04/24/2007

McManus recommends Great Lakes State Park

By PATRICK SULLIVAN

psullivan@record-eagle.com

TRAVERSE CITY — Bills proposed by a group of state legislators including Sen. Michelle McManus would create Michigan's largest — and wettest — state park.

The package of bills would designate the bottomlands of the Great Lakes within Michigan territory "the Great Lakes State Park.”

McManus said the motive is to establish the Great Lakes as a tourist destination.

"We could have a worldwide appeal as a destination,” McManus said. "A lot of people know about the Great Lakes, but I don't think it's as highlighted as it should be.”

The Lake Leelanau Republican said a proposed $15 charge for a Great Lakes State Park pass would be voluntary and people wouldn't be charged to swim or boat or take part in other kinds of recreation in the Great Lakes. The money collected would be used to fund preservation and to promote the lakes.

Michigan territory includes large swaths of Lake Michigan, Lake Superior and Lake Huron, and a small section at the east end of Lake Erie.

The bills would require the Department of Natural Resources to manage the park and instructs the department to preserve the lakes' natural resources and enhance recreational opportunities like boating, fishing, swimming and scuba diving.

Attorney Jim Olson, an expert in environmental law who has fought commercial efforts to divert water out of the Great Lakes basin, said the bills add little in the way of protection for the Great Lakes.

Courts decided long ago that the lakes are owned by the state and held in a "public trust” for the benefit of all citizens, Olson said.

"Caution needs to be taken in the bills to recognize the trust and also respect the historical integrity and value of the shipwrecks and artifacts that are part of these Great Lakes bottomlands so they are free of exploitation and harm,” Olson wrote in an e-mail after he reviewed the six bills.