Green Bay is an arm of

Lake Michigan Lake Michigan is one of the five Great Lakes of North America. It is the second-largest of the Great Lakes by volume () and the third-largest by surface area (), after Lake Superior and Lake Huron. To the east, its basin is conjoined with that o ...

, located along the south coast of

Michigan Michigan () is a state in the Great Lakes region of the upper Midwestern United States. With a population of nearly 10.12 million and an area of nearly , Michigan is the 10th-largest state by population, the 11th-largest by area, and the ...

Upper Peninsula The Upper Peninsula of Michigan – also known as Upper Michigan or colloquially the U.P. – is the northern and more elevated of the two major landmasses that make up the U.S. state of Michigan; it is separated from the Lower Peninsula by t ...

and the east coast of

Wisconsin Wisconsin () is a state in the upper Midwestern United States. Wisconsin is the 25th-largest state by total area and the 20th-most populous. It is bordered by Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake M ...

. It is separated from the rest of the lake by the

Door Peninsula The Door Peninsula is a peninsula in eastern Wisconsin, separating the southern part of the Green Bay (Lake Michigan), Green Bay from Lake Michigan. The peninsula includes northern Kewaunee County, Wisconsin, Kewaunee County, northeaster ...

in Wisconsin, the

Garden Peninsula The Garden Peninsula is a peninsula of in length that extends southwestward into Lake Michigan from the mainland of Michigan's Upper Peninsula. The peninsula is bordered by Lake Michigan on the east, and by Big Bay de Noc on the west. The base ...

in Michigan, and the chain of islands between them, all formed by the

Niagara Escarpment The Niagara Escarpment is a long escarpment, or cuesta, in Canada and the United States that runs predominantly east–west from New York through Ontario, Michigan, Wisconsin, and into Illinois. The escarpment is most famous as the cliff over ...

. Green Bay is some long, with a width ranging from about ; it is in area. At the southern end of the bay is the city of

Green Bay, Wisconsin Green Bay is a city in the U.S. state of Wisconsin. The county seat of Brown County, it is at the head of Green Bay (known locally as "the bay of Green Bay"), a sub-basin of Lake Michigan, at the mouth of the Fox River. It is above sea lev ...

, where the Fox River enters the bay. The Leo Frigo Memorial Bridge (formerly known as the Tower Drive bridge) spans the point where the bay begins and the Fox River ends, as the river flows south to north into the bay. Around mid-bay are Sturgeon Bay and the

Peshtigo River The Peshtigo River is a U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map accessed December 19, 2011 tributary of Green Bay in the U.S. state of Wisconsin. The Peshtigo Fire happened in the river ...

. The Sturgeon Bay serves the city named after the bay as a shortcut for large ships to use to bypass the Door Peninsula, while the Peshtigo River serves Peshtigo and Crivitz. Locally, the bay is called the Bay of Green Bay to distinguish it from the city. The bay is located in parts of five counties in Wisconsin (

Brown Brown is a color. It can be considered a composite color, but it is mainly a darker shade of orange. In the CMYK color model used in printing or painting, brown is usually made by combining the colors orange and black. In the RGB color model us ...

Door A door is a hinged or otherwise movable barrier that allows ingress (entry) into and egress (exit) from an enclosure. The created opening in the wall is a ''doorway'' or ''portal''. A door's essential and primary purpose is to provide security b ...

, Kewaunee, Marinette, Oconto), and two in Michigan (

Delta Delta commonly refers to: * Delta (letter) (Δ or δ), a letter of the Greek alphabet * River delta, at a river mouth * D ( NATO phonetic alphabet: "Delta") * Delta Air Lines, US * Delta variant of SARS-CoV-2 that causes COVID-19 Delta may also ...

Menominee The Menominee (; mez, omǣqnomenēwak meaning ''"Menominee People"'', also spelled Menomini, derived from the Ojibwe language word for "Wild Rice People"; known as ''Mamaceqtaw'', "the people", in the Menominee language) are a federally recog ...

History

Oconto is home to Copper Culture State Park, which has remains dated to around 5000-6000 BC. It is a burial ground of the Copper Culture Indians. This burial ground is considered to be the oldest cemetery in Wisconsin and one of the oldest in the nation. The Ho-Chunk believe that they were created on the shores of Green Bay at a place called Red Banks. The French

Jesuit , image = Ihs-logo.svg , image_size = 175px , caption = ChristogramOfficial seal of the Jesuits , abbreviation = SJ , nickname = Jesuits , formation = , founders ...

