December 20, 2000

Watershed disc takes flight

CD-ROM includes lofty tour of Grand Traverse Bay

By Carol South
Herald contributing writer
       Want to find out current water quality along a portion of the Boardman River or the status of aquatic nuisance species in Grand Traverse Bay?
      A new educational CD-ROM recently released by the Watershed Center will have all the answers - and then some.
      The Watershed Center, formerly the Grand Traverse Bay Watershed Initiative, released their new CD-ROM this week, sending it to all members and partners. They also plan to distribute the disc to area libraries and schools.
      Using the interactive technology, you can cruise over the watershed in a virtual flight simulation, watch video clips of scientists or students working on various watershed-related projects or learn about pollution sources and cycling. A series of aerial photos taken by the United States Coast Guard for the project highlight the watershed's beauty while interactive maps guide the user through lakes, river borders and land use patterns.
      The CD-ROM even includes a history of land use in the Grand Traverse Bay region, population projections and what residents can do to help safeguard the watershed.
      "You could hand somebody a book or magazine and they could flip through it from front to back," said Chris Wright, executive director of the Watershed Center. "But this CD-ROM is like peeling an onion, there is layer after layer of information. It engages the participant and they are not a reader but an active partner in the information."
      The Watershed Center created the CD-ROM in partnership with the Grand Traverse Band of Ottawa and Chippewa Indians, the Land Information Access Association and funded it with a grant from the Michigan Coastal Management Program of the Department of Environmental Quality.
      "We are a partnership organization with a lot of organizations that contributed to the project," said John Hagen, director of development for the Watershed Center. "This CD-ROM is particularly useful to a student or anyone who wants to learn more about the Bay or watershed. Students of any age can now get real data." The Grand Traverse Bay watershed encompasses 976 square miles and spans counties including Leelanau, Grand Traverse, Charlevoix, Otsego and Kalkaska. With dozens of organizations taking note of their piece or specific interest, the Watershed Center serves as a clearinghouse for all organizations to bring their data together and draw the big picture.
      The information on the CD-ROM can also be used by government agencies as they balance development and preservation interests.
      "There are 52 government jurisdictions within the watershed that either have regulatory or oversight powers," Hagen noted. "If you looked at each one of those and they all said watershed protection was not their job or if each wanted to do it, in both cases it would be a waste."
      "Protection of resources doesn't respect political boundaries, it is the watersheds."
      Standing in their partnership commitment, the Watershed Council turned to the Land Information Access Association for some high-tech help. Based in Traverse City, LIAA is a non-profit organization that uses their technological expertise to help create better communities. They have worked with more than 40 communities around the state, including producing a recent CD-ROM entitled Grand Traverse History Comes Alive for the Grand Traverse Pioneer and Historical Society.
      "Traverse City is where we live and work and we want to support as much as possible the works of other organizations that want to help build community," said Joe VandenMullen, executive director of LIAA. "We used our many years of experience with digital mapping, multi-media databases and computer programming for this project. We used our tech know-how to package information that the Watershed Center had available."