MUSKEGON – As we end another year of celebrating America on
the Fourth of July, I keep being reminded this summer of our need to celebrate
Muskegon Lake.
Simply being on the waters of Muskegon Lake on July Fourth brought
to mind all those I have met who have made a difference on the lake that we all
love.
As I have told it so often lately, I came to Muskegon 35
years ago right out of Central Michigan University with the idea of working for
The Chronicle three years before heading on to Lansing and eventually
Washington for a political reporting career.
Obviously, something kept my wife and me in Muskegon. The
latest Community Foundation for Muskegon County Patricia B. Johnson Award
winner Dr. Alan Steinman -- head of Grand Valley State University’s water
research center in Muskegon -- summed up what kept me in Muskegon: the water
and the people.
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| Photo Courtesy |
To begin with it was the water, especially Muskegon Lake
which is so unique for sailors, anglers or those who just love to gaze upon its
shimmering surface. And then, no doubt, the people of Muskegon embrace you and
you really never want to leave. Let me celebrate several of those people who
have been so instrumental in the continual improvement of Muskegon Lake since
the ending of the industrial use of the shoreline generations back.
The main reason that we are cleaning and improving Muskegon
Lake to the point that it is on the verge of being removed from the federal list
of environmental “Areas of Concern” is the Muskegon County Wastewater
Management System. I was not in Muskegon when the land-based wastewater
treatment system was conceived and built in the early 1970s but removing
industrial and domestic sewage from the lake changed the course of the
community’s history. I am told no one showed more leadership than F. Charles
“Curly” Raap, then on the county board of commissioners but who also was a
state legislator and longtime head of the Muskegon County Road Commission.
The combination of Muskegon Lake and sailing kept me in this
town. No one created the sailing destination we have today like Gordon
Torresen, longtime sailor and founder of Torresen Marine, which continues to
support sailing not only in Muskegon but around the Lake Michigan basin.
I do not know the recreational fishing history of Muskegon as
well so local anglers will have to identify who was at the forefront of
creating our current recreational fishing destination.
The environmental cleanup of Muskegon Lake has been
championed by environmental planner Kathy Evans of the West Michigan Shoreline
Regional Development Commission and her leadership of the Muskegon Lake
Watershed Partnership, a private citizen’s advocate for an improved Muskegon
Lake.
What Evans and others have been able to bring to Muskegon in
terms of state and federal resources to clean up the lake and restore its
habitat, Steinman and the scientists at the GVSU Annis Water Resources
Institute on the downtown Muskegon lakeshore have been able to provide the
technical support to accomplish so much.
Finally, I would point to Muskegon Lake Effect Boating’s
Roger Zuidema, a one-man marketing tornado of support for all things Muskegon
Lake. As Muskegon Lake quality improves, Zuidema is there to tell West Michigan
and the world about it.
As we take our fresh water for granted, I’ve found that about
90 percent of the 200 passengers on each Muskegon visit of the cruise ship
Pearl Seas this summer have never been on the Great Lakes before. They marvel
at the beauty and magnificence of waters such as Muskegon Lake. So should we.
Zuidema, Evans, Torresen, Raap and Steinman are just a few
of the hundreds of people who have made our water – especially Muskegon Lake –
the asset that makes living in Muskegon such a joy.
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| Dave Alexander is the head of Downtown Muskegon and retired writer from the Muskegon Chronicle. We appreciate Dave taking a few minutes to share his thoughts on Positively Muskegon |
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