- [Narrator] Coming up on Great Lakes Now.

The end of the line for old Great Lakes freighters.

- We recycle old ships of all types, pretty much everything except an aircraft carrier.

- [Narrator] How to feed a thousand-foot freighter's crew.

- I don't look at it so much as a job, more as like, I'm taking care of my family and I wanna make it good for them, not suck so much being so far away from our families and our loved ones - [Narrator] And news from around the Great Lakes.

- [Narrator] This program is brought to you by the Fred A. and Barbara M. Erb Family Foundation, the Charles Stewart Mott Foundation.

The Consumers Energy Foundation is committed to serving Michigan, from preserving our state's natural resources and sustaining our future to continuing business growth, academic achievement, and community involvement.

Learn more at ConsumersEnergy.com/foundation.

The Richard C. Devereaux Foundation for energy and environmental programs at DPTV, the Polk Family Fund, and viewers like you.

Thank you.

- Hi, I'm Ward Detwiler.

Welcome to Great Lakes Now.

Great Lakes freighters can have a long productive life, with some remaining in service for over a century.

But nothing lasts forever, and when Great Lakes freighters reach the end of their useful life, many of them head to one final resting place.

From TVO in Ontario, field reporter Jeyan Jeganathan brings us the story.

(upbeat rock music) - This is where ships in the Great Lakes come to die.

From freighters like the one behind me, to ferries, this yard has been the final resting place for over 100 vessels.

The Ojibwe, measuring more than 600 feet long and 67 feet wide spent nearly 70 years navigating the lakes.

Soon to be on the chopping block, the S.T.

Crapo, a nearly century-old self-loading cement carrier arriving from the shores of Green Bay, Wisconsin.

And the Manistee, a self unloading bulk carrier with nearly eight decades of normal mileage, arriving by tow in 2022 from Ohio.

Their final destination, Marine Recycling Corporation, 27 acres of land riddled with pieces of Great Lakes history.

This is the main yard for Ontario's only year-round ship breaking company.

Situated on Lake Erie, just across the border from Buffalo in Port Colborne, Ontario, Marine Recycling Corp sits near the mouth of the Welland Canal, a busy stretch of waterway that connects ships to Lake Erie and Lake Ontario.

- There's Ojibway wheelhouse we're driving by, and in the spring it'll go on a barge.

It's going to be a cottage, I guess for someone.

- [Jeyan] Wayne Elliott is a ship breaker, and he's been doing it for more than half a century - We recycle old ships of all types, warships, freighters, tugs, barges, submarines.

We've recycled, actually pretty much everything except an aircraft carrier.

- [Jeyan] Amongst the names of the famous vessels he's recycled, a few stand out.

- Henry Ford the second.

That was a very popular ship for museums and people.

The Henry Steinbrenner was named after former Yankees owner George Steinbrenner, named after his father.

- [Jeyan] Marine Recycling Corporation buys these vessels intending to make money on the parts and fixtures they salvage, and the materials that can be recycled.

Coming from around the Great Lakes, vessels can arrive at MRC's shipyard in one of two ways.

Some steam in under their own power, but most are towed.

In the case of the S.T.

Crapo, the Canadian tug Molly M1 and the U.S. tug Manitou brought the aging freighter from its last home in Green Bay, Wisconsin, through lakes Michigan, Huron, and Erie to Port Colborne, a six-day journey.

Using a combination of torches, cranes and shears, it could take several months for a freighter like the Ojibwe to end up looking like this.

- The process generally starts with cutting torches.

Parts of the ship that are too high for the shears to reach to start with and are lifting out heavy machinery and engines that are not sheared.

(metal clanging) There are many dangers.

It's a dangerous business.

We're lifting sections of ships up to 100 tons, and on top of that, they're not new ships, so we have to be very careful that lifts won't tear.

Yeah, it just has to be safety first.

- [Jeyan] Marine Recycling Corporation collects portholes, lights, and other scraps from the ships.

But the main haul is steel.

The steel is chewed up into tiny pieces and then loaded onto dump trucks where they're shipped to local steel mills in Southern Ontario.

Many of the ships Wayne and his team recycle have been on the open waters for decades.

For the most part, this yard recycles ships that have spent the majority of their time navigating the Great Lakes and St. Lawrence Seaway, better known as lakers.

Lakers can remain in service much longer than their ocean counterparts, also known as salties.

