The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) reminds potential grant applicants that pre-proposals for the 2021 Sustain Our Great Lakes (SOGL) grants are due Feb. 16. Read the full story by The Chronicle Express.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20210211-sustain-great-lakes
Ice volcanoes have formed along Lake Michigan after two winter storms in recent days brought frigid subzero temperatures to some areas. Read the full story by NBC News.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20210211-ice-volcanoes
Three projects by water and drainage agencies in Michigan’s Oakland and Wayne counties together expect to eliminate about 48 million gallons of stormwater mixed with sewage that otherwise makes it, untreated, into the Rouge River and beyond to Lake Erie. Read the full story by The Detroit Free Press.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20210211-rouge-river
The Village of Waukesha, Wisconsin has filed a lawsuit against the city that aims to shut down construction of the water diversion project within its village limits. The hearing will take place on February 11 in Waukesha County Circuit Court. Read the full story by the Milwaukee Independent.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20210211-waukesha
The Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes and Energy halted a portion of the demolition process due to concerns about dust coming from the demolition of a baghouse at the plant, EGLE officials said. Read the full story by The Mining Journal.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20210211-power-plant
The spiny water flea has been latching onto fishing equipment, traveling the Great Lakes for decades, but now they are being transported to some of the most pristine waters in the Upper Midwest. Read the full story by Outdoor Life Magazine.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20210211-spiny-water-flea
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency under President Joe Biden has yanked back the health assessment of a notable “forever chemical,” alleging the document was compromised by “political interference” in the final days of the Trump administration. Read the full story by MLive.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20210211-pfas
Twenty-six people fishing on Lake Superior were rescued when an ice floe broke away from the Minnesota shoreline, stranding them in frigid weather. Read the full story by the Chicago Tribune.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20210211-anglers-rescued
Indiana moved to protect seven remaining inland lakes with cisco; Illinois backs re-establishing them in southern Lake Michigan. Read the full story by the Chicago Sun Times.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20210211-cisco
As issues with shoreline erosion on Lake Huron continue to plague Bluewater, Michigan residents along the lakeshore, councillors agreed to defer a decision on a policy to allow residents to install shoreline protections on municipal properties. Read the full story by the Shoreline Beacon.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20210211-erosion-protection
The Edsel & Eleanor Ford House, Great Lakes Commission and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration are embarking on a project that will restore disappearing wildlife habitats along a stretch of Lake St. Clair. Read the full story by Grosse Pointe News.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20210210-ford-cove
The first Europeans in Wisconsin documented how the Menominee people would use spears to catch sturgeon in Lake Winnebago. It’s a tradition that’s carried on today, not for sustenance, but for sport in the annual sturgeon spearing season. Read the full story by the Green Bay Press Gazette.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20210210-sturgeon-menominee
With multiple days of below freezing temperatures, Lake Erie ice coverage has increased to nearly 50% since this weekend. With arctic air staying in the forecast, we will most likely see near 70% ice concentration on the lake by Valentine’s Day, helping shut off the lake effect snow machine. Read the full story by WOIO-TV – Cleveland, OH.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20210210-frozen
Workers in Sarnia, Ontario, are raising concerns about the job losses that could occur if a U.S. governor’s plan to shut down an Enbridge’s Line 5 pipeline succeeds. Read the full story by The Canadian Press.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20210210-line5
An ice bridge forming in Lake Huron is providing hope for southern St. Clair County communities impacted by flooding. Read the full story by the Port Huron Times Herald.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20210210-ice-bridge
Lightships served as an alternative to brick and mortar lighthouses and generally marked hazardous shallows, shoals, or sometimes dangers in deeper waters of the Great Lakes. One was off the coast of Milwaukee for decades. Read the full story by On Milwaukee.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20210210-floating-lighthouse
Applications are now being accepted for a residency program in which artists can get paid $3,200 to live and work on Lake Superior’s Rabbit Island for three weeks. Read the full story by MLive.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20210210-art-island
The health of aquatic ecosystems depends on the supply of key nutrients, especially phosphorus. In the world’s largest freshwater ecosystem, the North American Great Lakes, control of this nutrient may have been lost to an invasive species. Read the full story by the National Science Foundation.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20210210-key-nutrient
