The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration declared an end to western Lake Erie’s 2024 algal bloom season Wednesday, calling it a “moderately severe” bloom that ranks as a 6.6 on the agency’s 10-point severity index. Read the full story by The Toledo Blade.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20241115-algal-bloom
Canadian and American scientists and regulators met Thursday in Harrison Township, Michigan, for the Lake St. Clair Conference. Twenty-five years after their first meeting, the muck, or thick mats of algae, is still a major issue facing the lake. Read the full story by The Detroit News.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20241115-binational-algae-issue
Terry Sheehan, Member of Parliament for Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario, announced $747,000 in funding to several Indigenous-led organizations to support the study and preservation of species habitats and water conservation, and to improve the health of the Great Lakes and the St. Marys River. Read the full story by The Sault Star.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20241115-environment-funding
According to a new study conducted by researchers with Wisconsin Sea Grant and the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point, ski hills in Wisconsin are relying more on snowmaking and other strategies to adapt to changing snow conditions due to climate change. Read the full story by Great Lakes Now.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20241115-snowmaking-study
Congressman Dan Kildee (MI-08), along with other Michigan Congressional representatives, sent a letter urging lawmakers to include his bipartisan amendment in the final bill opposing the Government of Canada’s plans to build a facility that would permanently store high-level nuclear waste in the Great Lakes basin. Read the full story by WEYI-TV – Saginaw, MI.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20241115-nuclear-storage-prevention
The possibility of Tawas Bay, Michigan, becoming a new cruise ship destination on Lake Huron is gaining momentum among local stakeholders. With renewed efforts, the Tawas community is hopeful that the initiative will boost local tourism and invigorate the economy. Read the full story by WISC-TV – Madison, WI.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20241115-cruise-tourism
With the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration forecasting “warmer-than-average” temperatures for parts of the Great Lakes, Michigan’s winter festivals from Metro Detroit to the Western Upper Peninsula are preparing to adapt. Read the full story by Great Lakes Echo.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20241115-winter-adaptation
A Wisconsin-based author released the first novel from her mystery series, “Superior’s Secret: A Great Lake Mystery Novel.” The story follows a fictional University of Wisconsin-Superior student who teams up with a supernatural detective to investigate the mystery of Lake Superior. Read the full story by KBJR-TV – Superior, WI.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20241115-superior-book
It was 49 years ago from Sunday, November 10, that the Edmund Fitzgerald was being loaded with 26,000 tons of iron ore, prepped for what would become its tragic final voyage. Once the largest ship on the Great Lakes, the 728-foot ship left Superior, Wisconsin, on November 9, 1975; a day later, the ship was gone, broken in two and laying on the bottom of Lake Superior in 530 feet of water. All 29 souls aboard were lost. Read the full story by MLive.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20241111-edmundfitzgerald-anniversary
The water levels of the Great Lakes have gone down significantly in the past few months, partly because of the natural annual lowering of water levels in most fall seasons and partly because of the lack of rain in the past couple months. Read the full story by WOOD-TV – Grand Rapids, MI.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20241111-water-levels
The National Museum of the Great Lakes in Toledo, Ohio, is hosting a micro exhibit which tells a story of the community’s investment into the Great Lakes Museum through donations of one-of-a-kind artifacts, which helps educate visitors about the history of the Great Lakes. Read the full story by The Toledo Blade.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20241111-artifact-donations
The Pennsylvania Steelhead Association and the Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission shared concerns about anglers trespassing and littering at one of Erie’s most popular steelhead creeks. Anglers are being reminded to observe the signs if they want the area to remain open to fishing. Read the full story by the Erie Times-News.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20241111-fishing-creek-concerns
Over the last two centuries, more than 70 ships have plunged to their demise on the Great Lakes during November. Some, like the iron ore carrier the Edmund Fitzgerald, went down and took the entire crew down with them. Read the full story by the Detroit Free Press.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20241111-november-shipwrecks
