Yes, it’s safe to swim at Belle Isle (most of the time)
Except after a heavy rain, you’re clear to swim at the beach on the Detroit River — here’s what the experts say
Detroit River News
An A to Z guide to Belle Isle, the ‘Jewel of Detroit’
Belle Isle has been a favorite Detroit spot for centuries and the most visited state park in Michigan. More than 5 million visitors last year barbecued, bird-watched, went to the beach, got married, held reunions or just took in the breathtaking views of the Detroit River. Beyond the beach and picnic spots, the island is …
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Landmark riverfront building in Detroit being taken down
The prominent Detroit Harbor Terminal building along the riverfront is coming down. Better known as the Boblo boat building, just west of the Ambassador Bridge on the Detroit side, the 10-storey structure has sat vacant for roughly two decades. After years of being ravaged by vandalism, scavengers and thrill seekers, it is finally being taken …
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Water taxis to make a comeback on Detroit River?
Before the bridges, the roads, and the highways, there were ferries. In Detroit, some are pushing for a comeback after more than a decade of discussion. Earlier this month, City Council member Angela Whitfield-Calloway asked the Detroit-Wayne County Port Authority to conduct a feasibility study on connecting 25 miles of the Detroit River by passenger …
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Community leaders are working to transform Downriver
Downriver, the unofficial name for a cluster of 18 cities and townships just south of Detroit, is undergoing a transformation. From opening new restaurants to revitalizing its riverfront, the community is working hard to create a more vibrant and economically prosperous area for its residents. Spearheading this effort is Sue Trussell, the director of the Brownstown Downtown Development …
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Beavers reclaiming land on abandoned island in Detroit River
Wandering into a beaver habitat can be like entering a disaster zone. Shoreline bushes chewed back. Nearby trees felled and demolished. Hundreds of branches piled near a mound damming up a river and flooding the area. To some people the scene looks like environmental havoc. To the beaver, it’s home. Using trail cameras, FOX 2 photojournalist …
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‘A real attraction’: Detroit’s revived riverfront poised for more development
Twenty years ago, Detroit’s riverfront was in shambles. Access to the waterfront was limited and parts of the more than three-mile stretch were littered with crumbling vacant buildings and the air was filled with the sounds and debris from heavy machinery and cement factories. During the past two decades, Detroit’s riverfront and its Riverwalk have …
‘A real attraction’: Detroit’s revived riverfront poised for more development Read More »
Fight to make the Detroit River a UNESCO world heritage site picking up support
A Detroit-based historian’s 15-year battle to see the Detroit River become a UNESCO world heritage site is getting more aggressive. The president of the Detroit River Project, Kimberly Simmons, believes efforts to recognize the historic river between Windsor and Detroit are gaining momentum as officials prepare a formal bid for when the tentative list opens …
Fight to make the Detroit River a UNESCO world heritage site picking up support Read More »
Engineer Cornelius L. Henderson helped connect Windsor and Detroit. Here’s who he was
In Windsor and Detroit, efforts are underway to publicize the life and legacy of Cornelius L. Henderson, one of the engineers who helped design both the Ambassador Bridge and the Detroit-Windsor Tunnel. “He was responsible for helping with the design of these steel trusses that make up the Canadian approach to the bridge and the steel …
Engineer Cornelius L. Henderson helped connect Windsor and Detroit. Here’s who he was Read More »
Could Detroit’s buried streams see the light of day?
Some of the water flowing through Detroit’s sewers were part of creeks that spread across the city when it was mostly farmland. When a creek flows into a sewer, and that sewer is opened, that’s called “daylighting.” Architects say daylighting can relieve urban flooding and promote economic development.
