?/EPA
United States
Environmental Protection
Agency
Great Lakes National
Program Office
230 South Dearborn Street
Chicago, Illinois 60604
EPA Document No 905/M/90/004
June 1990
^
Lakes!
Minds?
-------
What's Inside:
History
Where Did the Great Lakes Come From? 1
Great Lakes People 2
Shipwrecks 3
The Fate of the Christmas Tree Ship 4
Social Studies
Where Would We Be Withoutthe Great Lakes? 6
Who Governs the Great Lakes? 8
Acid Rain: A Shared Problem 9
Environmental Sciences
The Journey of Lake Guardian 12
Lake Guardian Explores Lake Superior 14
Investigating Lake Huron 16
The Journey Continues on Lake Michigan 18
Lake Guardian Travels the Length of Lake Erie 20
The End of Lake Guardian's Journey, Lake Ontario! 21
IV.
V.
VI.
Great Lakes Facts 23
Classroom Activity Map Back Cover
Learning More About the Great Lakes Back Cover
Great Minds? Great Lakes!
has been developed by the United
States Environmental Protection
Agency's Great Lakes National
Program Office to introduce envi-
ronmental curriculum for use in
a variety of elementary subjects.
Inspired by U.S. EPA's environ-
mental research vessel named
Lake Guardian by elementary
schools in the Great Lakes Basin,
this publication is dedicated to
helping students learn more
about the environment and about
the Great Lakes.
The lesson plans in this book
provide an integrated approach
to incorporating Great Lakes en-
vironmental issues into the
subjects of history, social studies,
and science. These lessons are
just a sampling of the educational
material contained in Great
Lakes in My World—a more
comprehensive curriculum
developed by the Lake Michigan
Federation and the Great Lakes
National Program Office.
Use the material in this book
to introduce your students to the
importance of environmental
issues and to see how all of us
are part of the Great Lakes Basin
ecosystem. Share the lore of the
Lakes with your students through
history lessons and stories about
famous shipwrecks. Teach your
students about Canada and the
United States through social
studies lessons, and help them
learn how both countries are
responsible for protecting the
Lakes. For example, explore the
difficulties of solving interna-
tional problems such as acid rain.
Finally, follow the journey of the
Lake Guardian as it travels from
lake to lake introducing your stu-
dents to some of the more com-
pelling environmental problems
affecting the Great Lakes today.
Once you have used Great
Minds? Great Lakes!, move on to
the expanded and more detailed
lessons offered in Great Lakes in
My World, available in the fall of
1990. For more information
regarding Great Lakes in My
World, contact The Lake Michi-
gan Federation, 59 E. Van Buren,
Suite 2215, Chicago, Illinois
60605, (312)939-0838.
Introduction
-------
Great Minds? Great Lakes! is
divided into three subject areas:
History, Social Studies, and Envi-
ronmental Sciences. Each
section contains background
information, discussion points,
and a variety of hands-on activi-
ties designed to illustrate the
major points of each lesson. In
the back of the book, a map of
the Great Lakes is provided for
photocopying, and use with dis-
cussion points and activities. A
bibliography and reference page
tells you where you can find
more information on all the
topics presented throughout the
book.
As the figure below indicates,
the lesson plans in each section
are designed to interrelate with
each other to demonstrate how
environmental issues can not be
isolated from other issues such as
population and industry. Infor-
mation in one lesson plan can be
used easily with another. For
instance, use the lessons in the
history section to demonstrate
the link between the settlements
of the early explorers and the
growth of modern metropolitan
areas. Use social studies lessons
to understand how these metro-
politan areas use and economi-
cally depend on the Great Lakes.
Finally, demonstrate the link
between the use of the Great
Lakes and environmental prob-
lems discussed in "The Journey
of Lake Guardian."
About the Lake Guardian
Research Boat
The Lake Guardian was con-
verted to a research vessel from
an offshore supply vessel in 1990
by the Great Lakes National
Program Office and was
named by the children of
10,000 elementary schools in
the Great Lakes Basin. The
students voted on names contrib-
uted by environmental interest
groups in the Great Lakes area,
and the winning name was Lake
Guardian.
Lake Guardian is used to
conduct in-depth studies of water
quality in the Great Lakes Basin
by collecting samples of water,
sediment, fish, and other biologi-
cal matter. By monitoring toxic
chemicals and other pollutants in
this fragile freshwater world, sci-
entists study the effects of pollut-
ants and assess various cleanup
programs underway in the Great
Lakes Basin using samples and
analysis from the Lake Guardian.
About the Great Lakes National
Program Office
The Great Lakes National
Program Office (GLNPO) was es-
tablished in 1977 as a special
arm of the U.S. EPA dedicated to
Great Lakes environmental
issues. GLNPO was started to
meet the obligations of the United
States under the Great Lakes
Water Quality Agreement with
Canada. GLNPO is the first U.S.
EPA office that is solely devoted
to a distinct ecosystem such as
the Great Lakes Basin. GLNPO
has an extensive surveillance and
monitoring program which
measures conditions in the Lakes
and traces the sources of pollut-
ants.
To keep track of pollutants
entering the Lakes, GLNPO
operates the Great Lakes Atmos-
pheric Deposition Network to
measure pollutants from the
atmosphere, while states track
pollutants in tributaries entering
the Lakes. GLNPO works closely
with various federal agencies,
eight Great Lakes states, and
comparable Canadian agencies to
share and interpret data. In
addition, GLNPO coordinates U.S.
EPA's implementation of regula-
tory actions and activities to
influence state programs in the
Great Lakes Basin.
LoCk
How to Use this Book
-------
Where did the Great Lakes
Come From?
The story begins about three
billion years ago. This lesson
condenses and describes millions
of years of geologic history to
help students appreciate how
long it took to form the Great
Lakes and the origin of its many
treasures, including rich mineral
deposits.
During the Precambrian Era,
which started about 3 billion
years ago and ended 600 million
years ago, a great deal of vol-
canic activity occurred. This
action and sedimentary deposits
were the source of the rich
mineral deposits found in this
region. During the Precambrian
Era, the only types of life existing
on the Earth were algae, fungi,
and bacteria.
Pleistocene Epoch (Ice Age) >
2million-10,000yrs ago
125 inch)
Great Lakes formed >•
10-15,000 yrs age (016 inch)
Recent History, the last >
10,000 years (001 inch)
•< Precambnan
3 billion-600 million years ago
(30 feet)
Paleozoic
600-2&0 million yrs ago
(6 feet)
Cenozoic
70 million yrs ago to present
(2 5 inches)
uu
After billions of years of
volcanic activity, central North
America was flooded several
times during the Paleozoic Era,
which lasted more than 350,000
million years. The flooding
brought different soil materials,
such as mud, clay, and sand, as
well as various forms of sea life,
to the Great Lakes Basin area.
During the Paleozoic Era, the
first fish, insects, reptiles, coni-
fers, and tree ferns appeared on
Earth. The Mesozoic Era fol-
lowed on the heels of the Paleo-
zoic Era. It lasted over 167
million years and brought dino-
saurs, mastodons, birds, mam-
mals, gymnosperms, and flower-
ing plants to the Lakes area. The
decomposition and accumulation
of the remains of plants and
animals during this Era added
further to the mineral resources
of the Great Lakes area.
The Era we are in now, the
Cenozoic Era, started 70 million
years ago. Eras are divided into
Discussion:
II Discuss what a glacier is, how
it moves, how it can change
the geography of the land.
2) On a map, point out where the
glaciers covered the Great
Lakes area. Have the students
ever seen ice that big? Explain
that glaciers still exist today in
many parts of the world, e.g.,
Glacier National Park in Mon-
tana, Sierra Nevada Mountain
Range in Nevada, and Colum-
bia Ice Fields in the Canadian
Rockies near Jasper, Canada.
epochs, and scientists now believe
that the Great Lakes got their
start prior to the Pleistocene
Epoch, also known as the Ice Age,
which occurred in North America
about 10,000 years to 15,000
years ago. The region where the
Lakes are now originally was
carved out before the Ice Age by
an ancient river system that
emptied into the Hudson Bay or
St. Lawrence River Valley.
During the Ice Age, glaciers
covered central North America as
far south as Kansas and Ne-
braska, as far east as New York
Activities
1) Time Line:
Materials: 30-foot piece of string or clothesline and at least six clothespins.
Procedure: Have two students hold up the string as a time line across the front
of the classroom. Depending on the grade level, either have the students write
down the names and characteristics of each era, or have the students draw a
picture of the activities that occurred. Clip students' work to the appropriate
time period on the string. {Use the timeline diagram for reference) Optional:
research animals that lived during tiie time periods and cut out animal tracks of
each type of animal, including human beings (they can trace their own feet).
Lay the timeline on the floor and lay the tracks down next to it so the footprints
walkthrough time at the appropriate eras. As the Ice Age and recent history
time periods converge, students will be able to visualize how plants, animals,
and human beings are recent history relative to the evolution of the Earth.
2) Using boxes, create "scenes" from different periods of the Great Lakes'
geologic history, showing formations and animals unique to each phase of their
development
History
-------
and as far west as the northern
West Coast. In some places, the
glaciers were over 6,500 feet
thick, almost a mile-and-a-
quarter high. Through the sheer
weight of the ice, coupled with
the varying hardness of the rocks
beneath it, the glaciers tore up
the river terrain, creating natural
dams and dikes that obstructed
the drainage of the ancient river
system. As the glacier receded
from North America, the Great
Lakes began to form from the
melting receding glacial water
which had enlarged the original
river basin. During the Ice Age,
modern humans, saber tooth
tigers, mammoths, and numerous
other animals began to roam the
Earth. In addition, the first
grasslands, herbaceous
plants, and forests
developed.
Great Lakes People
For a variety of reasons, the
Great Lakes have attracted many
different kinds of people from all
over the world. From Native
Americans to European immi-
grants, these people contribute to
its diversity and cultural rich-
ness. This lesson introduces
students to the people of the
Great Lakes Basin.
About 10,000 years ago,
around the time that the glacier
receded, the first inhabitants of
the Great Lakes area appeared.
