This past weekend at Edgewater Park in Cleveland, Ohio, an abundance of dead gizzard shad, a non-native species of fish commonly found in the Great Lakes, was found floating in the water. Read the full story by WEWS-TV – Cleveland, OH.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20230329-invasive-fish-kill
As of March 24, all of the Great Lakes remained above their March long-term average levels, according to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Detroit District. Specifically, on Lake Ontario, water levels were eight inches above the long-term monthly average for March and four inches above levels in February. Read the full story by WWTI-TV – Watertown, NY.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20230329-ontario-water-levels
Dredging will start soon on a Lake Michigan channel near Muskegon, Michigan, that otherwise would be impassable to all watercraft. Water depths in the Mona Lake Channel are as low as one foot in some areas. Read the full story by MLive.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20230329-channel-dredging
In southeastern Wisconsin, starry stonewort, an invasive alga that can significantly harm aquatic ecosystems, is starting to make its way across lakes and rivers. First confirmed in Wisconsin in 2014 at Little Muskego Lake, starry stonewort has been documented on 27 other lakes, including 4 in Southeast Wisconsin. Read the full story by the Kenosha News.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20230329-invasive-spread
In Newaygo County, Michigan, anglers should be on the lookout this spring for Michigan Department of Natural Resources personnel collecting walleye eggs below Croton Dam. Electrofishing boat crews will collect walleye starting as early as the week of March 27, depending on water temperatures, the presence of ripe fish and other factors. Read the full story by The Daily Press.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20230329-walleye-egg-collection
Previously, researchers have not able to collect much data on Lake Ontario over the winter outside of surface temperatures. Now, an international project between the United States and Canada is studying how the temperature of Lake Ontario below the surface changes throughout the year. Read the full story by WROC-TV – Rochester, NY.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20230329-ontario-study
A Dutch shipping company is set to launch a monthly liner service between Duluth, Minnesota, and Antwerp, Belgium, allowing cargo and containers to traverse the Atlantic Ocean on a regular basis. Starting in May, ships are expected to arrive in the port approximately once a month until the St. Lawrence Seaway closes in late December. Read the full story by the Duluth News Tribune.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20230329-dutch-shipping
On March 27, remains of the wreck of the Emeline, a late 19th-century lumber-carrying schooner that lies in Lake Michigan off Anclam Park in Baileys Harbor, was added to the Wisconsin State Register of Historic Places. Read the full story by the Green Bay Press-Gazette.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20230329-shipwreck-historic-register
The Lake Huron Coastal Centre is looking for community scientists to help monitor the Lake Huron Shoreline in Ontario, Canada. A group of volunteers called Coastwatchers collect data on weather conditions, algae blooms, plastic pollution, human activity, erosion, and wildlife once a week from May until October. Read the full story by Bayshore Broadcasting.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20230329-huron-volunteers
A bipartisan group of Great Lakes lawmakers wrote Thursday to President Joe Biden ahead of his official visit to Ottawa this month, urging him to press Canadian leaders on boosting their financial support for restoring and protecting the Great Lakes. The nine U.S. lawmakers stressed that “sustained investments” from partnerships between the U.S. and Canada are needed to clean up toxic Areas of Concern in the freshwater lakes, combat invasive species, restore habitats and reduce algae blooms. Read the full story by The Detroit News.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20230310-canadian-funding
In 2021, the U.S. Coast Guard announced it no longer needed the lighthouse that was built in 1910 at the end of the north breakwater of Duluth’s shipping canal. Rethos, a St. Paul-based historic preservation nonprofit, was awarded the Duluth Harbor North Pierhead Light by the National Park Service last month. Read the full story by Minnesota Public Radio.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20230310-duluth-lighthouse
After a mild January and February, Lake Superior ice levels are lower than normal for this time of year, say Canadian federal observers. By the middle of February, Superior’s ice thickness in the vicinity of Thunder Bay, Ontario was estimated to be only 45 centimeters, about 20 cm less for the same time last year and 15 cm less than the seasonal average, according to data provided by the Meteorological Service of Canada. Read the full story by the Chronicle Journal.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20230310-superior-ice-cover
The Lake Huron Forever initiative awarded grants totaling $30,000 to four community projects aimed at protecting and enhancing the water quality of Lake Huron. The initiative aims to support community conversation and action to design and complete on-the-ground work to strengthen the health and well-being of residents and their surrounding natural resources. Read the full story by Iosco County News-Herald.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20230310-water-quality-funding
