A recently published details the NASA-funded research of the 11 largest freshwater lakes. A combination of satellite observations and field data provided a new understanding of how water fixes carbon in large bodies of water and how climate change influences these interactions. Read the full story by The Science Times.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20210121-climate-change
The Central Michigan Cooperative Invasive Species Management Area (CM-CISMA) is hoping to continue research on invasive species in the area, this time focusing on the effects of last May’s flood on invasive species along the Tittabawassee River. Read the full story by the Midland Daily News.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20210121-cisma
In passing an omnibus bill which included the Water Resources Development Act, Congress authorized a plan from the Army Corps of Engineers to restore the Chicago River’s South Fork, a 1.25-mile stretch more familiarly known as Bubbly Creek. Read the full story by WTTW-TV-Chicago, IL.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20210121-bubbly-creek
To address the issue of harmful algal blooms, Ohio Sea Grant, in conjunction with the University of Toledo, co-manage the Ohio Department of Higher Education’s Harmful Algal Bloom Research Initiative. These funds are leveraged with NOAA Sea Grant support to study Like Erie stressors. Read the full story by Ohio’s Country Journal.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20210121-erie-research
Pennsylvania’s Presque Isle State Park will receive a total of $3 million for sand replenishment in 2021, according to park operations manager Matt Green. Read the full story by Erie News Now.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20210121-presque-isle
The Black River Area of Concern in Ohio removed another item of concern from its list, according to a news release from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Read the full story by The Chronicle Telegram.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20210121-black-river
Three weeks into January the percentage of ice coverage on the Great Lakes is historically low with not even 2% of ice coverage on the lakes. Read the full story by WSYR-TV Syracuse, NY.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20210121-ice-cover
The Army Corps included $3.8 million for the Brandon Road Lock and Dam gauntlet project in its fiscal year 2021 work plan. The project would reconfigure the Brandon Road lock in Illinois with an electric barrier, bubble barrier, acoustic deterrents and flushing lock, to prevent invasive silver and bighead carp from moving upstream. Read the full story by MLive.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20210120-asian-carp-invasive
Plans to restore Lake Michigan’s Waugoshance lighthouse have now been abandoned due to the extensive damage. Read the full story by Harbor Light News,
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20210120-lighthouse-restoration
Does Flint finally have clean water? Almost. Nearly four years after a court order required the replacement of lead pipes in the water system of Flint, Michigan, the work is only just now approaching completion. Read the full story by New York Magazine.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20210120-michigan-flint-water-quality
In Ohio, Cuyahoga County’s Lakefront Public Access Plan aims to provide access to Lake Erie and improve transportation along the shoreline while enhancing erosion control and shoreline stability. Read the full story by Spectrum News Ohio.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20210120-shoreline-access-ohio
The effort to keep the invasive grass carp from running rampant in Lake Erie has been culminated in “The Lake Erie Grass Carp Response Strategy: 2019–2023,” which outlines Ohio Department of Natural Resources’ strategy for preventing grass carp from expanding beyond western Lake Erie and the Maumee and Sandusky rivers. Read the full story by Port Clinton News Herald.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20210120-grass-carp-invasive
About half a century after local leaders first proposed building a breakwall in Lake Ontario to prevent flooding in New York’s Olcott Harbor, the project finally has reached the brink of state and federal approval, with state agency and Army Corps of Engineers permits remaining. Read the full story by The Buffalo News.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20210120-new-york-harbor
In Michigan, Lake Superior State University was awarded a grant from the U.S. Forest Service’s Great Lakes Restoration Initiative to help create green infrastructure through the St. Marys River Green Stormwater Demonstration Project at a former industrial brownfield site later this year. Read the full story by WLUC – TV – Negaunee, MI.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20210120-green-infrastructure-restoration
After a year of overwhelmed sewer systems, compromised roadways, lost beachfront property, and rampant erosion along the shoreline, Traverse City, Michigan is finally getting some relief: Water levels in the Great Lakes are dropping. Read the full story by The Ticker.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20210120-water-levels-erosion-michigan
As part of the Pike River Restoration Plan completed in 2013, the Petrifying Springs Park section of the Pike River in Wisconsin was identified for rehabilitation. Now with more than 525 tons of sediment and 368 pounds of phosphorous removed, short-term data is showing 55% reduction in phosphorus and 44% reduction in nitrogen. Read the full story by The Journal Times.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20210120-wisconsin-river-restoration
