Every year, the EPA’s 180-foot research vessel known as the Lake Guardian sets out to sample water quality in all five of the Great Lakes. The data collected from these expeditions helps scientists understand the health and environmental trends of the Great Lakes. Read the full story by WBFO- Buffalo, NY.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20210414-lake-guardian
Throughout the past week, the Chippewa County Health Department in northern Michigan has worked with the Lake Carriers Association and U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to provide COVID-19 vaccinations to crew members on the Great Lakes ships passing through the Soo Locks in Sault Ste. Marie. Read the full story by MLive.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20210414-vaccines
A new study of insect data and bird surveys found that poor water quality harms the growth and development of insect population, depriving many birds species of a critical source of food, and is linked to declines in bird populations in the Great Lakes region. Read the full story by Great Lakes Echo.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20210414-buggies
Until recently, boaters and property owners on Lake Ontario were concerned about high lake levels and flooding. Now, people are concerned about lake levels becoming too low. Read the full story by The Buffalo News.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20210414-low-water
Scientists from Ontario are seeking donations of smelt catches from anglers on Lake Superior to help support a new study that looks at the presence of PFAS chemicals in fish tissue. Read the full story by CBC News.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20210414-smelt
US Representatives Debbie Dingell (MI) and Fred Upton (MI) introduced a new bill to accelerate the cleanup of sites contaminated with PFAS. The bill would establish a national drinking water standard for select PFAS chemicals and would give the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency direction to act on cleaning up contaminated sites in Michigan and across the country. Read the full story by WKAR – East Lansing, MI.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20210414-pfas
The queensnake, an endangered snake in Wisconsin, may cause delays in the reconstruction of a bridge in Racine. Read the full story by The Journal Times.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20210331-queensnake
Residents living near the infamous Wolverine World Wide dump in west Michigan say they want a “real solution” to the issue of how to clean up the toxic chemical waste left buried in their neighborhood from leather manufacturing. Read the full story by MLive.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20210331-wolverine
Restoring one of the rapids on the St. Marys River, which connects lakes Superior and Huron, is helping diverse fish species recover according to a recent study. Read the full story by Great Lakes Echo.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20210331-rapids
The Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy is partnering with the Michigan Learning Channel, a statewide distance-learning collaboration by public television stations, to provide environmentally focused instructional videos as part of the content on the new service. Read the full story by The Daily Mining Gazette.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20210331-mlc
The governors of four Great Lakes states urged President Joe Biden to prioritize federal investments in long-neglected water infrastructure to advance environmental sustainability and climate resilience. Read the full story by WKZO – Kalamazoo, MI.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20210331-infrastructure
Officials from Sarnia, Ontario, answered questions from Members of Parliament about Enbridge’s Line 5, a pipeline that carries oil and gas to Sarnia from Western Canada, and spoke to the importance of keeping the pipeline running in Canada. Read the full story by CBC News.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20210331-line-5
As the international Lake Erie Committee meets to set 2021 commercial harvest limits on walleye and yellow perch, the group’s biologists are anticipating another phenomenal year of walleye fishing. Read the full story by The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20210331-walleye
After more than two years, Haldimand County in Ontario is getting up to $4,570,000 in provincial funds to offset costs to repair damages incurred after severe storms on Lake Erie in late 2019. Read the full story by Haldimand News.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20210331-storm
The Stannard Rock Lighthouse, a nearly 140-year-old structure in the middle of Lake Superior, is in need of major restoration. Read the full story by WBCK – Battle Creek, MI.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20210331-lighthouse
Michigan residents boating on the Great Lakes or adjoining federally monitored waterways will have a new federal engine cut-off switch requirement to follow beginning April 1. It will only impact boaters traversing U.S. Coast Guard-monitored waterways. Read the full story by MLive.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20210331-boats
A 28-year-old Ring-billed Gull, the oldest individual on record, was discovered by a birder in Cleveland, Ohio. While Ring-billed Gulls are one of the most familiar gulls in North America, biologists know surprisingly little about the species’ longevity, due in part to a lack of data. Read the full story by the Audubon Magazine.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20210324-gull
