Eastern Lake Ontario has been designated a national marine sanctuary. The designation recognizes the national significance of the area’s historical, archeological, and cultural resources. Read the full story by the WWNY – Watertown, NY.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20240610-marine-sanctuary
Kayakers and boaters heading out to the Apostle Islands in Lake Superior will soon be able to check on real-time wave and temperature conditions on the water with the help of solar-powered smart buoys. Read the full story by Wisconsin Public Radio.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20240529-smart-bouys
It’s no big secret that there’s a pollution problem in the Great Lakes. Plastic containers floating in the water or washed up on shore. However, the bigger threat to the lakes comes from the smaller plastic pollution — some of it smaller than you can see with the naked eye. Read the full story by Yahoo! News.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20240529-plasitc-pollution
Despite the decline in Lake Sturgeon populations in the Great Lakes caused by overfishing and dam construction which limited access to spawning grounds, these fish have been able to recover in the Detroit River with the help of stocking programs and other regulations. Read the full story by The Detroit News.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20240529-sturgeon-recovery
A public-access beach in Arenac County, Michigan, is going on its fifth day of being closed for high bacteria levels. This is the eleventh time this has happened since 2003. Read the full story by WNEM – Saginaw, MI.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20240529-beach-bacteria
In New York state, SUNY Oswego has announced the formation of a new institute to promote a greater understanding and awareness of the Great Lakes. Read the full story by Oswego County News Now.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20240529-oswego-institute
Great Lakes maritime transport brings in thousands of tons of crucial materials for infrastructure projects, but massive freighters also carry a threat to the health of the waterway. Read the full story by Bridge Detroit.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20240529-invasive-species-transport
The combination of heat and storms is increasing Great Lakes basin residents’ exposure to a host of health threats, from waterborne pathogens that formerly couldn’t survive this far north, to bacteria-laden sewer overflows and toxic algae blooms. Read the full story by Michigan Public Radio
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20240529-warming-threats
Researchers and bird enthusiasts are working to better understand and limit bird causalities in the Great Lakes region. Some reasons for the recent increase in causalities include diseases like bird flu and botulism in addition to collisions with buildings and cars and outdoor cats. Read the full story by Michigan Public Radio.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20240529-great-lakes-birds
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers will be hosting an information session for residents to learn more about the recommended plan to create a barrier against the invasive sea lamprey in Conneaut Creek in Albion. The meeting will be held on Thursday, May 30 from 5:30-7 p.m. Read the full story by Erie News Now.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20240529-sea-lamprey-barrier
The winner of a Great Lakes water quality competition is tackling microplastics pollution one washing machine at a time. Ten finalists from the United States and Canada presented their work to a four-judge panel at the AquaHacking Challenge at Northwestern Michigan College in Traverse City, Michigan. Projects dealt with PFAS, lead contamination, microplastics, and nutrients. Read the full story by Interlochen Public Radio.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20240515-water-innovation-challenge
Purvis Fisheries located on Ontario’s Manitoulin Island in Lake Huron is one of 24 fisheries operating on the Great Lakes that have joined the 100% Great Lakes Fish Pledge. Through the project, signatories have committed to using 100 percent of their fish by 2025. The Manitoulin Island fishery’s commitment to make better use of its catch will create more value for the company while also improving its impact on the environment. Read the full story by BayToday.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20240515-fishery-sustainable-pledge
An upcoming celebration of Great Lakes sturgeon is no big fish story, as the Friends of the St. Clair River will host its annual Sturgeon Fest on June 1 in Port Huron, Michigan. Those who attend the festival can experience the Great Lakes’ largest fish via a live sturgeon touch tank and hands-on activities. Read the full story by The Voice.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20240515-sturgeon-festival
FishPass is a project aiming to reconnect the Ottaway or Boardman River in Traverse City, Michigan, to Lake Michigan. With recent money granted the project is slated to start in June, marking the start of a long process to make dams smarter and capable of sorting beneficial fish species from invasive species. Read the full story by WMNN-TV – Cadillac, MI.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20240515-new-fishpass-project
The Huron River Watershed Council recently estimated the 148-year-old Peninsular Dam in Ypsilanti, Michigan, could come down in 2025 or 2026. The plan includes investing $10 million to revitalize a nearby public park that will grow as the river narrows. Read the full story by Great Lakes Echo.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20240515-dam-removal
There are a few active large fires in southern Canada. Due to upper air flow the smoke from those fires will be blown into the Midwest. Satellite images show the milky white haze of smoke moving from the Dakotas into the western portion of the Great Lakes basin. Read the full story by MLive.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20240515-early-wildfires