It is believed that these Native
Americans came from South
America or across the land
bridge once connecting the
continents of North America and
Asia in Alaska. Tribes of Native
Americans peopled the shores,
among them the Iroquois, Al-
lumettes, Chippewas, Hurons,
Ottawas, Senecas, Mohawks,
Eries, and Ojibways. Many cities
take their names from the tribes
or great chiefs of these tribes,
including Ottawa, Canada;
Pontiac, Michigan; and Erie,
Pennsylvania. Lake Huron was
named directly for the Huron
Indians. Other present-day cities
were once Indian villages, includ-
ing Quebec, Canada, which was
once Stadacona; and Montreal,
Canada, which was Hochelaga.
In Europe, two events in-
creased curiosity about the so-
called New World: voyages by
Norsemen in the twelfth to four-
teenth centuries and the voyage
to America by Christopher
Columbus in the fifteenth cen-
tury. Artifacts such as a Viking
sword, axe and shield found in
Ontario and southwestern Minne-
sota suggest that the Vikings and
Norsemen may have reached the
North American continent as far
inland as Minnesota via the
Hudson Bay.
In the 1500s and 1600s, the
French were the primary explor-
ers and settlers in and around
the Great Lakes. Less than 200
years after Norsemen reached
the Great Lakes, French explor-
ers and missionaries began to
arrive. Over a period of time,
they constructed forts along the
Great Lakes all the way to King-
ston, Ontario, where Fort Fron-
tenac was located.
The British were active, too,
constructing Fort Oswego on
Lake Ontario's south shore in the
early 1700s. The British had
already colonized the New
England states and parts of
Pennsylvania. Steady migration
by the British into French-
dominated territory around the
Discussion:
1) Ask the students to talk about
where their families are from.
Why did their families origi-
nally move to the Great Lakes
Basin?
2) Locate interesting names of
towns and cities on a map of
the Great Lakes. Determine
the origin of the name or have
the class write to the city's
Chamber of Commerce for
further historical information.
Great Lakes led to war between
the two nations over the fur
trade. The first African Ameri-
cans arrived in the Great Lakes
area in the late 1700s, when Jean
Baptiste Pointe DuSable, a trap-
per, built a cabin in the Chicago
area. African Americans came in
greater numbers in the late
1800s.
During the 1800s, there was
a mass influx of other ethnic
groups from Europe. They came
to the New World in search of
freedom and prosperity. In all,
more than 21 different nationali-
ties settled in the Great Lakes
area. Scandinavians again were
among the first to arrive. Norwe-
gians founded the first perma-
nent colony on the Fox River in
Illinois, and Swedes settled at
Pine Lake, Wisconsin, west of
Milwaukee. Belgians also came,
and the largest population of
Belgians in the United States are
now in Door County, Wisconsin.
The Irish represented the largest
immigrant group in Canada. The
first group of Finns settled on the
upper peninsula of Michigan and
worked in the copper mines
there. They also peopled the
areas around Duluth, Minnesota,
working in the open-pit mines of
the Vermilion and Mesabi ranges.
Germans flocked to the Great
History
-------
Lakes area, particularly in San-
dusky, Ohio, on Lake Erie and in
Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
Also among the immigrants to
the Great Lakes Basin were the
Canadians, French-Canadians,
Russians, Czechs, Greeks, Turks,
Persians and Spaniards, Welsh-
men, Scotsmen, and Dutch.
Immigrants from Mexico, Puerto
Rico, and other Central American
countries came at the turn of the
century, with significant migra-
tion occuring during World War I.
1)
2)
3)
Activities
Have the students research the
Native American and European
people who first settled in the
Great Lake Region. Locate early
settlements on the map.
As a class, research and dress up
as early explorers of the Great
Lakes region and describe their
experiences. Have the students
write a make-believe journal entry
of an explorer's adventures.
Have the class research the
history of your town. Write to a
local historical group or invite a
long-time resident to share his or
her memories of the town's
history with the class.
Shipwrecks
A sailor's life journeying the
five Great Lakes sounds romantic,
but not all the journeys have been
smooth sailing. The Great Lakes
have seen their share of ship-
wrecks over the years.
Explorer Robert de LaSalle's
ship, The Griffin, one of the first
large ships ever to sail the Great
Lakes, was launched in 1679 and
carried a load of furs out of Green
Bay on its maiden voyage. She
was never seen again and no
History
splinter ever washed ashore.
The Griffin leads the long parade
of ghost ships that provide us
with the great mysteries of the
Great Lakes.
In 1871 alone, 1,167 disas-
ters were recorded. In the two
decades between 1878 and 1898,
the United States Commissioner
of Navigation reported 5,999
vessels wrecked on the Great
Lakes and 1,093 of these were
total losses. 1905 was a particu-
larly bad year on the Lakes with
271 vessels damaged, 54 of
which were lost through the
stress of weather.
Whereas luck and intuition
were the tools available to early
skippers, today's captains have
the finest and most sophisticated
navigational aids available.
Ships are equipped with weather
warning systems, radios, direc-
tion finders, and depthometers.
Careful study of previous ship-
wrecks has taught us how to
improve ship construction and
methods of navigation.
Despite all that modern
technology can offer, surviving a
Great Lakes storm is still a chal-
lenge. The storms of the Great
Lakes have been compared with
a "witches brew,"
and a "devil's
harvest."
Storms can
explode
across
hun-
dreds
of
miles of
open
water
with
little
or no
warn-
ing.
Storms
on the
Great Lakes often can be more
difficult to navigate than ocean
storms. Waves on the Great
Lakes jump and strike quickly
compared to the lethargic rolling
and swelling of ocean waves.
Just as there are comparisons
to be made between ocean
storms and lake storms, there
are differences in the way each of
the Great Lakes reacts in a
storm. Most veteran captains
and crews find Lake Erie the
least agreeable in either fair or
foul weather because of its
shallow depth and muddy bot-
tom.
Lake Superior is a favorite
among mariners because its
large size affords the greatest
amount of room for maneuvering
during a storm. However, it too
poses a challenge to navigate
with its rocky coastline, cold tem-
peratures (40 degrees in summer
or winter), and huge waves that
develop because of the Lakes'
depth. An ancient Chippewa
legend warns that Superior
"never gives up its dead."
Lake Michigan commands the
greatest respect among seafarers
for several reasons. Prevailing
winds sweep its length
-------
and the currents caused by wind
shifts around the Straits of
Mackinac cause it to be the
trickiest of the Lakes to keep on
course. It also has a scarcity of
natural harbors and human-
made places of refuge.
Activities:
1} Have students research a Great
Lakes shipwreck and tell the story
to the class (see back cover for re-
sources).
2) Contact a maritime museum in your
state and ask what underwater
archeology is currently being done
in the Great Lake nearest you.
The Fate of the
Christmas Tree Ship
It was late November
and the sights and
sounds of the holiday
season were creeping into the
bustling city of Chicago. Each
year, the arrival of the creaking
old three-masted schooner Rouse
Simmons served as a signal for
the beginning of the Christmas
season. The schooner always
ended her shipping season by
bringing to Chicago a large and
profitable cargo of Christmas
trees.
Along with the annual tree
buyers, peg-legged and bearded
Claud Winters eagerly awaited
the arrival of the Rouse Simmons.
Claud and Captain Schunemann,
owner and master of the ship,
had an unusual bond. Although
their lives were quite different,
they seemed to understand and
sympathize with each other.
Claud was soft-hearted under
his rough outer appearance. As
a child he had lost a leg under a
Discuss>on:
1) Talk about the different naviga-
tional challenges posed by each
Great Lake. The information
mentions that previous ship-
wrecks lead to the development
of further safety precautions.
Discuss with the students what
might be learned from ship-
wrecks. How can shipwrecks
tell us about the way people
lived long ago and about the
history of shipping ?
2) Discuss what inventions and
advancements in weather pre-
diction have made navigation
on the Great Lakes safer.
boxcar, so he couldn't handle the
demands of being a seafarer.
Claud admired the Captain as a
fearless sailor and a smart ship
operator. In the great storm of
1889 the Rouse Simmons was the
only sailing ship that was not
severely damaged or lost.
The Captain was legendary
for his stinginess and stubborn-
ness in working with anyone who
might cut into his profit. Claud
would have enjoyed the thrill and
adventure of a sailor's life. The
Captain must have understood
this about Claud because he was
unusually generous to his stocky
peg-legged friend. Once the
Captain gave Claud a silver dollar
saying, "Always keep this and
you'll never be broke." When-
ever they met, Claud would show
him the coin and say, "Here it is
Cap...still as good as new and still
a yearnin' to be spent."
On the morning of November
27,1912, Claud stomped onto the
Clark Street wharf to await the
early morning arrival of the
Rouse Simmons. Claud had hired
a group of men to unload the
fragrant pine and balsam trees.
When the ship was nowhere to be
seen, Claud was sure the Captain
was floating offshore waiting for
the fog to lift so he wouldn't have
to pay charges for a tug to bring
him in. But by 4:00 PM many of
Claud's hired companions had
tired of waiting and left. Claud
himself was feeling tired, dis-
couraged and hungry. Many busy
tugs had come upriver, but
nowhere on the horizon could he
see the sails or masthead lamps
of the Rouse Simmons.
The year 1912 had been a
devastating one for Great Lakes
shippers. The worst snow storm
in a century had blasted the lakes
for four days in early November,
destroying 10 large freighters
and littering the shoreline with
debris. Four hundred seamen
were lost in those four disastrous
days.
Meanwhile Captain Schune-
mann was realizing he could turn
a disaster into a fortune. Snow
had buried tree farms in Michi-
gan and Wisconsin. Chicago tree
dealers were desperate for trees.
Captain Schunemann was happy
to deliver! At Thompson Harbor
just southwest of Manistique,
Michigan trees were being
crammed into every available
space on the Rouse Simmons.
Well into the evening, the Captain
had more bundles of trees tied on
board the deck, row upon row.
The schooner sagged under the
weight of her fragrant cargo. He
expected this could be the most
profitable run he had ever made.
Despite stormy weather, the
Rouse Simmons set sail at noon
on November 25, 1912. The
schooner Dutch Boy was seeking
shelter when its captain spied the
Rouse Simmons off his bow. He
exclaimed above the howling
wind, "Mother of God, look! That
History
-------
crazy Dutchman's going out in
this, and him with every inch of
canvas up!"
