Video: Charlie Bristol talks about friends getting together to save rivers and lakes

I mentioned my discussion with Charlie Bristol a while back and promised some video. It's here.

Charlie is an engineer who works with his friends (Friends of the Detroit River, Friends of Belle Isle, Friends of Belle Isle Aquarium, Friends of the Rouge...) I talked with him about what they're all doing over in the Detroit area:



So if you're in Southeast Michigan and you aren't friendly with your rivers and lakes, check out Charlie's friends and get involved!

Partying with Great Lakes heroes and our Canadian friends

The night before everyone stormed The Hill, The Canadian Embassy hosted their fellow Lakers for a really nice party with good wine and delicious little fried hors d'oeuvre-y things (check out the Great Lakes Commision page for good photos of the party and other events in DC). Some legendary congressional Lakes champions were there to party with the folks from back home and tell stories about their efforts to explain the importance of the Lakes to their colleagues:

• Longtime Great Lakes hero Senator George Voinovich of Ohio talked about collaborating with his Canadian counterparts through one of the "best kept secrets in government," the Canada-United States Inter-Parliamentary Group. He's participated with the group over the years to solve Lakes problems.
• Republican Congressman Vernon Ehlers of Grand Rapids told a favorite story of his from early on in his career. After giving a floor speech about fighting zebra mussels, he had to correct one of his fellow congressmen when they were angry about spending taxpayer dollars on "the muscles of zebras."
• Minnesota Senator Amy Klobuchar gave a fun speech about her first year in the Senate trying to explain invasive species to her colleagues. She uses YouTube videos of Asian Carp to illustrate the importance of keeping them out of the Lakes.
  

Check it out yourself - tell me the thought of these monsters attacking folks throughout the basin isn't horrifying:


So there you go - take page from Senator Klobuchar's book and use the power of The Tubes to win hearts and minds, because sometimes a YouTube video is worth a thousand press conferences...

Michigan - Bringing Others On Board

The entire Michigan delegation is already signed on to Great Lakes Restoration, April Bennett, tells me, so Michiganders used lobby day to ask their representatives to reach out and sign up two new legislators either from inside the basin or some other part of the country.

April was in DC representing the Michigan United Conservation Clubs (MUCC).

Other priorities included getting a commitment for reauthorization of the Legacy Act and educate other legislators on curbing invasive species through the Ballast Water legislation.

Contact MUCC for a great new DVD and fact sheets on Great Lakes issues.

Busy Great Laker: Charlie Bristol

I just had a great conversation with Charlie Bristol, an engineer who does work with a lot of groups in southeast Michigan. An interesting problem he and the groups he works with face is that the water in the Lake St. Clair and the rivers are nice and blue - people don't think they need cleaning up.

He explained to me that even though the water looks nice, harmful runoff and sediments from dredging settle on the bottom and work their way through the system, even though isn't visible on the surface. Even more education than usual has to happen in cases like these.

Anyway, we talked about all sorts of great ideas he's implemented with groups in Michigan, which will be available on video as soon as possible - our internet connection here is pretty cranky.

In the meantime, he made sure to tell folks in southeast Michigan to check out detroitriver.org to find out what you can do to help.