The Village of Holly, Michigan, began discussing the future of the historic Stiff’s Mill Pond Dam after state regulators raised concerns about the dam’s safety. Read the full story by WJRT-TV – Flint, MI.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20250528-holly-dam
Slowed by a cold May, the Great Lakes are slightly cooler than usual for this time of year. Read the full story by Bridge Michigan.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20250528-water-temperature
As the Environmental Protection Agency scales back enforcement because of staff shortages and new federal rollbacks, concerns are growing in Michigan and across the country about who will hold polluters accountable. Read the full story by Public News Service.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20250523-epa-pause
Although the battle to save western Lake Erie from harmful algal blooms is far from over, data suggests that conditions are slowly headed in the right direction. Read the full story by the Toledo Blade.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20250523-erie-algal-blooms
Drawing from a deep well of economic and industrial history, leaders envision the Great Lakes region as a world-changing hub for water technology, achieving for pipes, pumps, sensors, waste purification, and resource recovery what Silicon Valley did for semiconductor advances and personal computing. Read the full story by Bridge Michigan.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20250523-water-technology
With about 100 drownings occurring on the Great Lakes every year, advocates are pushing for legislation that would require Michigan students to learn about water safety. Read the full story by WXMI – Grand Rapids, MI.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20250523-water-safety
Plastic pollution is a growing problem in the Great Lakes. A trash collecting robot named BeBot is helping to clean up Great Lakes beaches while also serving as a conversation starter around plastic pollution. Read the full story by WBUR.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20250523-plastic-pollution-robot
The annual work to cull sea lamprey populations in the Great Lakes will begin in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula in just under two weeks. Read the full story by WLUC-TV – Marquette, MI.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20250523-sea-lamprey
Researchers at the University of Michigan are learning more about Dolichospermum, the bacteria responsible for the toxins found during major algal bloom events. Read the full story WJBK-TV – Detroit, MI.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20250523-algal-bloom-organism
The opening of the Lake County Pekara Water System in Illinois will provide thousands of residents that formerly relied on wells with Lake Michigan water. Read the full story by Chicago Tribune.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20250523-lake-michigan-water
A large wooden platform deck at stop #9 on Sleeping Bear Dune’s Pierce Stocking Scenic Drive fell victim to erosion over the winter and had to be removed for safety reasons. Read the full story by MLive.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20250523-sleeping-bear
Authorities are planning to retrieve a rogue section of the Niagara River ice boom that drifted onto a Niagara-on-the-Lake beach. Read the full story by Thorold Today.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20250523-ice-boom
In Ontario, as new industries and governments take shape, efforts to bring Thunder Bay’s shoreline back to a state of good health are critical. Today, Thunder Bay has two benchmarks left to meet in order to be delisted as a Great Lakes Area of Concern. Read the full story by Michigan Public.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20250521-thunder-bay-restoration
With artificial intelligence and the demand for cloud computing set to grow in the years and decades ahead, technology companies are increasingly eying up the Great Lakes region’s comparatively cooler climate and ample water resources. Read the full story by Bridge Michigan.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20250521-data-center-impacts
A massive campaign to plant 250 million trees across the Great Lakes region by 2033 is off and running. Within the first year all goals were exceeded, with an estimated 27 million trees planted. Read the full story by The Toledo Blade.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20250521-tree-planting
The conflict over the weedkiller Roundup and its active ingredient, glyphosate, has the potential to alter its stature as the favored chemical tool in agriculture, affecting fresh water across the Great Lakes. Read the full story by Great Lakes Now.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20250521-glyphosate-conflicts
Michigan and its neighbors have missed a 2025 deadline to curb the farm pollution that feeds toxic algal blooms in western Lake Erie, despite 10 years of work and millions of dollars spent on the effort. Read the full story by Bridge Michigan.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20250521-erie-pollution
A recent study conducted by Columbia University concludes that significant areas of the Earth’s surface are gradually sinking, bringing environmental, social and economic consequences to urban centers in the United States. Great Lakes cities Detroit and Chicago are among those at risk. Read the full story by Great Lakes Now.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20250521-sinking-cities
The conflict between supporting native lake sturgeon versus non-native salmon is coming to a head on the Big Manistee River in Michigan. Read the full story by Great Lakes Now.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20250521-lake-sturgeon