As the Rouse Simmons swung
west southwest on course to-
wards Chicago, she was caught in
deadly winds of 60 miles per
hour. Every part of the ship
creaked, moaned, and shrieked
in the howling gale. Some time
during the night two sailors were
sent to check the lashings. A
tremendous wave swept them,
along with many of the bundled
trees and a small boat, into the
raging seas. With less weight on
board, Captain Schunemann and
his first mate were able to ma-
neuver the vessel toward shelter
at Bailey's Harbor.
As fate would have it, the
violent wind changed suddenly,
producing a furious snowstorm
and an incredible drop in tem-
perature. A thick blanket of ice
quickly thickened as the unre-
lenting waves pounded the ship.
The situation of the Rouse Sim-
mons was becoming more des-
perate each moment. Battered
hatch covers could no longer
prevent water from entering the
hold where it quickly turned into
ice on the trees.
From the station tower at
Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin, men of
the old United States Lifesaving
Service sighted the Rouse Sim-
mons flying distress signals as
she continued to move low in the
water, driven along by the force
of the gale. A rescue team 25
miles to the south launched a
surfboat in an attempt to inter-
cept the suffering schooner.
Visibility was difficult and a two
hour search was unsuccessful.
But suddenly there was a break
in the snowstorm and the pitiful
ship was sighted. She was barely ]
afloat and resembled a mass of
ice. Rescuers desperately moved
full steam ahead as blinding
snow again made it impossible to
see the schooner. The Rouse
Simmons vanished from sight and
was never seen again.
Meanwhile, Claud Winters
continued to believe that the
Rouse Simmons would arrive
even after a note was found in a
bottle on the beach in Sheboygan,
Wisconsin. It said, "Friday...
everybody goodbye. I guess we
are all through. During the night
the small boat was washed
overboard. Leaking bad. Ingvald
and Steve lost too. God help us.
Herman Schunemann." Chicago
suffered from a shortage of
Christmas trees that year.
That Christmas Eve, Claud
made his daily trip to the dock.
He stood in the falling snow
waiting for the Rouse Simmons to
arrive. The next morning a
policeman found him blanketed
with snow. Believing to the end
that the Captain would come
Discussion:
1) Discuss Claud Winters and
Captain Herman Schune-
mann's personalities, inter-
ests, and appearance.
2) Talk about what kind of
person would choose the life
of a seaman in the early part
of the century.
through, Claud's sad life was
ended. As the policeman picked
up his lifeless body, a silver
dollar fell from his frozen fingers
and rolled into a crack in the
dock, landing in the icy black
water below.
It was another 10 years
before evidence of the Rouse
Simmons was discovered. Cap-
tain Herman Schunemann's
wallet was found among the fish
caught in the nets of a Wisconsin
fisherman.
Activities:
1) Have the students trace the route of theffouse Simmons on the Great Lakes
map.
2) Have the students write a diary entry that Claud Winters might have written
after one of the evenings he spent at the dock waiting for the Rouse Simmons
to arrive, or have them write a message one of the crew of the Rouse Simmons
might have written and put into a bottle in hopes that it would eventually reach
his family.
3) Assuming that the Rouse Simmons had made it safely to Chicago, use the infor-
mation below to make up math problems appropriate to the level of your class:
Number of trees loaded onto the ship: 1,000
Number of trees washed overboard in the storm: 300
Price Captain Schunemann paid for the trees: $.25/each
Price of trees when sold in Chicago: $.75/each
For older students, discuss gross and net profits, taking into consideration the
cost of shipping the trees and the cost of the lost trees.
History
-------
Where Would We Be
Without the Great Lakes?
The Great Lakes are part of
our daily lives. They provide us
with fresh drinking water; indus-
tries and jobs including agricul-
ture, fisheries, manufacturing,
shipping, and tourism; and
beautiful shorelines and parks.
This section explores how we
depend on the Lakes and the
many ways we use them.
The Great Lakes provide us
with fresh water for just about
any kind of activity you can
imagine. Today, there are ap-
proximately 37 million people
living in the Great Lakes Basin
and more than 26 million of these
people rely on the Great Lakes for
their drinking water. Most of the
original settlements which grew
into cities were established near
tributaries that provided a supply
of fresh water for domestic and
industrial use.
How much water do these 26
million people use in a day, a
year, their lifetime? The Great
Lakes contain about 5,500 cubic
miles of water. If a person took 3
baths a day, it would take over
110 billion years to use all the
water in the Great Lakes! If all
26 million people took 3 baths a
day, it still would take 4,254
years to use all the water in the
Lakes.
Many people don't realize it,
but resources in the Great Lakes
Basin are responsible for the
quality of our lives. So much of
our lives depend on the Great
Lakes' rich farmland, abundant
fish, water power, transportation,
How Much Water Is Used...?
In the average residence per year:
By an average person daily:
To flush a toilet:
To take a shower:
To take a bath:
To brush your teeth (with water running):
To wash dishes by hand:
To run a dishwasher:
To wash clothes in a washing machine:
To water your lawn:
107,000 gallons
168 gallons
5-7 gallons
25-50 gallons
50 gallons
2 gallons
20 gallons
15-25 gallons per cycle
35 gallons per cycle
35 gallons per half acre
Discussion:
1) Discuss how students and
their families use water in
their daily lives and explore
how important water is as a
natural resource.
2} Discuss what would happen if
fresh water was not readily
available. Talk about ways
drinking water is wasted and
how it can be conserved.
3) Using the information on
water use, calculate how
much water the students and
their families use each day.
Have students measure the
amount of water they use to
brush their teeth once, then
calculate how much water
they use a week or a month.
and natural beauty.
Within the 201,000 square
miles of the Great Lakes Basin,
67,000 square miles are devoted
to agriculture—an area larger
than each of the bordering states
except Minnesota. The main
agricultural products produced in
the region today are wheat, corn,
soybeans, barley, and oats.
Grapes are grown in the Lake
Ontario region for wine-making
in New York. The Lake Michigan
area contains the most farmland
of all the Great Lakes and is a
leading grower of fruits and
vegetables. The State of Wiscon-
sin is known for its cheeses and
other milk-products. The Lake
Erie region leads the Great Lakes
in the raising of pigs, sheep,
soybeans, wheat, and chicken
corn. The Lake Huron Basin is
the world's biggest producer of
navy beans, and the Lake Supe-
Social Studies
-------
rior region is an active forest
products producer.
Great Lakes fish are an
important source of food for
people and hundreds of species
of animals and birds. The aver-
age annual commercial fishing
catch is approximately 110
million pounds. Major species
caught in the Great Lakes include
whitefish, yellow perch, lake
trout, salmon, walleye, lake
herring, rainbow smelt, chubs,
white bass, brown bullhead, and
carp. One of the most prosper-
ous fishing areas is Lake Erie,
where the walleye pike fishery is
widely considered the best in the
world. In Canada, the Lake Erie
fishery represents nearly two-
thirds of the country's total Great
Lakes harvest.
Shipping has been respon-
sible for the development of the
entire Great Lakes Region. The
Great Lakes and their intercon-
necting channels have provided a
natural transportation system for
exploration and settlers, and
trade and transport of goods—
particularly mineral resources
and agricultural products. Boom
towns have come and gone as
shipping enabled natural re-
sources to be reached and
transported, and today shipping
continues to be a major industry
on the Lakes. Iron ore from the
Lake Superior area is shipped to
mills in Chicago, Cleveland, and
Gary to be made into steel. This
steel is then shipped to Detroit
automakers. Among the other
products transported on the
Lakes are coal, limestone, grain,
newsprint, and cement. In 1959,
completion of the St. Lawrence
Seaway drastically changed the
Great Lakes shipping industry by
expanding it to include interna-
tional transport.
Many manufacturing indus-
tries are attracted to the Great
Lakes area because of the advan-
tages of being near a water
source which provides cheap
electricity and convenient trans-
portation routes. Major manu-
facturing industries in the Great
Lakes region include steel, paper,
chemicals, and automobiles.
Thirty-six percent of United
States automobiles and 38% of
Canadian automobiles are pro-
duced in the Basin. The steel
industry is concentrated at the
southern end of Lake Michigan,
and in Detroit, Cleveland, and
Lorain, Ohio. Paper mills are
located primarily in the upper
Lakes, with a large concentration
of mills along the Fox River that
feeds into Green Bay on Lake
Michigan. Chemical manufactur-
ers are on the Niagara River, the
Saginaw Bay in Lake Huron, and
in Sarnia, Ontario.
Tourism and recreation also
are major industries in the Great
Lakes Basin. For example, in
Ottawa County, Ohio, the regular
population of 40,000 increases to
about 250,000 on weekends as
tourists come to enjoy the sights.
In many areas of the Basin, small
unprofitable marinas have been
turned into multimillion dollar
complexes with stores, restau-
rants, and swimming pools. Sport
fishing also is a major component
of the recreation industry. The
sale of licenses, equipment, and
boat rentals generates hundreds
of millions of dollars every year.
Charter fleets and a large fish
stocking program have been
developed to fuel the industry.
Over 60 million people each year
visit the 98 state parks, 39 provin-
cial parks, and 12 national parks
on the United States and Canadian
Great Lakes shores.
When we consider the benefits
we gain from all of these indus-
tries in the Great Lakes Basin, it
is important to remember that
each of these industries have
environmental consequences.
Activities:
1) On a map, fill in the major cities
mentioned and trace the chan-
nels between Lakes which allow
ships to travel between Lakes.
Draw in symbols or figures rep-
resenting different types of
industries located around the
Lakes.
2}) Have each student draw a
picture of his or her favorite
Great Lakes recreational
activity. Make a collage of all
the pictures.
Social Studies
*&
-------
Who Governs the
Great Lakes?
The Great Lakes are so big
that their shores span the
boundaries of eight states and
two Canadian provinces. With so
many government bodies in-
volved, preservation of the Great
Lakes requires cooperation and
Discussion:
1) Imagine what it would have
been like living in the Great
Lakes area before trains, cars,
and airplanes were invented.
Why were the Great Lakes
important to the settlers?
2) Discuss the types and func-
tions of ships used on the
Great Lakes such as freighters,
commercial fishing ships, and
pleasure crafts. Ask students
what types of ships they have
seen on the Lakes.
3) Discuss why the Great Lakes
are important to farming. How
does the water get from the
Lakes to the farms? What
would happen if the water in
the Lakes were so polluted it
could not be used for farming?
