David Hohendorf talks about the editorial offerings in this April issue
Algae in the local lakes
Algae – simple plants that live in oceans, lakes, rivers, ponds and even moist soil – is both beneficial and harmful and thrives in every corner of the world
Testing fish for consumption
Testing fish for contamination is a coordinated process that produces published advisories warning residents about potential issues
View from above
An aerial view of Island Lake in Bloomfield Township
Inspecting Oakland restauarants
The county is charged with inspecting 4,700 food establishments to make sure they meet health standards
Threatened Planet
Short notes on what ’ s happening on the warming planet here and around the world
Metro Intelligencer
News and gossip from the dining world in the metro Detroit area.
The latest lake levels as measured by the office of the Oakland County Water Resources Commissioner.
With the April issue of LAKE magazine
lakefront residents will note a slight diversion from our of ten mentioned editorial focus of just addressing primarily issues related to the water ways, especially in Oakland County
Our followers will still find a couple of longfor m stories specifically directed at lake issues
First, contributing writer Mike Scott takes readers through the Michigan gover nment’s testing of fish in the lakes and streams of the state, looking at the health of what may be caught for consumption
Contributing writer Mark Stowers takes a look at algae for mation in the water ways of Oakland While a natural occur rence both in water ways and on land, lakeside residents can have an impact on algae development
We break ever so slightly from lake-related stor ytelling with a longfor m piece by Stowers that first appeared in our sister publication, Downtown Newsmagazine, which ser ves each month the communities of Bir mingham, Bloomfield Township and Bloomfield Hills This par ticular piece deals with the issue of food safety in the restaurants of Oakland County
Studies tell us that 60 percent of Oakland residents over the age of 18 eat out at least once each week – either dining out in person or take- out from the many establishments in the county Think Doordash, Gr ubhub or Uber Eats, if you will
Slightly off the beaten path from what we present each month in LAKE magazine, we think the issue of restaurant inspections and the safety of the food we consume will prove of interest to those living on the water fronts of Oakland, a segment of the population that for the most par t has increased disposable income and may well eat out more of ten
Rough estimates from the county health depar tment, which r uns the inspections, tell us that there are over 4,700 restaurants and food establishments in Oakland, which includes food tr ucks, institutions like schools, and
festivals and events That number seems to grow with each passing month
Readers will lear n from the longfor m ar ticle a great deal about how the county assures us that health standards are met when we eat out or order takeout meals This longfor m stor y is also a good example of how we as jour nalists approach such topics on a regular basis
It would have been easy to just talk to Oakland County Health Depar tment officials about restaurant inspections in general, and most readers would have been satisfied with what we presented But the writer talked with multiple sources and gave a comparative look at how restaurant inspections are also handled in Macomb County (2,600 food establishments), Washtenaw County (1,285), Detroit (1,900), Manhattan, New York (17,000) and the state of Illinois
This piece is a good example of the effor t and serious approach we take with longfor m stor ytelling I hope our readers will find this of interest I know I lear ned a lot
As a side note, the restaurant longfor m was just submitted to the annual contest sponsored by the Detroit Chapter of the Society of Professional Jour nalists Judges from around the countr y have recognized our stor ytelling effor ts in past years in the categories of environment, health, education, personal columns, along with stor y layout and cover design
OUR FRONT COVER: This month our front cover was from a photo submitted by Catherine Dixon of Long Lake in Orion Township Yes, we are still accepting photo contributions for the cover of LAKE magazine In retur n we will send a check for $100 if we select a photo for one of our covers So please keep sending us your work We just ask that the photos you send be high resolution When you send in your photos (lakephotos@downtownpublications com), please include your home mail address so we can send a check if your photo is selected
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A L G A E A FOUNDATIONAL
ORGANISM KEY FOR HUMAN EXISTENCE
BY MARK H. STOWERS
Algae – simple plants that live in oceans, lakes, rivers, ponds and even moist soil – is both beneficial and har mful and thrives in ever y cor ner of the world. The naturally for ming organism can be one-cell microscopic organisms or multi-cell strands or colonies and is cr ucial as it creates and provides nearly threequar ters of the world’s oxygen supply
Lacking a tr ue root, leaf and stem system, algae are more simple than aquatic plants. Some algae species drif t or swim, while others are attached to stones or aquatic plants in the water. All algae contain chlorophyll (a green pigment) Here in Michigan, algae are much the same in both upper and lower Michigan and are plentiful in lakes, streams and rivers, ser ving as a basic food source for fish and other aquatic organisms while also providing shelter from predators. However, some types of algae can be problematic, clogging water bodies and creating unsightly conditions or even hazardous environments. Scientists, biologists and other exper ts work together to understand the effects of algae and to control and mitigate issues when necessar y. Additionally, algae play a vital role in ecosystems worldwide
Naturally present in water, algae for ms when microscopic algal cells multiply rapidly and grow due to the presence of sunlight, water and sufficient nutrients like nitrogen and phosphor us, of ten coming from sources like fer tilizers, pet waste, improperly functioning septic tanks, grass clippings, leaves and other yard wastes – all sources of nutrients that can create an overbreeding of algae for ming har mful algae blooms (HABS) in large quantities
DDEPENDING ON WHO YOU ASK, THE NUMBER OF DIFFERENT SPECIES IS ENDLESS ACCORDING TO THE NATIONAL LIBRARY OF MEDICINE, ALGAE have been estimated to include anything from 30,000 to more than one million species There’s even an on-line taxonomic database, Algaebase org, that exists to count and document them all Despite uncer tainties regarding what organisms should be included as algae and what a species is in the context of the various algal phyla and classes, the site lists 179,171 species and infraspecific names, 23,703 images, 73,554 bibliographic items and 585,133 distributional records
The reason so many scientists have gone to such extremes to study and count and configure is that oxygen is produced by photosynthesizing organisms that live in the ocean, in fresh water and on land These organisms include bacteria, algae and plants
Photosynthesizing algae in the ocean produces nearly 70 percent of oxygen in the atmosphere Algae research has focused on creating biofuel, medical supplements and even food from this ever-present world-wide organism
Ali Shakoor, a Ph D candidate in Aquatic Ecology at Wayne State University, is also a professional walleye fisher man so he’s out and about in Michigan waters quite of ten fishing and researching
“ There are basically two types of algae - green algae (good) and blue-green algae (bad ) Green algae can r un the gamut They can be single cells and they can sur vive as par t of colonies They can have large specimens such as kelp And you have cer tain common types,” Shakoor said
One of the most common types of green alga is ankistrodesmus – a freshwater alga that for ms in colonies and are used in biofuel research selenastr um and scenedesmus are two other common algae found in Michigan
“Chlamydomonas is found in stagnant water and can also be found on damp soil It is a little unique in
that it can be found in freshwater or salt water And this one is motile, so it's flagellated It has two flagellas, which are whip-like tails It actually can move a little independent of wind and waves, ” Shakoor said “Some algae can even grow in the dark ”
Shakoor reiterated the impor tance of green algae
“ These are refer red to as primar y producers meaning they produce a large amount of oxygen They for m the base of the food web If algae were to suddenly disappear, there'd be a collapse in food webs worldwide They are extremely impor tant When people see these algae in their lake, it's not always a bad thing ”
He noted “other common green algae, chlorella and spirogyra and volvox, which is colonial – one large cell with multiple daughter cells inside If that mother cell were to burst, those daughter cells would go out and they'd live on their own and become their own colony ”
The bad algae or nuisance species are the bluegreen and the main one in Michigan is cladophora
“ Typically grows on hard substrates Like rocks and logs They for m these large mats and wash up on shore And when they star t to rot, they are really smelly Those mats are known for enticing bacterial growth –enterococci and e coli Not fun if you live on the lake and it's below the shore in your yard or on your beach It's also linked to botulism Avian botulism outbreaks, which will kill birds It's becoming more of an issue ”
HHE ALS O EXPLAINED, “ROCK SNOT IS A UNICELLULAR ORGANISM (DIATOM) AND ANOTHER INVASIVE, NUISANCE ALGAE
Diatoms peak from April to May, green algae peak in June and then blue-green algae will peak in July and August Even though rock snot is a nuisance, it still produces oxygen ”
The blue-green algae have an evil friend of sor ts in the invasive species world – zebra mussels, according to Shakoor
“ They filter the water column, which allows more light penetration, which allows for cer tain species to grow deeper in the water column,” he explained “Quagga mussels will deposit nutrients on the lake bottom in the for m of pseudofeces And one of those nutrients is phosphor us which is fuel for algae growth ”
Other bad algae include cyanobacteria with naturally creating blooms in just about any water environment
“ They can occur ever ywhere from a small far m pond
to the largest lakes and oceans that you can imagine They occur ever ywhere and are ver y common The primar y one that I work with is microcystis ichthyosauria – the most common mat-for ming cyanobacteria in the wester n basin of Lake Erie It has these little air vacuoles that allow it to float And all the cyanobacteria can produce typhoid And those toxins can be nasty They can be hepatoxic, neurotoxic, endotoxic and they can impact human health ”
These toxins can cause skin problems from being splashed with lake water
“ They can cause rashes on your skin, cause you to break out There's a lake in Ohio outside of the Lake Erie watershed but they experienced bad blooms Some families lost pets You'll see war nings from the DNR not to swim when the algae are really thick in the water ”
The har mful algae may impact human and pet health but they also could impact fish If bait fish go to those blooms for cover, then the larger fish will follow
“If you have fish that live on the bottom, they may become mid-water column or fish that are noctur nal may become more active in the daytime This can have possible negative reproductive problems that will be compounded annually,” Shakoor explained
A massive algae bloom caused three-quar ters of a million people in southeast and lower Michigan and nor thwester n Ohio to lose their drinking water supply for a week back in 2014 A nor theast wind stacked cyanobacteria deep in the water column and made its way down to the intake where it got sucked in
AALL BACTERIA AND ALGAE EXPERIENCE GROWTH SPURTS WHEN EXCESSIVE PHOSPHORUS AND NITROGEN ALONG WITH war ming water create the per fect conditions Hotter than nor mal summers create a longer growing season Run- off water from stor ms that filter through golf courses, residential lawns and constr uction sites brings pollution including phosphorous fer tilizer that creates a per fect stor m for all algae to grow creating problems
“Microcystis for ms those big mats It star ts to grow and when the wind is blowing, it keeps ever ything mixed in the water column but when that wind lays down and ever ything flows up to the sur face, that's when these large blooms will for m, ” Shakoor said
There are healthy blooms but they can become a problem when the algae dies and sinks As it
decomposes, it creates a low - oxygen areas or dead zones in small lakes or ponds Fish don’t have enough oxygen and die One way to help with r un off is to create shore buffers Areas of plants and rocks that would filter the r unoff before getting to the water
TTHERE HAVE BEEN IN OAKLAND COUNTY INSTANCES OF HARMFUL ALGAE BLOOMS
BALD EAGLE LAKE HAD THE WORST OUTBREAK with cyanobacteria verified and toxins detected last June Other lakes had cyanobacteria verified dating from June to September but no toxins were found Those lakes include Loon Lake, Huntoon Lake, Village Wood Lake, Kent Lake, Lake Sher wood and Tipsisco Lake The Michigan Depar tment of Environment, Great Lakes and Energy (EGLE) and the Michigan Depar tment of Health and Human Ser vices (MDHHS) occasionally sample for har mful algae blooms and collaborate with local health depar tments to protect the public when toxins are found
Lake residents can repor t suspicious algae to EGLE by calling 1-800-662-9278 or emailing AlgaeBloom@Michigan gov EGLE has also created a website for frequently asked questions (michigan gov/egle/faqs/water-qualityprotection/har mful-algal-blooms)
In ter ms of algal booms, the EGLE website says they can have a variety of colors and can look like scum or even foam, or they can be mat-like and even look like an oil spill Not all blooms have toxins Blooms for m when water temperature increases on a calm lake along with a high-level of nutrients Blooms typically for m during the summer and into the fall and can last days or even months Bloomscan rapidly change in size and even location within the same day; and they can disappear and for m again just weeks later
If you find a har mful algae bloom, it’s best to repor t it and stay out of the water Don’t fish or swim and keep your dogs or any other animals out of the water Because dogs can swallow cyanotoxins when they groom or lick themselves, it’s impor tant to rinse them off with fresh water af ter contact with water that may have had a algae bloom
Symptoms of ten appear quicker in animals than in people sometimes in minutes to a few hours and may include vomiting, diar rhea, fatigue,
staggered walking, excessive drooling and convulsions Deaths can occur Contact a veterinarian immediately if pets or livestock have had contact with a HAB or are showing signs of illness
GGREGORY J DICK, PH D , DIRECTOR OFTHE COOPERATIVE INSTITUTE FOR GREAT LAKES RESEARCH AND DIRECTOR, GREAT LAKES