Chippewa tribal officials in Wisconsin, Minnesota, and Michigan have blasted the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources for putting on what they say was a poorly planned wolf season during which state-licensed hunters blew past their quota in a matter of days. Read the full story by The Associated Press.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20210324-wolves
Smelt netting returns in April on the Chicago lakefront for 2021, but prospects for rainbow smelt remain very poor as the U.S. Geological Survey reported low smelt densities in their fisheries surveys. Read the full story by the Chicago Sun Times.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20210324-smelt
Shoreline property owners, businesses, and municipalities need to come up with a long-term coastal resilience strategy to deal with high water levels in Georgian Bay, according to the environmental non-profit Georgian Bay Forever. Read the full story by Orillia Matters.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20210324-shorelines
A propane supplier and global energy consultant testified to state lawmakers that shutting down the controversial Enbridge Line 5 pipeline under the Straits of Mackinac this spring would disrupt the market for fossil fuel used to heat some Michigan homes and likely increase the price of propane. Read the full story by MLive.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20210324-line-5
A new study by scientists with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Great Lakes Environmental Research Laboratory found that water deep below the surface of Lake Michigan is warming in the winter, impacting ice cover, weather, and the lake’s food web. Read the full story by Wisconsin Public Radio.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20210324-warming-waters
A structure dubbed FishPass was scheduled to be installed on the Boardman River in northern Michigan earlier this year. However, community concerns have delayed those restoration efforts. Read the full story by Bridge Michigan.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20210324-fishpass
After trying, unsuccessfully, for nearly 20 years to phase out commercial turtle trapping in Minnesota, the Department of Natural Resources is asking lawmakers to put an immediate end to the capturing and selling of painted, snapping and spiny softshell turtles. Read the full story by The Star Tribune.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20210324-turtle
The Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources will hold a virtual public hearing on a Lake Superior rule that will update lake trout and cisco commercial fishing quotas as well as the recreational lake trout harvest trigger on Lake Superior. Read the full story by WLUC-TV – Ashland, WI.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20210324-quota
Nesting boxes for peregrine falcons on the Portage Lake Lift Bridge in northern Michigan have been removed this spring due to the need for bridge repairs. Read the full story by WLUC-TV – Houghton, MI.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20210324-falcon
The Kalamazoo Department of Public Safety is warning residents to avoid walking on the quick-sand like sediment deposits from the Morrow Dam found in the Kalamazoo River in west Michigan. Read the full story by MLive.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20210324-deposits
The Aamjiwnaang First Nation in Canada suffers from high exposure to toxic contaminants from nearby chemical plants in Sarnia, Ontario. Members are fighting for policy changes to overcome shortcomings in Canadian toxic chemical regulations that have failed to protect indigenous community members. Read the full story by the Anishinabek News.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20210310-gaps
The presence of the nesting piping plover pair in Chicago, Illinois, is the culmination of an environmental success story that began 20 years ago when a plant called lakeshore rush took hold on Montrose Beach. The Chicago Park District stopped grooming that section of beach to protect the rush and something remarkable happened; other rare plants emerged from the sand and began to spread. Read the full story by The Chicago Sun Times.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20210310-plover
A northern Michigan organization is hosting community trash pick-up events to raise awareness and inspire action to care for the Great Lakes. Read the full story by WBKB-TV – Thunder Bay, MI.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20210310-cleanup
A northern Michigan organization is hosting community trash pick-up events to raise awareness and inspire action to care for the Great Lakes. Read the full story by WBKB-TV – Thunder Bay, MI.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20210310-cleanup
A recent letter to President Joe Biden from environmental and tribal groups argues the Line 3 pipeline was “inappropriately permitted” by the Trump Administration and is demanding that he shut down the pipeline by revoking Line 3’s presidential permit. Read the full story by Green Matters.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20210310-line-3
Experts attribute the Detroit River’s increasingly clear waters to clean up and remediation efforts along the river that have improved water quality. Read the full story by CBC News.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20210310-detroit-river
A new study by the Nature Conservancy of Canada has designated southwestern Ontario as one of nine regions of Canada whose biodiversity is most in need of protection. Decades of intensive farming and population growth have eroded the region’s natural areas and shrunk habitats for already at-risk wildlife. Read the full story by The Brantford Expositor.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20210310-ecoregion