4) Talk about what would happen
if there were no fish in the
Great Lakes. With no fish to eat
insects, what would happen to
the number of insects?
5) Ask the students what kind of
fun activities they can do
around the Great Lakes. Have
they visited any state or
national parks in the Great
Lakes Basin? Why is it
important to have parks along
the border of the Great Lakes?
(minimizes shoreline develop-
ment)
team work. This section
will explore the necessity
for governments and
people to work together to
solve the environmental
problems facing the Great
Lakes region.
Because the United
States and Canada share
the Great Lakes as a
border, many govern-
ments are involved with
environmental problems
in the Great Lakes Basin:
on a federal level, the U.S.
Environmental Protection
Agency and Environment
Canada; eight state gov-
ernments (Illinois, Indi-
ana, Michigan, Minnesota,
New York, Ohio, Pennsyl-
vania, and Wisconsin);
and two Canadian prov-
inces (Ontario and Que-
bec). Having both Canada and
the United States involved pres-
ents the unique situation of two
nations responsible for managing
and protecting a natural re-
source.
To officially agree on how to
protect the Great Lakes, the
United States and Canada signed
a treaty in 1909 called the
Boundary Water Treaty. The
treaty declared that neither
Canada nor the United States has
the right to pollute the resources
of its neighbor. It also said that
both countries have equal rights
to the use of waterways that
cross the international border of
the Lakes. Despite the agree-
ments made in the treaty, pollu-
tion problems began to mount,
and by the early 1970s, the two
countries had to reconsider the
Boundary Water Treaty.
The two countries decided to
make a more specific commit-
ment to restoring and maintain-
ing the environmental health of
the Great Lakes Basin. The
agreement, called
the Great Lakes Water Quality
Agreement, was signed in 1972
and created a bi-national com-
mission that would be respon-
sible for reducing pollution in the
Great Lakes and developing
specific plans for cleaning up
many of the pollution problems in
the Basin. The commission is re-
ferred to as the International
Joint Commission.
Making progress on the
problems that affect the Great
Lakes is not easy. This is because
the problems are not simple ones
and because every proposal has
ramifications that are both good
and bad. For example, an
environmental protection pro-
posal that limits industrial
growth may help prevent further
pollution of the Great Lakes, but
it may have negative effects on
the economy and the availability
of jobs.
Social Studies
-------
Discussion:
1) Talk about other natural
resources we share with
Canada and other countries
such as air, oceans, and
wildlife.
2) Ask students if they know who
is in charge of making
decisions about how to clean
up pollution on the Great
Lakes. Discuss how we can
influence our governments to
work hard on ways to protect
the Lakes.
3) Talk about jobs students could
have in the future that will
contribute to protecting the
Lakes (engineer, teacher, sci-
entist, zoologist, biologist,
politician).
4) Brainstorm ways that working
cooperatively with a partner
or group can be beneficial in
solving problems.
Acid Rain: A Shared
Problem
When talking about acid rain,
the old adage applies—what goes
up must come down. This
section explores acid rain, an
example of a difficult environ-
mental issue facing the United
States and Canada. By focusing
on this complex environmental
concern, the lesson reveals why it
is so important for governments
to work together and be aware of
how their actions affect the
quality of life of others.
Acid rain is rain, snow, hail,
fog, dust, or soot containing high
levels of acid. Pollutants that are
transferred from the air into the
Lakes are responsible for harm-
ing the quality of the water in the
Lakes, as well as the health of the
plants and animals that call the
Great Lakes home. But acid rain
isn't just a regional problem; it is
Activities;
1) On tile Great Lakes map provided, have students identify and color in the United
States, Canada, the Great Lakes, and states and provinces that border the
Great Lakes. Using a different color, trace the United States and Canadian
border. Have the students ever crossed any borders? Could they tell they were
entering another country?
2) Conflict Resolution
Divide the class into groups representing each state and province. Have each
group make a plan for protecting the Great Lakes. All state groups should meet
to share their ideas and develop one overall plan for the United States. Do the
same with the Canadian provinces. Finally, one representative is chosen from
each country to work out an international agreement for protecting the Great
Lakes. The agreement has to be acceptable to both countries. If there are
disagreements, ask the students to explore creative ways of solving conflicts.
This activity is easily adapted to different grade levels. For lower grades, stu-
dents could explore plans for keeping the school yard clean. Higher grade
levels could expand the students roles to represent various interests and
industries affected by such agreements.
l a global problem and there is
J little worldwide agreement on
how to tackle it. Neither the
United States nor Canada can
I combat acid rain alone. It is
{ carried across national frontiers
j and often affects distant places
j more strongly than where it is
produced. Solving the acid rain
problem requires an understand-
ing of the consequences of our
actions in the United States and
Canada, and the necessity of
cooperating in the search for a
solution.
With the issue of acid rain,
attention is drawn to the Great
Lakes Basin. This is because
many "smokestack" industries
are located in and near the
Basin, and many people believe
that the pollution from these
industries contributes to the acid
rain problem in Ontario, eastern
Canada and northeastern United
States. Many Canadians get
upset with the United States
because so much of the pollution
coming from industry in the
United States blows with the
wind, sometimes ending up in
Canada.
There are no simple solutions
to this problem. Cost, economics,
and available technologies are all
issues at stake. Most leaders an-
ticipate that stopping acid rain
will be costly. Many dollars will
have to be spent to change the
way fuels are burned and how
other industrial processes are
used to make the goods and
services on which our society
depends. Because so much of the
industry is located on the United
States side of the Lakes, some
Great Lakes states are nervous
that they will be responsible for
much of the cost.
Long term solutions to the
acid rain problem include insti-
tuting strict air quality legisla-
tion, developing technologies to
Social Studies
-------
help fuels burn more cleanly, and
filtering gases before they enter
the atmosphere. Individuals can
contribute to solving the acid rain
problem by instituting recycling
programs, using public transpor-
tation, and turning off appliances
to cut down on energy consump-
tion.
About Acid Rain
The majority of acid rain results
from fossil fuels such as coal, oil,
and natural gases burned in
industry, electrical power plants,
and motor vehicles. Once in the
atmosphere, these pollutants
combine with moisture and inter-
act with sunlight to form sulfuric
acid and nitric acid. Tall factory
smoke stacks discharge pollut-
ants high into the atmosphere
where winds carry the acids for
hundreds of miles. Eventually the
acids fall back to the earth in the
form of rain, snow, or dust. Fac-
tors influencing how far acid rain
travels include wind speed, wind
direction, and cloud chemistry.
The effects of acid rain include:
• Damage to buildings, monu
ments, and statues.
• Destruction of lake and river
ecosystems. Fish cannot
reproduce and soon die out
when acid levels become too
high in rivers and lakes. If a
lake or river loses its fish
population, animals and birds
in the area may starve or be
forced to move away from the
area to look elsewhere for
food.
High acid levels dissolve
metals, such as aluminum, that
are present in river and lake
beds, and soil and rock aqui-
fers. The metals enter the
water and possibly contaminate
fish, making them harmful for
wildlife and human consump-
tion.
Damage to plant life. Acid rain
can affect trees and crops by
directly attacking their leaves
and needles or by soaking into
soil, and changing its chemical
balance.
Contamination of drinking
water. By gradually eating
away at metal pipes, acid rain
causes metal to enter the drink-
ing water supplies. Some
studies have linked acid rain to
increased infant mortality rates
and lung dysfunctions.
Social Studies
-------
Discussion:
1) Introduce air pollution by
asking the students what their
senses tell them about the air.
Explore how we can use our
sense of sight, taste, and smell
to be "air detectives."
2) Brainstorm sources of air
pollution such as cars, facto-
ries, fires, and cigarette
smoking. Discuss what
common activities in their own
lives indirectly contribute to
acid rain (e.g., electricity
demand causes power plants
to create more air pollution).
What can we do to reduce air
pollution? Discuss ways to
save energy.
3) Explore how difficult it is for
the United States and Canada
to decide how to eliminate
acid rain problems and
compromise. Discuss
solutions to the acid rain
problem and how some of the
solutions may affect other im-
portant areas such as the
economy, jobs, and industry.
Ask if either the United States
or Canada could solve the
acid rain problem alone and
discuss the advantages of
working together. Ask
students to think of other
situations where they have
found it was best to
cooperate.
Activities:
1} To illustrate how acid rain occurs, have the students draw a picture of
industry emissions entering the sky and coming back down as rain.
The hydrological cycle graphic on page 15 may be useful.
2) Seeing Air Pollution
Materials: Cardboard, scissors, clear sticky tape or vaseline, string,
magnifying glass.
Procedure: Cut out strips of cardboard about 10 inches long and two
inches wide, cut a number of holes in the strips, and tape across the
holes with the sticky tape (vaseline on the cardboard strip will also
work). Tie a piece of string to one end of each strip, and hang outdoors
and in the classroom for one week. Collect strips and examine tape
under a magnifying glass. Where do they think tie dirt on the tape
comes from? Which strips showed more dirt and why?
3) The Effects of Acid
Materials: Two copper pennies, two non-metal disposable cups,
marker pen, lemon juice or lemons, tap water.
Procedures: Place one penny in each cup. Mark the cups A and B.
Squeeze lemon juice over one of the pennies so that it is well covered.
Add the same amount of water to the other cup (warning: liquid could
be harmful if swallowed). Hypothesize what may occur if you set aside
the cups for a few days. After 4-5 days, check your hypotheses. The
liquid in cup A will be bluish green in color, the water in cup B remains
clear. Discuss results. What do the students think made the lemon
juice change color? What happens when they get lemon juice on a
cut? What acids are safe to drink? What acids are not?
4) The Incredible Terrific Cleanup Machine
Materials: Paper, pencils, markers, or crayons, construction paper or
magazines which can be cut up, scissors, glue.
Procedures: Brainstorm what a machine to clean air pollution would
look like and how it would operate. Allow the students to express their
ideas freely. Divide the class into groups and have them use the mate-
rials to create a machine of their own. When each group has com-
pleted their machine, let members of each group explain their creation
to the entire class. Ask students what they could create if they com-
bined all their ideas to make one Incredible Terrific Cleanup Machine.
Relate this to the idea of two countries combining their resources to
clean up pollution in the Great Lakes.
