Red-eared sliders are one of the most common pet turtle species in the world. But they can grow to the size of dinner plates and can live around 40 years. Because of that, people often release their pet turtles into the wild. That causes a big problem. Listen the full story by the Interlochen Public Radio.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20240105-turtle-takeover
With winter in the Great Lakes still on standby, so too are icebreakers needed to keep the marine freighters moving for as long as possible through the cold season. The Canadian Coast Guard has strategically docked an icebreaker in downtown Windsor, Ontario, ready for the potential of freezing waterways. Read the full story by the Windsor Star.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20240105-windsor-icebreakers
Researchers say wolf range in the Great Lakes region is unlikely to be negatively affected by projected human land use and climate change. Read the full story by The Wildlife Society.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20240105-resilient-wolves
The two-year plan aims to create tangible and achievable goals moving forward into 2024 and each initiative reflects a priority concern within the maritime domain. Read the full story by The Sault News.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20240105-coast-guard-plan
A University of Wisconsin-Madison doctoral student lost a $10K remote controlled research craft after it stopped communicating with the controller on the west side of Lake Michigan. After a treacherous 15-day journey the craft was recovered 120 miles in the other direction. Read the full story by MLive.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20231220-research-vessel
Many species of ducks, geese and swans migrate from as far north as the Arctic tundra to the Great Lakes during the winter when the waterfowl’s usual northern waters freeze. Read the full story by WDIV-TV – Detroit, MI.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20231220-weird-ducks
Experts are asking people to do their part to prevent the spread of invasive species in northern Ontario after the province added 10 new species to its restricted and prohibited lists. Read the full story by CBC News.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20231220-invasive-registry
As a father-daughter duo chugged along the shoals of Green Island, Michigan, their boat’s sonar delivered images of a pattern far too regular to have been fashioned by erosion or waves. Read the full story by The New York Times.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20231220-1871-shipwreck
The Line 5 oil pipeline that snakes through Wisconsin and Michigan won a key permit this month allowing a new section of pipeline to be built underneath the Great Lakes despite widespread Indigenous opposition. Read the full story by Grist.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20231220-line5-tribal-opposition
At the Michigan Department of Environmental, Great Lakes, and Energy’s fourth annual Great Lakes PFAS Summit, attendees shared information regarding all aspects of PFAS pollution. This year’s event broke attendance records with over 2000 participants representing all 50 states and nine countries. Read the full story by Great Lakes Now.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20231220-pfas-crisis
Officials from Michigan want to reduce phosphorus pollution going into Lake Erie, but they’re not exactly sure how or when they’ll reach their goal. At a conference this week, state government leaders, researchers, and not-for-profits outlined a strategy to lower Michigan’s share of phosphorus feeding Lake Erie. Read the full story by Great Lakes Now.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20231220-phosphorus-reduction
‘Twas the night before Christmas, and all through the lakes, not a creature was stirring, not even a drake; The poles were all strung by the river with care, in hopes a big salmon went cruising by there… Read the full poem by Great Lakes Now.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20231220-fishmas-poem
Complaints have flown online in recent weeks about a plastic-like taste and smell to the water in south London, Ontario – an area served by the same drinking water system that draws from Lake Erie. Read the full story by The London Free Press.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20231208-smelly-water
A Michigan environmental group will be testing four different data collection methods to assess chloride contamination in the Rouge River this winter, thanks to grant funding from the Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy. Read the full story by the Southfield Sun.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20231208-road-salt
As researchers scrolled through “camera trap” images, they saw many of the common species found in the Apostle Islands in Lake Superior. But a series of photos collected after dark in July 2022 were different, and featured the state-endangered American marten. Read the full story by the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20231208-endangered-marten
There are 55 lighthouses along Wisconsin’s shores, the majority dating back to the 1800s. For centuries, the beacons of light ensured the safe passage of ships crossing the Great Lakes. Read the full story by Up North News.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20231208-wisconsin-lighthouses
Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer’s plans to generate all of Michigan’s energy from renewable sources by 2040 may have positive and negative consequences for the state’s waters. Read the full story by Great Lakes Now.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20231208-energy-plan
