Milwaukee Common Council Unanimously Urges Asian Carp Action
December 20, 2012
The Milwaukee Common Council unanimously passed a resolution this week that urges immediate action to separate the Chicago River system from the Mississippi River Basin. The artificial connection between the two waterways was created a century ago by the Chicago canal system is now the greatest threat to allow invasive species, like the the Asian carp, to reach the Lake Michigan and the other Great Lakes from the Mississippi.
There are currently mulitiple studies underway to determine what is the best course of action to separate the two, but it is dangerous to wait too long while the Asian carp threat nears our aquatic ecosystems. Milwaukee hopes to be the first of many Great Lakes cities, including Chicago, to pass such resolutions so real action is taken to stop an Asian carp invasion.
Read more about the Council's resolution on the Asian Carp issue in the Dan Egan's Dec. 18th article in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel:
Milwaukee Aldermen Urge Separation of Chicago River, Mississippi Basin
The Milwaukee Common Council has had enough of the Chicago River and the threat it poses to all of the Great Lakes. The council passed a unanimous resolution Tuesday that calls for separating the Chicago River system from the Asian carp-infested Mississippi River basin, and the leader of a group representing the region's mayors said he expects other Great Lakes cities to follow suit.
"I'm quite confident they will, because I think this is the right thing to do," said David Ullrich, executive director of the Great Lakes and St. Lawrence Cities Initiative, a group founded by former Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley that represents dozens of the region's mayors.
The Great Lakes and Mississippi basins were artificially connected more than a century ago with the construction of the Chica go canal system. Now those canals are recognized as a prime pathway for unwanted species to invade fresh waters.
"Preventing invasive carp from entering the Great Lakes and St. Lawrence ecosystem needs to be approached with the greatest sense of urgency by all those responsible for dealing with this matter," the Milwaukee Common Council resolution states.
" . . . Physical separation is the most effective way to keep invasive carp from entering Lake Michigan through the Chicago Area Waterway System, and such barriers would also prevent the movement of many other invasive species from one basin to the other."
