Notes from the Woods

seeing · environment · exploration · photography

Clinton River restoration

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Written by Mark

Born and raised in Detroit, c. 323 ppm CO2, Mark Graf is a Michigan photographer, naturalist, and diver whose muse is summoned by exploring the endless connections in nature; land, sea, and sky.

Friday, December 19, 2014

Clinton River colors

Clinton Riverside colors | Nikon D800, Nikon 24mm T/S

This year had some more good news for the Clinton River, where I often photograph.    It is quite close to where I live, and has a lot of great hiking and biking trails along it.   A dedicated effort from multiple groups have been working to restore another aspect – making way for canoeing and kayaking.    Small stretches have been open for paddling for years, but always hindered by a lot of downed trees, major log jams, and not a lot of access points.

Within the past couple of years, two new natural boat launch points have been established within a 5 minute drive from my house that I look forward to utilizing.   Several local groups are working to clear more stretches of the river for easier navigation.

The river has a past of being quite polluted from a lot of dumping from industry to the north.  In fact, this photo was made just about 1/4 mile from a EPA Superfund site.    Fortunately a lot is turning around for the river.  It is significantly cleaner, and is opening up more opportunities to explore nature in the area.

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this post is tagged with these subjects, you are invited to explore and wander …

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9 Comments

  1. Earl

    Yet another beautiful photo — I visit this blog expecting no less and am never disappointed!

    A very Happy New Year to you and yours, may all things go your way this coming year.

  2. Mark

    A good question Cedric, I don’t know exactly what species, but I would put them into the regular box vs. some type of mangrove. They would have to be quite water tolerant as this area floods quite often, and I imagine they spent part of their lives so far underwater.

  3. Cedric Canard

    Beautiful colours Mark. I like the speckled colours of the stones which creates a perfect harmony for the fall colours in the trees and shoots. While on the subject of shoots, are the shoots in the foreground a type of mangrove or simply regular trees and shrubs?

  4. Monte Stevens

    Lovely image! I also would not have known the river was contaminated AA it looks so pristine. And, I love good news.

    • Mark

      Nature can be deceiving eh Monte?! Or is it photographs are deceiving? 🙂

  5. David Leland Hyde (@PhilipHydePhoto)

    Is that how you get all that nice color? Does that glow come from the toxicity? 😉 Seriously, I’m glad to hear the river is healing. It looks like a pleasant place to canoe. I like your use of ground level view here and the echo of the color that you caught in the background.

    • Mark

      Yeah David – you should see it at nighttime! 🙂

  6. Howard Grill

    Beautiful photo. Never would have guessed it was a polluted area from the image. Glad to hear that things are improving at the location!

    • Mark

      Thank Howard.
      I looked for some barrels with skulls and crossbones to work into the composition, but had no such luck. 🙂