Look fast or you may miss an elusive 170-year-old sunken schooner off the coast of Baileys Harbor, Wisconsin. The vessel comes in and out of view depending on the cyclical motion of sand in Lake Michigan. Read the full story by Great Lakes Echo.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20240515-shipwreck-visible
Harmful algal blooms have become the talk of the summer for nearly a decade in Lake Erie, especially as the heat cranks up. The record-breaking rainfall experienced this April is the main driver for the above-average algal bloom forecast this coming summer. Read the full story by WTOL11 – Toledo, OH.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20240515-early-algal-bloom
Nonprofit organizations in Northern Michigan will receive nearly $70,000 in funding from the Great Lakes Energy People Fund. With 21 grants awarded, the funds will support a variety of local initiatives including maritime preservation. Read the full story by Cheboygan Daily Tribune.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20240515-nonprofit-funding
Central Michigan University’s Institute for Great Lakes Research recently acquired a two-person submersible that will help researchers get a better handle on what’s happening beneath the surface of the Great Lakes. Read the full story by Central Michigan University.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20240515-submersible-vessel
Cells from an invasive algae known as didymo or “rock snot” have been found in the Au Sable River in Oscoda County, Michigan. Didymo can create thick mats that cover river and stream bottoms which alters habitat, recreation, and food resources for fish. Read the full story by WDIV – TV – Detroit, Michigan.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20240503-invasive-didymo-found
St Lawrence Seaway Management Corporation and Great Lakes St Lawrence Seaway have agreed a deal to deploy a new Voyage Information System from Global Spatial Technology Solutions to enhance joint management of the bi-national waterways between Canada and the United States. Read the full story by the Smart Maritime Network.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20240503-ai-seway-traffic-assistance
The federal government is closer to spending $500 million a year to extend a nearly 15-year effort to stop contamination throughout the Great Lakes. Read the full story by The Center Square.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20240503-legislation-clears-senate
Early indications and forecasts from the International Lake Ontario – St. Lawrence River Board, which maintains outflow from Lake Ontario for the International Joint Commission, show that the normal mid-summer high point for Lake Ontario levels will remain slightly below average. Read the full story by WROC – TV – Rochester, NY.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20240503-ontario-water-levels
A feasibility study released in 2022 by the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority did not support the placement of turbines in Lakes Erie and Ontario. This was thought to be the end to future consideration but a recent proposal from Pennsylvania says otherwise. Read the full story by The Post-Journal.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20240503-wind-turbine-dispute
After 12 years and $7.5 million, the habitat restoration of a large wetland preserve in the very southeast corner of Michigan is now complete, just in time for the migratory birds heading this way. Read the full story by WJBK – TV – Detroit, Michigan.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20240503-wetland-restoration
Efforts to kill sea lamprey larvae in Conneaut Creek in Pennsylvania were conducted in late April at the start of a six-month-long lampricide program slated for the entire Great Lakes. Read the full story by Outdoor News.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20240503-lampricide-treatments-underway
The United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues (UNPFII) once again called on Canada and the U.S. to decommission the Enbridge Line 5 pipeline. Indigenous communities on both sides of the border have repeatedly called for the decommissioning to protect a broad range of human rights. Read the full story by the Center for International Environmental Law.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20240503-line5-opposition
A 195-foot wooden steamship that vanished in 1909 on Lake Superior has been found. The vessel, The Adella Shores, was found with sonar technology in more than 650 feet of water about 40 miles northwest of Whitefish Point in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. Read the full story by The Detroit News.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20240503-shipwreck-found
Lucas County in Toledo, Ohio, and the Environmental Law and Policy Center filed a lawsuit that alleges that the EPA’s does not measure the actual amount of phosphorus from sources like manure primarily from unregulated large-scale animal feeding operations called CAFOs. Read the full story by Bridge Michigan.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20240503-epa-lawsuit
Scientists have created an interactive map that shows how parts of Illinois may be swallowed up by Lake Michigan as climate change bites. Read the full story by Newsweek.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20240417-lake-level-rise
Central Michigan University’s Institute for Great Lakes Research recently bought a $40K, two-person submersible to complete research at the Beaver Island Biological Station in northern Lake Michigan. The sub will be used for oil pipeline inspections, mapping whitefish spawning habitat, and developing underwater communication technologies among other things. Read the full story by Mlive.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20240417-reserach-submersible
Six volunteers in New York, armed with hundreds of feet of spooled wire, a dozen nesting boxes, and a family of bird decoys, hopped on a boat Tuesday morning to help protect a threatened species, the common tern. Read the full story by the Watertown Daily Times.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20240417-common-turn-help