There are multiple ways PFAS can be absorbed by beef, dairy, poultry, and fish, including by sewage sludge that has been contaminated with PFAS and applied to the land as fertilizer. Ground and surface water can act as another source for PFAS contamination. Read the full story by Michigan Advance.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20231208-pfas-contamination
Engineers will install more defenses to keep invasive fish from getting past a crucial choke point at the Brandon Road Lock and Dam along the Des Plaines River in Joliet, Illinois. The plan includes using noisemakers, a bubble curtain, an electric barrier, and flushing lock. Read the full story by Wisconsin Public Radio.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20231208-invasive-carp
DTE Energy and The Nature Conservancy have partnered to remove close to 150 acres of invasive phragmites on the Fermi 2 nuclear power plant property in Newport, Michigan. The large, perennial reeds found in wetlands are putting the Great Lakes at risk. Read the full story by Monroe Evening News.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20231208-phragmites-removal
Despite residential water use dropping in the Great Lakes region, service rates and fees are rising at almost twice the rate of median household income, and water shut-offs are increasingly common. Read the full story by Capital News Service.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20231129-water-use-drop
More than 1,000 Christmas trees were loaded onto the U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Mackinaw to be taken from northern Michigan and donated to families in need in Chicago. Read the full story by WOOD-TV – Grand Rapids, MI.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20231129-christmas-tree-ship
The presence of starry stonewort was discovered with the help of a landowner participating in a project combatting invasive exotic species between Lake Saint-François and Lake Saint-Louis in Dundee, Quebec. Read the full story by The Gleaner.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20231129-invasive-discovery
The U.S. Coast Guard is renaming two of its Great Lakes command sectors. Sector Buffalo will become “Sector Eastern Great Lakes” and Sector Sault Ste. Marie will become “Sector Northern Great Lakes.” The changes are in name only as the facility locations and operations will not change. Read the full story by MLive.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20231129-command-sector-rename
Creating an underwater curtain of bubbles and/or a band of high-frequency sound stretching across the Sandusky River in Fremont, Ohio has the potential to block upstream migration of grass carp. However, it could come with potential impacts to native fishes. Read the full story by Fremont News Messenger.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20231129-grass-carp-barrier
Intense rains from climate change are leading to flooded farm fields in Michigan and across the entire Great Lakes region. The Michigan Farm Bureau is promoting soil health practices to prevent flushes of nutrients from entering the Great Lakes. Read the full story by Great Lakes Echo.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20231129-water-challenges
In addition to requiring utility providers to transition to 100% carbon-free energy generation by 2040, the state of Michigan has also set a goal for utilities to generate 50% of their energy from renewable sources by 2030. This is a significant leap from the current 12%. Read the full story by The Associated Press.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20231129-michigan-clean-energy
After identifying that polluted air from a nearby coal plant in northern Wisconsin was affecting their reservation, Forest County Potawatomi leaders applied for a special classification that would recognize the importance of clean air and help them protect it. Read the full story by Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20231129-tribal-action
Nearly a third of Americans named climate change as a motivation to move. Some are headed to places that experts say will be relatively pleasant to live in as the world heats up, with researchers pointing to the Great Lakes region and Michigan in particular. Read the full story by Yale Climate Connections.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20231129-climate-haven
In Pennsylvania, Mazza Vineyards is located along the southeast shoreline of Lake Erie where the regions cooler climate and breezy days are comparable to wine regions in Germany. Read the full story by TheBurg.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20231129-erie-wine
Now that western Lake Erie’s algae season is finally over, scientists will spend the next several months taking heed of what just happened in hopes of making the region more resilient to climate change impacts they believe are here now. Read the full story by the Toledo Blade.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20231108-algal-bloom-gone
Consumers Energy has been asking the community in Manistee County, Michigan, what they’d like to do with Tippy Dam as the company explores the future of its 13 hydroelectric dams in the state. Read the full story by the Manistee News Advocate.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20231108-tippy-dam
Michigan’s Natural Resources Commission is considering a new limit to the number of steelhead people can harvest. The proposal is causing a stir. Read the full story by Interlochen Public Radio.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20231108-steelhead-limit