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration facility in Alpena, Michigan is partnering with its Great Lakes Environmental Research Laboratory to learn more about the acidification of the freshwater Great Lakes. The goal is to get a baseline understanding of acidification in the lakes now so they can study them for years in the future. Read the full story by WBKB-TV – Alpena, MI.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20230310-acidification-study
While the Oneida County Board discusses a resolution opposing the Pelican River Forest project, the Sokaogon Chippewa government passed a resolution in support of it. The project would protect natural resources the Sokaogon Chippewa Community and other Ojibwe Tribes have relied on like wild rice, medicinal plants, and subsistence hunting. Read the full story by WXPR – Rhinelander, WI.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20230310-conservation-resolution
Ice-breaking operations in Midland, Ontario Harbour are expected around March 18 to open the Great Lakes shipping routes around March 22. The Canada Steamship Lines bulk carrier MV Frontenac is expected to move from her winter mooring at the ADM Mill in Midland Harbour after a Canadian Coast Guard ice breaker clears a path in from the open waters of Georgian Bay. Read the full story by CTV News.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20230310-ice-breaking
Eastern Lake Ontario, with 43 known shipwrecks and one aircraft, is on the verge of becoming a national marine sanctuary. The years-long effort has been supported by local governments, including Cayuga County, and the State of New York. If the sanctuary is established, the state will co-manage it with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Read the full story by The Citizen.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20230310-marine-sanctuary-proposal
Promote Michigan President Dianna Stampfler will swing through the Harbor Beach (Michigan) Area District Library on Wednesday, March 15, with her Ladies of the Lights presentation to talk about women in the Great Lakes region who have worked in lighthouses for Women’s History Month. The presentation includes readings from newspaper articles, autobiographies, and historic photos of the women and the lighthouses they cared for. Read the full story by Huron Daily Tribune.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20230310-lighthouse-women
The city of Detroit and the Wayne Metropolitan Action Agency recently added 1,125 gallons of water per person per month to a program that prevents water shut-offs in low-income households, expanding a program launched in August to erase water bill debt, repair plumbing, and lower monthly bills for low-income residents. Read the full story by Great Lakes Echo.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20230301-water-shutoff-prevention
A new national report gave Michigan a failing grade for its efforts to combat lead contamination in school drinking water. While the researchers praise Detroit schools for working to install hundreds of filtered water stations across the school district, they award only partial credit for Michigan’s plan to replace every lead service line in the state by 2041. Read the full story by WKAR-TV – East Lansing, MI.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20230301-lead-response-report
In 2019, a team of historians, underwater archaeologists, and technicians located the wreckage of the Ironton, a 191-foot (58-meter) cargo vessel that collided with a grain hauler on a blustery night in September 1894, and deployed remotely controlled cameras to scan and document it. The Thunder Bay National Marine Sanctuary in Alpena, Michigan, plans to reveal the location in coming months and is considering placing a mooring buoy at the site. Read the full story by The Associated Press.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20230301-ship-wreck-discovery
The Canadian Coast Guard has responded to just 20 requests for icebreaking on the Great Lakes this winter as ice coverage for the lakes is at a record low for this time of year. Read the full story by Blackburn News.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20230301-icebreaking-usage
The New York Power Authority announced Wednesday that preparations are underway to remove the Niagara River Ice Boom. Since 1964, the boom has been installed near the outlet of Lake Erie to reduce the amount of ice entering the Niagara River. Read the full story by WKBW-TV – Buffalo, NY.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20230301-ice-boom-removal
A water monitoring system called MiWaterNet is powered by participatory community scientists and provides real time data for researchers across northern Michigan. These data on small stream quality helps researchers answer important questions about a watershed’s condition. Read the full story by Great Lakes Echo.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20230301-water-monitoring
The State of Michigan continues to hold Community Resource Fairs in Benton Harbor for residents to learn about how they can keep themselves safe from lead in their homes. More than 100 people attended a fair Tuesday at the Virginia Edwards Community Center. Read the full story by WSJM – Benton Harbor, MI.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20230301-lead-resources
U.S. District Judge David Lawson has ordered Flint, Michigan, to replace any remaining lead or steel water lines by Aug. 1, the latest intervention after a series of missed deadlines. Judge Lawson signed off on an agreement between the city and the Natural Resources Defense Council, which represents residents in long-running litigation that began in 2016. Read the full story by The Associated Press.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20230301-flint-litigation