Advocates are calling for an increase in protected areas at Chicago’s Montrose Beach to encourage more endangered piping plovers to nest. Read the full story by Chicago Magazine.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20210210-montrose-beach
Saturday was the first day of sturgeon season on Black Lake in Michigan’s Cheboygan and Presque Isle Counties. High interest and a low quota meant the season didn’t even last until noon on opening day. Read the full story by WLNS-TV – Lansing, MI.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20210210-sturgeon
A project at Lake Superior State University received $250,000 from the United States Forest Service to install landscaping reducing the pollution flowing into the St. Marys River, as part of the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative. Read and view the full story by Great Lakes Echo.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20210209-green-landscaping-water-quality
A mild December and January left the waters of Lake Michigan, near South Haven, mainly open and free of ice. But, over the last two weeks, temperatures fell and ice finally began to take shape along Southwest Michigan’s shoreline. Read the full story by MLive.com.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20210209-shoreline-ice
Hamilton’s cold-water swimmers cavort among lake ice cubes in regular bathing suits — and to be fair, usually gloves and hats — and swim into the wintery swells for five to 15 minutes at a time. Fans of a prolonged winter dip argue the health benefits outweigh the extremity-numbing pain. Read the full story by the Hamilton Spectator.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20210209-cold-water
A project at Lake Superior State University received $250,000 from the United States Forest Service to install landscaping reducing the pollution flowing into the St. Marys River, as part of the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative. Read and view the full story by Great Lakes Echo.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20210209-green-landscaping-water-quality
At issue is Fisheries Order 243.21. Michigan Fish Producers Association sued the Michigan DNR in federal court this month alleging that the order will make commercial fishing unprofitable and asking for a preliminary injunction that would allow Michigan’s 13 commercial fishing operations back on the water under the rules that governed 2020. Read the full story by GreatLakesNow.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20210209-commercial-fishing-michigan
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and Minnesota Pollution Control Agency have signed a $16 million agreement to remediate contaminated sediment in two backwater ponds surrounded by shallow marsh wetlands in Duluth. The project will improve access to the Duluth-Superior Harbor, a vital site for Minnesota’s economy. Read the full story by BusinessNorth.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20210209-area-of-concern-pollution
A federal appellate court judge has denied a motion to stop construction of Enbridge’s controversial Line 3 replacement, the second court ruling against pipeline opponents in the past week. Read the full story by Star Tribune.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20210209-enbridge-line-3
Michigan is a microcosm of the country in terms of our partisan split and difficulty interacting with those who have different viewpoints. But, there is a great exception to this divisiveness, and that’s our unity around support for the Great Lakes and clean water. Can and should President Biden utilize his interest in rebuilding civility, democracy and bipartisanship to advance clean water, equity and Great Lakes protection? Read the full story by Detroit Free Press.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20210209-rebuilding-water-great-lakes
The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation recently released a report documenting efforts and investments along the Great Lakes. The two-year report highlighted partnerships and achievements, including resiliency improvements, source water protection and accelerating restoration initiatives in communities that have been historically and disproportionately impacted by environmental pollution. Read the full story by WWTI – TV – Watertown, NY.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20210209-restoration-plan
Illinois officials are working to improve the public image of invasive Asian carp, promoting the fish as a healthy, delicious, organic, and sustainable food source. Read the full story by the Detroit Free Press.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20210208-carp-makeover
A binational bird conservation research effort is using their data to identify the most important coastal areas in the Great Lakes to protect and restore, including Chequamegon Bay, Green Bay, Saginaw Bay and Sandusky Bay. Read the full story by Great Lakes Now.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20210208-binational-bird-research
Freshwater is the most precious natural resource on Earth, according to a soil biophysicist researcher from Michigan State University who doesn’t believe current water regulatory policies in the United States, Canada, and around the world will solve humanity’s growing competition for it. Read the full story by The Mining Journal.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20210208-conserving-freshwater
