| "There is no substitute for getting a set of human eyes to look at the bottom of the lake." | |
| Matt Smar, Michigan Coastal Management Program |
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Teenage divers are helping Michigan coastal resource managers understand what is at the bottom of two Great Lakes. The teen-supported discoveries, which include significant cultural and archaeological findings, as well as biological features, are aiding efforts to better protect natural and cultural resources, understand lake water quality, improve decision-making about potential offshore development, such as wind farms, and provide public education.
"There is no substitute for getting a set of human eyes to look at the bottom of the lake," says Matt Smar, coastal nonpoint source coordinator for the Michigan Coastal Management Program. "They see things that lidar or sonar, or other remotely operated means of underwater exploration, just can’t pick up."
It is the Noble Odyssey Foundation that brings its 13- to 17-year-old Sea Cadets together with scientists to explore what Lakes Huron and Michigan looked like several thousand years ago when water levels were nearly 300 feet lower than they are today.
The scuba-diving cadets have assisted in locating and characterizing underwater sinkholes and groundwater springs, and the unusual life forms that inhabit them. They have also documented a drowned river canyon, a limestone land bridge that effectively divided Lake Huron’s predecessor into at least two separate basins, and a conifer forest that grew on lands now far beneath the lake’s surface.
Since 2004, grants from the Michigan Coastal Management Program have helped fund the foundation’s summertime collaborative explorations with scientists and historians from the Thunder Bay National Marine Sanctuary, Cranbrook Institute of Science in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan, Annis Water Resources Institute at Grand Valley State University in Muskegon, Michigan, Oakland University in Rochester, Michigan, and the University of Wisconsin–Stout in Menomonie.
Working on board the 75-foot training vessel, Pride of Michigan, cadets from around the U.S. learn maritime skills, advanced diving skills, research skills, and surveying and mapping skills, says Luke Clyburn, president of the Noble Odyssey Foundation.
The cadets also work with professional filmmakers to document the explorations, producing DVDs and other educational materials, says Elliott Smith, science advisor to the foundation.
"We’re carrying on a mission of really training young people in maritime skills, but we’re also educating young people about the Great Lakes," Clyburn says. "These kids are going to be the future leaders of our country, and they need to understand the importance of protecting our resources."
Smar adds, "There is great value in exploration for exploration’s sake. For coastal managers who face the real potential of having to look at a permit for construction on the lake bed, we also need to know what’s down there and its importance—before we make a decision."
For more information on the Noble Odyssey Foundation, point your browser to www.nobleodyssey.org. You may also contact Luke Clyburn at (248) 666-9359, or lclyburn@comcast.net, or Elliott Smith at (303) 880-4854, or nobleodyssey@comcast.net. For more information on the Michigan Coastal Program’s role, contact Matt Smar at (517) 335-3459, or smarm@michigan.gov.