In August, Amy Stout of Petersburg, Michigan, became the second woman to complete the Lake Erie Solo Challenge in the event’s 16-year history. The 455-mile sailing event began in 2007, with just three women having attempted it thus far. Read the full story by The Monroe News.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20230301-sailing-challenge
A federal judge has given Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel another chance to argue that her lawsuit seeking to shut down the Line 5 petroleum pipeline is best heard in state court. The issue of which court holds jurisdiction over the lawsuit has become a crucial detail in the legal battle over Enbridge Energy’s pipeline in the Straits of Mackinac. Read the full story by Great Lakes Now.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20230224-line-5-litigation
The governors of Michigan and Illinois are proposing to jointly pay $114 million toward an infrastructure project that would stop invasive silver and bighead carp from moving into the Great Lakes via Chicagoland waterways. Combined, the two state appropriations would cover the total non-federal share of current estimated project costs for the Brandon Road Lock and Dam. Read the full story by MLive.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20230224-carp-funding
Last year the Lake Michigan Commercial Fishing Board made a formal request to begin netting lake trout on Lake Michigan. To that end, the Wisconsin DNR formed the Lake Michigan Lake Trout Commercial Harvest Stakeholder Group, made up of about a dozen state residents, to provide input on the commercial harvest of lake trout. Read the full story by Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20230224-lake-trout-netting
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) Detroit District and Great Lakes Fishery Commission (GLFC) have announced the completion of a $1.67 million permanent sea lamprey trap on the East Branch AuGres River in National City, Michigan. The finalization of the project represents a long-standing partnership between USACE and GLFC to control invasive sea lampreys and protect the $7 billion Great Lakes fishery. Read the full story by Oscoda Press.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20230224-lamprey-trap
A restoration plan is close to being finalized for the Tittabawassee River, Saginaw River, and Saginaw Bay watershed to compensate the public for the loss of natural habitats and recreation opportunities, due to decades of industrial activity and pollution. The project, which will restore and preserve thousands of acres of wetlands and other natural habitats is funded by a nearly $6 million settlement with Dow Chemical and General Motors. Read the full story by Michigan Radio.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20230224-watershed-rehabilitation
A special training program will take place over the weekends of April 22-23 and May 20-21, 2023 in South Haven, Michigan and is free with membership in the Michigan Maritime Museum in South Haven. Participants who complete both weekends will be eligible to join the crew of the museum’s own tall ship, “Friends Good Will.” Read the full story by MLive.com.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20230224-tall-ship-training
Last September, Hoverlink Ontario Inc. held an open house to announce its plan to build the first-ever hovercraft transit service in North America. It plans to carry 180 passengers at a time across Lake Ontario between Toronto and Niagara Falls in just 30 minutes. Read the full story by Great Lakes Echo.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20230224-hovercraft-travel
On Feb. 15, the Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes and Energy (EGLE) sent the U.S. Air Force a request for installation of several new interim cleanup systems to remove toxic PFAS chemicals from the groundwater and soil. Advocates and state officials are now pushing the U.S. military to build more stopgap systems to clean up groundwater contamination around the former Wurtsmith Air Force base while a slow-moving investigation continues. Read the full story by MLive.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20230224-pfas-cleanup
In his new book, “The Devil’s Element: Phosphorus and a World out of Balance,” Dan Egan sounds alarms on both the scarcity and overabundance sides of the phosphorus-human equation. Thanks to heavy use of phosphorus in fertilizers, many experts foresee it becoming a scarce resource. But too much phosphorus in the wrong places — in the runoff to lakes, ponds and rivers — leads to toxic algae blooms that ravage bodies of water, kill tourism and make people sick. Read the full story by Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20230224-phosphorus-book
Using trail cameras, FOX 2 photojournalist Coulter Stuart spotted a beaver at an inlet on Stony Island in the Detroit River. Once the home base for a massive project that transformed the Detroit River and Great Lakes shipping traffic, the 100-acre plot of land is slowly being reclaimed by wildlife; the reemergence of beavers is a sign of that progress. Read the full story by WJBK-TV – Detroit, MI.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20230224-beaver-habitat-restoration
In its new report, the Alliance for the Great Lakes and the Ohio Environmental Council, with technical assistance from the Ann Arbor-based company LimnoTech and Chicago-based Delta Institute, found that Michigan and Ohio are not likely to meet the 2025 phosphorus reduction goals agreed to under the Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement. Read the full story by Great Lakes Now.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20230215-report-phosphorus-reduction
