On the eastern shores of several Great Lakes tower the world's largest freshwater dunes...another at risk species.
Known as Pigeon Hill, the Lake Michigan dune towered 30 stories high on the south side of Muskegon. Formed over thousands of years, it disappeared in three decades as its sand was mined for industrial use in the mid-20th century.
"You can only see Pigeon Hill in a museum now," said Tanya Cabala, an environmental consultant from Whitehall who has studied its history.
Michigan has regulated sand mining since then, although environmentalists want stronger controls. But Great Lakes dunes also face other threats, from invasive plant species to abuse by all-terrain vehicles, scientists and government officials said Tuesday.
During a conference funded by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, experts agreed to seek a regionwide strategy for protecting the ecologically unique chain of dunes stretching along many of the lakes' coastlines.
http://www.record-eagle.com/2006/oct/04dunes.htm
Posted by Dave at October 5, 2006 08:39 AM