The U.S. Coast Guard says the submerged tugboat near Marquette’s Lower Harbor was removed and successfully salvaged Monday, with no fuel spilled between Friday’s submersion and Monday’s removal. Read the full story by WLUC – TV – Marquette, MI.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20210119-ship-tug-recovery
In Traverse City, MI the FishPass project was designed to replace the Union Street Dam and protect native fish, while keeping out any invasive species. The project was put on hold by a judge citing concern over misrepresentations about the project effort. Read the full story by 9&10 News.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20210119-fish-michigan
A water reservoir in Scanlon, MN was recently deemed an area of concern as a result of sediment contamination and has been selected for a collaborative environmental cleanup project beginning this fall by the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency and the Environmental Protection Agency’s Great Lakes National Program Office. Read the full story by Pine Journal.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20210119-pollution-minnesota
Work on the new stretch of Lakewalk in Duluth, MN will be completed this spring, but more construction is planned over the next several years to build a more climate-resilient Lakewalk all along Lake Superior. Read the full story by The Associated Press.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20210119-duluth-lakewalk-climate
Protesters set up camp Monday next to the Line 3 replacement pipeline construction project in Cloquet, MN. About two dozen protesters said they hope to slow down the project by trespassing during construction where the line runs through the Fond du Lac Reservation. Read the full story by KBJR – TV – Cloquet, MN.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20210119-minnesota-protests-line-3
Nearly 38 million tons of cargo were shipped last year along the route stretching from the lower St. Lawrence River to the Great Lakes, with record shipments of grain offsetting a decline in liquid bulk, dry bulk and iron ore, the St. Lawrence Seaway Management Corp. said. View the full story by Canadian Press.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20210119-st-lawrence-shipping-grain
Members of the Kawartha Nishnawbe are holding their ground at Lock 28 in Burleigh Falls, ON, located about 200 km northeast of Toronto. Six days ago they put a halt to repair work at a dam, owned by Parks Canada, because there was no consultation. Read the full story by APTN News.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20210119-indigenous-dam-protest-ontario
Wildlife researchers and scientists use aquatic birds as environmental change indicators in freshwater and marine environments. For about 50 years, herring gulls have been used to get a better idea of how the Great Lakes are changing through time, and have found in that time period a decline in volume and density. Read the full story by Great Lakes Echo.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20210119-ecological-monitoring-gull
The Ausable Bayfield Conservation Authority based in Exeter, ON will be joining a group that includes the University of Michigan, the National Atmospheric Oceanic Administration, and the U. S. Army Corps of Engineers to study water quality in the lower Great Lakes starting this summer. Read the full story by BlackburnNews.com.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20210119-sediment-water-quality
Canadian and U.S. officials are at odds over the fate of a pipeline underneath the Great Lakes, exacerbating disagreements over energy policy between the two nations as the Biden administration prepares to take office. Read the full story by The Wall Street Journal.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20210119-line-5-energy
The Great Lakes Science Center in Cleveland, OH went virtual this year for its Martin Luther King Jr. Day celebration, putting the spotlight on diversity in the science, engineering, technology and mathematics fields. Read the full story by Spectrum News Ohio.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20210119-mlk-day-ohio
Environmental challenges in the Great Lakes region pay no mind to international borders, making binational research critical to investigating and tackling those challenges. Read the full story by Great Lakes Echo.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20210118-binational-research
At a lock and dam site in the suburbs of Chicago, there’s a plan to build a set of traps to keep invasive carp from reaching the Great Lakes that would involve a barrier of bubbles, an electric field, underwater speakers, and a price tag of over $800 million dollars. Read the full story by WIAA – Interlochen, MI.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20210118-invasive-carp
The Port of Duluth-Superior reported a record-setting year when it comes to wind turbine cargo. Read the full story by MLive.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20210118-wind-cargo
A new Resiliency and Economic Development Initiative Regional Dredging project has begun at Little Sodus Bay on Lake Ontario to help build resiliency in waterside communities in New York. Read the full story by WWTI-TV – Albany, NY.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20210118-dredging
The Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources has issued its first fish consumption advisory related to PFAS in Lake Superior fish, recommending people not consume more than one meal of smelt per month. Read the full story by Wisconsin Public Radio.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20210118-limit-smelt
A wolf and moose study on Isle Royale National Park in Lake Superior, one of the world’s longest-running wildlife field studies that began in 1959, has fallen prey to the coronavirus pandemic and no winter observations will be allowed to take place. Read the full story by The Associated Press.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20210118-isle-royale-study
