Navigation on St. Lawrence Seaway Via Gulf of Saint Lawrence Estuary and the St. Lawrence River | Chapter 3 | St. Lawrence Seaway: Canada and United States Joint Lifeline

 

The St. Lawrence River watershed and Newfoundland, located in Canada, are currently home to millions of people. The entire Great Lakes watershed drains through Lake Ontario and flows into the St. Lawrence River near Cape Vincent, New York. The St. Lawrence River then flows northeast through Quebec and Ontario and into the largest estuary in the world, the Gulf of Saint Lawrence. The St. Lawrence River, between Ontario, Canada and New York, United States, is part of the international boundary. The St. Lawrence Seaway permits ocean-going vessels to go from the Great Lakes of North America to the Atlantic Ocean. Navigation of the St. Lawrence was not possible until canals were built around the Lachine Rapids near Montreal. The canals allowed ships to bypass the rapids and travel into Lake Ontario. In 1954, the United States agreed to joint development of the international sections of the St. Lawrence River. The St. Lawrence Seaway was opened in 1959 and permits ocean-going ships to go all the way to the southwest corner of Lake Superior near Duluth, Minnesota. During the 1970s and after more than 150 years of successful resource and economic development of the St. Lawrence Basin, a grassroots challenge to the proposed United States Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) planned development of the St. Lawrence River was blocked by a successful ecological campaign called “Save the River”. The objectives of the study are: 1) to study the geological and landscape properties which the St. Lawrence River Basin has contributed to the successful resource and economic development of a historically rich region of North America, and 2) to study the environmental risks to the St. Lawrence River Basin and the Saint Lawrence estuary. Planned economic and urban development of the St. Lawrence River basin by the USACE was blocked by the “Save the River” campaign. These environmental challenges include the settlement of millions of people in the St. Lawrence River basin, navigation of the St. Lawrence River, disposal of treated and untreated wastewater, water pollution, shore erosion because of high-water levels in the Great Lakes and connecting rivers, invasive species, and flooding.

 

 

Author(s) Details

Kenneth R. Olson
Department of Natural Resources, College of Agricultural, Consumer, and Environmental Sciences, University of Illinois, Urbana, Illinois, USA.

 

Cory D. Suski
Department of Natural Resources, College of Agricultural, Consumer, and Environmental Sciences, University of Illinois, Urbana, Illinois, USA.

 

Please see the book here :- https://doi.org/10.9734/bpi/mono/978-93-88417-36-5/CH3