They want Lakes Huron and Michigan kept five inches below their average level. To date, officials have refused, citing cost and possible environmental damages. But high waters are going to come again. Controlling the lakes is in the best interests of everyone. United Press International High waters ate away at Lake Michigan's banks near Beverly Shores, Ind., in 1973.
Residents grown used to floods face new problems in dry periods.
Memories are short On all five Great Lakes, evidence suggests that society's memory of ebbs and flows doesn't last very long. A prosperous U.S. economy has boosted shoreline construction, some of which is under way next to land that was submerged less than a decade ago. The cities of Charlevoix, Petoskey and Traverse City, in the state's northwestern fruit belt, are favored places for vacation cottages. There's going to come a day when they wish they hadn't built there. People's memories are so short.