Work will take place in Conneaut Creek in northeast Ohio to help reduce the number of sea lampreys in Lake Erie. An estimated 53 miles of stream treatment targeting over 15K larval sea lampreys will save over 300K pounds of fish. Read the full story by the Star Beacon.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20240417-sea-lamprey-control
For Love of Water, a group known as FLOW, has filed a brief in the Michigan Court of Appeals to challenge Line 5 permitting. The appeal was filed on behalf of FLOW and other environmental groups, as well as some Native American tribes. Read the full story by The Toledo Blade.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20240417-line5-permit-opposition
Every year billions of winged creatures emerge from the water to spend a few hours mating, laying eggs, and then dying, not even pausing to eat. A mayfly hatch might be one of the Great Lakes’ more impressive natural events. Read the full story by Mlive.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20240417-mayfly-hatch
A new report from the Alliance for the Great Lakes adds new data showing that America’s plastic addiction and waste-disposal habits are polluting our land and water. The Chicago-based group analyzed 20 years of data from volunteer beach cleanups across the region, finding that the majority of litter is plastic-based. Read the full story by the Manchester Mirror.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20240417-plastic-litter
Several improvements will be made to Peninsula Park’s trails in northeastern Wisconsin, increasing sustainability and enhancing the visitor experience. The implementation of the Northern Lake Michigan Coastal Master Plan includes improvements to wildlife areas, state parks, natural areas, state forests, and fishery areas. Read the full story by the WBGA-TV – Green Bay, WI.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20240417-trail-improvements
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has finalized long-awaited national standards for toxic “forever chemicals” called PFAS. The standards allow only trace levels in public drinking water. It is the first time the EPA has regulated a contaminant under the Safe Drinking Water Act since the 1990s. Read the full story by MLive.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20240410-pfas-limits
Global warming is fueling the spread of the peach blossom jellyfish in the Great Lakes region, which may foster harmful algae blooms and dead zones. Scientists are relying on community members to report jellyfish sightings across the Great Lakes region. Read the full story by Great Lakes Echo.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20240410-jellyfish-invasion
After years of planning and legal delays, the FishPass Project in Traverse City, Michigan, is officially moving forward. The barrier will use technology to let “desirable” species pass while blocking invasive species like sea lamprey. Read the full story by Interlochen Public Radio.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20240410-fish-passage
Mercury levels in the Great Lakes are increasing as temperatures warm and extreme weather becomes more frequent, according to research in Minnesota’s Marcell Experimental Forest. Read the full story by Great Lakes Echo.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20240410-mercury-rise
Environmentalists say that a proposed mine is putting the Great Lakes environment at risk. If it goes as planned, the Copperwood Mine will sit on the Wisconsin-Michigan border and become the closest metallic sulfide mine to Lake Superior, extracting copper as close as 100 feet from the lake. Read the full story by Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20240410-copper-mine
Wildlife officials are reporting that the season’s first Great Lakes piping plover, a federally endangered species, has returned to his breeding grounds at Sleeping Bear Dunes on the northeast shore of Lake Michigan. Read the full story at WTTW – TV – Chicago, Illinois.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20240410-piping-plover-return
U.S. Representative Debbie Dingell of Michigan speaks about this election’s bipartisan support for Great Lakes protection and mentions other political priorities, including preventing invasive species. Read the full story by Great Lakes Echo.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20240410-political-priorities
The Bad River Band of Lake Superior Chippewa previously filed lawsuits against Enbridge Energy’s Line 5 oil pipeline project in an effort to shut it down. Later this month, Indigenous leaders will speak before a United Nations panel about their ongoing concerns with the project. Read the full story by Public News Service.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20240410-line5-tribal-opposition
After a decade of water level extremes, the Great Lakes have entered a sweet spot of normality based on many decades of water level tracking. Read the full story by MLive.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20240410-water-levels
In New York, the Ogdensburg Bridge and Port Authority has to undertake a new environmental review for their port dredging project because they’ve changed where the dredged riverbed will be dumped. Read the full story by the Watertown Daily Times.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20240410-dredging-project
In the wake of the Francis Scott Key Bridge collapse, it was reported that freighters on the Great Lakes and St. Lawrence Seaway lost propulsion, steering, or electrical power more than 200 times between 2012 and 2022. Read the full story by The Detroit News.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20240329-freighter-power-loss
The Great Lakes shipping season started three days early this month, responding to industry calls to move more cargo amid demand for domestic steel. Read the full story by Wisconsin Public Radio.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20240329-shipping-early-start
