Article published June 04, 2002
Bill aims to protect Lake Erie shoreline
Kaptur, Dingell seek extension of refuge
MONROE - Six months after President Bush signed a law creating a special 18-mile wildlife refuge stretching from Detroit to Monroe, two prominent Democrats have introduced legislation that would expand that refuge from Monroe south into Ohio and across Lake Erie’s western shoreline.
U.S. Rep. Marcy Kaptur (D., Toledo) and U.S. Rep. John Dingell (D., Dearborn) yesterday outlined their bill - designed to protect Lake Erie’s coastline and make it more accessible - to a gathering of federal, state, and local officials in the Frenchtown Township Hall, just north of Monroe.
The legislation was introduced last month and is under consideration in the House Resources Committee.
It would leave the exact boundaries of the new shoreline wildlife refuge up to the Secretary of the Interior and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. When the area is finally defined, landowners in the specially created zone would have the opportunity to enter into cooperative management agreements or sell or donate land to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. It will manage the refuge for public recreation, wildlife observation, hunting, and fishing.
The refuge legislation would have no impact on existing environmental, fishing, or hunting rules. It would enable governments to purchase or accept donations of private land along the shorelines that later would be turned over for public use as parkland or protected as habitat.
There will be no federal "taking of land" under the bill. That’s similar to the law signed by the President in December that established the refuge from Detroit south to Sterling State Park north of Monroe.
Private participation "is completely voluntary," Mr. Dingell observed yesterday.
Miss Kaptur said the legislation could be both a vehicle for protecting western Lake Erie’s fragile shoreline ecosystem and a boon for area businesses that can capitalize on those who would come to see all that the area has to offer.
"Think of the eco-tourists out of Cedar Point that would explore this wildlife refuge. Cedar Point draws an incredible number of people," Miss Kaptur said. "If we could somehow think about how to hook into that stream of people, we could really do something here of continental importance."
Doug Spencer, a spokesman for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, estimated that a Great Lakes Discovery Center currently on the drawing board for the area could draw as many as 400,000 visitors annually, a number that could grow substantially if Congress opts to expand the refuge.
"A wildlife refuge will attract people off the interstate, and those people will stay in local hotels and will eat in restaurants," Mr. Spencer said. He estimated creating the refuge could pump $1 million a year into the local economy.
There are few costs associated with the proposed legislation, Miss Kaptur said, and its passage could provide a starting block to explore and develop other environmental areas of interest along the coastline, such as beaches in both her district and Mr. Dingell’s.
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