Center for Freshwaters and Human Health at the University of Michigan offered more algae insight The environmental microbiologist has been focusing on cyanobacteria and bacterial blooms for the past decade
“ There are a group of organisms called cyanobacteria, photosynthetic bacteria They're not algae, technically speaking but really bacteria That's the main type of algae that we have in the Great Lakes and lakes around Michigan They're the organisms that are doing photosynthesis and bringing energy into an ecosystem and ultimately ser ving as the food source for the whole food web, including fisheries,” Dick said
These algae are essential and not problematic as they sustain food webs and fisheries and aquatic systems, according to Dick
“And then there are these har mful algae These are organisms that can produce really thick scums You've probably seen some of these pictures of the green pea soup-like scene that occurs in some lakes They can be really ugly They can smell bad and they can also produce cer tain small molecules that are toxic and these toxins are a big concer n for drinking water safety and for recreational safety and have impacts on ecosystems ”
Another bad alga – dolichosper mum – produces toxins
“ We affectionately refer to it as Doli And it's again a cyanobacterium but it produces a different set of toxins including one called saxitoxin, that's a big concer n And then there's another group of organisms that is affecting Lake St Clair called microcera And that one for ms these big mats of algae that can wash up on the beach And again, it's a concer n because they can produce toxins as well ”
Dick’s research is used to help understand why the organisms produce the toxins There are toxins that are not always produced and so “tr ying to understand what triggers so that we can know when and where a toxin will be produced is one of our big goals Improving scientific understanding so that we can make better
forecasts is one big thing and that's something that the Institute for Great Lakes Research worked with NOAA to take the research, transition that into forecasts that the public can use ”
He also noted the research is ongoing because in some cases, “ We don't even know what to look for because there's new toxins or toxins that are new to the region that are becoming more impor tant here as the climate changes That's another big area of research We want to know what toxins present and what conditions are promoting their occur rence ”
Good algae can be used for medicinal or phar maceutical uses, according to Dick, who added, “ We can explore new antibiotics or new anti-cancer compounds or antifungal compounds ” He also explained that research is looking at the impacts on human health
“ Two things – how is climate change going to affect these algae? And how is that going to affect human health? We know that these cyanobacteria grow faster at higher temperatures And so we think that climate change is playing a role in the proliferation of these har mful algal blooms Same thing with rainfall We're getting more frequent and bigger stor ms in the springtime and that's contributing to more phosphor us r unning off into our lakes That’s expected to have an impact And then we're collaborating with colleagues in biomedical sciences to tr y and understand the impacts on human health One of their findings is that these toxins can actually become aerosolized They can be incorporated into little bubbles that for m when waves break out on the lake And those bubbles, those aerosols, can get up into the air and it's been shown that there are health concer ns if you inhale those aerosols ”
He also explained that microcystis, a bad alga, over winters in sediment in a relatively dor mant state and then gets reactivated in spring with stor ms
“ That sediment can get kicked up into the water and when conditions are right, the algae can star t to grow again,” Dick said
DDR CASEY GODWIN, ASS OCIATE RESEARCH S CIENTIST FOR THE COOPERATIVE INSTITUTE FOR GREAT LAKES RESEARCH (CIGLR) IS
A limnologist He studies inland lakes and his exper tise is in nutrients and water quality, which include algae
“ The subject of algal taxonomy is pretty complex,” Godwin said “Algae are really the base of the food web
in a lot of lakes and also in many streams Some types of algae like diatoms and green algae, you're going to find in a wide range of conditions from ver y pristine, low -nutrient environments like you might find way up nor th someplace where there's not a lot of people around But you'll also find them in really productive waters like we have in southeast Michigan ”
On the brighter side, Godwin noted that he is also studying algae’s role in the field of biofuels
“ That is something that has been on the horizon for a long period of time Per square yard of area, under the right conditions, algae energy and cultivation can produce more than some of these conventional crops like soybean or cor n That said, I can't go down the road from me and buy a fuel made out of algae They are on the horizon for a long time There's been a lot of investment by the depar tment of energy and other entities on that ”
AAPART BUT IN CONJUNCTION WITH THE ACADEMIC FIELD, LOCAL WATERSHED
COUNCILS IN MICHIGAN HAVE STEPPED UP their effor ts to help with algae problems in the Great Lakes, especially Lake Erie Water quality monitors have been set up in five sub-watersheds in the southeast cor ner of the state that either feed directly into the lake or one of its tributaries
The increased monitoring of upstream waters in southeaster n Michigan should help provide more data that can be used to forge a more effective way to deal with the nutrient r unoff The Michigan Depar tment of Agriculture and Rural Development is kicking in $4 86 million to pay for the expanded network Another $600,000 is coming from the Erb Family Foundation
The expanded network includes 50 monitoring equipment locations measuring water levels, turbidity (cloudy water,) the amount of suspended sediment in the water and conductivity, the total dissolved solids in the water Ten of the locations will have autonomous phosphor us analyzers producing data ever y two hours and the plan includes taking water samples at all 50 sites and having them tested in a lab
Though no algae can be completely eradicated, the use of machines and chemicals can help manage a nuisance alga and help keep “good” algae maintained and controlled to some degree
Biological control for algae growth in lakes can be as simple as introducing natural predators or competitors into the ecosystem Attempts at control include
stocking fish that eat algae, or adding plants that compete with algae for nutrients and introducing bacteria that consume algae Biological control is of ten considered the most sustainable and environmentally friendly method of controlling algae growth, as it relies on natural processes to keep the ecosystem balanced
Another approach is mechanical control by physically removing the algae from the water A temporar y solutions includes skimming the water ’ s sur face to remove floating algae or by vacuuming the algae from the bottom of the lake There is also Ultrasonic algae control that uses sound waves with frequencies above 22 kHz to control the growth of algae The ultrasonic waves cause the algae’s gas blisters to break, killing the algae These treatments are alga specific with specific water conditions so there are multiple programs This environmentally friendly treatment is also safe for aquatic life and effective against large algae blooms
On the mitigation and control side, Scott Aerator and Aqua Weed Control are but two companies working to help those in need understand eradication, mitigation and control methods
Ted Fer rell helps manage Scott Aerator based in Holland, Michigan, which ships products all over the world
“As a manufacturer, we manufacture pond fountains and aerators generally for larger bodies of water like a quar ter of an acre and up with a minimum depth of three to four feet We also do subsur face aeration,” Fer rell explained
Basically, they move water and create oxygen Subsur face aeration is comprised of a compressor and weighted tubing and diffusers that sit on the bottom of the pond to move water
“ The nitrates build up over the years from leaves and aquatic debris and its easier for those ponds to become toxic and fish star t dying off,” Fer rell said “ We move water ”
TTHEIR AQUA SWEEP IS USED AROUND BOAT DOCKS AND OTHER “MUCKY SITUATIONS ” IT IS DROPPED TO THE BOT TOM OF A POND, RAISED FOUR INCHES “and it blows all the weeds, silt and stick and things that can be easily uprooted It’s not a weed whacker If you have some king kong weeds in there, you have to go out and extract them mechanically But usually about 85 percent of the weeds grow in the muck that collects in ponds It also helps with swimmer ’ s itch that is found in
stagnant or stratified water That can be a real nuisance ”
“ We also sell chemicals for weeds and for algae You can do it naturally with an all-season pond clarifier We have muck pellets that are natural We have other treatments where if you have blankets of algae floating, you can spray on these chemicals It’s basically a ‘Round Up’ for weeds above the water or floating It has a sur factant that makes it stick to the algae,” he said “ You spray this chemical on there It'll tur n it from green to brown and then it goes from brown to white and then it just drops to the pond bottom and disintegrates ”
The chemicals are highly regulated by EGLE
“ We help people with chemicals but we don’t handle the higher-level of REI (restricted-entr y level) If is a restricted chemical, we don’t get into the licensing par t We do have something we just star ted selling It kills algae with sonar This gizmo floats in the pond and it works off of sound Water IQ Technologies created this If algae are what you ’ re looking to attack – blue-green algae or green algae ”
There is also a product, Pond Dye, a concentrate that is put in the pond just af ter it thaws out and it blocks out UV light
“ You're going to stop the photosynthesis of all that unwanted aquatic vegetation below the sur face It's like one of the cheapest insurance programs you can get It just doesn't allow and take off and get out of control,” he said “It doesn’t kill it but it does prevent it from continuing to thrive ”
A one-quar t container will take care of a one-acre pond that is six to eight feet The dye is not a colorant and doesn’t stain clothes or animals The company star ted 60 years ago selling de-ices for boat docks
OOAKLAND COUNTY BASED AQUA WEED CONTROL IN HOLLY HAS BEEN WORKING IN THE INDUSTRY FOR HALF A CENTURY MANAGER BLAKE CUTHBERT has been helping folks figuring out their aqua weed problems for nearly two decades
“Algae is always a fight for us ever y single year, especially years where we don't have a lot of ice cover, ” Cuthber t said “ This year we should have a little bit better or have less algae just because the snow has been on top of the ice all year But last year was especially bad because of the war m winter and early spring ”
Aqua Weed Control works water bodies in souther n Michigan and doesn’t get above the Flint area
“Basically, from the Detroit River area all the way over to Lake Kalamazoo,” he said “ Typically, if it's in a pond, someone can let us know, ‘hey, can you come take a look at
our pond and let us know what we have?’ They can either then have us sur vey or ser vice it af ter we get a per mit or if they are interested in doing it themselves, we can recommend the product that they should use and they can go through and get the per mit for that If it comes to a lake, they would need a group of homeowners or some sor t of association, special assessment district through the township to then have us ser vice the lake and treat for the algae ”
Aqua Weed Control deals with EGLE to get the needed per mits when dealing with chemicals They typically can identif y the algae and treat it
“If we are tr ying to identif y species, we have to have it sent to a lab We don't do any manual removal of the algae There are some companies that do har vesting where they can har vest what we call macroalgae It looks like a moss on the bottom of the lake and they do har vest that For the most par t, the algae are just sprayed with a different type of algaecide and lef t to decompose,” he said “For the most par t, microalgae control is done using a copper-based product There are other types of algaecides that don't have copper or copper sulfate in them Those are sprayed under neath the water or on top of the algae, depending on where it's located ”
Cuthber t noted the biggest algae culprit in Oakland County that they deal with is star r y stonewor t
“It’s invasive and primarily found in Michigan, specifically southeast Michigan The other type of algae that we deal with a lot is what people see on the sur face, filamentous algae It's that bright, almost neon green algae that floats on the sur face ”
The native algae can grow quickly when exposed to sunlight along with any type of r un off or fer tilizer entering the water body
“ Typically, what you will see is or along the shoreline on a hot summer day,” he said “ We have flat-bottomed boats that we put into the lake with a tank on it We mix the products in the tank We measure out the amount we need based on the acreage of the treatment area and spray out of the tank with a hose All of our products are regulated and approved by EGLE and the EPA We follow the label and apply at the label rate or below the label rate Then send that repor t to EGLE af ter the treatments ever y year so that they're aware of what we're using and how much ”
He explained that prevention is key in working to control any type of algae
“If people do prevent r un off from entering water bodies from stor m drains, fer tilizer, leaves falling off trees, any sor t of nutrients that can help the algae grow, those can be mitigated and prevent from having to do treatment at all It's just having nutrients in the water is what's creating those blooms ”
Cuthber t recommends raking yards can be one simple solution and not using fer tilizer for yards and gardens before a rain Also, by making some sor t of natural vegetation bar rier between the lawn and lake to catch any sor t of nutrients that might flow in so any sor t of shr ubs or flower garden or mulch can be quite beneficial in keeping algae at bay
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FISH TESTING
MAKING SURE CATCH IS SAFE TO CONSUME
BY MICHAEL SCOTT
State agencies test fish for contaminants regularly at Michigan’s inland lakes, streams and rivers However, exper ts say the inability to test all waterbodies, and concer ns over the impact of per- and polyfluoroalk yl substances (PFAS) should influence how much fresh fish anglers and residents consume Testing fish for contamination in Michigan is a coordinated process that each year produces published advisories war ning residents about potential consumption issues. This process continues to be refined as more infor mation is uncovered each year about pollutants that exist in the state’s inland waterbodies, par ticularly the presence of PFAS.
