October 23, 2023
By Paige Conners
"Build a power plant at Little Presque Isle? Why not start a garbage dump on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial, convert the Taj Mahal into a root beer stand, or make Brockway Mountain Drive an International Speedway?"
- David Rood, The Mining Journal, December 23, 1968
As you are probably aware, Granot Loma is the most recent target for industrial development in the Marquette area, but did you know that they also considered Little Presque Isle as the construction site? In fact, Little Presque has continually been the target of environmental concerns since 1968, when the U.P. Power Company (UPPCO) sought to convert the scenic coastal forest into the site of a steam-electric generating plant. However, groups of concerned local citizens—like our very own—have always been there to protect that idyllic parcel of land.
The formation of Citizens to Save the Superior Shoreline (CSSS) in opposition to the power plant nearly mirrors that of CSCLS. As described by the 10th Anniversary CSSS Newsletter, on February 27, 1969, "the Marquette Township Zoning Board, before a packed town hall, moved to rezone Little Presque Isle Point from forestry to industrial use." Four days later, about 200 people met at NMU to create CSSS. "By July 1970, [CSSS had gathered] over 8000 signatures opposing the proposed power plant and sent [them] to the power company. In August 1970, UPPCO announced that it would drop the option to buy land at Little Presque Isle and [instead] expand their established plant near Presque Isle in Marquette."
CSSS formed very quickly for a very specific purpose, and, with the help of an impassioned community, they successfully stopped the power plant construction, as you can see if you head north on CR 550.
There have been myriad other organizations with similar purposes. Citizens to Save Little Presque Isle & Wetmore Landing formed in 1991 in opposition to a planned development by the DNR to turn the area into a drive-in campground. Officials insisted it was necessary in order to address the serious pollution problem that had developed in the area. However, citizens were adamant that was not the proper way to go about solving the issue, instead getting involved with the local chapter of the Sierra Club and organizing periodic litter clean-up events since 1993 to continue and preserve the natural beauty.
We talked to Lynn Emerick, former secretary of CSSS and longtime environmentalist, in order to gain a deeper understanding of the protection of Little Presque Isle over the years. She moved to Manistique when she was in junior high, but she says, "It was the specific destruction of Little Presque Isle that got me involved in [environmental activism]. My husband and I felt a responsibility to [the area]. When we read that letter from David Rood [in the Mining Journal], it just seemed like something we had to do. It didn't seem possible, but you just had to do it anyway, and then it worked! It succeeded!"
Emerick was also involved in the pushback against the campground in the 90s. She represented Trout Unlimited on the citizens committee that was created by the DNR in order to gain awareness of how the public felt regarding the issue.
"Somewhere toward the end of that, although I don't think we'd made a recommendation yet, the DNR Commission… came up to Escanaba to have a meeting to hear about all of this. It was a long meeting, it lasted until midnight, but one of the guys associated with MSU had gone out there the day before and walked the beach, and he said, 'You can't do this, you just can't do this.' And the rest of [the officials] didn't have any idea where [Little Presque Isle] was. They were just listening to their staff." However, in a sequence of events that closely mirrored the ones CSCLS went through, "Someone had filed a FOIA request on the DNR… and I had gone out there and read through the files and found that their own consultants had recommended against it. They said, 'The land is too fragile, it's erodible; you build a campground there, and you've just wrecked it.'" In the end, no campground was built, and the money that had been allocated to the DNR went into the construction of the five cabins out on the Harlow Lake side of the Little Presque Isle Recreation Area.
Regardless of the threat, Little Presque Isle has always been protected and will continue to be protected by organizations like the ones described and our own. While it was ultimately Granot Loma that was chosen as the locale for the rocket launch site instead of Little Presque, it is undeniable that there is a significant amount of value placed upon these cherished regions of the U.P. Outsider groups looking to make money will likely continue to attempt to lay claim to this beautiful land and convert it into something more "profitable," whatever that may mean to them. This is why it is so important to stay alert when it comes to local issues; you might just be the first one to notice something sinister occurring behind the scenes.
This entry was posted in Articles and tagged activism, Citizens for Superior, environment, Granot Loma, Lake Superior, Little Presque Isle, Michigan, Pure Michigan, Upper Peninsula. Bookmark the permalink.
Small Win! Tilden Mine Permit Application Withdrawn Following Public and Agency Concerns