Social Studies
-------
Research is very important to the
progress of cleaning up the Great
Lakes. It is essential if we are to
fully understand the effect of
human activity on the environ-
mental quality of the Lakes.
Research vessels like Lake
Guardian provide us with more
information about the Lakes so
we can make better decisions
about how to clean them up.
This lesson, The Journey of
Lake Guardian, is a read-aloud
story. The ideas and problems
can be adapted for all levels of
K-5 students. Each lake is
explored and the many environ-
mental concerns facing the Great
Lakes are revealed and dis-
cussed. Discussion topics and
hands-on activities follow each
story segment.
Part 1: The Journey of Lake Guardian
Story Highlights
Hot Spots:
The 42 "Areas of Concern" in the Great
Lakes Basin identified by the
International Joint Commission (see
Social Studies lesson) where pollution
problems are of concern and
environmental quality standards are not
being achieved.
See the inside cover introduction for
more information regarding Lake
Guardian.
Vocabulary:
adventuresome
chemicals
contamination
distilled
guardian
hotspots
laboratory
microscope
pollution
reagent
research
scientific
toxic
winches
Lake Guardian, a very
curious and adven-
turesome research
boat, is setting out to explore and
learn about the Great Lakes.
Lake Guardian loves to travel,
and the Great Lakes are her
favorite place to go because of
their large size, beauty, and
exciting history.
Lake Guardian will cruise
from shore to shore visiting all
five of the Great Lakes. She will
stop to study the air, water, land,
plants, and animals, along with
other creatures that you can only
see under microscopes. Learning
about all the kinds of pollution in
the Lakes is important because it
will help make them clean and
keep them beautiful. There are
some kinds of pollution you can't
even see and smell! Where does
it come from? How much is
there in each Lake? How does it
hurt animals, plants, and people
that live in the Great Lakes?
Lake Guardian wants to under-
stand it all because she is a
guardian of the Great Lakes, and
she wants to take care of and
protect them. Many people
depend on Lake Guardian and
the things she learns about the
Great Lakes, because they too
are working hard to make the
Lakes cleaner and healthier for
everyone.
Lake Guardian carries 11
crew members and 31 scientists
along with all their special
scientific machines. Weighing
182 tons in the water, she is 180
feet long and 40 feet wide, so she
has plenty of room to carry all
the necessary equipment. Lake
Guardian's laboratory contains
scientific instruments to measure
very low levels of contamination;
refrigerators and freezers to
store and preserve samples; pure
distilled water to make up chemi-
cal reagents; and computers to
help with the analysis of samples.
She even has several winches
capable of lifting 5,000 pounds,
Environmental Sciences
-------
and has cranes capable of lifting
heavier loads up to 30,000
pounds. Storms worry her
though, for she is afraid of
rocking too much and breaking
all the special equipment.
Lake Guardian has a very
busy schedule because there are
42 places she is worried about
and must visit. These places are
called "hot spots" because many
of them are so polluted or toxic
that some plants, animals, and
fish that live there are sick. You
can't swim or fish in these areas
because you could get sick too. It
is sad to think about the hot
spots, and Lake Guardian is very
proud to be such an important
part of helping to clean them up.
Sometimes Lake Guardian's
work seems like play because
each Lake is so special. Nature
provided each Lake with many
different trees, flowers, birds,
fish, animals, people and other
creatures in and around the
shorelines. Lake Guardian hopes
you begin to love the Lakes as
much as she does as you journey
with her. She hopes that after
hearing her story, you'll learn
many ways that you can be
friends of the Great Lakes, and
help to make them cleaner and
healthier.
Discussion:
1) Discuss how the students think
the research boat can help the
Great Lakes. Why might it be
hard for Lake Guardian to study
all the different kinds of
pollution ?
2) Have the students ever been in
a boat? Was it as big as Lake
Guardian ? How big is Lake
Guardian compared to the
classroom?
3) Brainstorm types of pollution
we expect to find in the Lakes.
List different kinds of pollution.
Do they know of types of pollu-
tion that can't be seen ? What
happens to pollution? What can
they do to help stop pollution?
Pollution Pathways Map
Environmental Sciences
-------
Activities:
1) On a bulletin board, display a
large map of the Great Lakes,
or make a copy of the Great
Lakes map for each student.
As a class or individually, have
the students trace the path-
way of Lake Guardian as it
travels through the Great
Lakes as each part of the story
is read. As Lake Guardian
arrives at each Lake, have the
students fill in the name of the
Lake, the names of the
bordering states and prov-
inces, the names of towns and
cities mentioned in the story,
and any places familiar to the
students.
2) On a bulletin board or large
piece of paper taped on the
wall, draw a picture of a
cross-section of a lake and
surrounding shoreline similar
to the Pollution Pathways Map
on page 13 but without the
figures and arrows. As the
story progresses, students will
discover pathways in which
pollution enters the Great
Lakes. Have the students
draw in figures and arrows
representing pathways of
pollution learned from each
story segment By the final
story segment, students will
have learned about the many
activities occurring around the
Great Lakes that cause
pollution problems, and will be
able to see these pathways
represented in their
illustration.
3)
Using a string on the school
play yard, measure the size of
the research vessel. Are the
ships they have seen bigger or
smaller than the new research
vessel?
Part 2: Lake Guardian Explores Lake Superior
Story Highlights
Hydrologic Cycle:
Evaporation, transpiration, condensa-
tion, precipitation, infiltration, and
runoff.
Recreational Activity is a Source of
Pollution:
Environmental damage can be caused
by many recreational activities.
Campers, hikers, and boaters create
problems by littering, dumping sewage
and other wastes into the lakes, or let-
ting gas from boats leak into the waters.
Soil erosion problems result from
removal of trees and grasses for devel-
opment of marinas and summer homes.
Hot Spots: 8
Peninsula Harbour, Jackfish Bay,
Nipigon Bay, Thunder Bay, St. Louis
River, Torch Lake, Deer Lake/Carp
Creek/Carp River, St. Marys River.
Vocabulary:
anchor
coastline
condensation
creek
evaporation
expanse
ferocious
hydrologic cycle
infiltration
ocean
precipitation
recreation
runoff
serene
stream
transpiration
trout
Wayzhigwanaad
Lake Guardian was
excited to start her
journey in Lake Supe-
rior, the largest of all the Great
Lakes and the one with the least
amount of pollution. Lake Supe-
rior is so large and deep that all
the other Great Lakes plus three
more lakes the size of Lake Erie
could fit in it. It is well-known
for its lovely beaches and clear
blue water. The water is so clear
you can see fish swimming way
down deep. Lake Guardian knew
she needed to be careful, for
Lake Superior's mood can be so
peaceful and serene one minute,
and the next minute a ferocious
and lashing storm will rise out of
its depths.
Lake Guardian started in the
town of Duluth, Minnesota, and
headed northeast towards Thun-
der Bay, Canada. As she cruised,
Lake Guardian learned that very
few people live around this Lake
area compared to the rest of the
Great Lakes, and she knew that
this was a large part of why Lake
Superior is so beautiful and
clean. The more people there
are in an area, the more pollu-
tion problems Lake Guardian
knew she'd find. How did she
know this?
The vast expanse of water
and many pretty hills around
Lake Superior would make it
hard for Lake Guardian to leave.
As Lake Guardian cruised to-
wards Thunder Bay, she saw
people hiking, swimming, fishing,
skiing and boating. Then she
looked over and was so shocked
she almost dropped her anchor!
As a motor boat passed her bow
she watched a family toss a six-
ring plastic can holder overboard
with a plastic grocery bag. Lake
Guardian was very upset because
beautiful birds can get their
beaks or heads caught in the
rings, and then they can't eat.
She was concerned that the fuel
from the motor boats was pollut-
ing the water too. People often
forget that when they have fun,
they need to be careful that they
don't harm nature. Lake Guard-
ian wished all people had respect
for the Great Lakes like the Chip-
pewa culture does. In the Chip-
pewa language the word
"Wayzhigwanaad" means "water
spirit," and they emphasize that
the health of our water is directly
Environmental Sciences
-------
related to the quality of life for all
living things on this planet. Lake
Guardian looked forward to
sharing the Chippewa spirit of
caring for the Great Lakes with
everyone she met on her trip.
Lake Guardian collected
some samples of water to study
how much fuel spills from the
motorboats and freighters into
the water. As she passed by
Thunder Bay she saw big paper
mills and large fishing boats.
Crossing over to Marquette,
Michigan, she followed the
coastline towards Sault Ste.
Marie, where she would travel to
get to Lake Huron. The Lake is
so big that sometimes Lake
Guardian thought she was in an
ocean. "Where did all this water
come from?" Lake Guardian
asked the scientists on board.
Dave the environmental scientist
told her about the pathways of
water on Earth, called the hydro-
logic cycle. Dave told her that
rain helps keep the Great Lakes
full. The rain that falls "on the
Discussion:
1) Explain the hydrologic cycle to
students (see diagram). Have
they seen evidence of the cycle
in their daily lives? When they
wash the dishes or take a bath
or shower, what happens to the
steam? Relate this to conden-
sation, precipitation and runoff
in the hydrologic cycle.
21 Explore why areas of higher
population result in more pollu-
tion in the Great Lakes. Discuss
which of the Great Lakes they
would prefer to live beside and
why. Discuss how recreation
and tourism may result in harm
to the Lakes. What should they
do if they see someone litter at
a beach or picnic?
'/,'/// precipitation :::;:
land either runs off the surface
back into the Lakes through
streams and creeks, or soaks into
the ground. As she was talking
to Dave, a speckled trout swam
by. Lake Guardian asked the
trout if he knew how water in the
ground finds its way back to the
Lakes. The trout explained that
the water travels underground
and enters creeks and streams
which drain into the Lakes, and
sometimes enters the Lakes
directly below the surface. Dave
then added that when it is hot,
water evaporates up into the air.
When the water gets high enough
in the air, it cools off and comes
back down as rain and the cycle
starts all over again.
"Lake Guardian, it will be
important for you to understand
how water finds its way to the
Great Lakes, because pollution
sometimes follows the same
paths to enter the lakes and hurts
them," Dave explained. Lake
Guardian thought a lot about
what Dave said, and quickly
began collecting samples of
water and fish to study. She
wanted to see what kinds of
pollution were already using
some of those pathways into Lake
Superior.
Activities:
1} Have the students do the
Great Lakes map activities.