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency plans to finalize more than $200 million in grant funding through its Clean Ports Program in the coming weeks to accelerate the clean energy transition at three Great Lakes shipping ports. Read the full story by the Energy News Network.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20241111-clean-port-funding
Waterfront Toronto has removed the last pieces of the wall that once separated the mouth of the Don River and Lake Ontario as a next step in a project featuring a new island that could become home to thousands of people. Read the full story by CBC News.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20241111-waterfront-project
The sinking of the SS Edmund Fitzgerald took the lives of all 29 crew members, including the ship’s cook. His daughter and Abilene, Kansas, resident Pamela Johnson, now 73, remains a yearly advocate for her father along with those who perished at memorials and for various interviews. Read the full story by the Abilene Reflector Chronicle.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20241111-edmundfitzgerald-crew-descendent
“Beach season,” per the Chicago Park District, runs from the Friday before Memorial Day through Labor Day. Outside of this period, swimming is not permitted. Historically, this made a lot of sense; however, many people can still be seen swimming into October as Chicago has had at least 17 days since September 1 with temperatures greater than 80 degrees Fahrenheit. Read the full story by the Chicago Sun-Times.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20241111-climate-risks
The Mariners’ Church of Detroit held its 59th annual Great Lakes Memorial Service on Sunday. The occasion honors and remembers 30,000 people who have died in the Great Lakes and on Michigan’s waters over the years. Read the full story by WDIV-TV – Detroit, MI.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20241111-mariners-memorial-service
The Detroit Historical Society is honoring lost mariners during its annual Lost Mariners Remembrance this weekend in Detroit, Michigan. It’s the 25th year the society has held the event, which also marks the anniversary of the sinking of the S.S. Edmund Fitzgerald. Read the full story by WXYZ-TV – Detroit, MI.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20241104-mariners-remembrance
An anaerobic digester in Michigan was shut down after a liquid waste product called “digestate” escaped a nearby farm and flooded a neighboring home’s backyard. Environmentalists point to this incident as a prime example of what can go wrong if anaerobic digesters aren’t adequately regulated while lawmakers are pushing legislation that would expand the market for biogas produced by digesters and exempt them from certain regulations. Read the full story by MLive.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20241104-biogas-legislation
Lake Erie’s 2024 walleye hatch is being characterized as “low,” meaning that in two years, when the current crop grows to legal keeper size of 15 inches, something fewer than 10 million will be added. The most recent hatch and the only other rated low during the past 10 years happened in 2016. Read the full story by The Columbus Dispatch.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20241104-walleye-hatch
Michigan’s freshwater sand dunes make up the largest collection of freshwater dunes on the planet. A pair of West Michigan lawmakers seek to solve the problem of vague legal protections with planned legislation to protect the state’s most sensitive dunes, or those that were designated as “critical dunes” in 1989. Read the full story by Great Lakes Echo.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20241104-dune-protection
Huron Pines, a Northeast Lower Michigan organization, has reached a landmark $1 million fundraising goal as part of its Community-Driven Conservation fundraising campaign marking the organization’s 50th anniversary. Its funds will support public recreation opportunities, protect wild lands, and improve water quality. Read the full story by the Oscoda Press.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20241104-fundraising-campaign
A complaint filed by a Michigan state employee with the Michigan Attorney General’s office Thursday alleges that state regulators have failed to stop chemical giant BASF from releasing toxic chemicals into the Detroit River from its Wyandotte facility over several decades. Read the full story by Planet Detroit.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20241104-water-pollution
According to a recent Canadian government study, the average water temperature of the St. Lawrence River is at a record high. At measurements of 300 meters deep, in 2022, the temperatures exceeded 44.6 degrees Fahrenheit for the first time ever. Read the full story by Spectrum News 1.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20241104-river-warming
The University of Michigan recently received nearly $200,000 in state funding to figure out ways to make cargo shipping, recreational boating, commercial fishing, ports and ferries more sustainable. The project’s goals will be in line with the state’s MI Healthy Climate Plan that sets targets to reach carbon neutrality by 2050. Read the full story by WCMU – Mount Pleasant, MI.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20241104-maritime-sustainability
