construction, and deliveries. Areas not clogged enough to be affected, he said, will be shortly.

"If we don't have good water quality, the community will suffer as a result," he said. "It's like the clogging of an artery. We can't afford to have that artery clogged."

Once the Army Corps of Engineers takes on a project like the navigation channel, it is legally bound to maintain it, said Bob Dunn of Waterways Restoration. Owing to Hurricane Katrina and the Iraq War, however, funding has been directed elsewhere in recent years, creating a backlog of dredging projects.

Citizen groups at Les Cheneaux are pushing legislators to have funds appropriated for the waterway. The September 20 meeting is part of that effort.

"We hope senators [Carl] Levin and [Bart] Stupak will see our need for maintenance of the federal channel, and help earmark funds in the president's budget," Mr. Dunn said.

"It is very exciting that this is citizen led," said Clark Township Supervisor Linda Hudson. "This is not just a Les Cheneaux issue," she added, as groups in other areas are taking similar measures.

Local, state, and federal politicians has been invited to the meeting in Cedarville. Several members of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers have been asked to come, and Waterways Restoration has invited representatives of the Michigan State Waterways Commission, the Department of Environmental Quality, and several private organizations.

"There is a good chance we will have representatives from several important leaders," Mrs. Hudson said.

Governor Jennifer Granholm and Congressman Stupak have expressed interest in sending representatives. Amy Berglund of Senator Levin's office is coming, Mrs. Hudson said. Commissioners Bob Brown and Dennis Bailey of the Michigan Waterways Commission will be there, Mr. Dunn added.

The navigation channel was maintained by the Army Corps of Engineers in the late 1960s, however, with the exception of one area near the middle entrance of the island chain, no dredging has been done since the early 1970s, Mr. Reid said.

The Clark Township Board of Trustees submitted an application for dredging in April.

Members of the Corps have studied the area and estimated that $3.5 million is needed for dredging. Earlier estimates were at least twice that amount, she added.

The township's request is for 2009.

To fully re-open the waterways, a heavy nutrient load flowing from Clark Township sewer lagoons must be dealt with. It is this nutrient load that is promoting excessive weed growth in Cedarville Bay, Mr. Reid said.

The discharge from the sewer lagoons includes phosphates, generated from materials like detergents, which nourish weeds, Mr. Dunn added.

"It's like nurturing them with Miracle-Gro, and they are choking off the economy," he said. "It's exasperating. It is spreading all through the area."

Sewer discharges into Cedarville Bay increased dramatically in 1990, when the state demanded that the township increase the size of its sewer system. Compounding the problem, Eurasian watermilfoil, an invasive weed that flourishes rapidly and takes root easily, appeared in waters.

Owing to the weeds and sedimentation, the Cedarville area has lost significant transient boating traffic, notably the Great Lakes Cruising Club, which alerted its boaters that the area is difficult to pass, Mr. Dunn said.

The group put out notices regarding the diminishing depth of the channel and entanglements in weeds that had damaged boats. As a result, hundreds of thousands of tourist dollars have been lost, he said.

"Their boats used to come through every few days, heading to [Lake Huron's] north channel or Drummond Island," he said, and they stopped at Cedarville businesses.

Large vessels draw weeds into their intake systems, he said. If enough are drawn in, coolant flow can be blocked. Some motors have been destroyed this way.

Hessel continues to receive Cruising Club boats, which bypass Cedarville but can still access Government Bay. Residents are unsure how much of the former traffic Hessel is capturing, Mr. Dunn said.

The drop-off in traffic began about five years ago, he said. This year, a mechanical harvester was used in Cedarville Bay to cut down the weeds, however, Eurasian watermilfoil has proven to regrow quickly. Only weeks after cutting, the weeds had nearly reached the surface again.

Waterways Restoration plans to address sewer lagoon discharge and its impact on weeds at the September 20 meeting, he said.

"We want to redesign the discharge system," he said.

The group proposes to relocate sewer lagoon discharge about onequarter mile west of Cedarville, where it would nourish a marshland, rather than weeds in the bay.

Sediment from the proposed dredging could be used to augment the Cedarville harbor project, he added. The township is considering using sediment to expand the launch ramp and parking area, enabling businesses to offer island residents more parking, and contractors a better staging site to provide more services to the islands. The township is considering using sediment to lengthen the local airport.

Federal earmarks for the kind of project proposed in the Les Cheneaux Islands have been successfully secured in northern Michigan this year, such as when legislators earmarked $3 million in federal funding to repair the breakwall at Petoskey Harbor, Mr. Dunn said.

Long term, Waterways Restoration seeks to achieve harbor-ofrefuge status. This would qualify Cedarville for state funding that could be used for improvements to docks, for example. This has been done at St. Ignace, Mackinac Island, and Mackinaw City, he said.