Meet the man who served as the ‘voice of the Detroit River’ for 58 years
Night after night, across the dark waters of the Detroit River, crackled the voices of skippers of Great Lakes ships bound for Cleveland or Duluth, for Buffalo or Ashtabula. “Frank, good morning, Frank,” they would call, and the raspy, distinctive voice of Frank Zuzek, dispatcher for the J.W. Westcott Co., would note their arrival time …
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Schrupp: Metro Detroiters Need Great Lakes jobs | Opinion
We think of cars when we think of Detroit. This is the Motor City after all. And the automotive industry has served us well for generations. As head of the Wayne County-Detroit Port Authority, I believe we need to make room in our obsession with cars to embrace another aspect of our city’s history: the …
Schrupp: Metro Detroiters Need Great Lakes jobs | Opinion Read More »
The Great Blue Herons of Stony Island
Have you ever gone for a peaceful walk along a creek or lake and been spooked by the sound of what you think is a pterodactyl? It can be quite unsettling to hear the unexpected frahnk frahnk of a startled great blue heron who just had its fishing expedition disrupted. The great blue heron can be found throughout …
Buffalo legislator calls for bill of rights protection for the Great Lakes
Should natural resources like the Great Lakes have the same legal right to protection from harm as a person has? Including the right to be free from exploitation as a commodity for financial gain? New York state Assemblyman Patrick Burke thinks so and has introduced formal legislation that would provide for those rights. Burke’s legislation, the …
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New Ojibway Urban Park will benefit ecotourism along Detroit River corridor
National parks serve as pilgrimage sites because they provide spaces that provide a degree of solitude and access to unique natural resources. Research has shown that these national parks also promote ecotourism, are an economic engine for local communities, protect biodiversity through conservation, and improve mental health and quality of life. Windsor’s proposed Ojibway National Urban …
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Detroiters fear concrete plants will block Riverwalk, be ‘catastrophic to neighborhoods’
Residents are pushing back on plans to develop two concrete crushing and mixing plants, fearing operations at a proposed southwest Detroit facility could be fatal to their neighborhood urban farms and hurt the quality of life and, in the other instance, block a portion of the popular Detroit Riverwalk. In a letter to city leaders …
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Could sails move Great Lakes cargo? Start-up to build zero-carbon ship
A start-up company recently got design approval to build a ship that moves cargo with sails rather than fuel. But does it mean cargo vessels on the Great Lakes will be able to “veer” into alternative power? The 330-foot-long, hydrogen cell-powered sailing vessel is proposed by the Veer Group, a Bahamas-based company committed to zero …
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Closing Michigan’s ‘adventure gap’: Floating classroom gets hundreds of students out on the water
It’s a sunny October afternoon on Belle Isle, and about 80 middle school and high school students are getting ready to go canoeing. Only a few of them have been in a canoe before, and most haven’t been in any kind of boat. One by one, eight high school students from the Academy of the …
Ecorse dreams of becoming a Downriver water wonderland
This 2.4-square-mile city with 4.6 miles of waterfront aspires to be a recreational water destination Downriver. It’s getting millions in grants to support that dream. Plenty of help is being supplied from environmentalists, neighboring cities and residents who have volunteered hours of their time to clean up Ecorse Creek, long neglected amid decades of industrial …
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Sierra Club wants to intervene in pollution suit against Zug Island coal plant
Environmental groups want to join a legal battle against a DTE Energy subsidiary accused of unlawfully polluting to ensure resident voices near the coal processing plant are heard. EES Coke Battery on Zug Island, where River Rouge and the Detroit River meet, is one of the state’s largest emitters of sulfur dioxide. The facility produces a byproduct …
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Polluted BASF site Downriver raises alarm, delays Detroit River cleanup
Pollution flowing from a Wyandotte chemical plant known as “one of the most complex cleanup sites” in the Metro Detroit region is delaying a major Detroit River remediation project, federal environmental officials said. State environmental regulators raised alarm bells this spring about the BASF Corp. facility in Wyandotte, where up to 34,000 gallons of water runs through …
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Riverside Marina: Jason McGuire and Detroit’s leading Black boating Community
With unparalleled views of the Detroit River and city beyond, Riverside Marina is a world-class club featuring rental facilities, a pool, boat storage, vessel maintenance and transportation. Under the leadership of Jason McGuire, it is well on its way to becoming the prestigious, Black-owned and operated destination its founders envisioned.
Detroit River is magnet for bald eagle photography
It was a mid-winter day, and I was driving to my Downriver home from a meeting in Detroit. Out of the corner of my eye I saw a group of 40-50 people standing along the Detroit River shoreline of Dingell Park in Ecorse, Michigan. My first thought was that they were watching waterfowl staging around …
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The What, When, Where and Why of Greenways in Detroit
Detroit – the Automobile Capital of the world – also has a remarkable and exciting story to tell when it comes to commuting on two wheels or two legs. The city is quickly becoming more walkable, bikeable, and connected. In fact, the Detroit Greenways Coalition has a 50-year vision in place to develop Detroit into …
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DTE pollution settlement targets Detroit River communities
Three Wayne County communities bordered by major industrial facilities are getting an infusion of millions of dollars for environmental justice projects that advocates hope will reduce some of the effects of pollution. The projects in Ecorse, River Rouge and Detroit’s 48217 ZIP code will be funded through a $2 million settlement between the Sierra Club and DTE Energy Co. signed in 2020. …
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