Drownings in Lake Michigan have reached record levels with at least 53 people dead so far this year, according to the water safety advocacy group the Great Lakes Surf Rescue Project. Read the full story by the Associated Press.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20201002-drownings
In the eight Great Lakes states, officials at every level along 4,500 miles of coastline are scrambling to save what they can from the rising water, competing for scarce state and federal dollars and rubber-stamping permits to build private seawalls at an unprecedented pace. Read the full story by GazetteXtra.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20201002-rising-waters
The loss of the Lady Elgin in 1860 is one of the most famous shipwrecks in Great Lakes maritime history and claimed hundreds of lives. Read the full story by the Chicago Tribune.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20201002-lady-elgin
The new Sailor Sam Canal to Shore Challenge program from the H. Lee White Maritime Museum in Oswego, New York, aims to help the public learn about the unique history scattered along the Lake Ontario shoreline and Oswego canal. Read the full story by Oswego County Today.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20201002-maritime-museum
In Traverse City, the Environmental Protection Agency announced $5 million funding going towards trash free water projects. Northern Michigan communities have the chance to apply for funding to clean up the Great Lakes and beaches. Read the full story by WPBN-TV – Traverse City, MI.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20201001-epa-funding
In his role as president and CEO of the Council of the Great Lakes Region, Mark Fisher is now helping to lead a project to collect some of that plastic from marinas around the province of Ontario using two kinds of trash-trapping technology: Seabins and Littatraps. Read the full story by CBC.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20201001-great-lakes-plastic
New York Sea Grant is providing property owners with virtually-available resources and assistance for erosion management. Read the full story by Oswego County Today.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20201001-ny-erosion-management
In a crucial step toward the reintroduction of Arctic grayling to Michigan waters, 4,000 young, healthy fish were moved this month to a facility with conditions that will trigger spawning. Read the full story by MLive.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20201001-michigan-salmon
Port of Green Bay director Dean Haen says this year’s numbers on tonnage coming in are a positive for Northeast Wisconsin and have been aided by the record-high water levels on Lake Michigan. Read the full story by WLUK-TV – Green Bay, WI.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20201001-greenbay-shipping
State officials at the Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes and Energy (EGLE) heard its first of two public hearings Tuesday afternoon on a permit request for Enbridge allowing the Canadian oil company to discharge a significant amount of wastewater into Lake Michigan as part of its Line 5 tunnel project. Read the full story by Patch.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20201001-line-5
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has, since August, been dredging sand to ease navigation at the Port of Indiana-Burns Harbor. Read the full story by The Times of Northwest Indiana.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20201001-erosion-indiana
For more than a decade a group in Cleveland, Ohio has been working to harness Lake Erie’s wind energy with a proposed six turbine windfarm called Icebreaker. But the project ran afoul of regulators earlier this year and a provision to save migrating birds has left the future of Icebreaker up in the air. Read and hear the full story by WKSU- Kent, OH.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20201001-erie-windfarm
The 44-acre Refuge Gateway of Detroit River International Wildlife Refuge, which runs from Jefferson to the river in Michigan, opened on Thursday. Read the full story by The Detroit News.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20201001-DRIWR
An array of more than 80 marine-debris-turned-art works will be making another Great Lakes stop, adding a lake sturgeon sculpture when it’s installed at a Wisconsin site next year. Read the full story by Great Lakes Now.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20200930-trash-fish
The health of the environment in Northeast Wisconsin was up for discussion, at the annual Clean Bay Backers event Tuesday. There were challenges, and stories of success. Read the full story by WLUK-TV- Green Bay, WI.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20200930-fox-river
Mike Smith spent most of his career as a diver with the Detroit Police Department recovering cars, guns, and sometimes bodies from the city’s murky rivers. Now, Smith works to clear invasive plants out of inland lakes using a 21-foot boat outfitted with a long vacuum tube. Read the full story by Interlochen Public Radio.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20200930-diving
The Ohio Department of Natural Resources will soon begin a new project to create a series of treatment train wetlands and repair a stream along the Maumee River in Paulding County. Wetlands play a huge role in helping to reduce the amount of phosphorus in the water to keep the river as clean as possible. Read the full story by WNWO-TV- Toledo, OH.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20200930-wetland