Lake Erie, the smallest of the Great Lakes, borders only a small strip of southeast Michigan’s coast, but contains rich opportunities for waterfront recreation and exploration. Read the full story by the Detroit Free Press.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20250521-lake-erie
Winter has long been a weak spot of Great Lakes research, in large part because it’s more difficult to gather samples then. With climate change greatly reducing the amount of ice cover compared to decades ago, and wintertime rain becoming more common, scientists worry we are chasing a moving target. Read the full story by the Toledo Blade.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20250519-data-gaps-greatlakes
It’s about that time of the year that our pesky friends emerge from Lake Erie. Midges typically hatch when the water temperature is near 60 degrees. They are a sign of good health for Lake Erie and play an important role in the ecosystem. They can also provide food for fish and other aquatic life. Read the full story by WEWS-TV – Cleveland, OH.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20250519-midge-season
The mysterious appearance of a giant rubber duck in Lake Michigan has brought joy to local residents. A 25-foot rubber duck appeared in Lake Michigan near Navy Pier before Chicago residents woke up Friday and nobody knows how it got there. Read the full story by The Daily Scanner.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20250519-giant-rubber-duck-lake-michigan
A Wisconsin angler fishing in the fog this week discovered the wreck of an abandoned tugboat submerged in the waters of Lake Michigan for more than a century. A Wisconsin Historical Society Maritime Archaeologist confirmed that the angler found the wreck of the J.C. Ames. Read the full story by CBS News.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20250519-fisherman-historic-shipwreck
A Lake Michigan business has captured lightning in a bottle − well almost. The Mac Wood’s Dune Ride team unearthed a fulgurite, or a piece of fossilized lightning, while prepping its trails in the Silver Lake Sand Dunes in Michigan this spring. Read the full story by MLive.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20250519-dune-buggy-lightening
Every spring, deputies with the Macomb County Sheriff’s Office Marine Division in Macomb County, Michigan, meet reporters on the shore of Lake St. Clair to talk about National Safe Boating Week and what all boaters need to know. Read the full story by the Macomb Daily.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20250519-michigan-boaters-safety-reminder
As spring fishing ramps up on Lake Superior, anglers are hitting the water in pursuit of steelhead, lake trout, coho and chinook salmon. To help protect wild steelhead, Minnesota Sea Grant is distributing free identification decals to help anglers distinguish between steelhead and other salmon species while they’re out on the water. Read the full story by Pioneer Press.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20250519-free-steelhead-decals-lakesuperior
The Lake Erie water snake (LEWS), Nerodia sipedon insularum, is a described subspecies that has been found on 22 of Lake Erie’s islands and is believed to, at least seasonally, inhabit 16. Researchers will sample at established LEWS sites from May 31 to June 12. Read the full story by the Sandusky Register.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20250519-lakeerie-water-snakes
Toy sailboat races, singing and dancing pirates, Coastie the robot safety boat and birds of prey were just a few of the attractions that lined the dock outside Oswego, New York’s H. Lee White Maritime Museum at noon on Saturday to celebrate the beginning of the museum’s summer season on Lake Ontario. Read the full story by Oswego County News Now.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20250519-oswego-maritime-museum-newseason
President Trump wants to eliminate all federal funding for the Integrated Ocean Observing System’s regional operations. Scientists say the cuts could mean the end of efforts to gather real-time data crucial to navigating the Great Lakes. Read the full story by MLive.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20250519-trumpbudget-greatlakes-cuts-data
Construction of a new Soo Lock on the St. Marys River in Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan, is facing an upcoming financial deadline. Under the current budget in Washington, the money for the new lock needs to be allocated before September 25. Read the full story by Bridge Michigan.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20250516-soo-lock-funding
On May 14, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced their plan to roll back significant portions of the Biden administration’s first nationwide drinking water standard for PFAS. While limits for PFOA and PFOS will remain, the agency is extending the compliance deadline and intends to reconsider rules for other PFAS, like GenX. Read the full story by Great Lakes Now.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20250516-pfas-strategy
According to the National Centers for Coastal Ocean Science, the severity of the harmful algal bloom in the western basin of Lake Erie is projected to be in the mild-to-moderate range this year. The prediction is for a bloom in the 2.5 to 4.5 range, which is milder than last year’s moderate prediction of 4.5 to 6 on the severity index. Read the full story by The Plain Dealer.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20250516-algal-bloom-prediction
Presque Isle State Park in Erie, Pennsylvania, won’t receive federal funding for sand replenishment work on peninsula beaches in 2025. Some sand work will still take place this year on the beaches using state funds, but it won’t be as much as in most prior years. Read the full story by Erie Times-News.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20250516-sand-work-funding
