Aerial view of Muskegon harbor, Muskegon, Michigan, US Army Corps of Engineers

Making Lake Michigan Great Tour

Since 1998, the W. G. Jackson vessel from Grand Valley State University Annis Water Resources Institute (AWRI) has visited 30 ports of call in Lake Michigan on its Making Lake Michigan Great tours. The Jackson is a 65 foot specially designed education and outreach vessel. The tours are an outreach project of the U.S. EPA Lake Michigan Forum. The tours spread the word about the Lake Michigan Lakewide Management Plan and gathers public input about Lake Michigan concerns.

In 1997, AWRI pilot-tested the tour concept in a visit to northern Michigan. The 1998 tour of the Jackson was financed by a challenge grant from the SC Johnson Wax Fund with assistance from the U.S. EPA Region 5, as well as various community foundations including those located in Muskegon, Charlevoix, and Petoskey-Harbor Springs. Making Lake Michigan Great tours in subsequent years have been funded largely by the U.S. EPA Great Lakes National Program Office with assistance from Grand Valley State University, Roosevelt University, DePaul University, Indiana Department of Environmental Management, public advisory councils, and many other organizations.

In all, the Making Lake Michigan Great tours have directly reached over 10,000 people in four states throughout the Lake Michigan basin. We achieved our goal to visit all of the Areas of Concern in Lake Michigan at least once.

The W.G. Jackson has made its way around Lake Michigan several times over since the Making Lake Michigan Great program started. Below is a list of places where the ship has made recent stops:

Charlevoix, MI
Chicago, IL
East Chicago, IN
Escanaba, MI
Frankfort, MI
Grand Haven, MI
Green Bay, WI
Hammond, IN
Harbor Springs, MI
Holland. MI
Kenosha, WI
Ludington, MI
Manistee, MI
Manistique, MI
Manitowoc, WI
Menominee, MI
Milwaukee, WI
Muskegon, MI
Pentwater, MI
Petoskey, MI
Port of Indiana, IN
Racine, WI
Saugatuck, MI
Sheboygan, WI
South Haven, MI
St. Joseph, MI
Sturgeon Bay, WI
Traverse City, MI
Waukegan, IL
White Lake, MI