Wild rice reseeding projects across Wisconsin have spread seeds across the water’s surface, placed sinking seeded mudballs at lake bottoms, and integrated other traditional ecological knowledge into restoration plans. Read the full story by the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20231108-wild-rice-revitalization
A clutch of six trumpeter swans, an endangered species in Indiana, was found along a busy interstate. The swans were rescued, rehabilitated, and released, helping to contribute to their species’ success. Read the full story by The Times of Northwest Indiana.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20231108-trumpeter-swan-rehabilitation
An initiative to improve water quality throughout Ohio and Lake Erie is gaining ground near Cleveland on the banks of Chippewa Lake, Ohio’s largest inland lake. Read the full story by Great Lakes Echo.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20231108-wetland-restoration
Rising global temperatures are causing harmful algal blooms in the Great Lakes which can lead to the emergence of toxins in the water. Researchers at the University of Windsor in Ontario, Canada, are looking at ways to prevent these toxins from entering the drinking water supply. Read the full story by CTV News.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20231108-drinking-water-toxins
Earthworms are not “native” inhabitants of any place in North America covered by glaciers during the last Ice Age and there is no evidence that earthworms ever inhabited the Great Lakes region before European settlement. So what’s a responsible angler to do? Read the full story by The Plain Dealer.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20231108-exotic-earthworms
The Endangered Species Act has saved hundreds of species from extinction and continues to protect and preserve some of the Great Lakes region’s most beloved animals and plants, including the so-called “living dinosaur,” the lake sturgeon. Read the full story by Great Lakes Now.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20231108-endangered-species-act
Amid rising concerns over the increasing frequency and severity of flooding in the Great Lakes region, new research unveils crucial insights into six Great Lake states’ preparedness. Read the full story by Great Lakes Now.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20231108-mitigating-flood-risk
While cornfields are abundant throughout the state, Michigan produces a variety of other crops. The area’s climate, heavily influenced by the Great Lakes, affects how certain specialty crops grow in different areas of the state. Read the full story by The Daily Telegram.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20231108-microclimate-crops
To commemorate the 48th anniversary of the sinking of the Edmund Fitzgerald, the Michigan Maritime Museum will be hosting a commemoration ceremony in South Haven, Michigan, later this month. The event will include the traditional ringing of the bell, a guest speaker, and a special display of materials from the museum’s collections. Read the full story by WPBN-TV – Traverse City, MI.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20231101-museum-commemoration
An estimated 300 dead birds were found along beaches at Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore located along the northwest coast of Michigan’s Lower Peninsula. Read the full story by MLive.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20231101-dead-birds
The latest phase of a $75-million plan to build a revamped and modern marina along the Mississauga shoreline in Ontario concluded on Oct. 31. Read the full story by Insauga.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20231101-waterfront-transformation
$400 million will be given to municipalities across the state of Wisconsin to improve drinking water by replacing lead pipes in hopes of reducing and ultimately eliminating water contaminants. Read the full story by WTAQ – Green Bay, WI.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20231101-reduce-lead
A stormwater pond off the coast of Lake Michigan in Racine County, Wisconsin, is being redesigned to integrate a high-performing wetland mitigation bank that cleanses water before entering Lake Michigan. Read the full story by the Racine County Eye.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20231101-stormwater-project
A Ph.D. student from UW-Madison in Wisconsin lost important research on Lake Michigan coastal erosion and could use your help in finding the lost vessel which collects and stores the data. Read or watch the full story by WDJT-TV – Milwaukee, WI.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20231101-missing-vessel
Great Lake scientists have shown that eDNA can be a more important tool for conservation science than anyone suspected 13 years ago. Read the full story by Great Lakes Now.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20231101-edna-conservation
You can be part of a renewed effort to stop invaders in the Great Lakes region. Check your car, kayak or a nearby rail car – it might be providing free transportation for an invasive pest or plant. Read the full story by Michigan Farm News.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20231101-fight-invasives
In Ohio, officials from the city of Conneaut and state of Ohio plus various contractors celebrated the completion of work on the Conneaut Creek Dredge Reclamation Facility with a ribbon-cutting ceremony this week. The facility helps to maintain the port of Conneaut on Lake Erie and reduce dumping of dredge material into the lake. Read the full story by the Star Beacon.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20231101-dredge-facility