The wreck of the James R. Bentley, a 170-foot-long schooner, has sat 165 feet beneath the surface of Lake Huron since 1878. Within its hold was an unlikely treasure. A group of divers sponsored by a Northern Michigan distilling company aimed to retrieve a few scoops of 145-year-old rye seeds aboard the ship. Read the full story by The New York Times.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20241104-shipwreck-dive
The City of Lorain, Ohio, plans to invest over $15 million in revitalizing its Lake Erie lakefront on the eastern shore of the Black River, with hopes of creating a park, improved public boat ramp and space for mixed-use development. Read the full story by The Chronicle-Telegram.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20241104-shoreline-revitalization
The Great Lakes Observing System (GLOS) aims to map the Great Lakes by 2030 through its project called Lakebed 2030. A bill to fund this effort— the Great Lakes Mapping Act — was tabled in the U.S. Congress earlier this year and it is unlikely to get passed before the U.S. election on November 5. Read the full story by Toronto.com.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20241021-lakebed-mapping
Because capturing and converting nutrients is such a critical function to wetland ecosystems, Bowling Green State University (BGSU) researchers aim to study common wetland plants to identify which species promote these functions more than others to better inform wetland design in the future. Read the full story by The Toledo Blade.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20241021-wetland-plant-research
Visitors at the Holiday Beach Conservation Area in Ontario can become “citizen scientists” to help keep an eye on erosion of its Lake Erie shoreline. Two stands allow those strolling along the sand to place their mobile phones into the cradle, snap a photo of the shoreline and upload it to the CoastReach website. Read the full story by the Windsor Star.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20241021-community-erosion-monitoring
The Wisconsin Historical Society announced this past week that the wreck of the Pride, which sank in a tornado off of Egg Harbor 126 years ago, is now listed on the national register. It was placed on the Wisconsin State Register of Historic Places on May 24 and now is the 31st shipwreck in Door County waters on the state and national registers. Read the full story by the Green Bay Press-Gazette.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20241021-historic-shipwreck
The small farming community of Teeswater, Ontario, will vote in a referendum on whether or not they’re willing to host Canada’s largest underground storage facility of spent nuclear fuel. Less than 45 minutes from the Bruce Nuclear Generating Station on Lake Huron, Teeswater is one of two locations being considered to host the facility. Read the full story by CBC News.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20241021-nuclear-storage
An abandoned boat was discovered washed ashore along Lake Michigan in Milwaukee after strong winds caused the boat to break loose. The U.S. Coast Guard is working with the boat’s owner and their insurance company to remove the boat. Read the full story by WISN-TV – Milwaukee, WI.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20241021-boat-ashore
The annual “Salmon Run” in Buchanan, Michigan, is happening now. Every year, these fish travel from big bodies of water, in this case Lake Michigan, and return to their birthplace to spawn. Read the full story by WNDU-TV – South Bend, IN.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20241021-salmon-run
The Alvin Buckingham – a double-masted schooner that ran aground on a Lake Huron reef 154 years ago – now rests under eight feet of water about 1.2 miles offshore in the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Thunder Bay National Marine Sanctuary. Read the full story by MLive.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20241021-sanctuary-shipwreck
The Algoma Guardian, a Canadian bulk carrier, was navigating the St. Lawrence River Saturday afternoon when it started to spew smoke. The ship was back up and running Sunday morning; there’s no belief that the incident created any other problems on the river for other ships. Read the full story by WWNY-TV – Carthage, NY.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20241021-ship-smoke
According to an online survey, Wisconsinites’ top philanthropic priority if they suddenly struck it rich would be to protect the Great Lakes and their shorelines. Read the full story by WLUK-TV – Green Bay, WI.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20241021-philanthropy-survey
Wednesday October 9 marks one year since the city of Waukesha, Wisconsin, transitioned to using Lake Michigan for its drinking water. The entire project was completed two weeks earlier than anticipated after years of preparation to minimize the impact of radium in the city’s groundwater supply. Read the full story by WTMJ – Milwaukee, WI.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20241011-waukesha-diversion