The corrosive seawater can do serious damage to a steel ship, which in turn creates a shorter life span.

But with decades of service comes decades worth of buildup, and that's what gets a recycler's attention before they can focus on the steel.

- When a ship arrives under its own power, it has fuel, lubricating oils, waste oils and has all of that aboard.

So that's the first order of business.

- [Jeyan] In North America, the environment wasn't always as protected as it is now.

Wayne has seen the changes firsthand in the three generations his family has been in the industry.

- My dad worked for another family in Hamilton, and started a ship breaking yard in 1959.

I remember as a kid, believe it or not, they used to burn the ships out to get rid of the furnishings.

and even back to the '60s, you know, there was no Environmental Protection Act till 1970.

There was no rules.

So I can remember my dad in Hamilton, the fire chief and the deputy chief were friends as well.

And he would call the chief or deputy and say, okay, the wind is headed towards the skyway bridge.

Okay to light this up?

And they would burn out the accommodation section of ships.

They used to burn copper in those days.

And I always remembered the horrible taste in my throat.

- [Jeyan] North American shipbreaking practices are much cleaner now, but Wayne estimates that around the world 95% of the ship breaking industry contributes to pollution.

And it's not just dirty work.

It also comes with its risks.

Globally, ship breaking has been described as the world's most dangerous job.

In parts of South Asia, the leaders in ship breaking, that title holds true.

According to NGO Ship Breaking Platform, a global collective that monitors environmental harm and human rights abuses, more than 7,000 ships have been scrapped in South Asia since 2009, causing at least 441 deaths and 384 injuries.

- They don't go after the waste first.

In places like Turkey, Bangladesh, India, they use the beaching method where the back end of the stern of the ship, which has many of the pollutants, the machinery spaces, the oil, they're the last thing to be recycled.

- [Jeyan] Marine Recycling operates three other shipyards on Canada's coastlines.

Elliot says his biggest competitors are on the other side of the ocean.

- We're really against towing these lake vessels across the Atlantic Ocean.

At one point, it was about one out of every 20 wouldn't make it.

You know, you can imagine the, you know, the potential for an accident.

It's very difficult to compete when you're the opposite of that and, but you know, so far, so good.

- [Jeyan] At one point, Elliott estimates there were half a dozen ship breakers on the Great Lakes.

But for the last 20 years, Marine Recycling Corporation has been the only full-time ship breaking company in Canada.

- It's a difficult business, on top of everything, it's a gamble.

I remember one year we brought a ship in late January and February 1st, the price of steel scrap dropped $85 a ton.

So we were out $1 million before we touched the ship.

That's the worst part.

- [Jeyan] Despite the challenges that come with ship breaking, Wayne doesn't see himself stopping any time soon.

- We're the most experienced ship breakers in the world, so I'm kind of proud of that.

It's a family tradition.

It's what we do.

We're the best at it.

We, I love the ships, I mean, I always did.

(machine beeping) - While they're sailing the Great Lakes, of course, every freighter has a crew, and every crew has to eat.

What's it like to cook for a freighter crew?

We climbed on board one of the Great Lakes' 13,000 footers, as it unloaded during a 10-hour stay in the Port of Cleveland to find out.

(gentle music) (horn blaring) - [Narrator] The Mesabi Miner is a 1,004-foot cargo ship.

Built in 1977 for the Interlake Steamship Company, its name honors Iron Range workers from Minnesota.

It serves as a home away from home for its crew, who work around the clock during the busy shipping season, which runs from late March to January.

- [Sissy] Morning, Johnny.

- [Narrator] Sissy Payment serves as chief steward, the head of food services and executive chef.

She's been cooking on the Great Lakes since 2005.

(gentle music) - Before this I had no cooking experience whatsoever.

I started sailing in 2006, but I was a second cook, and then when I came to Interlake in 2010, I started more or less cooking.

I was a nurse's aide for 10 years before that.

These guys laugh at me 'cause I tell them I don't like cooking.

I like taking care of people though.

I'm getting my bacon ready.

I usually cook at least two sheet pans for them in the morning.

Everything I've learned was out here.

- [Narrator] As chief steward, Sissy oversees the galley, the ship's kitchen and the mess, the ship's two dining rooms.

She's also responsible for feeding the entire crew, which includes nearly two dozen sailors.

