07-01-2003, 05:14 AM
Club working to protect swans
[url "http://www.spinalcolumnonline.com/1editorialtablebody.lasso?-token.searchtype=authorroutine&-token.lpsearchstring=Michael%20Hoskins&-nothing"][#0000ff]by Michael Hoskins[/#0000ff][/url] [#0000ff][/#0000ff] [#0000ff]![[Image: blank.gif]](http://www.spinalcolumnonline.com/images/blank.gif)
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A Michigan Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) official has confirmed that the Oakland County Sportsmen's Club has been cooperating fully with an investigation into lead contamination that has apparently poisoned scores of swans on a pair of local lakes, pushing efforts to stop more of the migratory birds from dying in the future.
"Work is under way to further delineate any ways to solve this issue," said Andy Hogarth, assistant chief of the DEQ's Remediation and Redevelopment Division. "There have been some improvements made, and the club is cooperating with this investigation and completing some of the things we've asked them to do."
The situation revolves around a string of swan deaths that have turned up since March on Woodhull Lake in Waterford and Independence townships, a situation similar to one that surfaced three years earlier in the same spot.
The swan deaths, both nearby residents and state officials believe, stem from a decades-old issue of lead deposits from a firing range lingering in a portion of the lake and connecting Clinton River near the Oakland County Sportsmen's Club in Independence Township.
In 2000, the Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) found deposits of lead shot in a portion of the Clinton River flowing into Woodhull Lake. That contaminated stretch of water flowed near the shotgun range at the sportsmen's club in Independence Township.
Lead shot was banned by the federal government in 1991 for hunting migratory waterfowl because of the risk of lead poisoning in birds. Using the ammunition is still allowed for upland hunting and to shoot skeet and trap, however.
Following the change, the club reportedly made changes to keep the birds away from the area and keep lead shot out of the water.
In November 2001, a boom — a white plastic collar resembling and serving as a corral — was installed at a cost of $6,000 to keep the large waterfowl away from the lead deposits.
Now, Hogarth affirms that club officials have made improvements on that boom to further address the more recent swan deaths.
"The birds could still fly up and land inside," Hogarth said about the boom. "So we asked them to put in some perpendicular links to stop that. They did. We also asked them to create a vertical boom so that the birds can't climb over. They're working on that."
Officials at the club referred all comments to Farmington Hills attorney Mark Torigian.
"We've added some additional links running north and south," he said. "The existing boom is about 150 feet north and 150 feet south, and we've added something like 300 feet of boom.
"In conjunction with that," Torigian added, "there's some side pieces that we've added as a gridding function to stop (the swans) from going in. The problem with that is you obviously don't want to create a dangerous situation for (the birds) to get hurt when flying in. Instead, we're trying to make it so they don't want to fly in there."
Torigian said the club has been working with state environmental officials from the start.
"From the first day this happened, we've been working with the DEQ and DNR on this. We're meeting with the DEQ sometime next week to further evaluate and study the area, as well as to address additional suggestions."
One of those options under discussion is dredging a portion of the lake near the club. Both Hogarth and Torigian said that is still being discussed. Hogarth said the DEQ is working with an engineering firm to determine approximate costs of a dredging project, as well as other methods that could be used to remedy the situation.
Either way, Torigian said something must eventually be done to determine the effects of swans on the environment.
"That swan population has increased dramatically because of all the construction around (the area)," Torigian said. "What used to be a small population is now totally out of proportion. That's unfortunately not something being investigated right now."
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[url "http://www.spinalcolumnonline.com/1editorialtablebody.lasso?-token.searchtype=authorroutine&-token.lpsearchstring=Michael%20Hoskins&-nothing"][#0000ff]by Michael Hoskins[/#0000ff][/url] [#0000ff][/#0000ff] [#0000ff]
[/#0000ff] A Michigan Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) official has confirmed that the Oakland County Sportsmen's Club has been cooperating fully with an investigation into lead contamination that has apparently poisoned scores of swans on a pair of local lakes, pushing efforts to stop more of the migratory birds from dying in the future.
"Work is under way to further delineate any ways to solve this issue," said Andy Hogarth, assistant chief of the DEQ's Remediation and Redevelopment Division. "There have been some improvements made, and the club is cooperating with this investigation and completing some of the things we've asked them to do."
The situation revolves around a string of swan deaths that have turned up since March on Woodhull Lake in Waterford and Independence townships, a situation similar to one that surfaced three years earlier in the same spot.
The swan deaths, both nearby residents and state officials believe, stem from a decades-old issue of lead deposits from a firing range lingering in a portion of the lake and connecting Clinton River near the Oakland County Sportsmen's Club in Independence Township.
In 2000, the Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) found deposits of lead shot in a portion of the Clinton River flowing into Woodhull Lake. That contaminated stretch of water flowed near the shotgun range at the sportsmen's club in Independence Township.
Lead shot was banned by the federal government in 1991 for hunting migratory waterfowl because of the risk of lead poisoning in birds. Using the ammunition is still allowed for upland hunting and to shoot skeet and trap, however.
Following the change, the club reportedly made changes to keep the birds away from the area and keep lead shot out of the water.
In November 2001, a boom — a white plastic collar resembling and serving as a corral — was installed at a cost of $6,000 to keep the large waterfowl away from the lead deposits.
Now, Hogarth affirms that club officials have made improvements on that boom to further address the more recent swan deaths.
"The birds could still fly up and land inside," Hogarth said about the boom. "So we asked them to put in some perpendicular links to stop that. They did. We also asked them to create a vertical boom so that the birds can't climb over. They're working on that."
Officials at the club referred all comments to Farmington Hills attorney Mark Torigian.
"We've added some additional links running north and south," he said. "The existing boom is about 150 feet north and 150 feet south, and we've added something like 300 feet of boom.
"In conjunction with that," Torigian added, "there's some side pieces that we've added as a gridding function to stop (the swans) from going in. The problem with that is you obviously don't want to create a dangerous situation for (the birds) to get hurt when flying in. Instead, we're trying to make it so they don't want to fly in there."
Torigian said the club has been working with state environmental officials from the start.
"From the first day this happened, we've been working with the DEQ and DNR on this. We're meeting with the DEQ sometime next week to further evaluate and study the area, as well as to address additional suggestions."
One of those options under discussion is dredging a portion of the lake near the club. Both Hogarth and Torigian said that is still being discussed. Hogarth said the DEQ is working with an engineering firm to determine approximate costs of a dredging project, as well as other methods that could be used to remedy the situation.
Either way, Torigian said something must eventually be done to determine the effects of swans on the environment.
"That swan population has increased dramatically because of all the construction around (the area)," Torigian said. "What used to be a small population is now totally out of proportion. That's unfortunately not something being investigated right now."
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