The Great Lakes Observing System’s effort to map every meter of the Great Lakes’ bottom will pinpoint hundreds of underwater shipwrecks, illuminate topographical features and locate infrastructure. The map will also help ships avoid submerged hazards; identify fisheries; and inform erosion, storm surge and flooding models as climate change intensifies. Read the full story by CBS News.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20241011-lake-bottom-mapping
Little Traverse Conservancy in Harbor Springs, Michigan, has announced its new Wild Shores Initiative, aimed at protecting the undeveloped Great Lakes shoreline in the organization’s five-county service area which includes lakes Superior, Huron and Michigan. Undeveloped Great Lakes shoreline continues to be harder to find beyond those special places already protected as state or federal land or by non-profit conservation organizations. Read the full story by WWTV-TV – Cadillac, MI.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20241011-shoreline-protection
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Mussel Watch program is collecting invasive mussels at sites across the Great Lakes to measure the concentration of harmful pollutants in their tissue. A report with the results, expected this fall, will serve as an indicator to communities that they may need cleanup. Read the full story by Michigan Farm News.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20241011-pollution-indicators
The St. Lawrence Seaway announced its September performance figures, with 23.6 million metric tons of cargo shipped since the beginning of the navigation season. While overall tonnage is slightly down compared to last year, iron, steel, petroleum and potash demonstrate positive trends that underscore the seaway’s role in North American supply chains. Read the full story by Inside Logistics.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20241011-cargo-tonnage
The Yorkville, Illinois, City Council approved several agreements with the DuPage Water Commission on Tuesday as part of the city’s plan to receive Lake Michigan water. The agreements cover how and when the city will pay for the construction of the water line from Naperville to Yorkville and how and when the city will pay for its water. Read the full story by WSPY – Plano, IL.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20241011-water-agreement
Eleven major agricultural groups have asked a Senior U.S. District Judge to let them join the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and others in a landmark case in federal court that could affect how Ohio is allowed to manage western Lake Erie in the future. These groups claim they have a right to defend themselves from a case that could directly impact their industry. Read the full story by the Toledo Blade.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20241011-agriculture-litigation
A 2021 poll by the Great Lakes Water Quality Board found that 90% of U.S. and Canadian residents in the Great Lakes region support the lakes’ protection. The popularity of the Great Lakes would not have blossomed into such an ambitious and bipartisan conservation effort without the fact that three of those eight surrounding states – Michigan, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania – are critical swing states. Read the full story by Great Lakes Now.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20241011-bipartisan-support
The Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources is seeking comments on two draft items related to Wisconsin’s water management, conservation and efficiency efforts under the Great Lakes Compact. Read the full story by the Watertown Daily Times.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20241011-water-management-input
A New York man has set a state record for catching a 9-pound smallmouth bass from the St. Lawrence River during a bass tournament in Ogdensburg, New York. The record-breaking fish broke the previous state record for a fish caught in Cayuga Lake back in 2022 by 8 ounces. Read the full story by WPTZ – Plattsburgh, NY.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20241011-fishing-record
Ohio-based plaintiffs seeking strict limits on agricultural runoff allowed into Lake Erie streams and tributaries have been given until Monday to tell a U.S. District Judge how they would like the case to proceed. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency approved the state’s first-ever Total Maximum Daily Load for the lake’s western basin last year, but plaintiffs claim it wasn’t strong enough and renewed their lawsuit. Read the full story by The Toledo Blade.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20240918-algal-bloom-litigation
In Michigan, Chinook and Coho salmon pick up on decreasing day length and cooler temperatures as signals to migrate into river systems to spawn. Warmer temperatures don’t always bode well for fishermen looking to land salmon as they make their fall run, though decreasing daylight will allow water temperatures to drop. Read the full story by WZZM-TV – Grand Rapids, MI.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20240918-salmon-run
