An 85-year-old Michigan man is fighting for his favorite watershed, the St. Joseph in southern Michigan. He says he’s loved the river since he was about eight years old.
Al Smith is the founder of the Friends of the St. Joe River Association, Inc.; his volunteer work began after watching changes in the health of the river after a local community association was emptying its walleye rearing ponds into the river below a dam. He says water spilling over the dam was foamy and the color of tea. He wondered what the water’s condition was and decided to find out. His organization was born in 1994.
Smith relates how polluted the river was before the Association’s efforts to clean it up:
“I can’t tell you what this river system looked like when I first started. Oh, I had seen it before, but only driving by and at a glance. You have to walk the banks of the river to see what I’m talking about. When you make that walk, you see soiled diapers laying in the water, you see trash hidden in the tall grasses, you see discarded cardboard and plastic packaging from the stores that the hooks and bobbers came in. You name it, it’s there.”
Volunteer cleanup events fostered by the Association have helped to reduce the debris significantly. The Association has also worked with local governments and Tribes to craft protective policies and ordinances.
The St. Joe flows approximately 210 miles from its headwaters in south central Michigan, meanders into Indiana and turns back north at South Bend, emptying into Lake Michigan between the twin cities of Benton Harbor and St. Joseph. Because of extensive agricultural land use, the St. Joe is a major source of pesticide pollution, including atrazine and nitrates, to the big lake. Smith is concerned about dozens of large factory farms in the watershed that contribute to the pollution problem. The River also faces sewage, litter and other water quality challenges.
A World War II veteran and retired customer services specialist, Smith has helped organize volunteer groups and chapters to protect the river and tributaries in communities throughout the watershed. His most recent campaign has been to convince Michigan lawmakers to create a state funding source for watershed protection and restoration activities. The Association was recently awarded a $115,000 Wetland Program Development Grant by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA). The long-term goal is to increase both voluntary and regulatory wetland protection. Smith explains that citizen contributions are also critical to the continued work of the Association.
Al remembers fondly his first catch out of the St. Joe, a two-pound small mouth bass, and attributes his love of the river to early fishing experiences:
“Someone gave me a fishing rod back in 1933 just after we moved to Athens [Michigan]. I wangled some money from Mom and bought some new line and a bobber and went down to the Nottawa, which runs through Athens. I would sit on the side of the dam and watch the water making different patterns as it fell. I would cast my line down into the spillway and if lucky, pull a few bluegills out. Mom didn’t care how big they were, she would clean them and cook them for me for supper.”
What is his hope for the future of the St. Joe?
“Boy, that’s a hard one, it’s almost as easy as saying, ‘Let’s hope the people learn a little more each year about how to take care of what they have. Whatever we can do for the first 25 years, let’s just carry it on for another 25.”
Photo courtesy of Al Smith.
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