Alpena

"Nobody ends up in Alpena on accident."
- Cassandra Sadler

The first thing I knew about Alpena, Michigan was its location. When I was in high school, I would see the tiny point on weather maps on TV. It looked fairly isolated, just a name on the edge of a mitten-shaped peninsula, usually predicted to get hammered with snow. 

I spent the first 21 years of my life in Michigan. Despite claiming once that I could drive anywhere in the state without having to look at a map, I somehow never passed through Alpena. It's a shame, really, because I missed out on an adorable little town and a hub for Maritime Heritage Ecology. Until now, that is. 

I was invited to deliver a seminar on my research at the Great Lakes Maritime Heritage Center, headquarters of Thunder Bay National Marine Sanctuary in Alpena, Michigan. So I packed a bag, texted my mom, and flew to one of the tiniest little airports I've ever seen. 

Presenting my seminar. Photo by Angela Meyer.

Thunder Bay is an incredible place. The sanctuary itself is massive - it extends right up to the international boundary in the middle of Lake Huron. In its waters rest hundreds of shipwrecks spanning over 200 years of maritime history. Freshwater is actually much better at preserving shipwrecks than saltwater, you know. In freshwater, there are no shipworms, and the frigid bottom water of Lake Huron acts as a natural refrigerator. The wrecks in Thunder Bay are incredibly intact. The biodiversity is lower than in the ocean - mostly zebra mussels, quagga mussels, algae, and some trout - but that's not to say the shipwrecks are ecologically unimportant. In fact, by comparing the state of shipwrecks in Thunder Bay to Stellwagen National Marine Sanctuary, we can learn a lot about what influences shipwreck structure and preserves or degrades maritime heritage over time.  

On the day of my seminar, I got a tour of the Thunder Bay facilities from two staff members. The dive locker, the classrooms, the robotic workshop, and the immersive museum together make Thunder Bay a true hub for shipwreck research and education. By the end of the tour, I started automatically brainstorming projects I could do, funding I could apply for, and ways I could come back. 

I am so glad I got to travel to Alpena and experience Thunder Bay. It truly is a hidden gem in northern Michigan.