Governor Mike DeWine said that due to the COVID-19 pandemic, he plans to sign a bill into law that would temporarily ban local governments from setting local bans on plastic bags and other single-use containers. Researchers recently estimated that Lake Erie includes 381 metric tons of plastic, much of which originates in city streets and makes its way into the lake via storm drains. Read the full story by The Plain Dealer.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20200930-bag-bans
The Minnesota Pollution Control Agency has asked the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to set mercury standards on the taconite industry, something the federal agency has avoided for 30 years. The agency cited a study that found 10% of tested Minnesota newborns in the Lake Superior Basin region had elevated mercury concentrations at birth. Read the full story by the Duluth News-Tribune.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20200930-taconite
In a presentation to the Huron Water Protection Steering Committee, a recent study has found that shoreline erosion will continue and that ice cover may become rarer. Read the full story by Blackburn News.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20200930-erosion
The weather pattern is right for numerous waterspouts to develop on the Great Lakes between now and Saturday. The recipe for waterspouts is warm water, cold air aloft and significant wind-flow. Read the full story by MLive.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20200930-waterspout
The Michigan Legislature on Tuesday finalized a bill that would lengthen the financing period of lake projects in the wake of flooding that damaged dams and drained lakes in the Midland area. The change would allow project costs to be spread out over more time and made more manageable for property owners. Read the full story by the Associated Press.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20200930-dam-bonds
Environmental Protection Agency chief Andrew Wheeler will be in Traverse City, Michigan, on Wednesday to discuss a new grant opportunity for those who want to fish litter out of the Great Lakes. Read the full story by the Traverse City Record-Eagle.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20200930-EPA
Sault Ste. Marie (Ontario) City Council agreed Monday to try to persuade the federal government to locate a new Canada Water Agency to keep our water safe, clean, and well-managed in the city. Read the full story by Sootoday.com.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20200929-sault-ste-marie-agency
A lot in the water and shoreline of the Detroit River and western Lake Erie is much more environmentally sound than a generation or two ago, but new threats to the ecosystem are approaching tipping points, according to a study by an array of concerned officials and private citizens from the United States and Canada. Read the full story by The Detroit News.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20200929-shoreline-ecosystem-threats
Enbridge’s plans for drilling an oil pipeline tunnel beneath a channel linking two of the Great Lakes do not meet industry standards and pose significant hazards to workers and the environment, experts who reviewed project documents on behalf of opposition groups said Monday. Read the full story by The Associated Press.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20200929-line-5
The blockbuster deal includes several steel mills: ArcelorMittal Indiana Harbor in East Chicago; ArcelorMittal Burns Harbor in Porter County; ArcelorMittal Riverdale in Illinois; and the Gary Plate finishing facility located inside U.S. Steel’s Gary Works steel mill. Read the full story by the Times of Northwest Indiana.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20200929-merger-steel
Lake Erie is Buffalo’s most important natural resource, and together with Lake Ontario, the two bodies of water are overwhelmingly influential in the lives of all Western New Yorkers, regardless of how they vote. The issues involving them go far beyond the still-nagging problem of pollution and politics suffuses them all. Read the full story by The Buffalo News.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20200929-duluth-pfas
The Minnesota DNR precautions follow warnings issued for contaminated deer near industrial sites known to have PFAS contamination, including a warning near the Duluth air base where PFAS has been detected in downstream Miller Creek and in Rice Lake. Read the full story by Duluth News Tribune.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20200929-duluth-pfas
Researchers funded through the Minnesota Sea Grant, have been testing water samples every weekend since July at eight Duluth beaches, with the goal to further understanding of how the virus acts in the water and whether it can spread there. Read the full story by Star Tribune.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20200929-duluth-covid
The owner of the dams in Midland County, that failed in May, has been given an emergency order by the State of Michigan to make repairs right away on the Edenville Dam. Read the full story by WSMH-TV-Flint, MI.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20200929-michigan-dam
A Memorandum of Understanding between Michigan Technological University and Northwestern Michigan College will have the two colleges working together on marine technology, freshwater science, and professional development to support Great Lakes research. Read the full story by Record-Eagle.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20200929-research-universities
For the first time since it was created in 1955, the Great Lakes Commission will be helmed by a woman. Erika Jensen was appointed Interim Executive Director of the Great Lakes Commission last month. Read the full story by WDET – Detroit, MI.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20200928-erika-jensen