It's a big job.

- And you have to plan your menus.

You have to make three meals a day.

You have to make sure there's extra things.

Here you are, sir.

- Thank you.

- Yeah, you have a good day buddy.

- [Narrator] Sissy's typical workday starts in the galley at 6:00 AM.

- I'm in the galley usually by 6:00, and then I'm in there from 6:00 to 8:00, prepping for breakfast and then lunch.

I come back 9:30, 10:00.

Depending what I'm gonna make for lunch, some things take a lot longer, some things don't.

So it depends on my day and what I planned.

I learned this from my mom, pasties.

It's a yooper thing.

It's like a meat pie.

Hamburger, rutabagas, tomatoes, onions, carrots.

But I'm in here till about 12:31.

Then you're back in here by 2:30, 3:00, getting ready for dinner.

And then 5:00, I'm usually done for the day.

- [Narrator] Finding ways to keep a big crew with lots of individual tastes happy can be challenging.

But according to Captain Paul Berger, who's been sailing the Great Lakes for 40 years, Sissy crushes it.

- Sissy is one of the top stewards in the fleet.

She's very conscientious about meeting a lot of individual needs.

- [Sissy] I'm so used to butter, but I've got a vegan guy here.

It doesn't really matter to me as long as they like it.

- [Narrator] In addition to handling all things food like a pro, Sissy expertly navigates crew life, knowing when to be fun and when to blend in.

- Her attention to these little things that make her a real standout.

And she gets along with everybody really well.

She's not easily offended by some of the coarse language that sailors tend to have.

- Good morning, Dennis.

- [Dennis] Morning.

- [Sissy] I hope you're well.

Okay, I take back what I texted you.

You're not an (censored).

- [Narrator] And if you think the food on a freighter is cafeteria-style slop, think again.

- And then my engineering design, 'cause my door doesn't shut.

(Sissy laughs) Seafood soup, soup du jour.

This is a big soup boat, so they usually have my soup gone a lot of the times by dinner.

- She just made a cauliflower soup that was amazing.

- Favorite meal, I think her pancakes.

- It's all really good.

And some of the things are more eclectic than others, but there is always a variety.

- [Narrator] Unlike lunch and dinner whose menus change daily, breakfast is made to order from 7:00 to 8:00 AM.

- Eggs, omelets, French toast, pancakes, sausage, biscuits and gravy.

Eggs benedict, which is a favorite over here.

We'll do smoked salmon, regular, avocado.

It's my permanent boat here, so I'm here all the time, so I kind of know what they all want.

There you are, sir.

- Thank you.

- Have a wonderful day.

(upbeat music) - [Narrator] Sissy and her second cook, Jon Drake, serve lunch from 11:00 to 12:00, and dinner from 4:00 to 5:00.

Lunch includes homemade soup, multiple sandwich, and salad options, as well as fries and onion rings.

- Dinner is usually two entrees, a couple of sides and fresh veg.

And then, of course, my second cook is making a dessert and fresh bread every day too as well to go along with dinner.

- [Narrator] Today, the second cook makes homemade donuts for the crew's morning treat and cheesecake for tonight's dessert.

Yum.

To create all these delicious foods, Sissy keeps an impressive stock of ingredients on hand.

A pantry loaded with canned and dried goods, multiple fridges and freezers filled with meat, dairy, and produce.

And one fridge stocked with grab-and-go snacks for the crew to utilize when the kitchen is closed.

- [Sissy] Today, I have some fresh meats coming from a local store here.

- [Narrator] When supplies run low, Sissy orders groceries from preferred vendors and they deliver the goods to the ship.

But getting the groceries onboard isn't like anything you're doing at home.

(upbeat music) - We use the grocery hoist to bring it up.

And on another time it comes by a tugboat as we're going down the river and the tugboat will crane it up onto the ship and the deckhands will bring it into the galley for me.

And then me and my second cook put it all away.

I don't look at it so much as a job, more as like, I'm taking care of my family and I wanna like, make it good for them, not suck so much being so far away from our families and our loved ones.

And I try to give them what they want, if whatever, make the best meals, make them look forward to meals.

- The next two aren't light either.

- [Narrator] Sissy does this by creating a warm, friendly, and playful environment in the galley.

With many crew members working 60 days on and 30 days off, she understands that it's something they need to soften the sting of being away from home.