EGLE staff retrieving a gill net that was deployed in Versluis Lake in Kent County to collect fish for fillet contaminant monitoring (All photos from EGLE’s Fish Contaminant Monitoring Program)
PFAS are synthetic chemicals widely used for more than 60 years to make plastics, firefighting foams and lubricants The ter m is an acronym for a class of more than 17,000 “forever” chemicals, said Denise Key, CEO for Enspired Solutions, an East Lansing-based remediation company that focuses on eliminating forever chemicals PFAS are created by humans and represent the strongest single bond in nature.
Since 1970, the Michigan Depar tment of Health and Human Ser vices (MDHHS) has issued fish consumption guidelines providing Michigan residents with the infor mation they can use to make infor med decisions about personal fish consumption More than 50 years of testing have revealed health risks associated with consuming fish that contain chemicals such as mercur y, polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), Dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane (DDT), dioxins and PFAS
The MDHHS’ Eat Safe Fish (ESF) program tests for chemicals in edible por tions of fish caught in lakes and rivers around Michigan The results from those tests are used to create the fish consumption guidelines found in the depar tment’s Eat Safe Fish guides, produced annually by the MDHHS Each year, ESF reviews data from approximately 1,800 fish collected from statewide waterbodies to deter mine if new or updated consumption guidelines are necessar y, according to MDHHS Associate Public Infor mation Officer Laina Stebbins
“ The ESF program provides consumption guidelines that reflect the best available science to ensure that our recommendations are protective of human health,” Stebbins said Testing results are also available at Michigan gov/EatSafeFish
ESF guidelines are designed to help protect all Michigan adults and children, including those with existing health challenges, compromised immune systems, pregnant people and more Michigan has routinely tested fish filets for PFAS since 2012
The guidelines are provided as Michigan ser vings (referenced in the guide as MI Ser vings) One MI Ser ving for adults equates to six to eight ounces of fish, which is comparable to about the size of an adult’s hand For children, one MI Ser ving is two to four ounces of fish, or about the size of an adult’s palm
MDHHS communicates the fish contaminant findings in other ways as well For example, signage may be posted around waterbodies where fish should not be consumed based on local testing results, generally refer red to as “do not eat” advisories, which MDHHS manages ESF program staff set up displays to educate anglers and attendees at fishing events and outdoor festivals They will speak to schoolchildren and teachers, members of special interest groups and more
Stebbins said most signage posted by MDHHS war ning residents of impor tant advisories includes a QR code linked to an infor mational website “ There, they can find more infor mation about fish consumption guidelines specific to that waterbody,” Stebbins said
MDHHS has collected fish from Oakland County lakes, rivers and streams for testing since 1983, Stebbins said Over that more than 40-year period, she said a total of 30 Oakland County lakes and ponds, four rivers and one creek have been tested at least once for contaminants As is the case around Michigan, mercur y, PCBs, PFAS and/or DDT are present in some bodies of water, with results available online and in the ESF guide
The Michigan Depar tment of Environmental, Great Lakes and Energy (EGLE) manages its Fish Contaminant Monitoring Program, coordinated by Aquatic Biology Specialist Brandon Ar mstrong The program ’ s three main goals include:
• Collecting data that is used by MDHHS to help establish fish advisories through membrane testing of a fish’s edible par ts in bodies of water throughout the state
• Monitoring containment trends at 22 fixed sites both inland and on the Great Lakes
• Evaluating state water ways for chemical contamination and measuring remediation activities
Containment effor ts include utilizing empower ments, connected channels, and testing fish as par t of a coordinated containment or evaluation process, Ar mstrong said That water way evaluation process includes EGLE professionals measuring the level of chemical containments in fish gills over a 28-day period while fish are housed in a cage in a body of water, he added
The EPA also requests and receives repor ts from EGLE related to its monitoring program These effor ts occasionally identif y fish contamination from high levels of common contaminants One of the program’s most highly publicized outcomes was the high levels of contamination found in the Huron River in 2018, which instituted a “do not eat” advisor y The advisor y was instituted based on the level of PFAS contamination in the river from the N. Wixom Road crossing in Milford to Lake Erie
In the case of the Huron River contaminations, EGLE ramped up effor ts to increase testing around the watershed and in other waterbodies bordering the Huron River watershed to deter mine if high levels of PFAS were elsewhere, Ar mstrong said
“ When we hit a cer tain threshold, we’ll collect sur face water samples so we can identif y the source of the infor mation,” he said “ We’ll look at all waterbodies that are connected and possibly impacted and expand (testing) from there ”
The fish testing process through EGLE’s Fish Contaminant Monitoring Program star ts with Ar mstrong and his team collecting data on fish fillets and sending the results of contaminant levels to MDHHS Following data calculations, EGLE exper ts make one or more recommendations to MDHHS, which may lead to an advisor y If MDHHS does release an advisor y, it will notif y residents through its ESF guides and the MDHHS website The identification of a “do not eat” advisor y for example will also trigger a variety of additional communications and signage based on the collective discretion of the MDHHS team
While advisories aren’t common, testing can uncover notable contamination issues. The monitoring program managed by EGLE uncovered elevated levels of PFOS at the WMP Thompson Pond near Por t Huron and in a section of the lower Rouge River last year, Ar mstrong said A third inland pond in West Michigan near Wyoming fell just below the level of a “do not eat” advisor y, but community leaders there decided to proactively post signs war ning fishing enthusiasts anyway
Elevated levels of contamination in fish alone do not necessarily mean an advisor y is recommended, Ar mstrong said However, EGLE is testing fish in more inland bodies than ever He estimates that EGLE tested 20 to 40 sites around 15 years ago As public interest in fish testing and awareness of PFAS has increased, so have the agency ’ s fish testing effor ts EGLE tested fish in more than 90 bodies of water in Michigan in 2024, the majority of which included inland lakes, rivers and streams
“I see us getting to that level again if not well over 100 (waterbodies) this year, ” Ar mstrong said ”There’s demand and public interest ”
The concer n over PFAS has been elevated in recent years as researchers lear n more about these substances PFAS are unique because they do not naturally break down as easily as most other har mful substances, according to Enspired Solutions CEO Key These contaminants exist in some household cleaners and other things humans use abundantly like waterproofing and stain resistant chemicals, makeup, clothing and cer tain types of packaging and clothes PFAS chemicals have also been found to exist in firefighting foam
High PFAS exposure can lead to liver damage, thyroid
disease, decreased fer tility, high cholesterol, obesity, hor mone suppression and cancer in humans, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Key said that the presence of PFAS in groundwater and wastewater is a threat to ever yone ’ s health, and that the substances exist in many inland lakes and rivers across the U S , including Michigan
Combined with dioxins and PCPs, these chemicals access freshwater bodies through r unoff, seepage, access to watersheds and in other ways
Public awareness of per fluorooctane sulfonic acid (PFOS) has also increased in recent years PFOS is a synthetic chemical used to make products resistant to stains, grease, soil, and water It is par t of a class of PFAS chemicals, Key said
PFAS and PFOS can bioaccumulate and impact fish directly, of ten through their gills, or the sediment in the lake where fish feed, Key says For that reason, researchers and gover nmental agencies have taken steps to inter r upt the pathway for these chemicals to get into the water, which she believes is the only way to protect fish, and thereby humans that eat the fish, from contamination
“In my experience with these chemicals, you can predict what the impact will be on fish with some testing and data,” said Key, who is not involved in fish testing personally “ Typically, more predator y fish accumulate higher amounts of chemicals than a fish that feeds primarily on algae ”
That’s why anglers should confir m the types of fish they are catching and eating, she adds Having more knowledge about potential chemical impact could infor m anglers how best to remove the skin and clean the fish, Key said That’s impor tant because plenty of unknowns remain. For example, the volume at which PFAS bioaccumulates in specific environments, such as sandy or muddy lake bottoms, can differ from one body of water to another, and is of ten difficult, if not impossible, to calculate through cur rent testing methods
“ We have to do something to destroy the PFAS, or they will continue to accumulate in the environment (These chemicals) never go away, ” Key said “ They just move from a person to some other (physical) proper ty We aren’t anywhere near having an understanding of how PFAS behave once they are released into water ”
EGLE staff preparing to fillet Lake Michigan whitefish The fish were weighed and measured and the fillets were removed for contaminant analyses
The “ newness ” of PFAS in fish presents a challenge There have been a set of generally accepted guidelines for many years for how people can avoid consuming fish with higher levels of mercur y, said Tasha Stoiver, PhD , a senior scientists with the Environmental Working Group, an activist group that engages in environmental research in Washington DC Stoiver agrees that consuming fish that aren’t predators, and are lower on the food chain, mitigate consumer health risks, especially when it comes to mercur y
“ We have some straightfor ward recommendations for dealing with mercur y, but it’s completely different with PFAS because they have been found ever ywhere, including in smaller fish,” Stoiver said “ The mercur y guidelines don’t seem to apply (to PFAS) ”
While there is data for PFAS levels in some inland bodies of water in Michigan and elsewhere, many consumers have little data they can reference to deter mine the threat of PFAS in their community. Stoiver said that while inland waterbodies in r ural areas generally have been shown to have lower levels of PFAS contaminants, which is far from a cer tainty, as testing has confir med that PFAS can exist in rainwater in areas around the U S
“ We see these chemicals in just about ever y type of testing,” Stoiver said “If you consume freshwater fish, chances are you will have some PFAS in your system You could recommend that people just may not want to eat freshwater fish But that’s a difficult thing to say ”
Key confir ms the best source for inland lake fish testing is MDHHS and its ESF guides She acknowledges that it’s impor tant for the state to test the muscles and tissue of fish
“Obviously if there’s more (chemicals) in the muscle of the fish, which will have a greater impact on humans, because that’s the par t of the fish you want to eat,” Key said “If there’s more concer n over the tissue, I would think it could lead to a greater chance for (an advisor y) or other guidelines for residents ”
Testing can be initiated directly by residents, environmental groups and any interested par ty on EGLE’s website at https://tinyurl com/bdz9sau3 EGLE will consider all completed for ms and can work collaboratively with MDHHS in the testing process Both Stebbins and Ar mstrong agree that EGLE’s Targeted Monitoring Request for m is a critical source of infor mation from the public
“It’s been an impor tant par t of what we do because if there are waters we haven’t tested, people can submit a request,” Ar mstrong said “Depending on available funding, we may be able to add it into our schedule for the year ”
In ter ms of Oakland County lakes, EGLE’s Fish Contaminant Monitoring Program professionals tested Lower Straits Lake in Commerce Township, Kent Lake in Lyon Township and Milford, and Stony Lake in Oxford in Januar y and Febr uar y of this year Program professionals will retur n to the county to test Middle Straits Lake in Commerce Township and White Lake in White Lake Township this spring Other Oakland County waterbodies will likely be tested later this year, Ar mstrong said
Collected fish will be filleted and sent to EGLE’s testing lab It usually takes about six to eight months to receive results The lab is cur rently finishing up the fiscal year 2024 samples, Ar mstrong said
If contamination is detected, MDHHS and EGLE coordinate to deter mine the fish testing needs, Stebbins said Af ter fish have been collected for edible por tion testing, the MDHHS Bureau of Laboratories Environmental Chemistr y Section analyzes the fish for contaminants Results from those Oakland County lakes will be summarized and published in future ESF guides
“Guidelines are typically issued in the next version of the regional ESF guides, but may be issued as soon as possible in cer tain situations, for example, when new do not eat guidelines are being issued for fish species in a waterbody,” Stebbins said
At the request of MDHHS and/or EGLE, expanded collections will be conducted on waterbodies with documented chemical contamination or previous data showing elevated chemical concentrations in fish, extensive fishing activity, or outstanding public health questions, Stebbins said
This includes testing in and around a watershed where contamination was found, among them rivers, streams and tributaries, she added Based on the results of EGLE investigations, the two state agencies will work together to deter mine if additional fish collections are needed for that waterbody.