A much milder-than-average weather pattern across the Great Lakes for most of this winter has produced the lowest ice cover on record for the Great Lakes. As of Monday, February 13, ice covered only 8 percent of the Great Lakes. That’s far below the average of 41 percent for this date and at record low levels previously set in 2012. Read the full story by Minnesota Public Radio.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20230215-record-ice-cover
Newly elected U.S. Sen. JD Vance will co-chair the U.S. Senate’s Great Lakes Task Force, replacing his predecessor Rob Portman at the helm of a group that pushes to protect the world’s largest freshwater lake system. Vance said his priorities in the job will include fully funding the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative, fighting invasive species like invasive carp, and ensuring the Lakes’ aging lock systems and infrastructure stay in good repair to allow the passage of cargo ships. Read the full story by The Plain Dealer.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20230215-task-force-chair
This month, the National Park Service said it expects to complete its review of the Menominee Nation’s application to list an ancient indigenous burial ground called Anaem Omot on the National Register. If approved, it will mark a victory for the Menominee Nation in a long-running battle to stop Gold Resources Corp. from building a gold mine within part of the proposed site boundary. Read the full story by MLive.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20230215-register-historic-land
Lead levels in Benton Harbor, Michigan’s drinking water continue to decrease as 90 percent of the test results came in at or below 9 parts-per-billion (ppb). Sixty-five residential taps around the city between July 1 and Dec. 31 last year, according to the Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes and Energy, marking a decrease from 14-ppb in calculated test results from the first six months of 2022. Read the full story by MLive.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20230215-lead-reduction
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has received $1.5 million from the states of Illinois and Michigan to advance the Brandon Road Interbasin Project on the upper Illinois Waterway. This complex ecosystem restoration project includes innovative technological deterrents designed to prevent upstream movement of invasive carp and other aquatic nuisance species into the Great Lakes. Read the full story by KWQC-TV – Davenport, IA.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20230215-brandon-road-funding
U.S. Rep. Debbie Dingell has sent a letter to Michigan’s top environment official Monday, urging him to reject the PFAS remediation plan proposed by Wolverine World Wide after a violation was issued by the Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes and Energy for failing to meet a previously approved timeline. Read the full story by The Detroit News.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20230215-letter-pfas-cleanup
National Grid is providing $100,000 to support the Aquarium of Niagara’s innovative “Great Lakes 360” project, which will add 15 new Great Lakes-focused exhibits and expand the cultural attraction’s City of Niagara Falls campus. Read the full story by Niagara Frontier Publications.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20230215-aquarium-great-lakes
Thanks to a mixture of erosion and wind, winter runoff has created more than ten ice formations in the Chequamegon ice caves along the Wisconsin shoreline of Lake Superior. Tour guides will lead thousands of people across the snow and ice to see the natural phenomena through the caves that have just opened for a month-long season. Read the full story by WJFW-TV – Rhinelander, WI.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20230215-tour-ice-caves
While the Great Lakes Compact bans diverting water from the lakes, years-long droughts in Western states have brought renewed attention to the possibility of pumping water in from the Mississippi River and the Great Lakes. Read the full story by Michigan Radio.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20230203-diversion-challenges
After receiving a Congressional authorization to build a second heavy icebreaker, the U.S. Coast Guard said the $350 million ship might take a decade or more to build. Jim Weakley, president of the Lake Carriers Association, believes they could finish building the ship in as little as four years. Read the full story by MLive.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20230203-icebreaker-timeline
A report released this week by a binational group warns the task of sediment remediation from the Detroit River is massive, but a huge pot of U.S. federal funds is available to address that legacy of pollution. However, the scientists warn, it’s a case of use-it-or-lose-it with a deadline just a few short years away. Read the full story by The Windsor Star.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20230203-river-remediation
Lake Erie’s water level rose to record highs in 2019 and 2020, damaging property and interfering with recreation before beginning a decline that continued into 2022. In 2023, the lake’s level isn’t projected to break any more monthly records but is expected to remain higher than average for the first six months. Read the full story by Erie Times-News.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20230203-erie-water-levels
