St. Clair River is becoming healthier

The St. Clair River is regaining its health and that, said Patty Troy, is great news.

Troy, U.S. chairwoman of the St. Clair River Binational Public Advisory Council, said the Environmental Protection Agency recently approved removing the bird or animal deformities reproductive problems beneficial use impairment — and another beneficial use impairment could be removed by the end of the year.

"We got the EPA approval," said Troy, who has been a member of the St. Clair River BPAC for more than 25 years.

A beneficial use impairment is something that keeps the river from being enjoyed the way it historically was used. Ten beneficial use impairments were identified in the St. Clair River; the removal of the bird or animal deformities or reproductive problems impairment leaves three.

Troy said members of BPAC and environmental groups and residents on both sides of the U.S. Canadian border will celebrate the victory on Aug. 3 at the ferry dock on the Blue Water River Walk. She said organizers still are working out details with U.S. Sen. Debbie Stabenow, who intends to be at the celebration, regarding the time.

The St. Clair River was identified in 1978 as an area of concern, one of 14 in Michigan and 43 on the Great Lakes.

Troy said the loss of fish and wildlife habitat impairment likely will be the next beneficial use impairment to be checked off the list.

"BPAC has approved its removal  and the state has approved it," she said. "We’re waiting for word to come through (from the EPA) for loss of fish and wildlife habitat.

"We will be down to two remaining on the U.S. side related to drinking water and spills — we have to finish getting our ducks in a row for that one — and the fish consumption beneficial use impairment."

Removal of beneficial use impairments languished for years but the pace has picked up. It started  in 2009 with removal of restriction of dredging activities, followed by: added costs to agriculture or industry, 2011; tainting of fish or wildlife flavor, 2012; degradation of aesthetics, 2012; degradation of benthos (river bottom), 2014; and beach closings, which BPAC celebrated in 2016.

The U.S. has spent about $21 million through the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative on 10 projects in St. Clair County since 2011 to improve and restore fish and wildlife habitat in and along the St. Clair River.

The projects are scattered along the 44 miles of the river.

Although GLRI funding was targeted to be cut by the Trump White House, on Tuesday the U.S. Appropriations Committee approved funding of $300 million.

The initiative was first funded in 2010.

Kris Lee, Canadian chairwoman of the St. Clair River BPAC, said removing the deformities and reproduction problems beneficial use impairment is "pretty exciting.

"Even the word deformities makes people cringe," she said. "It’s one of the ones we’ve had, It’s been a long time. We’ve had to do the scientific testing on it and it’s very time-consuming to do the testing."

Melanie Foose, the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality’s area of concern coordinator for the St. Clair, Detroit and Raisin rivers, said animal deformities were "kind of one of the poster children for the AOC program."

"One of those was crossed bills in birds," she said. "That was something that never was seen in the St. Clair River, but was seen in other areas."

She said the only evidence found of deformities in the St. Clair River was to mouthparts of insects in the sediments on the Canadian side.

In order to remove the beneficial use impairment, researchers looked at contaminants in species such as bald eagles, tree swallows, mink and forage fish including bluegill, yellow perch and bluntnose minnows and compared them to levels at which deformities were known to have occurred.

All the species came back clean — and that's worth celebrating, according to Foose.

"Anytime we remove a beneficial use impairment in an area of concern is an exciting event," she said.

Kirsten Lyons, stewardship director for the Friends of the St. Clair River, said members of BPAC and concerned people on both sides of the river have been looking forward to celebrating the removal of the beneficial use impairment and other impairments for about 30 years.

"The folks that have served on BPAC for a long time are really glad to see this vision coming together," she said.

Contact Bob Gross at (810) 989-6263 or rgross@gannett.com. Follow him on Twitter @RobertGross477.