On the Pollution Pathways
Map draw in figures repre-
senting recreational activi-
ties.
2) Fun Without Pollution
Have the students create a
"Fun Without Pollution"
booklet for their family or
school's next outing. As a
class or individually, have
the students decide on
pollution prevention rules
for their family or school to
follow during recreational
activities. Include topics
such as using garbage cans
and preventing fires. On
each page write out the
rules with drawings illus-
trating the rules. Magazines
can be used for cut-outs,
and younger children can
illustrate their ideas rather
than writing them out.
Staple or tie the pages
together to make a booklet.
•**
-------
Part 3: Investigating Lake Huron
Story Highlights
Airborne Pollution:
Atmospheric toxic pollution is a major
source of contaminants for the Great
Lakes ecosystem. At least 40,000
chemicals are used by U.S. industry. As
an example, Lake Superior currently
receives 840 kilograms per year of
Polychlorinated Biphenyls (PCBs) - a
carcinogenic chemical compound-
from the atmosphere, and account for
93% of the current total load of PCBs in
the Lake. Pesticides are thought to
come from as far away as Central
America are found in the Great Lakes.
Biomagnification:
The process of increasing concentra-
tions of contaminants through the food
chain. Persistent chemicals which do
not break down readily in the environ-
ment accumulate in organisms and
become concentrated at levels much
higher than in the open water. The top
predators at the end of the food chain
may accumulate concentrations of
chemicals toxic enough to result in seri-
ous deformities or death.
Wetlands:
Natural water-holding shallow areas
such as bogs, marshes, or swamps
provide food, shelter, and water for
plants and animals that need a watery
home. Wetlands provide shelter for
young fish, provide flood control and
sources of recreation, and help clean
water as it travels slowly through.
Common animals and plants found in
wetlands include the great blue heron,
frogs, raccoons, cattails, dragonflies,
crayfish, willow trees, red-winged
blackbirds, northern pike, turtles,
muskrats, and water lilies.
Hot Spots: 5
Saginaw River/Saginaw Bay, Colling-
wood Harbour, Penetang Bay to
Sturgeon Bay, Spanish River Mouth, St.
Clair River.
Vocabulary:
airborne pollution
biomagnification
cormorant
critters
endangered species
herring gull
phytoplankton
predator
restore
scavenger
sediment
Sweetwater Seas
persistent
wetlands
zooplankton
Part of Lake Guard-
ian's job is to collect
samples of air to make
sure it is clean enough for ani-
mals and people to breath. She
had to make sure she was persis-
tent in her work, enduring, and
never giving up until she got all
the necessary information. Lake
Guardian thought that birds
around the Great Lakes also
could help her find out how clean
the air is. She decided to cruise
up through the Georgian Bay to
the Parry Sound and ask a
herring gull. Herring gulls are
common around the Great Lakes.
"Herring Gull, does the smoke
and dirt from big factories and
machines around the Great Lakes
bother you? Do you think it
makes the Great Lakes un-
healthy?"
"Oh my yes. After it rains, do
you know why the air smells so
fresh and clear? That's because
the water is cleaning the air
when it falls, and takes the
pollution right out of the sky. It
is wonderful for flying after-
wards, but you must understand
that the smoke and pollution falls
with the rain into lakes and on
the land. When the pollution
j falls to the bottom of a lake,
small creatures eat it in the mud
called sediment. Fish eat these
small creatures in great num-
bers, and the fish may get very
sick from the pollution inside the
small creatures. I am a scaven-
ger and I love to eat the remains
of fish and food that fishermen
toss overboard, and my friends
the cormorants like to eat fish
where they live by the shores.
We end up eating the polluted
fish, but there is nothing else for
Environmental Sciences
-------
me to eat, and I can't tell the
difference between a good fish
and a poisoned fish. Some of my
eggs don't hatch and my babies
have been very sick because they
have been affected by the pollu-
tion I eat in the fish. It makes me
very sad."
Herring Gull's story helped
Lake Guardian understand how
animals depend on each other for
food. She also learned how
pollution eaten by one animal
can eventually affect many other
animals. Lake Guardian col-
lected many samples of small
creatures, fish, and microscopic
plants and animals such as
phytoplankton and zooplankton
from the bottom of Lake Huron to
study how much pollution these
critters ate.
Lake Guardian's conversation
with Herring Gull made her want
to know more about how air pol-
lution affects other animals, so
she decided to head west to Che-
boygan, Michigan. Just south of
Cheboygan was a marshy and
swampy area called a wetland,
where Lake Guardian would find
many of Herring Gull's friends,
the Cormorants. Cormorants are
very good divers and swimmers,
and eat a lot of fish. The cormo-
Discussion:
1) Relate the story's discussion of
pollution eaten by small
creatures to the food chain,
reaching through the food chain
to the fish that humans eat.
Follow the pollution from a
paper mill smokestack all the
way to their own dinner plate.
2) Talk about wetlands. Have the
students ever seen one? Why
are wetlands important?
Discuss what an endangered
species is.
Activities:
t) Have the students do the Great Lakes map activities. On the Pollution
Pathways Map draw in figures representing sources of air pollution.
2) Biomagnification and the Foodchain
Materials: Depending on the size of the class, make the equivalent of six
circles per student out of blue paper, marking 1/3 of them on one side
with an "X."
Procedure: This activity can be acted out or if desired, conducted as a
discussion through diagrams on the board. Identify one student as the
herring gull who likes to eat fish and have him or her stand at one end of
the classroom. Divide the remaining students into increasingly larger
groups representing the links of the food chain: large lake trout, smaller
rainbow smelt, zooplankton, and microscopic phytoplankton. The
majority of students should be phytoplankton. Place the blue disks on the
floor with those marked with an "X" face down. The blue disks represent
water which phytoplankton take in to obtain nutrients to live. Those disks
marked with an "X" contain pollution which has entered the water
through the air. Have the phytoplankton "feed" by having them pick up
the disks. Once all the disks are gone, have the phytoplankton reveal
who has consumed pollution. Have the zooplankton "feed" on phyto-
plankton by dividing the phytoplankton up evenly among the zooplankton.
Repeat these steps with rainbow smelt and lake trout. When it comes to
the herring gull eating his or her dinner, how much pollution has accumu-
lated through the foodchain?
rants confirmed what Herring
Gull had told her, and explained
that their babies often don't live
because of the pollution. The
cormorants said that many other
animals get sick from the pollu-
tion too. Lake Guardian learned
that wetlands are too soggy for
people to live in, but they are just
right for many animals. Wet-
lands provide homes for many
endangered species, but pollution
was affecting these animals too.
Although the stories made Lake
Guardian very sad, she was glad
to take samples of water, plants,
and sediment to learn about how
pollution from the air affects
them. The information she
collected would help people find
ways to protect and restore the
wetlands, and all the other
creatures living in the Great
Lakes Basin.
As she cruised along, she
couldn't help thinking about how
beautiful Lake Huron was, and
she could understand why the
first English name the Great
Lakes were given was "Sweetwa-
ter Seas." Before leaving Lake
Huron for Lake Michigan, Lake
Guardian made sure she picked
up a good supply of navy beans
for making delicious soup
throughout the voyage. Did you
know that the Lake Huron area
produces more dry beans than
anywhere else in the United
States?
-<%
-------
Part 4: The Journey Continues on
Lake Michigan
Story Highlights
Surface Runoff:
Surface runoff is a significant source of
pollution in the Great Lakes. It is a
pathway for a wide variety of pollutants
to enter lakes. Agricultural runoff
includes pesticides and nutrients; urban
surface runoff includes oils, greases,
salt (from winter road clearing), and
litter.
Ground water:
Ground water is water below the sur-
face of the earth. Ground water is our
storage of drinking water. It replen-
ishes the Great Lakes, which is why it is
so important to the Great Lakes ecosys-
tem. As water passes through subsur-
face areas, some substances are fil-
tered out, but others dissolve in the wa-
ter or are carried by the water. This
can include human-made materials that
have infiltrated into the ground or have
been buried in dumps or landfill sites.
The movement of ground water is a ma-
jor pathway for pollution to reach the
Great Lakes.
Hot Spots: 10
Manistique River, Menominee River,
Fox River/Southern Green Bay, She-
boygan, Milwaukee Estuary, Waukegan
Harbor, Grand Calumet River/Indiana
Harbor Canal, Kalamazoo River,
Muskegon Lake, White Lake.
Vocabulary:
agriculture runoff
cargo sewers
chemicals smelt
ground water treatment plant
noise pollution urban
pesticides wastewater
Lake Guardian was so
happy to reach Lake
Michigan, the third
largest lake in the Great Lakes.
This area had the most farmland
of all the other Lakes, and Lake
Guardian had heard many stories
about the tasty cherries of Michi-
gan and dairy products of Wis-
consin. Lake Guardian loves
cherries, and since three-quar-
ters of our nation's tart cherries
are grown in Michigan, she
headed straight down the Michi-
gan coastline, passing Ludington,
Muskegon and Benton Harbor.
Dave the environmental scientist
had made Lake Guardian prom-
ise that she'd stop so he could
have a piece of cherry pie, and
then head over to Wisconsin's
dairy farms to get a slice of
cheddar cheese and a glass of
milk to go with it.
All the news that Lake Guard-
ian learned about the Lake
Michigan area was not good,
though. She learned how hard
farmers work to grow good
food for all of us to eat.
Their job was
chemicals off the land and
carried them into the Lake. She
was worried that these chemicals
may hurt her friends in the
wetlands, so she stopped to
collect many samples of water
and sediment to find out how
much pollution was coming from
the farms and if it was harming
plants and animals. Lake Guard-
ian also watched how the wind
carried off some of the chemicals
that a farmer was spraying on his
fruit trees.
Cruising to the south end of
Lake Michigan, Lake Guardian
came to the big city areas. It was
exciting to ride by Gary, Indiana
where the mills were busy
making steel, but she worried
about where the wind would take
all the smoke rising out of the
smokestacks. When Lake Guard-
ian arrived at Chicago, she
couldn't believe how many boats
there were everywhere! Big
boats carrying cargo, small
boats carrying fisher-
men, and
harder than hers!