The discovery of invasive zebra mussels nestled in balls of moss in multiple pet stores across the country has wildlife officials scrambling to contain what could be a new destructive breach in the nation’s decades old fight to control the mussels. Read the full story by WLRN – Miami, FL.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20210310-moss-balls
A federal judge approved the Environmental Protection Agency’s proposal to study potential effects of PolyMet’s copper-nickel mine in Minnesota on the downstream Fond du Lac Band of Lake Superior Chippewa. Read the full story by the Duluth News Tribune.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20210310-polymet
Voluntary agricultural conservation programs have failed to effectively reduce fertilizer run-off that fuels Lake Erie’s toxic algal blooms, leading many environmental groups to advocate for compulsory regulations to better protect the lakes. Read the full story by Great Lakes Now.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20210310-runoff
New computer simulation technology enables scientists to study how toxic chemicals harm walleye populations in Lake Erie. These simulations improve expert’s ability to clean up contaminants and to protect walleye. Read the full story by Great Lakes Echo.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20210310-walleye
Scientists are studying the implications of decreased ice coverage and warmer water temperatures on Lake Superior. Once considered pristine, Lake Superior’s ecosystem is sensitive to small temperature changes that could increase the occurrence of harmful algal blooms on the lake and impact the regional economy. Read the full story by Great Lakes Now.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20210310-winter
The Huron River is a life force for the Michigan communities in its watershed. Throughout the years, it is women who have been a driving force in improving its quality. Read the full story by WEMU – Ypsilanti, MI.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20210303-woman
The International Joint Commission says it’s very unlikely Lake Ontario will severely flood this year. Lake Ontario water levels are now below average for the first time in years, despite high outflows from Lake Erie. Read the full story by WSYR-TV – Syracuse, NY.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20210303-ijc
The Waterfront Walkway on the east bank of the Portage River in downtown Port Clinton, Ohio, is finally going to begin this year. Bids on the $1.9 million project are expected to be put out in the coming weeks and the work could start in late summer. Read the full story by The Beacon.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20210303-walkway
More than a month after the southern end of St. Clair County experienced widespread severe flooding, the city of Port Huron, Michigan, is preparing for potential spring flooding on the Black River. Read the full story by the Port Huron Times Herald.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20210303-flooding
In January 2019, a Polar Vortex arrived across much of the northern United States and Canada, causing Lake Superior to begin icing over between Isle Royale and the Canadian shore. A rare ice bridge formed and a recently re-located gray wolf made her escape off Isle Royale. Read the full story by CBC News.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20210303-wolf
Milwaukee’s rivers have slowly been revitalized through a variety of cleanup projects in recent years. But, the estuary — the area in which the Milwaukee, Menomonee and Kinnickinnic Rivers meet Lake Michigan — is still one of the most environmentally degraded sites on the Great Lakes due to contamination caused by decades of industrial waste. Read the full story by WUWM – Milwaukee, WI.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20210303-estuary
NOAA meteorologists have found a 5% decline in ice cover due to atmospheric warming. Our winter this year allowed for less ice coverage at the beginning of the season, with January seeing the second lowest coverage on record. Read the full story by WBNS-TV – Columbus, OH.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20210303-ice
A feud continues in Michigan between the cities of Detroit and Highland Park around water bills that Detroit says are unpaid. Highland Park leaders pointed to an old contract and says it has paid its fair share – and then some. Read the full story by WJBK-TV – Detroit, MI.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20210303-water-bill
With all of the Great Lakes water levels below where they were at this time last year, the international body that helps regulate the Lake Ontario’s water levels is taking its foot off the gas a bit. Read the full story by WRVO – Albany, NY.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20210303-lake-ontario
It survived the Mataafa Storm of 1905. It sliced through the Great White Hurricane of 1913. But on Tuesday, March 2, 2021, it was fire that finally got the J. B. Ford, a 118-year-old freighter that until recently was the oldest active freighter on the Great Lakes. Read the full story by MLive.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20210303-freighter
Michigan Department of Natural Resources conservation officers recently confiscated over 2,000 pounds of live red swamp crayfish being smuggled across the United States-Canada international border, making this the largest aquatic invasive species seizure by the MDNR. Read the full story by The Toledo Blade.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20200609-crayfish