Roman Catholic Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lette ...

priest, and missionary, Father

Claude-Jean Allouez Claude Jean Allouez (June 6, 1622 – August 28, 1689) was a Jesuit missionary and French explorer of North America. He established a number of missions among the indigenous people living near Lake Superior. Biography Allouez was born in Saint ...

said the first Mass in Oconto on December 3, 1669. The bay was named ''la baie des Puants'' (literally, "the bay of the Stinks") by the French explorer

Jean Nicolet Jean Nicolet (Nicollet), Sieur de Belleborne (October 1642) was a French ''coureur des bois'' noted for exploring Lake Michigan, Mackinac Island, Green Bay, and being the first European to set foot in what is now the U.S. state of Wisconsin. Ea ...

as shown on many French maps of the 17th and 18th centuries. According to

George R. Stewart George Rippey Stewart (May 31, 1895 – August 22, 1980) was an American historian, toponymist, novelist, and a professor of English at the University of California, Berkeley. His 1959 book, ''Pickett's Charge'', a detailed history of the final ...

, the French received the name from their Indian guides, who called the natives living near Green Bay by a derogatory word meaning "Stinkers", thus the bay was the "Bay of the Stinkers", but this name perplexed the French, and

Jacques Marquette Jacques Marquette S.J. (June 1, 1637 – May 18, 1675), sometimes known as Père Marquette or James Marquette, was a French Jesuit missionary who founded Michigan's first European settlement, Sault Sainte Marie, and later founded Saint Ign ...

thought the name might relate to the smell of the swamps when he explored the area in May 1673. His fellow explorer

Louis Joliet Louis Jolliet (September 21, 1645after May 1700) was a French-Canadian explorer known for his discoveries in North America. In 1673, Jolliet and Jacques Marquette, a Jesuit Catholic priest and missionary, were the first non-Natives to explore and ...

, with two canoes and five

voyageurs The voyageurs (; ) were 18th and 19th century French Canadians who engaged in the transporting of furs via canoe during the peak of the North American fur trade. The emblematic meaning of the term applies to places (New France, including the ' ...

of French-Indian ancestry (

Métis The Métis ( ; Canadian ) are Indigenous peoples who inhabit Canada's three Prairie Provinces, as well as parts of British Columbia, the Northwest Territories, and the Northern United States. They have a shared history and culture which derives ...

) were on their way to find the

Mississippi River The Mississippi River is the second-longest river and chief river of the second-largest drainage system in North America, second only to the Hudson Bay drainage system. From its traditional source of Lake Itasca in northern Minnesota, it f ...

. They travelled up the Fox River, nearly to its headwaters. The French also called the bay ''Baie Verte'', and the English kept this name as Green Bay. The name of the bay in the

Menominee language Menominee , also spelled Menomini (In Menominee Language: omǣqnomenēweqnæsewen) is an endangered Algonquian language spoken by the historic Menominee people of what is now northern Wisconsin in the United States. The federally recognized trib ...

is ''Pūcīhkit'', or "bay that smells like something rotting".
In 1671 and 1673, Louis André and Jacques Marquette described fluctuations in the water level of the bay and discussed what they thought caused them.

Ferromanganese nodules, currents, reefs, and fish

Ferromanganese nodules have been found in the bay.

Todorokite Todorokite is a rare complex hydrous manganese oxide mineral with the chemical formula . It was named in 1934 for the type locality, the Todoroki mine, Hokkaido, Japan. It belongs to the prismatic class 2/m of the monoclinic crystal system, but ...

occurs within the nodules. There are numerous reefs of exposed bedrock in the Porte des Mortes passage and in the bay. North of the peninsula, warm water from Green Bay flows into Lake Michigan on the surface, while at the same time, cold lakewater enters Green Bay deep underneath. In a study looking at the contents' of fish stomachs,

walleye The walleye (''Sander vitreus'', synonym ''Stizostedion vitreum''), also called the yellow pike or yellow pickerel, is a freshwater perciform fish native to most of Canada and to the Northern United States. It is a North American close relat ...

were found to each between 5-6% and

lake whitefish The lake whitefish (''Coregonus clupeaformis'') is a species of freshwater whitefish from North America. Lake whitefish are found throughout much of Canada and parts of the northern United States, including all of the Great Lakes. The lake white ...

and yellow perch over the course of a year. However, south of Chambers Island, walleye eat considerably more lake whitefish in May and June. Walleye were found to eat more yellow perch on an annual basis, but not more than 15% of their overall diet during any particular month. Walleye and Lake whitefish in Green Bay for the most part do not compete for the same prey, especially south of

Chambers Island Chambers Island, named in honor of Col. Talbot Chambers, is a 2,834 acre (4.428 sq. mi.) island in Green Bay, about off the coast of the Door Peninsula, near Gibraltar, Wisconsin. It is part of the Town of Gibraltar in Door County. A Native A ...

. Lake whitefish and

yellow perch The yellow perch (''Perca flavescens''), commonly referred to as perch, striped perch, American perch, American river perch or preacher is a freshwater perciform fish native to much of North America. The yellow perch was described in 1814 by Samu ...

in the bay compete strongly for the same prey south of Chambers Island, and compete moderately north of it.

