# "The Muskegon -- The Majesty and Tragedy of Michigan's Rarest River."



## Hamilton Reef (Jan 20, 2000)

Journalist dives into river issues 

http://www.mlive.com/news/muchronicle/index.ssf?/base/news-0/1157797012264370.xml&coll=8

Saturday, September 09, 2006 By Robert C. Burns CHRONICLE STAFF WRITER

Jeff Alexander's "discovery" of the Muskegon River nearly a decade ago arrived with the revelation that even though we might think we know about something, often we know very little. 

Today, Alexander, who specializes in environmental reporting for The Muskegon Chronicle, knows a great deal about the Muskegon River. He also knows this: 

"Ignorance and the lack of intellectual or physical contact with the Muskegon River perhaps constitute its greatest enemies."

In an award-winning 1999 series of articles in The Chronicle, and in a newly published book, Alexander hoped to dispel some of that ignorance and, if possible, to kindle interest -- or even passion -- in saving Michigan's second-longest river from a fate that already has befallen the state's longest, the Grand. 

In this, Alexander seems to have had real success. The original four-part series led to study grants totaling $7.5 million from the Great Lakes Fishery Trust and the Wege Foundation. The results were largely what prompted him to write "The Muskegon -- The Majesty and Tragedy of Michigan's Rarest River." (Michigan State University Press; $24.95). 

"Alexander's research is impressive, his prose is informative and entertaining, and his message is clear: conservation of the Muskegon River watershed -- and the Great Lakes as a whole -- is up to all of us," notes Dave Dempsey, a prominent Michigan environmentalist and author. "The book is both first-rate reporting and an implicit challenge to all of us to become better stewards of our precious waters." 

Three years in the writing, the book is four times the length of the original series on which it is based. It adds the Ice Mountain bottled water diversion controversy, as well as a chapter on how the building of U.S. 31 over the Muskegon State Game Area has affected the river's flow at its far western end in Muskegon. 

Alexander, 44, is a Los Angeles native who had never even been to Michigan before enrolling in Michigan State University with dreams of being a college hockey star. After graduating with a degree in journalism in 1984, he covered environmental issues for the Marshall Chronicle and the Kalamazoo Gazette before joining the Booth Newspapers Lansing Bureau and covering similar issues on a statewide level in 1989-90. 

A chance to move his family to the shore of Lake Michigan led him to leave Lansing for Muskegon and a job on The Chronicle staff in late 1990. 

He continued to write about environmental matters in Muskegon, most recently on the topic of "factory farms." But he admits he had no particular interest, let alone passion, in the Muskegon River until the state Department of Natural Resources launched a study of it in 1997.

He became fascinated by the history and grandeur of the river, the abuses heaped upon it by mankind, and by its ability to bounce back in spite of them. 

Looking at photographs of the river choked with logs in the late 19th century, Alexander says he was "amazed that anything could live there again." 

One of the new findings that he describes in his book indicates that the Muskegon River actually is in better shape than had been assumed. But there remain significant threats, the most serious being encroaching urbanization. Dams -- there are still 94 of them along the river and its tributaries, most no longer serving their original function -- and agricultural runoff also continue to threaten to turn the Muskegon into a warm-water river, which would essentially destroy its populations of salmon, trout, smallmouth bass and other gamefish.

The river is Michigan's richest in terms of natural salmon reproduction, and Cedar Creek, which flows into the river near Muskegon, is the state's fifth most productive trout stream. 

Alexander combined his reading of the river's history with interviews with scientists and devoted anglers, and spent weeks in a canoe observing the river firsthand. The river stretches 219 miles from its headwaters at Houghton and Higgins lakes and has a watershed the size of Delaware. 

The first of a series of planned book signings around the state is scheduled for 3-5 p.m. today at Fremont's Arts-Place. Alexander will be signing some of the 700 copies of his book, which the Muskegon River Watershed Assembly is selling to raise funds. He will appear with Muskegon photographer and watershed assembly chairman Gale Nobes, whose photos of the river also will be on display. 

Copies of the book will be available in bookstores around Oct. 1. 

Asked if he ever imagined that his interest in the mighty Muskegon would one day lead to his traveling to book signings around the state, Alexander said, "Never in my wildest dreams."


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## Hamilton Reef (Jan 20, 2000)

Muskegon River in good health, new study says

The sprawling Muskegon River system is very healthy and supports one of Michigan's best fisheries, but urban sprawl could harm water quality and increase flooding in the future, according to a new study.

Results of an eight-year study obtained by The Chronicle concluded that most of the 219-mile-long river -- and its numerous tributaries, wetlands and lakes -- have good water quality, abundant fish and a wide range of other aquatic life.

"Much of the watershed is in very good condition," said R. Jan Stevenson, a Michigan State University zoology professor who worked on the study. "The Muskegon is one of the highest quality rivers in the state with respect to fisheries."

Absent the dams, the river would provide five times more habitat for steelhead, researcher Ed Rutherford said. "The best thing you could do if you want more migratory fish (such as steelhead and salmon) is take the dams out," he said.

http://blog.mlive.com/chronicle/2008/06/muskegon_river_in_good_health.html


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## Hamilton Reef (Jan 20, 2000)

Big River 

Here is a numerical breakdown of the Muskegon River system, according to a new study:

2,724: Square miles in the river's drainage basin, or watershed.

1,800: Square miles of forests and grasslands.

463: Square miles of farmland.

270: Square miles of surface water.

190: Square miles of urban area.

829: Lakes at least 2.4 acres in size.

1,750: Linear miles of streams and lakes in the watershed.

13 million: Pounds of sand and silt trapped annually in reservoirs behind the Croton, Hardy and Rogers dams.

220,000: Pounds of phosphorus trapped in the dams' reservoirs.

273 million: Pounds of sediment the river deposits annually in Muskegon Lake.

93: Dams in the river system, four of which are in the main channel.

 Source: Muskegon River Watershed Partnership


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