Detroit/Wayne County Port Authority Environmental Monitoring Station and Great Lakes Educational Center

Overview – The Story

The Detroit River is a major naturally occurring waterway linking the Great Lakes. Its presence directly affects the economic and cultural health of the entire state of Michigan.  There is a need to monitor and evaluate various aspects of the Great Lakes and Detroit River’s water quality and physical processes, and to educate the general public about these valuable yet vulnerable resources.

The Detroit/Wayne County Port Authority (DWCPA) is constructing a new Port Authority facility located on the riverfront in Downtown Detroit.  The facility will provide public access to the river, docking facilities for cruise ships, tall ships, and other vessels.  The Port Authority proposes to dedicate space within the new facility to serve as an environmental monitoring station that will provide a center for Advocacy for the Port Authority on Great Lakes issues related to its operations, serve the research community, and provide an opportunity to educate the general public about the Great Lakes system. 

The purpose of this project will be for a planning and design study that will be used to define the environmental monitoring and educational interpretive areas at the project site.  This will allow the public to have year-round access to learning opportunities about natural processes and the effects of anthropogenic changes of the Great Lakes. This grant would be a catalyst to future expansion and enhancements of the environmental monitoring station and educational facilities by creating the concept and preparing a report which will identify needs for acquisition of instrumentation/displays etc. The results of the design/planning report will be used to assist in acquiring instrumentation and other needs for the center through funding from other sources (many already identified such as the Joyce Foundation, Charles Stewart Mott Foundation, Great Lakes Protection Fund, Great Lakes Commission, DNR, NOAA, and others to be determined as a result of the study).

The project is needed to provide:

• A focused local program to take a leadership role in addressing major Great Lakes issues while providing the following:
• A monitoring station for environmental data acquisition for use by the research community, and the public and private sector;
• Enhance public awareness and education of the Great Lakes system (hydraulics, ecology, and geology);
• A destination along the waterfront (open year-long) that will include both an enjoyable setting and a unique educational opportunity (data/displays will relate to the season such as ice coverage of the Great Lakes in Winter, etc.)

As stated in the Grant Proposal, the essential elements of the project are:

• Plan and design the concept of the monitoring station and educational center with input from various organizations (Wayne State University Dept. of Environmental Science, City of Detroit, MDEQ, U.S. Coast Guard, Detroit Science Center, Cranbrook Institute of Science, Detroit-Windsor Tunnel Corp., and others)
• Identify appropriate environmental parameters for monitoring and equipment for acquisition of data (example: water temperature, flow velocity, suspended sediment load, water quality parameters-chemical, physical etc.)
• Identify and conceptually design interactive interpretive displays for year-round use (ice thickness/coverage data, residence time of water and flow schematic through Great Lakes system, Great Lakes bathymetry, geologic history of Great Lakes, water level fluctuation information, etc)
• Prepare final design and plan for use in acquiring selected equipment needs for implementation of monitoring station and education center.

The end-result of the project will be a design for an environmental monitoring station and educational center housed at the Port Authority’s new facility

Taking a local leadership Role, the Port Authority through this program will identify critical issues for further research, public education and advocacy:
Initial ideas of Issues to be addressed (by specific action items and actions initiated by the Port Authority in concert with experts in the field) are:

• Invasive species
• Water Quality
• Water Diversions

The three pillars of the Center’s function will be:

• Research
• Education
• Advocacy

Goals & Objectives

• Practical Applications (Tunnel cover maintenance, water quality, homeland security?)
• Innovative/unique aspects to separate Center from other existing programs
• Maximize location and synergies with nearby like-minded organizations including USACE, Wayne State, Uof D, Univ of Windsor? (Probably not), EPA’s Grosse Isle station, etc.

EDUCATION

Goals & Objectives

• Place to get the latest information on important scientific and sometimes controversial issues
• Exciting / unique / interesting (real time monitors of river: Bottom=”Benthos Cam”; middle of water column = “Neckto Cam”; top of water column = “plankto Cam”
• Maximize location and synergies with nearby like-minded organizations including Detroit Science Center, Dossin Museum, Cranbrook Institute of Science.

Goals & Objectives

• Newsletter
• Position papers

Operations Logistics:
For any of the above, particularly the Education and Research aspects, the issue arises whether or not the Center will be staffed with personnel dedicated to its operation.  The exhibit space could be designed to operate either way.

• Feb 2005 – Internal Scoping with HANDS / Port Authority – definition of deliverables – Project completion

• March-April 2005 – Assemble list of outside parties and convene mini- conference for input of ideas/assistance

• May- June 2005 – Determine goals/objectives and action plan for issues to be addressed and

• July-Aug 2005 – Prepare specifications on “hardware” for Center, prepare preliminary Design Report

• Sept-Oct 2005 – Establish Center’s design, functions, and “look”

• Nov-May 2006 – Complete and Submit Final Design Report