To continue managing walleye populations across the state, the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources will begin updating Wisconsin’s Walleye Management Plan through regional public meetings and surveys. Read the full story by Lake Superior News.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20200928-wisconsin-walleye
Genetically unique brook trout have been discovered at some remote streams in the Tug Hill, NY. The Tug Hill chapter of Trout Unlimited conducted a trout field study last year using citizen science protocols which led to the discovery of the “heritage trout”. Read the full story by Watertown Daily Times.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20200928-heritage-trout
The Washtenaw County Health Department is reminding residents of a health advisory issued in August for harmful algal blooms in Ford Lake located in southern Michigan. Read the full story by MLive.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20200928-ford-lake
Dead squirrels have been washing up on a Lake Michigan beach in west Michigan. The squirrels likely drowned while trying to cross the Grand River and then flowed to the lake and Grand Haven State Park, an expert said. Read the full story by The Associated Press.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20200928-squirrels
Birds are in peak fall migration right now, and birders are seeing huge numbers of songbirds fly through the Chicago area. The Great Lakes act as a funnel for birds that are migrating through the area. Read the full story by WLS-TV – Chicago, IL.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20200928-bird-migration
For more than a decade a group in Cleveland has been working to harness Lake Erie’s wind energy with a proposed six turbine windfarm called Icebreaker, but the project ran afoul of regulators earlier this year and a provision to save migrating birds has left the future of Icebreaker up in the air. Read the full story by WKSU – Kent, OH.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20200928-windfarm
As anglers await autumn’s first major rainfall, businesses in Erie, Pennsylvania, are gearing up for what they anticipate could be a plentiful year for steelhead fishing and the economic catch that comes with it. Read the full story by the Elmwood City Ledger.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20200928-steelhead
New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced the start of construction for a project in the Village of Sackets Harbor, on the shores of Lake Ontario, that had been awarded a $2.5 million Resiliency and Economic Development Initiative grant. Read the full story by Newzjunky.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20200928-sackets-harbor
The city of Tecumseh in southern Michigan is looking to begin much-needed repair work to Standish Dam. Read the full story by The Monroe News.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20200928-standish-dam
Attorney General Dana Nessel and Enbridge Energy have reached a deal to implement further safety measures for vessels operating near the Line 5 oil pipeline in the Mackinaw Straits. Read the full story by MLive.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20200924-climate-change-michigan
New research on invasive sea lamprey and lake trout populations revealed that sea lamprey occasionally change their preferred fish host species depending on the abundance of lake trout in the lake. This finding will support efforts to manage sea lamprey populations in the Great Lakes. Read the full story by the Detroit Free Press.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20200925-lamprey-prey
As Chicago grew during the 20th century, many of the wetlands around the city were drained and built over. New maps tracking wetland loss over the last century will help conservationists and developers plan projects that have lower impact on remaining wetlands. Read the full story by Great Lakes Now.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20200925-chicago-wetlands
New figures show shipments of Canadian grain through the Great Lakes-St. Lawrence Seaway are up 20 percent this year, bolstering the Ontario port and shipping industry that has been battered by the COVID-19 pandemic. Read the full story by Yorkton This Week.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20200925-gl-shipping
In Illinois, workers from the Shedd Aquarium and Cook County Forest Preserve District are searching for and tagging more than 100 freshwater mussels in Lake Michigan tributaries. A group of species researchers say these mussels are among the most endangered in the world. Read the full story by the Chicago Tribune.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/202009245-mussels
Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s executive order committing the state to carbon neutrality by 2050 was applauded as an important first step in addressing climate change, but a coalition of Michigan environmental justice advocates say it doesn’t move the state fast enough to address the climate crisis. Read the full story by the Energy News Network.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20200925-emissions-reductions
A Marinette manufacturer of firefighting foam has reported that 94% of wells near farm fields in northeastern Wisconsin that it sampled had levels of PFAS chemicals below the federal threshold for harming to human health. Read the full story by Wisconsin Public Radio.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20200925-tyco-pfas
An Ohio contractor has been awarded a $111 million contract to complete phase two of a massive, multiyear project to build a new lock at the Soo Locks. Read the full story by MLive.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20200925-soo-locks