“Resulting fish consumption guidelines not only apply to the waterbody where the fish were collected from, but any other connected waterbodies where fish movement is not impeded,” Stebbins said
As a fisheries management biologist with the Michigan Depar tment of Natural Resources, John Buszkiewicz visits rivers, streams and other bodies of water that flow into St Clair River and the Detroit River, Lake St Clair and par ts of Lake Erie He’s responsible for a range of tasks from fish population sur veys and stocking fish to checking anything that impacts these bodies of water like dams or bridges
Knowing how fish testing is handled, Buszkiewicz has full confidence in the data published by EGLE, MDHHS and other agencies “ You have genuinely passionate
Island Lake
Island Lake in Bloomfield Township, spanning 111 acres, reaches a maximum depth of 55 feet and averages 13 3 feet It holds approximately 1,482 acre -feet of water, equivalent to covering 2 3 square miles with one foot of water The lake's shoreline measures 2 6 miles Situated within a predominantly urban 283acre watershed, Island Lake receives water from several inlets, with the largest entering from the south Its outlet flows successively into Lower Long Lake, Forest Lake, the Rouge River, and finally, the Detroit River
people in those jobs that want to raise awareness of contaminants in fish, so the public is aware of the risks, if any, ” Buszkiewicz said He admits that researchers can be conser vative in their assessments of fish contamination. This conser vative approach can be reflected in the creation of “do not eat” advisories where the risk to human health is limited provided there is only occasional consumption
Regardless, Buszkiewicz said he believes “most” fish caught in Michigan’s waterbodies car r y some type of contamination
Even though the individual risk is low, Buszkiewicz said residents should be aware that it does exist
“It’s not a bad idea to limit consumption because it is your health af ter all,” Buszkiewicz said “Plus, it’s hard to know which fish might be impacted by past actions of companies dumping chemicals into the state’s freshwater bodies That contamination can affect different people in different ways We’re becoming more aware of the impact of these chemicals, and where they came from ever y day ”
The main function of the Huron River Watershed Council (HRWC) is to track water quality and contaminants of the inhabitants of the watershed that covers six counties, including Oakland County, said program manager Andrea Paine Council leadership and members conduct community outreach and education so residents can understand fish consumption guidelines Paine said a “do not eat” fish advisor y is still in effect for much of the Huron River
“ We track a lot of nutrients, bacteria and sedimentation,” Paine said That also includes long-ter m biological and chemistr y monitoring of small water bugs and other watershed inhabitants “Most of our monitoring is in Wayne and Washtenaw counties PFOS is our main concer n right now ”
Council members also work with local gover nments on stor mwater management and infrastr ucture issues They work with residents on residential rain gardens in the ground and more as well, Paine said The HRWC does not monitor fish populations
“ We (provide) a lot of community education,” Paine said “ That’s a big focus ”
The reason that chemical contamination, even at low levels, is prevalent is that it enters lakes and rivers through multiple methods, including wind, rain r un- off,
and flow from other waterbodies, Stebbins of the MDHHS said Some of those chemicals can settle into the sediment at the bottom of the lake or river Small aquatic creatures absorb some of the chemicals in the water or in the sediment These aquatic creatures are eaten by larger fish and those fish are eaten by even larger fish
“Each fish collects and stores some of the chemicals in their bodies,” Stebbins said “ Through this food chain, larger fish and older fish are more likely to have higher levels of some chemicals, such as mercur y and PCBs, than smaller and younger fish This trend does not apply to PFOS, however, which is sometimes found at higher levels in smaller fish ”
A frequent angler, Buszkiewicz also prefers to consume small, younger fish like bluegill or walleye, who have had less time and fewer oppor tunities to build up contaminants inter nally “ Typically, older, larger fish will have more contaminants because they can digest more and they ’ ve been around longer,” he said
He prefers to broil or grill the fish before eating Fr ying fish can make it harder to remove any of the dioxins, because they remain in a pan during the fr ying process and get mixed in with any spices or other ingredients
“ You want to remove as much of the fat as you can, because (contaminants) are more likely to be stored there,” Buszkiewicz said
ESF guides provide an over view of the benefits and dangers of consuming fish Benefits include fish ser ving as a low-fat source of protein with access to hear t-healthy omega-3s However, mercur y has been shown to cause damage to the ner vous system, which is par ticularly detrimental to pregnant people
Some residents rely on freshwater fish as a regular par t of their diet because of convenience, personal finance and other reasons, Stoiver added
Even medium and lower-level PFAS over a consistent period of time could cause health concer ns, she said Multiple data points show that mitigation and cleanup effor ts for PFAS and other contaminants can work But it doesn’t result in an over night solution given PFAS disposal methods still can lead to such chemicals reentering the environment and water sources through leaching, deposits and more
“ You could even say that it would be advisable to limit
EGLE staff collecting fish using an electrofishing backpack from the Clam River near Cadillac
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your drinking water from (freshwater) sources, ” Stoiver of the EWG said “ You cer tainly should find out the source of your drinking water at the ver y least ”
The level and types of chemicals found in fish has evolved over the years, Ar mstrong said Prior to the increase in PFAS levels in fish tissue, mercur y was the primar y concer n of state environmental depar tments, Ar mstrong said Now, PFAS and PFOS play a much larger role, both because of the number of incidents and increased public awareness
“ We’re actively seeing more of these chemicals in our waters and our fish,” Ar mstrong said “ We’ve always chosen to be proactive ” Ar mstrong estimates that Michigan has been testing for PFAS and PFOS for around 15 years, before many other states star ted
The impact of these chemicals within water ways and in fish var y based on the levels and types of containment Mercur y has long been a substance that is ever ywhere, getting into the atmosphere through human activities like fossil fuel combustion and mining Fish absorb methylmercur y from their food and from water as it passes over their gills Mercur y is tightly bound to proteins in all fish tissue, including muscle
Many fish have some low levels of mercur y in them that are of little concer n to human health, Ar mstrong said PCP is an industrial contamination and a legacy containment that once its hits the water supply will appear in fish
Researchers continue to lear n more about PFAS and PFOS but it’s clear that these chemicals take an inordinate amount of time to degrade, Ar mstrong said He said he is encouraged by findings from a granular activated carbon system installed by Wixom automotive manufacturer Tribar Technologies Tribar installed the system af ter EGLE found extremely high levels of PFAS in adjacent Kent Lake, presumably caused by the manufacturer’s past disposal activities Within two years of the carbon system’s installation, the concentration of PFOS fell by 500 percent
“ That’s a good sign when we can identif y an issue,” Ar mstrong said “ We want to see how we can get those chemicals out of the water ways and fish ”
Applied technologies do not cur rently remove the contamination but rather capture the PFAS contaminants and transfer it elsewhere, Key said One effective strategy to remove PFAS is using a carbon filter to remove nearly all har mful chemicals from water or other materials However, it is difficult to dispose of carbon in an environmentally sustainable way If not conducted properly, the carbon releases PFAS into the air or water
High levels of contaminants in fish could also have an adverse impact on the fishing industr y in the state The Michigan United Conser vation Clubs estimated that fishing-related purchases in the state generated more than $11 2 million annually in 2019 The same repor t estimated recreational fishing in Michigan generated $2 3 billion in economic activity
Buszkiewicz admits that as an angler he may take more precautions than most residents before consuming freshwater fish he has caught As someone who spent time earlier in his career working on commercial fishing boats, Buszkiewicz said he believes that keeping fish in a live well is detrimental not only to the fish, but to anglers because of the impact that stress has on a caught fish.
