EDITORIAL: The power of the lake effect

It is predicted the Great Lakes region will be a climate-change refuge that will attract an influx of Americans seeking to escape the miseries of frequent tropical storms, wildfires and unbearable heat.

That may prove to be true, but the shorelands of the Great Lakes don’t need the influence of global warming to be among the most appealing places on the continent to live and visit.

The attraction, of course, is the water and all things related to it. Access to the freshwater of the five Great Lakes that cover more than 94,000 square miles of the U.S. and Canada is provided by a coastline of 4,350 miles, longer than that of the east and west coasts combined. The lakes have shaped the history of the communities on that coastline.

A graphic reminder of how that has affected Port Washington is the fisherman’s memorial in Rotary Park on a man-made peninsula jutting into the harbor. The statue of a fisherman garbed in oilskins and a sou’wester with an enormous sturgeon slung over his shoulder, a true-to-life image captured on film more than a century ago that was later adapted as a logo for Smith Bros. Fisheries, memorializes Lake Michigan’s impact on the community in the commercial fishing era. Eight plaques surrounding the statue tell the story of that era.

The memorial is meaningful not only as a historical marker, but as a symbol of the evolution of Lake Michigan from a body of water used mainly for commerce to a recreational resource that is fueling the growth and vitality of communities fortunate enough to be situated on its shore. The memorial overlooks the harbor where fish tugs were once moored but now is home to a fleet of charter fishing boats that bring thousands of visitors to the city each summer to partake in the lake’s bounty of abundant salmon and trout and natural beauty.

The plaques that tell the story of the commercial fishermen who used gill nets and trap nets to harvest that bounty have now deteriorated to the point where their words are virtually unreadable. The Port Washington Kiwanis Club and Historical Society, along with the Port Washington State Bank, are stepping up to replace them.

It’s one of many examples of private entities supporting the city’s relationship with the inland sea it borders. Over decades, the Port Washington city government did its part by transforming a blighted harbor area into a gleaming heart-of-the-city marina flanked by lakeshore parks, giving the public extraordinary access to the water that in large part drives the city’s growth and economy.

Unfortunately, a shadow—a literal shadow—now casts shade on those achievements as a commercial building rises at the edge of the north slip of the marina. The bulky multi-story structure blocks lake views, inhibits lakefront access and turns the primary street route to the marina into a corridor compressed by tall buildings.

The lot the building now fills had been owned by the public since a four-story manufacturing plant dating to the era when the lake was viewed as a resource to be exploited rather than one to be protected and enjoyed was razed in the 1960s.

Selling the land for use once again as a business site, in defiance of public protests, is a mistake the city will have to live with. In the meantime, the business occupying the building, a brewpub, will benefit from the city’s burgeoning tourist trade. The Port Washington Tourism Council’s promotional efforts, funded by room taxes paid by tourists, have brought visitors to the city in increasing numbers, contributing to a revitalized downtown.

And it’s all about the lake. Move Port Washington 50 miles inland, and it would be just another small community with a struggling downtown.

Twenty-five miles north of Port on the Lake Michigan coast, Sheboygan offers another remarkable example of the rewards of proximity to one of the Great Lakes. Once known as a rust-belt city with a river infamous for its toxic pollution, Sheboygan is now called the Malibu of the Midwest for the surfing waves that break on sandbars off its wide beaches. A multi-million dollar tourism promotion budget takes advantage of the lake effect to bring streams of visitors to town. Powerboat races in August attracted 40,000 people to the city of 50,000.

The appeal to visitors of both Port Washington and Sheboygan will be enhanced by their status as port cities in NOAA’s Shipwreck Coast Marine Sanctuary. The sanctuary was established not only to protect the more than 30 shipwrecks in the coastal waters between Port and Two Rivers, but also to engage the public in learning about the area’s fascinating maritime history. In Port Washington, the sanctuary will have displays in the Historical Society Research Center and 1860 Light Station.

Like its past, the future of Port Washington will be influenced by the Great Lake at its doorstep. As for the possibility of it becoming a climate-change refuge, those seeking a haven from extreme weather will have to learn that the lake effect, in addition to all of its attractive features, includes frigid winters and dreary springs.