Many farmers use chemicals
to fight off insects and weeds and
to help their crops grow better,
but some chemicals can later
become pollution problems for
the Great Lakes. Lake Guardian
cruised along the shore and
watched how the rain washed the
people
having fun in fast boats
that were so loud that
they hurt her ears. It made
her think about noise pollution
too, and how the noise must
scare the birds and animals that
live around the Lakes. Lake
Guardian thought about all the
fuel that must be going into the
water from these boats, and she
decided that her favorite boats
Environmental Sciences
-------
were the clean and beautiful
sailboats that relied only on the
wind to make them move.
So far, Lake Guardian had
not been to an area with cities
as big as Chicago. One of the
first things that she noticed was
the big difference in the color of
the water. She remembered
how clear and blue Lake Supe-
rior was, and when she looked
at the water at the edge of Chi-
cago, she couldn't see through
it at all. She talked to some
local fish and asked them what
they knew about pollution near
the big city. Rainbow Smelt told
her stories similar to Herring
Gull. "Most people love how the
rain clears the air and washes
the streets, but we fish sure
don't. Living next to a large city
means that a lot of litter and
dirt washes or blows off the
streets and into the Lake. Most
people don't realize where that
gum wrapper or cigarette is
going to go if they just throw it
on the ground. It makes me
very sad. Rainwater also
washes down the city sewers,
and that is good because it goes
to a special machine, called a
wastewater treatment plant,
that cleans it up first. But
sometimes if it rains really
hard, the sewers overflow,
causing the dirty water to
overflow straight into the Lake."
After listening to Rainbow
Smelt, Lake Guardian carefully
gathered samples of water, fish,
plants, and mud from the
shorelines of Chicago, Wau-
kegan, Sheboygan, and other
cities on Lake Michigan. She
had to travel quickly, for it was
a long way to Lake Erie. She
had to travel back through Lake
Huron to get there.
Activities:
t) Have the students do the Great Lakes map activities. On the Pollution
Pathways Map draw in figures representing sources of agricultural and
urban pollution runoff and infiltration to groundwater.
2) Mingle Mingle
Materials: A clear bottle with a top, water, oil, food coloring.
Procedure: Put quantities of water and oil in the bottle and close it Use
motor oil or vegetable oil with a drop of food coloring added if you prefer.
The separation of oil and water should be easily observed. Shake the
bottle to try to get the oil and water to mix and then let it sit and see what
happens. Relate the oil in the experiment to urban surface runoff dis-
cussed in the story. Talk about what this oil would do to animals, and
what effects it may have on plants or creatures living below the surface of
the oil, which blocks sunlight.
3) Pollution Underground
Materials: Large flat plastic planting tray; gravel; sand; water
pitcher; cooking oil;food coloring; pancake syrup; onion slices; and liquid
soap.
Procedure: Ahead of time, cover a corner of the tray with a layer of
gravel. Place drops of food coloring, onion slices, and a few tablespoons
of pancake syrup, cooking oil, and liquid soap on top of the gravel. Cover
these materials with a thick layer of sand. In front of the students, pour
water into the mound of sand, gravel, and other materials, and let water
run into empty portion of the tray. Collect water and have students
determine what materials are present in the water; how they entered the
water; and what substance moved these materials from the soil to the
water. Relate this activity to how agricultural and urban litter and
pollution on and in the ground can contaminate ground water and
ultimately affect the quality of the Great Lakes.
Environmental Sciences
Discussion:
1) Talk about the new pollution
pathways discussed in the
story. Explore experiences the
students have had related to the
pathways. Rural: Have they
ever seen a farmer fertilize or
spray pesticides on crops?
Could they smell it? How do
they respond to the farmer's
dilemma of using fertilizers and
pesticides? Urban: Ask the
students for examples of trash
or abandoned things they see
every day on the street. What
activities at home result in
pouring or dumping things on the
ground outside, and how might
these materials reach the Great
Lakes? (see Activity#3) Does
the story make them think twice
about what they throw on the
ground?
2) Ask if any of the students have
ever had fruits or vegetables
they think may have come from
the Lake Michigan area. Have
them ask the grocer where they
get fruits and vegetables to see
if any come from these areas.
-------
Part 5: Lake Guardian Travels the Length
of Lake Erie
Story Highlights
Mayflies:
Mayflies are excellent indicators
of water quality because they are not
tolerant of pollution. Monitoring
programs in some Great Lakes states
use mayflies as one of several indica-
tors of pollution-free water.
Mayflies are aquatic insects with
six legs and three body parts typical of
insects, as well as two short antennae.
Females deposit their eggs into clear
running streams and lakes singly or in
strings, depending upon the species.
Nymphs hatch from the eggs and
remain in shallow water or burrow
beneath the mud and gravel, feeding
upon aquatic plants. When ready to
leave the water, they swim to the
surface and molt, emerging in adult
form. At this point, they are called
"duns" and are not yet sexually mature.
They crawl onto nearby vegetation and
wait from several hours to a few days
for a final shedding of the exoskeleton
and emerge as full-fledged adults. On a
still sunny day, males wing upward and
float down over and over again.
Females join the swarm and find a mate
and lay eggs in the water, beginning the
cycle anew.
Hot Spots: 11
Clinton River, Rouge River, River Raisin,
Maumee River, Black River, Cuyahoga
River, Ashtabula River, Wheatley River,
Buffalo River, Detroit River, Niagara
River.
Vocabulary:
exoskeleton
factory
hot water emissions
industry
mayfly
monitor
nymph
oxygen
steel
walleye pike
Lake Guardian made
her way back past
Mackinac City and
turned south. She travelled on
Lake Huron past Alpena and on
through the St. Clair River to-
wards Lake Erie. Her studies
had shown that the dirtiest areas
of the Great Lakes were the riv-
erways that lead into the Great
Lakes. The
St. Clair and
Detroit
Rivers were
two of them, so
Lake Guardian
stopped to take
samples of water,
sediment, and fish. There
were other people working
on cleaning up these two rivers
too, and Lake Guardian stopped
to watch them. Nearby she
saw the big smokestacks of
car makers in Detroit.
As Lake Guardian
cruised along, she started
talking with a walleye
pike named Wally.
Wally thought it was
great that Lake Guard-
ian was working so hard
to gather information to help
keep the Great Lakes clean. He
asked Lake Guardian if she was
going to talk with the mayflies.
Lake Guardian didn't know what
a mayfly was. "You have to meet
the mayflies," exclaimed Wally,
"They're famous! Mayflies are
insects that live in the water, and
they do not like water pollution at
all. If you find mayflies, you know
the water must be clean and
healthy because mayflies just
can't live there unless it is. Their
homes must be cool with lots of
oxygen." Wally told her how
scientists keep track of how many
mayflies there are because it
helps them know whether the
water is clean or not. Many
schools and their students volun-
teer to count mayflies in streams,
creeks, and lakes near their
homes to help. When the num-
ber of mayflies gets too low, it
tells the scientists that there may
be a problem with too much pol-
lution in the water. Wally ex-
plained, "Mayflies are famous in
Lake Erie because they let every-
one know that Lake Erie was
very sick in
the 1970s.
Boy, was
that a bad
time for all of
us. I lost a lot of
my family back
then. Someone noticed
that there weren't very
many mayflies left, and
that was when all the human
beings realized that they had
to start taking care of Lake
Erie if they wanted it to
provide them with good
water, fish, and everything
else." Lake Guardian was
glad to hear that people
were working to keep
Lake Erie clean, but she
knew her job was to
investigate more.
Lake Guardian decided to
continue her journey around
Lake Erie on the southern shore,
starting with Toledo, Ohio.
Toledo was famous for the
beautiful glass that was made
there. Even though the glass was
beautiful, it still was a concern of
Lake Guardian's. She stopped to
count the mayflies and study how
much pollution was being given
off by the big glass factories. She
continued on to Cleveland, where
there are lots of factories making
steel and cars. Lake Guardian
wanted to look for mayflies here
too. Wally explained that indus-
tries like the ones making steel,
Environmental Sciences
-------
21
cars, and
glass get
very hot
when they
melt the
glass and
steel to
make
cars and
windows. They
use the water to cool
off the steel and glass,
which means that they
let off lots of warm wa-
ter into the lake. This is
bad for the mayflies
because they need
cool water to live, as
do many other plants
and animals.
Lake Guardian crossed the
Lake to look at the beautiful
northern shore of Lake Erie and
its farmlands. Lots of sheep and
lambs are raised in Canada near
Lake Erie, and Lake Guardian
wanted to visit them before she
made her way to Lake Ontario.
Discussion:
1) Have the students do the Great
Lakes map activities. On the
Pollution Pathways Map draw
in figures representing sources
of industrial hot water emis-
sions.
2) Review with students why the
mayfly is important. Can they
think of other indicators of
pollution? (Water discoloration,
smelly air, lack offish and birds)
3) Discuss how industrial or
municipal warm water dis-
charge can be bad for lakes.
Emphasize how human activity
can harm the Great Lakes and
not necessarily involve pollut-
ants. Can the class think of
other examples? (erosion from
shoreline development)
Activities:
1) Draw and discuss the life cycle of the mayfly on the board. Ha\
the students conduct research of other aquatic insects and rep
to the class why they think they are important.
2) Plan a field trip to nearby streams or creeks to conduct water
quality monitoring activities including mayfly counting and trast
collection. Discuss topics such as the difference between grou
water and surface water.
3) To highlight the importance of monitoring our environment, havi
the students monitor and chart your school or their family's
generation of waste. Have a custodian of the school give the
class a tour of how all the different kinds of waste are handled E
the school, such as waste paper and cafeteria garbage. Does tl
school recycle? Choose "monitors" from the class and for two
weeks, have a monitor visit the custodial office each day and
report back to the class on how much waste was generated eac
day. Keep track of the reports and have the students discuss
ways the school or their families can minimize waste.
Part 6: The End of the Journey, Lake Ontario!
Story Highlights
Industrial Runoff:
Many chemical substances entering
the Great Lakes from industrial use do
not dissolve easily in water. These in-
clude heavy metals and organic
compounds like PCBs. Since they do
not dissolve well in the water, they
settle on the bottom of the lakes in
sediments.