“A lot of people don’t understand this, but it’s actually more humane to kill a fish immediately af ter you catch it,” Buszkiewicz says He believes that the most humane method is to cut under neath the fish’s gills, which releases the fish’s blood That’s impor tant because the gills are where a good por tion of the contaminants are stored Buszkiewicz will take off the skin which also attract contaminants and will remove discolored par ts of the fish, such as other non-bloody, red areas
Cooking can also make a small difference as fr ying may not remove as many contaminants as baking fish will, he added
“ You don’t want the fish to be stressed, no matter how contaminated it may be,” Buszkiewicz said “Keeping it stressed means you’ll get a lower quality of (fish meat) to eat
”
While moderate freshwater fish consumption is not considered to be dangerous, Buszkiewicz recommends that anglers and consumers in general know the source of where caught fish originated from, and where it lived “ You can look up (contamination levels) in different bodies of water and find out yourself,” he said
Stoiver says high levels of contaminants in fish affect ever yone, and that is why improvements in testing and repor ting are so critical PFAS in par ticular is a recalcitrant substance and takes years, and even decades to fully break down, if at all Despite the cur rent testing that is being done, she said she believes that more data is needed to paint a complete picture of the potential health hazards
“ You want to know ever ything you can about (a waterbody) where you fish, but you might not have any data,” she said “It’s too bad We like to be outside enjoying water and fishing is a way of life for many people ”
BLUEGILL
Alderman Lake, Big Lake, Big Seven Lake, Buhl Lake, Carpenter Lake, Cass Lake, Cedar Island Lake, Chamberlain Lake, Clear Lake, Cooley Lake, Crescent Lake, Crooked Lake, Crotched Lake, Crystal Lake, Davisburg Pond, Deer Lake, Dickinson Lake, Galloway Lake, Graham lakes, Grass Lake, Hart Lake, Hartwig Lake, Heron Lake, Kent Lake, Lake Oakland, Lake Orion, Lake Sixteen, Lakeville Lake, Little Lake, Long Lake, Loon Lake, Lotus Lake, Lower Pettibone Lake, Lower Trout Lake, Maceday Lake, Mickelson Lake, Middle Straits Lake, Milford Millpond, Mohawk Lake, Moore Lake, Moss Lake, Orchard Lake, Otter Lake, Pickerel Lake, Pontiac Lake, Prince Lake, Proud Lake, Rose Oaks lakes, Schoolhouse Lake, Silver Lake, Spring Lake, Squaw Lake, Stewart Lake, Stony Creek Lake, Sylvan Lake, Tan Lake, Teeple Lake, Tipsico Lake, Union Lake, Upper Silver Lake, Valley Lake, White Lake, Wildwood Lake, Rouge River, Shiawassee River
BROWN TROUT
BULLHEAD
Clinton River (above Yates Dam), Huron River, Kearsley Creek, Paint Creek
Alderman Lake, Big Lake, Big Seven Lake, Buhl Lake, Carpenter Lake, Cass Lake, Chamberlain Lake, Crescent Lake, Crooked Lake, Crotched Lake, Crystal Lake, Davisburg Pond, Dickinson Lake, Galloway Lake, Hartwig Lake, Heron Lake, Kent Lake, Lake Oakland, Lake Orion, Lake Sixteen, Lakeville Lake, Long Lake, Lower Trout Lake, Middle Straits, Moore Lake, Orchard Lake, Otter Lake, Pontiac Lake, Prince Lake, Proud Lake (upper), Silver Lake, Stony Creek Lake, Sylvan Lake, Teeple Lake, Tipsico Lake, Valley Lake, White Lake, Wildwood Lake, Wolverine Lake
CARP
Big Lake, Big Seven Lake, Cass Lake, Cedar Island Lake, Crystal Lake, Heron Lake, Kent Lake, Lake Oakland, Lake Orion, Middle Straits Lake, Pontiac Lake, Proud Lake (upper & lower), Stony Creek Lake, Upper Silver Lake, Valley Lake, White Lake, Wildwood Lake, Wolverine Lake
CATFISH
CISCO
CRAPPIE
Big Lake, Carpenter Lake, Pontiac Lake, Stony Creek Lake, Tipsico Lake, Valley Lake, Wildwood Lake
Cass Lake, Cedar Island Lake, Deer Lake, Maceday Lake, Silver Lake, Union Lake
Alderman Lake, Big Lake, Big Seven Lake, Buhl Lake, Cass Lake, Cedar Island Lake, Chamberlain Lake, Clear Lake, Crescent Lake, Crooked Lake, Crotched Lakes, Crystal Lake, Deer Lake, Dickinson Lake, Galloway Lake, Graham lakes, Heron Lake, Kent Lake, Lake Oakland, Lake Orion, Lake Sixteen, Lakeville Lake, Long Lake, Loon Lake, Lotus Lake, Lower Pettibone Lake, Maceday Lake, Mickelson Lake, Middle Straits Lake, Moore Lake, Orchard Lake, Otter Lake, Pontiac Lake, Prince Lake, Proud Lake (upper & lower), Silver Lake, Squaw Lake, Stewart Lake, Stony Creek Lake, Sylvan Lake, Tan Lake, Teeple Lake, Tipsico Lake, Union Lake, Upper Silver Lake, Valley Lake, White Lake, Wildwood Lake, Wolverine Lake, Woodhull Lake
LARGEMOUTH BASS
Alderman Lake, Big Lake, Big Seven Lake, Buhl Lake, Carpenter Lake, Cass Lake, Cedar Island Lake, Clear Lake, Crescent Lake, Crooked Lake, Crotched Lake, Crystal Lake, Davisburg Pond, Dickinson Lake, Galloway Lake, Graham lakes, Hartwig Lake, Heron Lake, Kent Lake, Lake Oakland, Lake Orion, Lake Sixteen, Lakeville Lake, Long Lake, Loon Lake, Lotus Lake, Lower Pettibone Lake, Lower Trout Lake, Maceday Lake, Mickelson Lake, Middle Straits Lake, Moore Lake, Orchard Lake, Otter Lake, Pickerel Lake, Pontiac Lake, Prince Lake, Proud Lake (upper & lower), Rose Oaks lakes, Shiawassee River, Silver Lake, Squaw Lake, Stewart Lake, Stony Creek Lake, Sylvan Lake, Tan Lake, Teeple Lake, Tipsico Lake, Union Lake, Upper Silver Lake, Valley Lake, White Lake, Wildwood Lake, Wolverine Lake, Woodhull Lake
NORTHERN PIKE
Big Lake, Big Seven Lake, Buhl Lake, Cass Lake, Cedar Island Lake, Chamberlain Lake, Clear Lake, Crescent Lake, Crooked Lake, Crotched Lake, Crystal Lake, Deer Lake, Dickinson Lake, Graham lakes, Hartwig Lake, Heron Lake, Kent Lake, Lake Oakland, Lake Orion, Lakeville Lake, Long Lake, Loon Lake, Lotus Lake, Lower Pettibone Lake, Maceday Lake, Mickelson Lake, Middle Straits Lake, Moore Lake, Orchard Lake, Otter Lake, Pontiac Lake, Rose Oaks lakes, Shiawassee River, Silver Lake, Squaw Lake, Stony Creek Lake, Sylvan Lake, Tan Lake, Tipsico Lake, Union Lake, Valley Lake, White Lake, Wildwood Lake, Wolverine Lake, Woodhull Lake
RAINBOW TROUT
SMALLMOUTH BASS
SUCKERS
Clinton River (above Yates Dam), Huron River, Lotus Lake, Maceday Lake, Paint Creek
Cass Lake, Cedar Island Lake, Kent Lake, Long Lake, Loon Lake, Middle Straits Lake, Orchard Lake, Shiawassee River, Sylvan Lake, Union Lake, White Lake
Alderman Lake, Big Lake, Cedar Island Lake, Clinton River (above Yates dam), Kent Lake, Long Lake, Shiawassee River, Stony Creek Lake
Alderman Lake, Big Lake, Big Seven Lake, Buhl Lake, Cass Lake, Clear Lake, Crescent Lake, Crooked Lake, Crotched Lake, Crystal Lake, Davisburg Pond, Dickinson Lake, Galloway Lake, Graham lakes, Hartwig Lakes, Heron Lake, Kent Lake, Lake Oakland, Lake Orion, Lake Sixteen, Lakeville Lake, Long Lake, Lotus Lake, Lower Pettibone Lake, Lower Trout Lake, Maceday Lake, Mickelson Lake, Midlle Straits Lake, Moore Lake, Orchard Lake, Otter Lake, Pontiac Lake, Prince Lake, Rose Oaks lakes, Silver Lake, Squaw Lake, Stewart Lake, Stony Creek Lake, Tan Lake, Teeple Lake, Tipsico Lake, Union Lake, Upper Silver Lake, Valley Lake, White Lake, Wildwood Lake, Wolverine Lake, Woodhull Lake
Big Lake, Big Seven Lake, Cass Lake, Crescent Lake, Heron Lake, Kent Lake, Lake Orion, Long Lake, Lotus Lake, Maceday Lake, Pontiac Lake, Silver Lake, Stony Creek Lake, Sylvan Lake, Union Lake, White Lake, Wolverine Lake
Alderman Lake, Big Lake, Cass Lake, Clear Lake, Crescent Lake, Clear Lake, Graham lakes, Lakeville Lake, Long Lake, Lotus Lake, Lower Pettibone Lake, Lower Trout Lake, Maceday Lake, Mickelson Lake, Otter Lake, Proud Lake (upper), Squaw Lake, Stony Creek Lake, Tan Lake, Union Lake, White Lake, Wolverine Lake
FOOD SAFETY OAKLAND COUNTY
HEALTH INSPECTIONS
BY MARK H. STOWERS
When the late Oakland County Executive L. Brooks Patterson would eat out at Oakland County restaurants and other food institutions inspected by the Oakland County Health Depar tment, he had no qualms according to for mer Oakland Health Director Kathy Forzley.
