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Oil spill in Calhoun County
impacting NCNST
Friday, July 30, 2010:
Last Sunday or Monday a leak in an
oil pipe line south of Marshall triggered a serious oil spill
which came to involve the Kalamazoo River and have impact on the North
Country National Scenic Trail in the Emmett Township and Battle
Creek areas.
As of Friday afternoon the spill
had reportedly extended past the Calhoun-Kalamazoo County line, and there
were some signs of the spill in Morrow Lake near Galesburg in
Kalamazoo County. Historic
Bridge Park in Emmett Township, through which the North Country National
Scenic Trail passes, had been closed, as were portions of the Battle Creek
Linear Park west of the confluence of the Kalamazoo and Battle Creek Rivers.
The public was being instructed to
avoid all direct contact with the Kalamazoo River. Extensive clean-up
operations were under way. Governor Granholm had been on the scene, and
President Obama had pledged all needed Federal assistance.
We are indebted to the
Battle Creek Enquirer for
the details provided here. See also coverage in the
Kalamazoo Gazette
and the
Lansing State Journal.
Here is a map or aerial image (your
choice!) showing the impacted area. A fairly large area is involved, so
you'll probably need to drag the map around and adjust the zoom level in order
to take it all in and get to the details.
The color code:
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The
dark blue
track shows the path of the pipe line from which the spill
originated.
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The red track shows the
path of Talmadge Creek south of Marshall into which the oil
initially spilled.
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The
yellow track (yellow track) shows the portion of the Kalamazoo
River involved in the spill as of this writing.
-
The
light
blue track shows the path of the NCNST between Marshall and
Kimball Pines, including through Historic Bridge
Park.
-
The
green tracks (in two shades) show the path of the NCNST along the Battle Creek
Linear Park and between Ft. Custer and the Augusta Drive
trailhead.
In the map displayed here, the tracks
are overlaid on a hybrid satellite image/Google street map. You can change
the background to a plain Google Street map, a simpler terrain map, a topo map, a USGS aerial image,
or a satellite image by
making your selection from the right-hand drop-down menu in the upper right corner of the map image.
The coloration of some backgrounds make the colored tracks difficult to make
out.
You can tone down the background layer
to better visualize details on the ground by changing the percentage value
in the other drop-down menu right next to the background selector.
Scroll the image to the right (using
the bottom scroll bar) if necessary to activate the
background layer selection menu to the right of the map image.
By using the map tool in the upper
left corner you can also zoom in or out, and you can drag
the image to change the center point. With some of our maps, zooming in, then click 'n dragging
the map in whichever direction you want, makes it easier to make sense of the
marked waypoints, which in some cases are a bit bunched together otherwise.
For full screen map:
Click here for a
full screen version of this map. Click on a yellow diamond for
information about the related waypoint. To locate a waypoint on the
map from the list on the right, click on the yellow diamond in the list.
To return to this page, click on your browser's "go back" button.
Click here also for
pictures, and see our
Trail Log item.
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