Sediment Pollution:
When polluted sediments are stirred up,
the pollutants are eaten by bottom feed-
ing organisms and become part of the
food chain, concentrating through the
food chain through biomagnification,
discussed in Part III of the story. Sedi-
ment is stirred up three ways: when the
lake bottom is removed to make a lake
deeper for large boats (called dredg-
ing); by waves from storms or human
activities like boating; or when animals
living on or near the bottom stir it up
looking for food or to use the sediment
for shelter. Contaminated sediments
cause the most problems when they are
stirred up because the pollution
spreads.
Hot Spots: 8
Eighteen Mile Creek, Rochester
Embayment, Oswego River, Bay of
Quinte, Port Hope, Toronto Waterfront,
Hamilton Harbour, St. Lawrence River.
Vocabulary:
algae
algae bloom
bacteria
carp
dissolve
dredging
ecosystem
nitrogen
potassium
sediment pollution
sludge worms
solution
species
tolerate
industrial runoff
Lake Guardian was
nervous as she left
Lake Erie, for she
thought that she might take a
wrong turn and go over Niagara
Falls! She was big and strong,
but no boat could survive a ride
like that. She was relieved to find
the Welland Canal and make her
way to beautiful Lake Ontario.
She had heard so much about the
falls, and the breath-taking
Thousand Islands on the
-------
east end.
Lake Guardian got out her
map to trace her journey. She
was very interested in looking at
how all the water in the Lakes
eventually comes through Lake
Ontario because it is the last
Lake before the water heads out
the St. Lawrence River and into
the ocean. This means that a lot
of the dissolved substances and
pollution she studied in the other
Great Lakes also has journeyed
to Lake Ontario, which is one of
the reasons why Lake Ontario is
the most polluted of all the Great
Lakes. Lake Guardian knew that
another reason was its small size.
It doesn't have as much water to
spread out the pollution.
Lake Guardian traveled first
by Hamilton and Toronto, Can-
ada, passing lots of big industrial
factories and buildings. She
remembered all the factories and
big machines she had seen along
the shores of all the other Great
Lakes. Lake Guardian was
concerned about more than the
smokestacks and air pollution
she had learned about. She was
worried about chemicals dumped
by the factories and businesses
into the water. Lake Guardian
thought about Herring Gull's
friends the cormorants, and what
she learned in Lake Michigan
about the chemicals from farms
running off into the water and
settling to the bottom for small
creatures to eat. She knew that
this was happening with the
chemicals from factories and
businesses too.
She asked Dave the environ-
mental scientist if there were
other effects from these chemi-
cals on the Great Lakes besides
polluting sediments and entering
the food chain. Dave described
how some chemicals, such as
nitrogen and potassium, from
industry, farms, and city areas
are like food to green plants in
the water, including algae. "The
algae grow very big very fast,
and we call it an algae bloom. It
eventually dies," Dave ex-
plained," but when it does, the
bacteria that feeds on the dead
algae takes a lot of the water's
oxygen. The more algae that
blooms and dies, the more
bacteria there is taking oxygen
from the water." Lake Guardian
knew that without oxygen, many
species of fish could not live.
Dave explained that when a
lake's oxygen levels are lowered,
some species die out—mayflies
included—and others like sludge
worms and carp, that can toler-
ate low levels of oxygen, move in.
That's why scientists look for
changes in the kinds of animals
living in the Great Lakes. It tells
them if too many chemicals are
changing oxygen levels and
upsetting the balance of animals
and nature, called the ecosystem.
Lake Guardian got to work
and collected samples and looked
for algae blooms all along the
shoreline of Lake Ontario. She
examined the different species to
see if she could tell if chemicals
were changing the water's
oxygen levels too much.
By the end of the journey,
Lake Guardian had learned a lot
about the beautiful Great Lakes.
She wanted to tell everyone
about all that she had learned.
What could people do to help the
Great Lakes? She was concerned
about the many pollution prob-
lems that she saw, but she knew
that things could get better. Lake
Guardian knew that by helping to
collect samples and learning
more about the Lakes, she was
part of the solution. That made
her feel proud as she journeyed
up the St. Lawrence River to peek
at the ocean before heading
back home.
Discussion:
1) Research the kinds of animals
that live in the sediment at the
bottom of a lake. Have the
students ever seen a crawfish
or a fresh water mussel? Have
they ever eaten one?
2) Ask the students what they
think happens to sediment that
is polluted? Where does the
pollution go from there?
3) Discuss how the students can
be a good friend of the Great
Lakes. How can they or their
families be part of the solution?
Activities:
1) Have the students do the fireat
Lakes map activities. On the
Pollution Pathways Map draw in
figures representing sources of
industrial waste discharge.
2) Sediment Experiment
Materials: Deep plastic con-
tainer (rectangular—at least !2" x
12" x 4* deep), fine sand, coarse
sand, tiny colored plastic beads,
plastic spoon,
Procedure; Ahead of time, put a
one-inch layer of fine sand into
the plastic container. Provide
every group of students with a
container. Mix the beads with the
sand, representing pollutants.
Cover with water until tire water
level rises one inch above the
sand layer. Allow Ms to sit until
the water is clear. Carefulty drag
the end of a pencil once across
the top of the fine sand. This
represents how the sediment
might be stirred up by organisms
living on or near the bottom, Or by
wave action from storms or
boats. Use the plastic spoon,
scoop up some of the sand off the
bottom of the container. This is
similar to the dredging of sedi-
ment. What happened to the
sediment and the colored plastic
bead "pollutants?"
Environmental Sciences
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23
General Information:
How to remember the Great Lakes'
names: Remember the word "HOMES"
H = Huron
0 = Ontario
M = Michigan
E = Erie
S = Superior
Size: Largest supply of freshwater on
earth; 20% of earth's total freshwater
9,402 miles of shoreline
94,710 total square miles of surface
area (about the size of Texas)
Basin: The 295,200 square mile area
within which all surface water drains
into the Great Lakes. Includes parts of
Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota,
New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Wiscon-
sin, Ontario, and Quebec
Lake Superior
Largest of the Great Lakes by surface
area and volume, rich in natural
resources, supplying the United States
with 97% of its iron ore.
Surface Area: 31,700 square miles
Volume: 2,934 cubic miles
Shoreline Length: 2,726 miles (including
islands)
Population: 474,150 (United States)
155,675 (Canada)
Land Use:
91% Forest
3 % Agricultural
1% Residential/Industrial
5% Other
Lake Huron
Second largest Great Lake with the
longest shoreline, counting 30,000
islands.
Surface Area: 22,973 square miles
Volume: 850 cubic miles
Shoreline Length: 3,827 miles, including
islands
Population: 1,606,518 (United States)
941,300 (Canada)
Land Use:
68% Forest
27% Agriculture
2% Residential/Industrial
3% Other
Lake Michigan
Third largest Great Lake. Sparsely
populated and covered with forests in
the northern part, and heavily populated
with intensive industrial and agricul-
tural activity in the southern part.
Surface Area: 22,278 square miles
Volume: 1,180 cubic miles
Shoreline Length: 1,659 miles, including
islands
Population: 8,709,907*
*Does not include approximately 5 mil-
lion residents of Chicago area who de-
pend on Lake Michigan for water but do
not live in the Lake Michigan drainage
basin.
Land Use:
41% Forest
44% Agriculture
9% Residential/Industrial
6% Other
Lake Erie
Fourth largest Great Lake, shallowest
and warmest, with extensive industrial
development along its shores. Ninety-
five percent of Lake Erie's total inflow ol
water comes from all the "Upper
Lakes" through the Detroit River.
Surface Area: 9,906 square miles
Volume: 116 cubic miles
Shoreline Length: 871 miles, including
islands
Population: 9,183,347 (United States)
1,742,805 (Canada)
Land Use:
21% Forest
67% Agriculture
10% Residential/Industrial
2% Other
Lake Ontario
The smallest of the Great Lakes in
surface area, largely rural with scenic
resort areas, yet contains Canada's
leading commercial, industrial, and
population center.
Surface Area: 7,340 square miles
Volume: 393 cubic miles
Shoreline Length: 726 miles, including
islands
Population: 2,657,432 (United States)
4,616,070 (Canada)
Land Use:
49% Forest
39% Agriculture
7% Residential/Industrial
5% Other
Great Lakes Facts
-------
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
Rop;ion 5, Library (STL-16)
230 S. Dearhcrr: Street, Rooir 167*?
Chi cago, II. 6UGO-1
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Learning More About the Great Lakes
Resources Used in Creating Great Minds? Great Lakes!:
Rue Year Prof rant Strategy forthe
tF¥ ttS. fosfeanwsfflaf
P r ote ction Agency, Great Lak es N ationa I Pro g ram Offi c e ,
Ghost Ships of the G reat Lakes. BwsjJitflopT,
Meal and Cwnpan^
The Great Lakes in My Wprld. lake Michigan Fetfwation,
art Survivals^ William Ratigan,
WM. 8. lerfBMBW FuMishfef Company, f 97?k
Michigan Sea Grant College Program brochures,
SH8«8«sE-J«»ftRwth £-1876,1880, {5W353-
Great Lakes. Har tan Hatcher
A
1S44,
es: jte Environmentat Atlas and Resource
Environment Canada and United States Environ-
mental PjsteetwK Agency,
Shipwrecks of the Lakes. Dana Thomas Bowen, Freshwa-
Seofegy, John J.
^en% gaSie be*, rf ages, W* .
A Curriculym Guide of
Books, and Direc tor i es:
BureauPiracteftf. Sreat
Wis c o nsi n Extensi o n, Environments! Research Center,
Lakes Commission, experts available to visit classrooms,
^
Annotated gibliography. Sreen Oaks Press Pufillshers,
pjtytiyy rf Mijt Rate affljl
fwk Semes, W
Great Lakes Ships arid Shipping: Current Sources of
Information-John Greenwood, 1958.
P robe
•r Qreatlajkffi^ Ohio Sea
, Walfca CBBflcy HoJting,
, Jffinws-Iraiiana Sea Srarit
acfter reawree, aft ages, (217} 333-9448;
V * ;^ >v ^ Lake Michigan Federation
:-; ; ^;i:*fc^ft««f«»,s»i»22}% cwcap, iffeois
Great Lakes Natural Resource Center
United States Envir
ntal Protection Agency
Great Lakes Historical Society
6f| «t Lakes M«tio«Mtf Prssraaj Office
, Jt
Ml, MM, OH,
f l*y and PA)
*5?f- *-TF*f*=i
m^m^mf ^ f m
contac
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