“Brooks told me if the food establishment was open, he figured we were doing our job and the place was safe to eat at,” Forzley recalled
And when Brooks dined and met restaurant owners who had been inspected, he had his health depar tment staff ’s back
“He told me one time that he went somewhere and the owner, a friend of his, said, ‘You need to see this repor t one of your sanitarians lef t me ’ And Brooks told him, ‘No, I think you should read the repor t, what was written is likely something you should be familiar with ’”
With three degrees from Oakland University, BA in biology, a BS in environmental health and a masters in public administration, Forzley was appointed by Patterson as the director of the Oakland County Depar tment of Health and Human Ser vices in 2017 She provided oversight of the health division, Children’s Village and homeland security divisions, as well as strategic direction and management exper tise to these depar tments, ensuring an outcome-driven approach, increased collaboration, and a dedication to improving health and quality of life for anyone who lives, works and plays in Oakland County Under her oversight, Forzley created and sustained numerous award-winning community initiatives such as Healthy Pontiac, We Can!, Homeless Healthcare Collaboration, and a countywide health improvement initiative known as Energizing Connections for Healthier Oakland (ECHO) Forzley also assumed a lead role advocating for health initiatives on a regional and statewide level through par ticipation on the Michigan Public Health Advisor y Commission, Michigan Local Public Health Accreditation Commission, Southeaster n Michigan Health Association, Michigan Association of Local Public Health, Oakland County Human Trafficking Task Force, and has recently been selected to ser ve on the Michigan Gover nor ’ s Public Health Advisor y Council She oversaw the inspection of Oakland County eating establishments and worked with the depar tment for 28 years ser ving as Sanitarian, Senior Sanitarian, Super vising Sanitarian, Administrator of Environmental Health, Health Officer and Director of Oakland County Health and Human Ser vices
Claudia Ter rell is the cur rent Chief of Public Health for Oakland County She has been with the depar tment for the past 12 years in the food program With nearly 1 3 million residents,
Oakland County is home to 4,700 restaurants, food tr ucks and institutions that ser ve food Each one is under the inspection process overseen by the Oakland County Health Depar tment The health depar tment and the entire state of Michigan are under the 2012 State of Michigan Modified Food Code Guidelines
With her undergrad degree in microbiology and a master ’ s in epidemiology both from the University of Michigan, Ter rell has 32 employees that license and inspect Her depar tment has a food program budget for fiscal year 2025 set at $7 353 million Of that $1 595 million will come from fees and $2 18 will million come from cost sharing from the Michigan Depar tment of Health and Human Ser vices
“ We inspect food ser vice establishments, which includes food items that you ’ re going to eat right away Anything that’s retail, like a grocer y store, that you would take home and cook it yourself is licensed by the Michigan Depar tment of Agriculture and Rural Development (MDARD),” Ter rell said
For a restaurant to first become a reality in Oakland County, they visit Ter rell’s’ office
“ We star t with our plan review process, ” she said “ They have to submit their plans It doesn’t have to be an architectural layout It can be handdrawn, whatever they have access to Their layout of how they ’ re going to build the restaurant, their standard operating procedures, how they plan on cooking and cooling items They ’ll go through that They ’ll also have to get all of their city approvals and we’ll make sure they have that before we sign off on their license ”
The inspection process also begins in her office
“ We’ll do a file review I’m looking at their past histor y, seeing if they have a cer tified manager, what violations they may have trouble with and then we’ll go to the facility It’s not scheduled Routine inspections do happen ever y six months,” she said “ The facility kind of has an idea about the general time that will be out there but they don’t know the exact date and time ”
Each inspection begins with the staff introducing themselves, showing their credentials and finding who’s in charge
“ We’ll usually ask them if there’s been any
changes since we were last there at the facility and what’s going on for the day Then we’ll conduct a walkthrough where we obser ve the food safety processes that are happening at the facility We’ll interact with the actual staff on site, ask them questions about food safety Make sure that they ’ re knowledgeable And af ter we ’ ve done the walkthrough, we’ll identif y any violations or items that need to be cor rected and items that can be cor rected At the time, we tr y to get those cor rected on-site before we leave And then we will type up a repor t, and we’ll go over that with the person in charge noting violations we obser ved, how they ’ re supposed to be cor rected, method of cor rection, how they were cor rected, when they need to be cor rected, if they haven’t been cor rected And then we will leave a printed copy with the person in charge at the establishment ”
If any violations are found, they fall into the following categories - priority, priority foundation and core Ter rell offered more detail of the violations
“Priority in the food code are high-level hazards that are associated with foodbor ne illness They ’ re more so quantifiable measures Where you can take action to eliminate a hazard And so those are the items that we for sure want to get cor rected while we ’ re there on site,” she said “And then priority foundation are items that could lead to issues and make a priority violation ”
A priority violation such as not having soap at the hand sink leads to a priority foundation violation because it leads to not handwashing Other priority violations include not having a metal stem ther mometer or not having sanitizer test strips
Core violations have to do with physical facilities, according to Ter rell
“ Your chipped tiles, your cleaning under your equipment, kind of related usually to your general good operating practices,” she said “ The priority and the priority foundation, if they ’ re not able to cor rect on-site, we give them 10 days to cor rect
The food law does have an allowance for if they only have a few minor priority foundations It doesn’t need to be cor rected right away However, in Oakland County, we do have the resources available to follow up on those, so we will give all
of those 10 days and follow up on those The core items, they get 90 days to cor rect but we won’t reassess those until their next routine inspection six months later ”
The hor ror stories of restaurant inspections are few and far between
“ We will close restaurants for what’s known as an imminent health hazard Something that is likely to cause immediate illness or concer n If there’s a sewer backing up If the rain is coming down through the ceiling and leaking on foods, if it’s obvious that ever yone within the restaurant has vomiting and diar rhea, those are the type of things that we will immediately close the restaurant so that they can cor rect those ”
The inspections are not posted physically at the restaurant as some other states and municipalities do
“ We don’t do scores in Michigan, so there’s not a pass-fail They would only essentially fail if they had that imminent health hazard closure where they would be closed,” Ter rell said “Our inspection repor ts are available on our website through Sword Solutions (swordsolutions com/inspections) That is our public-facing site where our inspections are located But other wise, we just work with the owner to close the facility until they ’ ve remedied whatever needs to be cor rected ”
he fur ther explained,
S“ The Michigan Food Law does not require the scoring or posting of letter grades for restaurant inspections.
In addition, a single inspection is just a snapshot in time and may not reflect the overall, on-going conditions in the facility ”
And following the late Oakland County leader ’ s direction, Ter rell has no qualms about eating out across Oakland County
“I’m really proud of the work that we do If a restaurant’s open, I know that they ’ re doing the right things And I will eat out Usually for me, it’s more ‘do we have a good relationship with that owner?’”
With restaurants continually opening and closing, Ter rell and her staff are constantly
updating records and conducting inspections But the biggest challenge is the “moving restaurants ”
“ The biggest thing right now is our food tr ucks,” she said “A decade ago, we were at a total of 4,400 licenses across the counting, about 300 of those were vending machined But in 2017, the state took back vending machines but our numbers now are around 4,700 with about 500 of those being mobile food operations or food tr ucks or tents that you might see ”
Ter rell also delved into the types of licenses for food establishments
“In Michigan, we have two different license types Our mobiles are associated with a fixed establishment or a fixed kitchen They give us what’s known as a route list where they plan on going each day And we can usually connect with them at their fixed location to see what’s going on at their commissar y, we call it The transitor y food units, which are really the restaurants on wheels, they have to give us what’s known as a notice of intent Anytime they plan on operating within our county, they have to let us know Those tr ucks can be licensed from any county within the state and operate throughout the entire state Just anytime they plan on operating in a cer tain jurisdiction, they have to give us that notice of intent And then what they do is they actually get to request their inspection They do get a prescheduled inspection, but they do have to be in operation ”
And festivals and events are licensed and inspected
“ The kind of pop-up events where you might just see a stand at Ar ts, Beats, and Eats Those could have temporar y licenses And so those licenses are good for 14 days at one location The mobile and the TFU are a year-long license and allow them to operate anywhere throughout that year But the temporar y is ver y specific, 14 days at that one location We used to do a bunch of those, and those are kind of coming down a bit because we ’ re getting more of the licensed tr ucks operating at those special events and festivals But we still do We did over 1,100 temporar y inspections last year ”
The pandemic was tough for the depar tment and all of those working in health depar tments across the state Restaurants were changing
ser vice to full car r y- out and eventually offering more outdoor seating and spacing out indoor seating Many restaurants changed hands as well
“ We did have to pause our inspections for about a year because all of our staff were reassigned to help with the COVID testing sites and the COVID immunization sites But we did do phone calls and then we still followed up on any complaints We were still out in the community We had a handful of inspectors who would still follow up on complaints and calling our facilities to make sure they understood the regulations and what was going on But we did have to pause those for a little bit,” Ter rell said ovid changed the restaurant landscape physically “ What we saw was a lot of the facilities changed how they operated They expanded to have more outdoor seating or they changed their concepts Sometimes when restaurants do that, they need to go through what’s known as plan review, with the health division so we can make sure that any of the changes are done up to code And so that was one of the things that was really challenging, was seeing what was different and saying, ‘Oh, you ’ re supposed to get approval from us to do that ’”
CAcross the United States, each one has their own model for restaurant inspections There are federal guidelines
“It’s actually interesting as the FDA puts out their food code but it’s just model guidance It’s not required to be adopted by the individual states It’s encouraged,” Teer rell said “In Michigan, we have adopted the 2009 Michigan Food Law (that was codified in 2012) But just across the border in Ohio, they have their own food code They don’t adopt the FDA’s food code they have their own violation system, their own code numbers, so sometimes it can be difficult to compare a policy or a regulation across the states ”
Even as health depar tments across the state work to inspect restaurants and other eating establishments through their districts, the city of Detroit – Michigan’s largest with a population of
more than 676,000 – has its own health depar tment and star ted its own inspection program this past summer With more than 1,900 restaurants, including full-ser vice, fast-food chains, coffee shops, bars and more, this past June the Detroit City Council passed the ‘Dining with Confidence’ Ordinance to increase visibility and transparency regarding food safety inspections With visible signs – a green “In Compliance” and a red “Enforcement” card displayed in restaurant windows for customers to see, the goal is to incentivize restaurants to achieve a lasting improvement in food safety
The green “In Compliance” card equals no serious violations (Priority and priority foundation) or that they have been cor rected and that the establishment is not in enforcement, does not require a follow -up inspection and has a valid food ser vice license The card also has a QR code that links to more infor mation about the inspection
The red card or “Enforcement” card is issued if a restaurant has to be ordered to close due to severe health hazard, due to not having a valid food ser vice license or as a final step in progressive enforcement of violations It also includes a QR code
A white placard is a temporar y status and means that the business needs cor rections, and also provides visitors with details about how to look fur ther into the results of the restaurant’s inspection results
Denise Fair Razo, the city ’ s chief public health officer and Detroit City Council Member Scott Benson initiated the process by asking for fur ther transparency in restaurant inspections
estaurant inspections are key in keeping the dining public safe and the placards are a step to physically show that to them. In Manhattan, New York, a city of nearly 1 7 million residents, has more than 17,219 eating establishments – nearly 45 percent of the total in New York City The procedure in Manhattan includes being inspected at least once a year by the health depar tment and inspectors can visit at any time when the restaurant is open to the
public and they look for compliance in areas such as food handling, temperature, personal hygiene and pest control Points are marked for violations and a letter grade is given based on the score A for 0-13 points, B for 14-27 points and C for 28 points or more and af ter the grade is given the restaurant must post a placard showing their letter grade in their front window
In Illinois, restaurants are inspected by local health depar tments to ensure they comply with food safety regulations and scored on a 100-point scale The inspector will assign a risk level to the restaurant based on the types of food and how they are prepared and ser ved The risk level deter mines how of ten the restaurant will be inspected The frequency of inspections is based on the risk level assigned to the establishment Risk 1 establishments are inspected twice per year, Risk 2 establishments once per year and Risk 3 establishments ever y other year Once inspected and scored, the restaurants are given a color-coded placard A green placard indicates the restaurant is in compliance with Illinois Food Code r ules and regulations A yellow placard means the restaurant is non-compliant and needs to improve its food safety practices A red placard marks the restaurant as out of compliance and poses an immediate threat to public health Each placard is posted in a visible location, such as on the outside door or window and be easily readable
RIn addition to the placards, Illinois restaurants must also make the most recent inspection repor t available to customers upon request by providing a hard copy, QR code or web link They must also post compliance posters, such as the Illinois Consumer Advisor y/Allergen Poster, Pregnancy/Alcohol Poster, and Illinois Hand Washing Poster And make sure that all employees follow Illinois Food Code r ules and regulations
Across Michigan, Ter rell from Oakland County is par t of the Michigan Association of Local Environmental Health Administrators that meet monthly and talk about issues in environmental health throughout the state
“ We are hoping to get a new food code adopted into the Michigan Food Law here soon that will have some updates and some new regulations,”
Ter rell said There was a big push before COVID to get a newer code, and then COVID kind of stopped that So, we ’ re working on getting that back into place It hasn’t been updated since 2012 when we adopted the 2009 version ”
Washtenaw County has more than 1,285 eating establishments for the Washtenaw Health Depar tment to oversee Kristen Schweighoefer ser ves as the Washtenaw County Environmental Health Director and has been with the agency for 24 years
“ There’s eight sanitarians that do the day-today inspections and then we have two more that are involved in standardized training for those staff, as well as plan review for new or remodeled restaurants,” she said “ We’ve seen a steady increase of restaurants ”
And with the University of Michigan in the middle of her health depar tment ter ritor y, there is a unique agreement in place
“ We have an agreement with the University of Michigan that’s been in place for probably 40 years or so, most recently updated in 2019 Our agency delegates the authority to their staff to per for m inspections They have an Occupational Safety and Environmental Health Division at U of M that oversees the inspections of things like the dor ms or the different food kiosks that the students can access such as the stadium They know how to navigate those systems better than you and I would because they ’ re inter nal to some of those systems They would do the same sor t of unannounced inspection I think they actually go above and beyond For things like the stadium, they actually go out and do inspections ever y week that the stadium is in operation ”
Tom Bar nes, Oakland University educated with both a bachelor ’ s degree in environmental health with a specialization in public health and master of public administration, and REHS (Registered Environmental Health Sanitarian), is director of Macomb County ’ s Environmental Health Ser vices and has been on the job since 2015 and director since 2021 His depar tment oversees the 2,600 restaurants and eating establishments A decade ago, there were 2,400
“ That includes ever ything with a food license that we would be required to inspect and regulate It could be a lot of food tr ucks involved
Bin that, school kitchens, church kitchens, VFW halls,” Bar nes said ar nes noted that health depar tment inspections for restaurants include, “looking at ever ything in the facility from the menu, the dining room, asking questions of the staff, of the person in charge We’re looking at physical facility things, ever ything from light fixtures down to the cleanness of the floors, but then also obviously we ’ re looking at how people are preparing and ser ving food, how their cook line looks Are they following all the standards there? Are their food temperatures being held at the right temperatures? Are they cooking things to the right temperature? Is their equipment cooling things or holding cold or holding hot? Do they have the right procedures in place? If they have any specialized processes? Are they monitoring time? Are they monitoring temperature? Do they have proper labeling, proper date marking? If we see them doing any type of cooling, are they knowledgeable on proper cooling techniques? In some cases, we can ask them for logs If they have paper work to back up their cooling process, do they have temperature logs? Do they get their shellfish from an approved supplier? It’s a ver y in-depth process, and it can range anywhere For a simple bar that doesn’t do much of any food prep, it could take maybe an hour, but it could take, if you look at a large banquet hall or a golf club that has multiple kitchens and licenses, that could be an all-day or a multi-day inspection It’s an in-depth process ”
He also explained the process is more than just inspecting but finding ways to continually work together across the board
“As much as it is us being in that regulator y position, we are tr ying to build a relationship with them We’re educating staff In the food industr y, staff come and go just like anywhere else So, we ’ re also providing education We’re not tr ying to be too punitive or penalize people We’re tr ying to get compliance Par t of that is building good relationships and working with them It’s definitely a process ” Par t of the process is also making sure he has enough well-trained employees to get the inspections done
“It’s a process to get more staff But we actually did get one additional food staff this year which is great For the food program, I have 21 staff – two managers over the program and then we have 16 staff that do the actual food inspections and then three staff that do plan review for new restaurants or modifications to existing restaurants But they ’ re all capable, even the plan review staff, can go out and per for m restaurant inspections Ever yone is trained the same ”
With confidence he states, “You can eat anywhere If you’re open for business in Macomb County, then they ’re good to eat at. Are they all per fect?
