Archaeologist weighs in on Baldwin Township flooding

BALDWIN TWP, Mich.– Ausable Point Road residents say a blocked canal between Spencer Lake and Lake Huron is to blame for the rising water level.

One of their neighbors has a different opinion. John O’Shea is the president of the homeowner’s association for AuSable Dunes and a professor of archaeology at the University of Michigan.

O’shea says the Spencer Lake water table depends on Huron’s, and the county possibly dug the canal without that knowledge.

“I suspect people then had the same idea that the people up at Point Road have had recently: that somehow you can drain those back swamps. But since the water table is controlled by Lake Huron, it doesn’t really help it.”

In a letter responding to the AuSable Point residents, he says a solution to the high water won’t be found in Spencer Lake. O’shea says that’s because Spencer Lake’s water level depends on Lake Huron’s, which has been rising as part of a natural cycle.

AuSable Point Road residents say the canal is one of the easements in AuSable dunes, and should be taken care of by the county or township.