Environmental concerns

Areas of concern

According to the

Environmental Protection Agency A biophysical environment is a biotic and abiotic surrounding of an organism or population, and consequently includes the factors that have an influence in their survival, development, and evolution. A biophysical environment can vary in scale f ...

, " Areas of Concern are designated by the International Joint Commission as geographic areas in the Great Lakes basin having severe

environmental degradation Environmental degradation is the deterioration of the environment (biophysical), environment through depletion of resources such as quality of air, water and soil; the destruction of ecosystems; habitat destruction; the extinction of wildlife; an ...

. There are 43 Areas of Concern with 26 in the United States, 17 in Canada, and five shared by the two countries.

https://www.epa.gov/sites/production/files/2019-06/documents/aoc_map_b3_text_002.pdf]

Background

Lower green Bay Area of Concern was designated in 1987 under the Great Lakes Water Quality agreement. It was designated by these sources of pollution: * Affected by runoff pollution from urban and rural areas, municipal and industrial wastewater discharges and degraded habitats. * Industrialization was a major factor in this becoming contaminated * High turbidity, sedimentation, fluctuating dissolved oxygen, frequent algal blooms, degraded fish/wildlife/plant populations and adverse toxicant impacts. * This AOC is a shallow environment that has a rapid recycling system which also contributes to water quality issues The seasonal Dead zone (ecology), dead zone in the lower part of the bay may have gotten longer from 2009-2015.Evidence of persistent, recurring summertime hypoxia in Green Bay, Lake Michigan
by J. Vala Klump, Shelby L. Brunnerad, Brice K.Grunert, Jerry L. Kaster, Kim Weckerly, Erin M. Houghton, John A. Kennedy, Tracy J.Valenta, ''Journal of Great Lakes Research'' Volume 44, Issue 5, October 2018, pages 841–850

Beneficial Use Impairments

Beneficial Use Impairments (BUI) are a change in the chemical, physical or biological integrity of the Great Lakes system sufficient to cause significant environmental degradation. The International Joint Commission identified 14 BUIs listed below. All BUIs that have been designated for an AOC, must be removed for the AOC to be considered restored and begin the delisting proces

Green Bay BUI's: * Restrictions on fish and wildlife consumption * Tainting of fish and wildlife flavor * Degradation of fish and wildlife populations * Fish tumors or other deformities * Degradation of aesthetics * Restriction on dredging activities * Loss of fish and wildlife habitat * Bird/animal deformities or reproductive problems * Excess of nutrients from pollutants * Restrictions on drinking water consumption, or taste and odor * Beach closings * Degradation of microorganism populations

Timeline of restoration

Since 1988 over three quarters of the 120 remedial actions recommended by the lower green bay remedial action plan have been implemented or initiated. Industrialization was a major factor regarding the Lower Green Bay becoming contaminated; significant contributors were land water use (agriculture, logging, industry), high turbidity, sedimentation, frequent algal blooms, degraded fish/wildlife/plant populations and adverse toxicant impacts. * 1988: First stage of action plan is released * 1993: Update to action plan, current progress is released and future goals are identified * 2003: USFWS releases an environmental assessment and restoration plan for the AOC * 2003-2008: E.Coli measured consistently on beaches, shows overall health is good, but more projects needed to delist * 2009: Wisconsin DNR identifies delisting targets for each of the BUI's * 2010-2011: Laws passed to reduce/ban phosphorus in household materials, reduce phosphorus runoff from farms, and set new water quality standards. * 2011: Stage 2 action plan update is released, describing key actions taken since 199, and identified future projects associated with the different BUI's * 2012: Update action plan, US army Corps of Engineers begins Cat Island restoration project, and 360,000 cubic yards of PCB-contaminated sediments are dredged * 2013: UofW extension released fact sheet of BUIs status in the AOC, judge rules that all companies EPA considers responsible for PCB contamination must complete the required cleanup work

Cleanup

Past Emergency Clean Up: In 1999 and 2000, EPA oversaw a dredging project done by some of the paper companies about 3 miles upstream from the mouth of the Lower Fox River. It removed 80,000 cubic yards of PCB-contaminated sediment, containing 3,400 pounds of PCBs. 2019 marks the 16th year of clean up of the lower Green Bay. River clean up is scheduled for late March depending on ice conditions. Monitoring will continue to study fish, water, and PCB concentrations

Once the lower Green Bay clean up is complete long term monitoring will still be done on the entirety of the river.

Gallery

References

{{Authority control Bays of Michigan Bays of Wisconsin Bodies of water of Brown County, Wisconsin Bodies of water of Delta County, Michigan Bodies of water of Door County, Wisconsin Bodies of water of Kewaunee County, Wisconsin Bodies of water of Marinette County, Wisconsin Bodies of water of Menominee County, Michigan Bodies of water of Oconto County, Wisconsin Bays of Lake Michigan