No There’s always problems With an extensive food code, there’s always going to be violations ”
A helpful source for the restaurant industr y is the Michigan Restaurant and Lodging Association (MRLA) based in Washtenaw County Their goal as stated on their website includes, leading “the hospitality industr y through advocacy, education and innovation Whether it’s navigating the complex waters of ever-changing regulations, providing cutting-edge training and cer tification products, or empowering members to help increase their bottom line with practical, relevant business solutions, the MRLA is an indispensable, one-stop resource for the hospitality industr y Our diverse network of membership ranges from industr y owners, operators, staff and suppliers, to educators and students The MRLA provides its members with value, vision and voice through its daily work ”
Amanda Smith ser ves as the MRLA’s Executive Vice President of Education and explained more of how they ser ve the restaurant industr y
“I make sure that we have Ser vSafe training available to all of our members and we manage our grant in par tnership with the depar tment of ag, ” Smith said “ We have a number of resources through MichiganFoodSafety com Resources for industr y, regulator y agencies and consumers alike on food safety We help promote food safety ”
Smith also r uns the MRLA foundation where they teach food safety to students who are studying careers in related pathways MRLA offers in-person food safety training and online
“ We find pass rates are a little bit better when people come in person and have a little bit of live instr uction with it,” she said “ We teach classes around the state and have eight locations ever y month, including Detroit, Grand Rapids, Lansing, and then some regional ones that rotate, Marquette, Traverse City, Flint, Kalamazoo, Holland We tr y to do a regional approach as well ”
With their grant resources, the MRLA works to continually educate An example would be their food allergen poster that shows the now nine allergens – up from eight – from the federal level
“ That’s something Michigan’s food law hasn’t completely caught up to but something that consumers, especially those that have a soy allergy, are going to want to know That the person has a sesame allergy, they ’ re going to want to know that the person ser ving them can handle their sesame allergy ”
The posters were disseminated at the Michigan Environmental Health Association’s annual conference
“ We also hand them out at the Cisco show and the Gordon show We tr y to share infor mation, pretty collaborative in our ability to share infor mation amongst, like having the health depar tments help us get word out to all of the industr y, and vice versa When there’s something happening in a cer tain area, we have a great communication mechanism to reach industr y quickly through our membership base at the association ”
The MRLA is a 6,000-member trade association for the state of Michigan and sur vives on membership fees and grants
“ We make sure members have what they need And foodbor ne illness outbreaks, whether it’s your establishment or not Whenever you read about those in the paper, or you ’ re hearing it on the radio and you ’ re driving, it leads to people question things Nobody wants a foodbor ne illness, especially not one in their establishment ”
The MRLA was active during the pandemic “tr ying to figure out how to ser ve people safely, making sure ever yone understands the differences between disinfecting and sanitizing They are not interchangeable But disinfecting, sanitizing, making sure that we ’ re killing things We also wrote the guide to reopening the restaurants, bringing all the different federal regulations together to getting
restaurants in Michigan back up and operational ”
Since COVID, the MRLA has added the Hospitality Training Institute of Michigan
“ This is a manager training mechanism to help the new members working in industr y come up to speed We had a lot of people leave industr y during COVID And so now that we ’ ve star ted to recover in our employee count, a lot of it’s been training and making sure they have the skills that they need to go for ward ”
Nor m Hess is the Executive Director of MALPH – the Michigan Association for Local Public Health. A member since 1985, Hess has been executive director the past four years The association is a non-profit and suppor ted by dues paying members which are the public health depar tments across Michigan He explains that inspections have morphed from simple to a more complex method taking in more and more safety factors
“Restaurant inspections many, many years ago were, ‘do you have the right equipment? Do you have the right building?’ And now it’s moved to a more risk-based approach ‘Is food being kept at the right temperature to prevent and help break the foodbor ne illness? Do you have raw chicken drippings falling into clean dishes?’ Those kinds of things,” Hess explained
The association members are the 44 health depar tments covering all Michigan counties and the one city health depar tment in Detroit
“ We have 30 health depar tments that cover a single county And we have 14 that cover between two and 10 counties As you might imagine, some of the larger geographic areas are more nor ther n in Michigan and the Upper Peninsula Most of our health depar tments repor t to a county commission in one way or another, either through the administrator or directly to the commission If there are more than one county, they have commissioners from each of the affected counties that ser ve on what’s called the board of health which is the actual gover ning body and then those individuals repor t back their individual commissions,” Hess said
MALPH continually works to increase communication between the health depar tments
“ We elevate issues that are common to all health depar tments or most, and then we do lobbying advocacy with the state legislature, and we do a lot of training as well But we are not affiliated in any way with any state agency, ” he said
He noted that as the restaurant inspection process has increased its effectiveness over the years, there are fewer major outbreaks but “I don’t think that people realize that folks still die in this countr y from foodbor ne illness It’s not always just a matter of getting some gastrointestinal symptoms It is still something that is ver y impor tant And I think that because we don’t have, by and large, ver y many foodbor ne illness outbreaks, people don’t really think about it But it’s because health depar tments are out there inspecting and consulting and educating people who prepare food on how to keep it safe that it’s just one of those sor ts of invisible things to people until something happens But I think the bigger news is that we haven’t had ver y many because people are on the job and they ’ re doing their job ”
He also noted that restaurant inspections are to keep the eating public safe, not punish restaurants
“It’s a collaborative type of a thing Health depar tments are not here to r uin your business We’re here to help you in ways you might not have thought about Maybe you didn’t think about storing this under neath that and that’s a risk I would say that by and large, it’s pretty collaborative This is the standard How in your restaurant does it make sense to meet this standard? You need to put the knife on the lef t and you need to hang the ladle here it’s really thought through scenarios to see which one makes sense in the space that they have to operate,” Hess said
If a restaurant is open in Michigan, it’s been inspected with the same process from the UP down to Detroit
(Contact the Michigan Depar tment of Agriculture and Rural Development (MDARD) for food safety complaints about grocer y stores, convenience stores, and other non-restaurant food establishments You can call MDARD at (800) 292-3939 or email them at MDA-Complaints@michigan gov )
T H R E AT E N E D P L A N E T
Threatened Planet is a newsletter of curated information gleaned from over 30 print and online news sources where reliable information is provided on the health of the environment and the efforts to remedy problems facing the planet We constantly monitor a diverse list of sources – the major daily newspapers in the country and in Europe, a variety of scientific journals and government websites, along with newsletters from environmental groups, as well as a wide-ranging list of other reliable print and online news outlets For those concerned about the environment, we do the legwork by aggregating relevant information from a wide swath of sources and attempt to offer links mostly to those sources not restricted by a paywall Those interested can sign up for the newsletter at ThreatenedPlanet com
Research and composition of the Threatened Planet newsletter is the work of Austen Hohendorf
A new repor t finds global clean power costs could fall between 2 and 11 percent this year despite new tariffs (Paige Bennett/EcoWatch)
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An inter national science advisor y board recommends gover nments should take stronger action against microplastic pollution in the Great Lakes (Carol Thompson/The Detroit News)
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The Tr ump Administration began firing hundreds of federal workers at the National Oceanic and Atmosphere Administration (NOAA), considered one of the world’s premiere centers for climate science (Christopher Flavelle, Austyn Gaffney, Camille Baker, Ana Swanson/The New York Times)
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Over 200 Michiganders joined the “Climate Can’t Wait” rally in Detroit to voice their opposition to the Tr ump administration’s cuts to environmental gover nment agencies and programs (Isabelle Tavares/Planet Detroit)
The Federal Highway Administration (FHA) ordered states to halt the $5 billion program to build fast EV chargers on highways nationwide (Shannon Osaka, Jake Spring/The Washington Post)
San Francisco State University will be the first major public university to require all students to complete climate justice coursework in order to graduate (Ezra David Romero/KQED)
The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA)’s chief financial officer was fired af ter Elon Musk misleadingly claimed the agency used disaster relief funds for migrant ser vices (Luis Fer re-Sadur ni/The New York Times) ▾
A new study finds rat populations have spiked in cities with war ming temperatures resulting from climate change (Tracy Wholf, Cara Tabachnick/CBS News)
Scientists explain declining cloud cover could be fueling the record setting global heat waves in recent years (Shannon Osaka/The Washington Post)
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The world’s largest iceberg is on a collision course with the island of South Georgia putting seal and penguin populations at risk (Rosa Rahimi/CNN)
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Michigan residents are petitioning for more in-depth environmental reviews of the Palisades nuclear power plant ahead of its official reopening (Car rie Klein/Inside Climate News)
As a par t of the NOAA agency reduction, Michigan scientists at the Great Lakes Environmental Research Laborator y were among federal workers fired (Kelly House, Lauren Gibbons/Bridge MI)
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Reducing metal pollutants in rivers lead to an increase in aquatic biodiversity, according to scientists in a new study out of England (Paige Bennett/EcoWatch)
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Grist developed a tool showing how $300 billion in federal funds are being used for climate and infrastr ucture projects across the countr y (Clayton Alder n/Grist)
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The Supreme Cour t r uled against the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) making it harder to environmental regulators to limit water pollution, including federal limitations on raw sewage discharge into bodies of water (Justin Jouvenal, Maxine Joselow/The Washington Post)
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A group of far mers are suing the United States Depar tment of Agriculture (USDA) for deleting climate change data that hinders research and hur ts far ming initiatives (Annabelle Timsit/The Washington Post)
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Researchers behind the massive repor t on the state of nature in America are exploring ways to release findings despite the Tr ump Administration cancelling the project (Zach Budr yk/The Hill)
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A new, first of its kind study finds that living in cities with extreme heat accelerates aging in older adults at a molecular level (Mohana Ravindranath/The New York Times)
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An oil company is suing non-profit Greenpeace USA for $300 million over pipeline protests which could force the environmental group to shut down (Jeff Brady/NPR)
Metro Intelligencer is a monthly column devoted to news stories, tidbits and gossip items about what's happening on the restaurant scene in the metro Detroit area Metro Intelligencer is reported/ created each month by Gigi Nichols who can be reached at GigiNichols@DowntownPublications com with news items or tips, on or off the record.