Wildlife researchers and scientists have been using herring gulls for the past 50 years to better understand how the Great Lakes are changing over time. Read the full story by Great Lakes Now.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20210208-herring-gulls
Wildlife researchers and scientists have been using herring gulls for the past 50 years to better understand how the Great Lakes are changing over time. Read the full story by Great Lakes Now.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20210208-herring-gulls
Despite strong congressional and governmental support, the Port of Oswego on the shores of Lake Ontario in New York, will once again receive nothing toward the repair of the deteriorating 140-year-old breakwall protecting the Oswego harbor. Read the full story by the Watertown Daily Times.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20210208-breakwall-repairs
The Dam Safety Task Force, created after the May 2020 failures of the Edenville and Sanford dams in mid-Michigan, are requesting revisions to “soften” some of the language in the final dam safety report. Read the full story by Great Lakes Now.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20210208-dam-safety
An unexpected flurry of sailing songs called sea shanties have been making the round on social media and are sure to brighten up bleak winter days on the shores of the Great Lakes. Read the full story by Michigan Radio.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20210208-sea-shanties
Northern Michigan conservation nonprofit Huron Pines became the new owners of a 145-acre parcel of Lake Huron property that is slated to become an Alabaster Township park in the coming years. Read the full story by The Alpena News.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20210208-lake-huron-park
A feasibility study this spring at the Edsel and Eleanor Ford House could lead to a more natural restoration of the shoreline of the historic estate on Lake St. Clair in southern Michigan. Read the full story by C and G Newspapers.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20210208-shoreline-improvements
St. Clair County in southern Michigan is making emergency funding available to its coastal communities impacted by ongoing flooding. Read the full story by The Detroit News.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20210208-flooding-emergency
Michigan’s lakes are experiencing record low ice coverage. Loss of ice means hazardous conditions for ice fishing, more coastal erosion, and trouble for whitefish, burbot and other species that spawn in ice-covered Great Lakes reefs. Read the full story by Interlochen Public Radio.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20210205-mi-ice-cover
Despite congressional and governmental support, the former president’s final budget proposal excluded funding for repairs of the deteriorating breakwall at the Port of Oswego in New York. The $6.35 million requested by the Army Corps of Engineers for the repair was expected to be part of former-President Trump’s final budget but was axed at the last moment. Read the full story by Watertown Daily Times.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20210205-oswego
Three Coast Guard ice breakers from the United States and Canada have been working on the St. Clair River trying to break up ice dams to prevent flooding in homes near East China Township in Michigan. Read the full story by WDIV-TV – Detroit, MI.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20210205-coast-guard-flooding
The impending closure of the Line 5 oil pipeline directed by Michigan governor Gretchen Whitmer is prompting Canadian businesses and politicians to reconsider energy relations between the two countries. Read the full story by CBC News.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20210205-line-5
Unique ice formations resembling pancakes were spotted along Chicago’s Lake Michigan shoreline this week. These ice formations are rare but interest scientists because they can decrease wave intensity, which can have major implications for ships navigating wavy waters. Read the full story by the Chicago Tribune.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20210205-pancake-ice
After not having lifeguards last year at Washington Park beach on Lake Michigan, officials in Michigan City, Indiana, are considering a plan to attract applicants by boosting pay. Read the full story by the Times of Northwest Indiana.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20210205-mi-city-lifeguards
Advocates for a provincially significant wetland in Pickering, Ontario, are pushing back against a proposal to drain the Duffins Creek wetland and build a warehouse. Read the full story by TVO.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20210205-duffins-creek
The Midland Bay Landing Development Corporation approved plans to accommodate a boat dock on Lake Huron that will support boat tours and cruise ships, hopefully boosting tourism to the town of Midland, Ontario. Read the full story by Orilla Matters.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20210205-island-princess
A train derailment in Goderich, Ontario, destroyed a fish shanty near Lake Huron, removing part of the town’s prized cultural heritage. Read the full story by the Goderich Signal-Star.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20210205-goderich-shanty
According to data from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the ice cover on the Great Lakes is at its second lowest point since NOAA started keeping records in 1973, standing at 13%. Lake Huron in particular is at its third lowest point since that time. Read the full story by Huron Daily Tribune.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20210204-ice-cover