- My brother is on this ship as well.

Before he even goes I'll be like, hey what are you gonna have today, brother?

And I'll already know from my menu what he's gonna have.

I can throw it down.

The galley is very important to the crew.

It's like the heart of the vessel.

They look forward to their meals.

So it gives them something to look forward to.

You know, it's their space they come vent, they come talk.

I mean, they'll come in there and be like, Sissy, I'm having a bad day.

They'll come give me a hug or whatever.

And I try to at least keep the mood upbeat.

I feel like if we're cranky or in a bad mood, I feel like that sets the vibe for the rest of the crew.

So I try to keep it as cheerful as possible.

- [Narrator] Third Mate Adam Caldwell says, Sissy's approach boosts morale.

- If you're having a bad day or something, you get a nice, good hot meal, and walk through with someone smiling at you in a good mood, yeah, it definitely cheers you up.

- Have a great day, bud.

- [Narrator] To battle the gloom of being away during the holidays, Sissy hosts celebrations onboard.

And she goes all out for Christmas.

- Ah, yeah, Christmas.

She love, that's her favorite season.

- I put stuff up all over the ship and kind of make it like a happy place.

This whole place is decorated.

You will not, you'll see not one place you look around here, it is complete Christmas.

- [Narrator] Her holiday celebration includes cookie decorating and a Grinch-themed menu that's a hit with the crew.

- We will have green pancakes.

I will have all the desserts and snacks are all Grinch-themed.

Like I've made a guacamole that looked like a Grinch before.

It gets pretty intense.

Yeah, they look forward to that kind of stuff.

They're like, oh, when's Grinchmas coming, you know?

'Cause they know that they're going to have a lot of fun, extra treats and stuff to do.

- She made a lot of sweets and treats and everything, so everything was good.

- Oh, it's huge for morale.

Having a good cook and especially someone who will go a little bit extra to accommodate special needs or wants, desires, goes a huge way.

- [Cameraman] Second helpings?

- That's how she can tell that I like the soup, when I come back and get it again.

- [Sissy] Now I know it's one of his favorites.

I better make it again.

- [Narrator] As the last bit of iron ore empties from the cargo hold, the crew prepares to get under way.

And while we'd love to stay for dinner, instead we'll bid the crew, bon voyage.

(horn blaring) - For more about Great Lakes freighters, visit GreatLakesNow.org.

And now it's time for The Catch, where we put a spotlight on reporting from and about the Great Lakes.

- [Narrator] The National Park Service has been conducting controlled burns in the Indiana Dunes National Park.

Joseph Pete is a reporter and columnist for the Times of Northwest Indiana and has been following the story.

- This spring, the National Park Service completed controlled burns of 900 acres of parkland across the Indiana Dunes National Park.

Every year they burn about 10% of the 15,000 acres of the park.

But it serves, it really does serve a number of functions.

It helps improve the plant growth and it helps improve the nutrients in the soil.

It, you know, burns dead and dying plants.

- [Narrator] But the main function of the controlled burns might seem to be the most counterintuitive one.

There are about 60,000 wildfires nationally every year.

By conducting prescribed burns more regularly, it reduces the risk and extent of dangerous wildfires.

- [Joseph] In 2021, there was a massive wildfire at the Ivanhoe Nature Preserve in Gary that raged for 20 hours before they're able to finally put it out.

Here in northwest Indiana, our national park is spread throughout industry, throughout neighborhoods, throughout homes.

And they credit, the controlled burns they had done in that area with actually saving the property.

- [Narrator] However, the practice of controlled burns isn't new.

- [Joseph] The Indigenous tribes have been using prescribed burns for centuries to manage the land.

They view it as a kind of a medicine that restores and renews land.

It helps make the land more productive.

In this area, specifically, the Pottawatomie tribe has long used prescribed burns as a way of renewing the land and also minimizing the risk of wildfires.

- [Narrator] But there was a period of time when the practice of controlled burns was halted.

- Around the time the National Park Service was starting in the late 1800s, they, the idea kind of caught on that fire was bad.

It was destructive.

They kind of took a complete prohibition attitude toward it that really led them to take a like no wildfire approach.

- [Narrator] After decades of research, the benefits of controlled burns became more apparent.

- [Joseph] In the late '60s, scientists started to really study the effects on the ecology and study the impact that fire had.

And they concluded that it had a lot of natural benefits.