An Italian twist
La Pecora Nera, famous for its handcraf ted traditional Italian sandwiches and dishes, is set to open in Bir mingham in March. The eater y, which also has locations in Far mington and Detroit, will occupy the for mer home of Planthropie at 135 Pierce Street “La Pecora Nera is an authentic Italian deli with a tr ue Italian experience We bring in impor ted Italian meats, cheeses and fresh breads and we are really focused on quality,” said La Pecora Nera par tner David Ayyash The name La Pecora Nera translates to “black sheep ” Ayyash explains that the name is a play on the classic sandwiches that they prepare with an Italian twist For example, their Rueben is made Italian-style and features Sy Ginsberg cor ned beef, with homemade spicy red wine vinegar cabbage slaw, pickles and mozzarella Other popular dishes include the antipasti salad with mixed greens, genoa salami, fire roasted ham, capicola, mor tadella, roasted red pepper, sun-dried tomato, mozzarella, par mesan, kalamata olives and homemade Italian dressing Desser ts include fresh baked cookies, hand stuffed cannoli and Italian gelato The eater y has seating for approximately 12-15 guests and also offers charcuterie ser vices as well as catering La Pecora Nera will be open seven days a week, 10 a m -8: p m , Monday-Saturday and 10 a m -3 p m on Sunday 135 Pierce Street, Bir mingham lapecoraneradetroit.com
Terra Kitchen & Cocktails opens
Ter ra Kitchen & Cocktails has opened in downtown Bir mingham in the space for merly occupied by The Mor rie At the helm of the kitchen is Executive Chef Fer nando Mercado, who uprooted his family from Tampa, Florida and moved to Michigan because he believed in the vision that is Ter ra –“when you ’ re here, you are family and all gatherings are centered around none other than food ” The restaurant’s concept is described by Ter ra ’ s manager, Marko Juncaj, as “New American Fusion” which offers a melting pot of different cuisines Fan favorite appetizers include the ahi tuna nachos and beef wellington bites while the crispy rice dishes featuring spicy tuna, yuzu salmon, steak tar tare or spicy kani crab have also been quite popular The moder n Fattoush salad features romaine and iceberg lettuce, cucumber, pomegranate, tomato, onion, radish, mint and parsley all encased within a toasted crispy pita and presented with a wooden mallet for cracking making for an instagrammable food moment
The sleek, moder n interior, designed by Vanessa Foumia, showcases a neutral palate with concrete flooring and cozy leather booths, highlighted by wood accents, greener y walls and dramatic overhead lighting featuring hundreds of bubble glass bulbs The restaurant seats 238 guests and
is anchored by a large central bar that seats 28 Ten large screen TV screens line the bar, providing a lively and inviting spot for a drink and to watch spor ts Nicholas For tino, an award-winning bar professional with over a decade of experience, ser ves as Ter ra ’ s bar manager The beverage menu boasts a robust wine list, draught and bottled beers as well as craf t cocktails 260 N Old Woodward Avenue, Bir mingham dineter ra.com
James Beard semifinalists
The James Beard Foundation has released the list of semifinalists for awards in national and regional categories Many in the restaurant world consider this to be the Academy Awards for their industr y Nominees will be announced on Wednesday, April 2, and winners will be announced at the James Beard Restaurant and Chef Awards ceremony on Monday, June 16, at the Lyric Opera of Chicago
The 2025 Restaurant and Chef Award semifinalists are recognized across 25 categories In celebration of the Awards’ 35th anniversar y, as well as in recognition of the everevolving independent restaurant landscape, the award program has expanded with a focus on beverages, introducing three new categories: Best New Bar, Outstanding Professional in Beverage Ser vice, and Outstanding Professional in Cocktail Ser vice Of local interest, the Foundation’s committee has named the following semifinalists from the state of Michigan: Outstanding Restaurant Selden Standard, Detroit; Best New Restaurant Vecino, Detroit; Outstanding Baker y Secret Baker y, Fer ndale; Outstanding Hospitality Baobab Fare, Detroit; Outstanding Wine and Other Beverages Program Spencer, Ann Arbor; Best Chefs Great Lakes Javier Bardauil, Barda, Detroit; Jennifer Blakeslee and Eric Patterson, The Cooks’ House, Traverse City; Missy Corey, Pennyroyal Cafe and Provisions, Saugatuck; Ji Hye Kim, Miss Kim, Ann Arbor; and John Yelinek, Ladder 4 Wine Bar, Detroit jamesbeard org
Ringing in Happy Hour
Bell Bistro, the latest concept from Bloomfield Hills-based Cicero Hospitality Group, opened just a few months ago in Bir mingham and has recently announced its new happy hour menu The Bell Hour The restaurant, features a new American-style menu craf ted by executive chef Gabriel Botezan who is a Le Cordon Bleu-cer tified chef The Bell Hour r uns Tuesday through Thursday, from 4 to 6 p m and offers some tasty small plate favorites with discounted prices A few of the menu highlights include: wagyu smash burger with red onions, American cheese, burger sauce; fennelencr usted yellowfin tuna with cilantro aioli, salsa macha and pickled red onions; br ussel sprout salad with baby beets, hazelnuts, thyme and citr us vinaigrette; wagyu meatballs with tomato sauce, whipped ricotta, basil and crostini In addition to small plates, guests can enjoy a variety of $9 wines; $9 well drinks and $12 craf t cocktails Seating for The Bell Hour is available at the bar or the dining room 185 N Old Woodward Avenue, Bir mingham bellbir mingham com
One door closes; another opens
Popular Fer ndale restaurant Public House, 241 W Nine Mile Road, will be winding down operations in Febr uar y, af ter more than a decade of ser ving as a neighborhood gathering spot and Metro Detroit br unch destination Opened in 2013 as a classic American heritage bar, Public House quickly became a neighborhood gathering spot known for its gour met sliders and craf t cocktails, until its initial closure during the COVID 19 pandemic The location was re- opened in 2021 under Fer ndale-based Hometown Restaurant Group, which added a second kitchen, a four-season garden room and a focus on vegan fare In mid-Febr uar y, Sidecar Slider Bar will be taking over operations at the location, remodeling and opening ver y quickly “ This was a ver y difficult decision, and a hear tbreaking decision,” said Hometown Restaurant Group CEO Brian Kramer “ The restaurant business is ver y difficult right now In my 30-plus years in the restaurant business, I’ve never experienced a tougher economy than what we are experiencing today Add to this the high food costs, high labor costs, intense competition, the need for constant quality control, tight profit margins and endless hours of work we just agreed the time was right to close the restaurant, take a step back, focus on our other restaurant operations and give someone else a chance to re-concept the location ” 241 W Nine Mile Road, Fer ndale sidecarsliderbar com
Top Pick, Best Classic Restaurant
HIT US WITH YOUR BEST SHOT
Detroit is the tenth U S city to be covered by the brandnew Michelin Green Guide and the publication has named The Whitney, Detroit as a “top pick” of places wor th visiting in the city Other top picks included the Detroit River walk, the Fox and Fisher theaters, Easter n Market and the city ’ s growing collection of ar tistic wall murals The Michelin Green Guide refer red to Detroit as “ a hidden gem booming with culture, ar t and atmosphere ” Meanwhile, in its recently released 2024 sur vey of “the best classic restaurants in ever y state,” Food & Wine Magazine named The Whitney as one of Michigan’s “most extravagant special occasion spots with fantastic Beef Wellington” and “ one of Detroit’s deepest wine lists ” Now celebrating its 39th year as an elegant and welcoming fine dining restaurant in an historic Woodward Avenue mansion, The Whitney offers dinner ser vice each evening, af ter noon tea ser vice Friday and Saturday, an elegant buffet br unch Sunday, all accompanied by live piano music The Whitney also offers champagne tours of the mansion, monthly paranor mal dinners, unique craf t cocktails and assor ted beverages in the Ghostbar and summer time garden par ties with live music “ We treasure this beautiful place and are proud to keep it open to the public We love to see out- oftowners but our primar y goal has always been to keep the mansion open for metro Detroiters, kind of as a way to add to their civic pride,” said Bud Liebler, owner of the restaurant “A hundred years ago Woodward Avenue was lined with homes like The Whitney but we ’ re one of the ver y few lef t, and the only one really open to the public We’re proud to be par t of Detroit’s heritage and we ’ re especially proud to be recognized by these major publications ” 4421 Woodward Avenue, Detroit thewhitney.com
We are seeking possible photos to use for the front cover of LAKE magazine.
So we are reaching out to invite lakefront residents to send us their best shot. Your photo must be high resolution (at least 300 dpi) and large in size. Send a jpg of your best shot as an email attachment to: LAKEphotos@downtownpublications.com.
If we use one of your photos for a cover, you will get credit and a check for $100.
A) Oxford Multi includes: Cedar, Clear, Long, Squaw, Michelson & Tan Lakes
B) Waterford Multi includes: Cemetery(Middle), Dollar, Greens, Maceday, Lotus, Lester, Van Norman, Williams, Mohawk, Wormer, Schoolhouse, Silver, Upper Silver & Loon Lakes
C) The Loon Lake control structure also controls Mohawk, Wormer, Schoolhouse Silver & Upper Silver Lakes
D) The Van Norman control structure also controls Green, Maceday, Lotus & Lester Lakes
E) Lake Angelus, Huron River, and Clinton River levels are not under the jurisdiction of this office
F) The Dawson Mill Pond and Sylvan-Otter Lakes are controlled by the Price Dam
G) Crystal Lake is controlled by the Walter Moore Dam
H) Lake Louise and Huff Lake are controlled by the Ruth Johnson Dam
I) Waumegah Lake reading in N.G.V.D (1983)
J) Some Winter Levels are set by Court Order Others reflects customary drawdown
