Citizens for a Safe & Clean Lake Superior (CSCLS) is a grassroots organization that was formed in 2020 to engage the citizens of the central Upper Peninsula to protect and improve the coastal habitat, shoreline, and fresh water of Lake Superior. CSCLS uses investigation and research, public education and outreach, community engagement, and legal advocacy to encourage local governments to take official action to protect the unique natural assets of Marquette County and the surrounding area.
CSCLS’s most significant success so far has been to defeat a detailed plan to construct and operate a vertical rocket launch facility directly on the shore of Lake Superior. The proposed launch site is located in an area that features miles of mostly uninterrupted shoreline, boreal forests, wetlands, and diverse flora and fauna. After investigating the proposal and educating the community about the risks of physical contamination, sound pollution, and wetland and habitat destruction that it presented, CSCLS launched a campaign of opposition to the proposal in 2020. As a result of CSCLS’s persistence, the township board determined in November 2023 that the spaceport was incompatible with the township zoning ordinance and master plan. The plan was defeated.
While working to defeat the launch site proposal, CSCLS built an organization that it believes is uniquely poised to tackle new challenges in Marquette County and the surrounding areas. CSCLS now has the backing of a broad coalition of local and statewide civic, business, environmental, scientific, and academic leaders and citizens who are deeply committed to protecting the Lake Superior watershed.
CSCLS’s current efforts are focused on advocating for wetland protection. Wetlands provide vital ecosystem services – water filtration, flood mitigation, and critical wildlife habitat, among others – that greatly enhance Lake Superior’s resiliency, biodiversity and water quality. Wetlands once made up 32% of the land area in Marquette County, but deregulation and devaluation of wetlands over the years has resulted in the destruction of an estimated 50,000 acres of wetlands, 20,000 of which were in coastal areas. The State of Michigan encourages local governments to adopt wetland protection ordinances, and adopting protective regulations is listed as a priority in the master plans and many watershed management plans in the project area. However, no municipality in Michigan’s portion of the Superior watershed has implemented wetland protections, and local governments often lack the capacity to plan and enact such regulations on their own.
Americana awarded a grant to CSCLS in May 2024 to support the campaign to increase regulatory protection for Marquette County’s wetlands. Americana’s grant will support CSCLS’s efforts to raise local awareness of the causes of wetland destruction and its impact on Lake Superior, and to build support for strengthening local ordinances to protect wetland areas. CSCLS will conduct a policy review, identify gaps in regulation, and work with local governments to develop effective, proactive regulatory action to halt further wetland losses.
Americana is proud to support CSCLS and its community coalition. Visit the CSCLS website for more information about CSCLS and its work to protect Lake Superior.