A federal judge has penalized a Western Pennsylvania copper-processing company with a $550,000 fine for its years-long criminal violations of the Clean Water Act, including illegal discharging of oil into the Ohio River. Read the full story by Great Lakes Echo.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20210118-illegal-discharge
Minnesota lawmakers are ramping up efforts to prevent mining companies from gaining a foothold in Minnesota with legislation that aims to slow or ban copper-nickel mining on the Iron Range. Read the full story by The Associated Press.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20210118-anti-copper-mining
Environment and Climate Change Canada forecasts that Lakes Michigan-Huron will stay below record water levels but will remain well above average for the next six months and could approach record levels in early 2021 if wet conditions prevail. Higher lake levels are thought to be a direct result of climate change. Read the full story by Elliot Lake Today.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20210118-climate-change-high-water
In the first month of a 20-year effort to replace every lead service line connecting a Michigan home to a public water supply, Michigan communities are asking who is going to pay for it. Read the full story by Great Lakes Now.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20210118-lead-pipes
The Dow Great Lakes Bay Invitational announced today that applications are now open for the 2021 #TeamUp for the Great Lakes Bay Region charitable program. Since its inception in 2019, this charitable giving effort has awarded over $200,000 to local charities throughout the Great Lakes Bay Region. Read the full story by the Midland Daily News.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20210115-teamup-applications
Close to 5,700 lakes in the Northern Hemisphere may permanently lose ice cover this century, 179 of them in the next decade, at current greenhouse gas emissions despite a possible polar vortex this year, researchers at York University have found. Read the full story by WLUC – TV- Marquette, MI.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20210115-ice-cover
After a year without travel, international cruise line Viking is catering to built-up wanderlust and taking reservations for its new expedition ships, which are scheduled to sail to Minnesota in summer 2022 as the company makes its Great Lakes debut. Read the full story by the Star Tribune.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20210115-viking-cruises
Environmental groups have filed a flurry of lawsuits against the Trump administration over its removal of Endangered Species Act protections for the gray wolf. Read the full story by Oregon Public Broadcasting.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20210115-grey-wolf
Environmental groups have filed a flurry of lawsuits against the Trump administration over its removal of Endangered Species Act protections for the gray wolf. Read the full story by Oregon Public Broadcasting.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20210115-grey-wolf
Four vessels will winter in the Twin Ports as the 2020-21 shipping campaign draws to completion Friday with the end-of-day closure of the Soo Locks connecting lakes Superior and Michigan. Read the full story by the Duluth News Tribune.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20210115-duluth-superior-port
Four vessels will winter in the Twin Ports as the 2020-21 shipping campaign draws to completion Friday with the end-of-day closure of the Soo Locks connecting lakes Superior and Michigan. Read the full story by the Duluth News Tribune.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20210115-duluth-superior-port
The latest estimates of Lake Michigan’s ice coverage are below average for the winter season so far, running at only 1.7%. The average ice coverage around this time is about 15%, 13.3% more than it is right now. Read the full story by the Duluth News Tribune.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20210115-lake-michigan
The latest estimates of Lake Michigan’s ice coverage are below average for the winter season so far, running at only 1.7%. The average ice coverage around this time is about 15%, 13.3% more than it is right now. Read the full story by the Duluth News Tribune.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20210115-lake-michigan
The National Museum of the Great Lakes is offering free admission Saturday through Monday as a gesture of gratitude to the Toledo, Ohio, community for its ongoing support, especially during the coronavirus pandemic. Read the full story by the Toledo Blade.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20210115-maritime-museum
New York Governor Andrew Cuomo announced that a new Resiliency and Economic Development Initiative Regional Dredging project has begun at Little Sodus Bay on Lake Ontario and more are planned. This Initiative was original developed in response unprecedented flooding along the shores of Lake Ontario and the St. Lawrence River to help communities build resiliency. Read the full story by WWTI–TV – Watertown, NY.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20210115-st-lawrence-dredging
The Town of Newfane, New York, recently took another step to secure a breakwall in Olcott Harbor by submitting an application to the state Department of Environmental Conservation. Read the full story by the Niagara Gazette.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20210115-olcott-breakwall
The rescue of a swan in Lake Ontario highlights the plight of many birds killed or injured by garbage carelessly discarded in parks and lakes. Read the full story by BlogTo.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20210115-swan-rescue
