Lower Harbor cleanup successful

Aug 7, 2023

Volunteers bring in tires collected from Mattson Lower Park on Saturday during the fifth annual Underwater Cleanup. The Great Lakes Scuba Diving and Lake Preservation group, a local nonprofit, was in charge of the event. Below is Don Fassbender, who spearheaded the event. (Journal photo by Christie Mastric)

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Don “Diver Don” Fassbender, who is president of the local nonprofit Great Lakes Scuba Diving and Lake Preservation, wore his scuba gear on Saturday to help spearhead the event.

“Today we got a couple dozen tires, an old washtub, an industrial exhaust fan, an epoxy settling tank, some barrels,” Fassbender said. “If you look in that red dumpster, there’s all kinds of crap.”

Most of the items, he noted, will go to the Marquette County Landfill while the Superior Watershed Partnership will take the tires for recycling.

Fassbender said the GLSDLP has accomplished a lot at Mattson Lower Harbor Park over the years.

Don Fassbender

“Last year, we recorded 12 tons of tires,” he said. “This year, we may have a ton, maybe a half a ton. It’s hard to say until they weigh it, but I have a strong, sneaking suspicion that we’re done with this harbor.”

That doesn’t mean future lake cleanups are over.

“It’ll be Munising,” Fassbender said. “It’ll be L’Anse. We already worked with L’Anse one time, and I know where a bunch more tires are up there, so we’re going to have an organized cleanup there as well.”

David Ward of Marquette was one of the volunteers who helped out on Saturday.

“I think just a nice thing to do for the lake,” Ward said.

He acknowledged the efforts that went into Saturday’s cleanup.

“A lot of people put a lot of work into getting this together, and it’s fun, so why not?” Ward said.

Ward and a few other divers on Saturday also went to another part of the Lake Superior shoreline in the Marquette city limits — commonly known as “Bum’s Beach” — and found many cans, plastic bottles and decaying garbage.

Erica Hattis of Marquette was another volunteer who took time out to help clean up the Lower Harbor.

“I’m in this just to help the lake,” Hattis said. “I feel like Lake Superior’s been such an important part of life, and it’s so important for everyone here, so (I’m) just trying to give back to her what we can, help clean her up a little bit.”

Although Hattis has been scuba diving for about 10 years, she said Saturday marked the first time she volunteered for the event. It was a productive day for her, having pulled out rusted signs, what looked like part of a boat component, and about six or seven tires.

Although the divers had altruistic intentions, a few rewards awaited them in the afternoon in the water near the Marquette Lighthouse. Fassbender said trinkets, courtesy of local artist Cindy Engle, were scattered in the water for divers to find and return to a GLSDLP table where they could register for a variety of prizes. A random drawing with corresponding trinket numbers then would decide who would receive the prizes.

The goal of the GLSDLP is to clean up the Great Lakes through diving and to leave a legacy of clean water and water recreation, it indicated in a brochure.

To donate to the organization, send a check to Great Lakes Scuba Divers, 503 Hampton St., Marquette, MI 49855.

Christie Mastric can be reached at 906-228-2500, ext. 550. Her email address is [email protected].

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