Tuesday, August 11, 2009

The Detroit River


The Detroit River or "Rivière du Détroit", which translates literally as River of the Strait, is 51 km long and serves as a natural boundary between Canada and the United States. A Strait is a waterway connecting two large bodies of water. This beautiful waterway is one of the busiest in the world and travels south from Lake St. Clair to Lake Erie.

Kissing the shorelines of many small communities, it also flows past South East Michigan, one of the largest metropolitan communities in the United States. For those who live outside the Region where this great River flows, it is hard to imagine its size and beauty.

The French were the first non-natives to navigate this River and to land on what would become the shores of Detroit. The first sailing ship on the Upper Great Lakes was the Griffon, 1679. On board was Robert Cavelier LaSalle, who would become one of the most celebrated explorers and builders of New France. As LaSalle passed through on the Griffon in 1679, he used these words to describe the scene at the mouth of the Detroit River:

  • "The islands are the finest in the world. They are covered with forests of nut and fruit trees, with wild vines loaded with grapes. From these we made a large quantity of wine. The banks of the Straight are vast meadows and the prospect is terminated with some hills covered with vineyards, trees bearing good fruit, and groves and forests so well arranged that one would think that Nature alone could not have laid out the grounds so effectively without the help of man, so charming was the prospect...The country is well stocked with stags, wild goats, and bears, all of which furnish excellent foods."
During the 20th century, mass urbanization and reckless industrial pollution took its toll on the Detroit River. However, mandated government initiatives have improved the situation. In a 2007 interview, John Gannon, a senior scientist with the International Joint Commission, stated "It's a lot better than people think". Mr. Gannon went on to give the Detroit River a B- for its recent improvements.

Check out a recent presentation Mr. Gannon made on Great Lakes Urban Habitat.

While improvements to the condition of the Detroit River is good news, a great deal more needs to be done. Currently, the United States and Canadian governments have allocated hundreds of Billions of stimulus dollars for various sectors of the economy. I may have missed it, but I have not seen significant allocations for further rehabiltation of this great natural resource and wonder.

As we have already seen, both the U.S. and Canadian governments continue to move around already allocated stimulus dollars as priorities change. A strong economic case can be made for some of this stimulus money to be used on further improvements to the Detroit River.

I am afraid that if it's not done now, governments will be too broke to do anything after all this stimulus spending.