While Great Lakes water levels were up in early May from the previous month, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers says they are all lower than their 2024 averages, by as much as 8 inches. Read the full story by The Detroit Free Press.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20250516-water-levels
There is always room to improve program effectiveness and efficiency in government, as well as business, nongovernmental organizations and other institutions. However, the “chainsaw” approach of recent months to downsizing, defunding and dismantling federal environmental programs while degrading Great Lakes scientific capacity and deregulating environmental protections could have long-term consequences. Read the full story by The News-Herald.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20250516-spending-cut-impacts
In a recently published book, a maritime historian tells the stories of ships lost to fire, storm and human error in Lake Michigan across more than a century of maritime history. Read the full story by the Door County Pulse.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20250516-shipwreck-book
Vernal pools, Michigan’s fantastical temporary wetlands, are teeming with life. They’ve earned the nickname “powerhouse puddles” from state conservationists. They’re also sometimes referred to as Michigan’s “coral reefs.” Read the full story by MLive.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20250516-vernal-pools
A stalemate between President Donald Trump and Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker that threatened a $1.2 billion plan to keep invasive carp from reaching the Great Lakes appears to have been settled after the Trump administration offered assurances it will cover its share of the costs. Read the full story by the Associated Press.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20250514-trump-backs-brandon-road
Federal environmental regulators and a Canadian energy firm say data doesn’t support a northern Wisconsin Indigenous Nation’s claim’s that rerouting an oil and gas pipeline will violate water quality standards on its reservation. Read the full story by Wisconsin Public Radio.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20250514-line5-claims
As spring fishing ramps up on Lake Superior anglers are hitting the water in pursuit of salmonid species. Minnesota Sea Grant is distributing free identification decals for a second year to help anglers distinguish between steelhead, a species that must be released, and other salmon species while they’re out on the water. Read the full story by the Brainerd Dispatch.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20250514-steelhead-id-decal
An $80 million cleanup of Muskegon Lake, which connects the city of Muskegon, Michigan, to Lake Michigan, has prompted a wave of redevelopment and a debate about who benefits from publicly funded cleanups. Read the full story by Bridge Michigan.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20250514-muskegon-cleanup
The scenic Brockway Mountain Drive in Michigan’s northernmost peninsula is now open for the 2025 season offering offers panoramic views of Lake Superior and surrounding rugged wilderness. Read the full story by MLive.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20250514-scenic-drive-open
A new series of collaborative articles will investigate the blue economy in the Great Lakes region. They pose a question central to the region’s future: how can the states, provinces, and tribal nations steward their water to provide jobs and attract businesses without inflicting the severe ecological damage that was a hallmark of earlier periods of development? Read the full story by Great Lakes Now.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20250514-water-articles
There has been great collaboration between the states and both federal governments to do what’s best for the $5.5 billion Great Lakes fishery and lakes they share. But much of that research and the collaborations with Canada have not been a priority of the administration of President Donald Trump. Read the full story by Michigan Public.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20250514-administration-cuts
A volunteer-led program that helps monitor the health of hundreds of lakes across Ontario has been on hold because agreement with the province has not yet been renewed. For 30 years the Federation of Ontario Cottagers’ Associations has partnered with the provincial government to run the Lake Partner Program. Read the full story by CBC News.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20250514-water-testing-program
Iron ore shipments on the Great Lakes totaled 3.7 million tons in April, a decrease of 18.7% compared to 2024. Read the full story by Marine Link.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20250514-iron-ore-trade
Livelihoods and economies in the Great Lakes region have always centered on water, yet the Trump administration is challenging the foundations of federally funded research by using research grants as political leverage. Read the full story by Bridge Michigan.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20250512-great-lakes-lifeblood
Water levels on most of the Great Lakes are below their long-term average for this time of year as they’ve fallen to levels not seen in more than a decade. Read the full story by Wisconsin Public Radio.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20250512-water-levels
At the EPA’s Great Lakes office in Chicago, programs are facing uncertainty over current and proposed funding cuts, and employees are facing increased surveillance. Read the full story by Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20250512-epa-cuts