And by the 1986, the Indiana Dunes National Park started returning to prescribed burns as a way of managing the areas, particularly in this area, the tallgrass prairie, the oak, and savanna habitat they've sought to restore.

- [Narrator] And so the National Park Service continues the controlled burns to this day.

- [Joseph] It's really a way of preventing wildfire from raging, uncontrolled and rampant throughout the entire national park and also from posing a threat to property and human life at the many homes and businesses and so forth just outside the park.

- [Narrator] With about 9 1/2 thousand miles of coastline, the Great Lakes are home to nearly 400 lighthouses.

And one of those lighthouses located in Duluth, Minnesota, has a new owner.

- The lighthouse is called the Duluth Harbor North Pier Head Light.

But most people in Duluth just know it as one of the two lighthouses that are in Canal Park.

And Canal Park is the tourist district in Duluth.

And it's also the place where the big ships come through the canal into the Duluth Harbor.

- [Narrator] Dan Kraker is a correspondent for Minnesota Public Radio News, and he reported on the lighthouse when its ownership was passed from the U.S Coast Guard to a Minnesota non-profit.

- [Dan] This group, Rethos out of St. Paul, they plan to make it a centerpiece for this historic district.

They do plan to offer tours and then they plan to have a lot of educational signage around the lighthouse as well.

And they really see it as a way to educate the thousands of tourists who come to Duluth about the historic nature of Canal Park and the lighthouse itself.

- [Narrator] Dan says that this restoration fits into a larger trend of Great Lakes cities and towns revitalizing their historic structures.

- I see this purchase and the plans for this lighthouse as really fitting in more broadly to what's been going on in Duluth for decades.

And I think in cities around the Great Lakes, you know, that have these really beautiful historic buildings that maybe have fallen on some hard times.

But as, you know, these cities around the lakes revitalized, I think there's a lot of interest.

And also, you know, bringing back these beautiful one of a kind historic buildings that really speak to the sense of place of the Great Lakes.

- [Narrator] But Dan believes that lighthouses are especially important to many people that call the Great Lakes home.

- And these lighthouses were these beacons, you know to safely bring ships and their crews in.

And I think people still really relate to that.

But I think these, you know, the efforts to restore these structures really fit with, I just think the deep seated passion that folks have for these unique buildings.

- [Narrator] There's a new film showcasing a number of the film Detroit-based organizations dedicated to getting communities of color outdoors and into nature.

Nina Ignaczak is the founder of environmental newsletter Planet Detroit, and the director of a new film called "Claiming Connections."

- So the film "Claiming Connections" is about a variety of groups that have emerged over the past few years that have the goal of getting people of color outdoors to get out kayaking, to get out hiking, to get out birding, by providing opportunities that are really geared toward groups and making people of color feel really comfortable in the outdoor environment.

- [Narrator] The emergence of these groups has partially happened as a response to an ongoing and deeply rooted problem.

- There is a long history of people of color being marginalized in outdoor spaces and outdoor recreation across the country.

And so we wanted to lay that groundwork to help people understand the context in which these groups are operating and why it's so imperative that they're successful in their mission.

These programs are really geared towards a whole spectrum of people, kids, all the way up through adults.

In a lot of cases, you know, adults in Detroit, may not have ever had these kinds of experiences.

- [Narrator] And Detroit has a wide variety of groups dedicated to this cause.

- I believe that Detroit is a leader in this space.

I haven't found very many other examples of grassroots groups that are forming and successfully working to provide such a broad variety of opportunities for families, individuals, kids of color to get out and do a whole host of outdoor activities.

- Thanks for watching.

For more on these stories and the Great Lakes in general, visit GreatLakesNow.org.

When you get there, you can follow us on social media or subscribe to our newsletter to get updates about our work.

See you out on the lakes.

(gentle music) (gentle music continues) - [Narrator] This program is brought to you by, the Fred A. and Barbara M. Erb Family Foundation, the Charles Stewart Mott Foundation.

The Consumer's Energy Foundation is committed to serving Michigan from preserving our state's natural resources and sustaining our future to continuing business growth, academic achievement, and community involvement.

Learn more at ConsumersEnergy.com/foundation.

The Richard C. Devereaux Foundation for energy and environmental programs at DPTV, the Polk Family Fund, and viewers like you.

Thank you.

(gentle music)