On Wednesday, August 16, 2023, at the Kress Pavilion in Egg Harbor, your Door County Environmental Council sponsored the program, “The Future of the Bay of Green Bay,” featuring Professor Emeritus Val Klump, JD, PhD. Dr. Klump, formerly a professor and associate dean at the University of WisconsinMilwaukee School of Freshwater Sciences, is an American limnologist.
Dr. Klump’s research has focused on how nutrients and carbon are cycled in lakes. His work has taken him from the deepest soundings in Lakes Superior and Michigan aboard a research submersible, to the largest and oldest lake in the world—Lake Baikal in eastern Siberia.
Dr. Klump was the first person to reach the deepest spot in Lake Superior, a depth of 1333 feet (733 feet below sea level), the second lowest point in the United States after Iliamna Lake, Alaska, on July 30, 1985, while aboard the R/V Seward Johnson with the Johnson Sea Link-II submersible. Klump was also the first person to reach to the deepest point in Lake Michigan as part of the same expedition.
Professor Klump has served as a board member of several regional and national organizations including: the International Joint Commission’s Science Advisory Board Research Coordination Committee, the US 10 EPA Great Lakes Advisory Board, the NOAA Integrated Ocean Observing System Federal Advisory Committee, the National Association of Marine Laboratories Board of Directors, the Wisconsin Sea Grant Advisory Council, and the Discovery World Board of Directors. He holds a degree in Law from Georgetown University and a PhD in Marine Science from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
During his presentation, Dr. Klump reinforced that Lake Michigan’s Green Bay has long suffered from environmental deterioration from our activities―industry, urbanization, agriculture, you name it. Today, despite representing only about 1.4% of the volume of Lake Michigan, Green Bay receives approximately one-third of the total nutrient loading within the entire Lake Michigan basin. Recent research highlights the presence and dynamics of “dead zones” in Green Bay, including the impact climate change has on their extent and duration. Excessive algal blooms and so called “dead zones” (zones where oxygen is too low to support most aquatic life) are now a recurring feature of the bay during summer months.
With dead zones and harmful algal blooms spreading, will we be able to restore the waters of Green Bay? According to Dr. Klump, the goal is to foster the restoration of the Green Bay ecosystem through looking at what can be done to reduce dead zones, improve water quality and bequeath a healthy ecosystem to future generations. This will require the cooperation and buy-in of the large population within the watershed, and resource agencies armed with science-based predictive tools that will allow effective, adaptive management essential for restoration in the face of an uncertain future.
If you were unable to attend in person, you can view a recording of this program. View the recording below.