Waterspouts swept across the Great Lakes this past weekend as a cold front moved into the region from Canada, and the region may see more in the coming days, weather experts say. Read the full story by the Detroit Free Press.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20250827-waterspouts
More than 20 years ago, a young girl in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula tossed a message in a bottle into AuTrain Bay on Lake Superior, never expecting to see it again. That bottle traveled over 1,000 miles to the Outer Banks of North Carolina and has finally been returned to its sender, now grown up and living in Marquette, Michigan. Read the full story by the Daily Press.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20250827-bottle-message-travels
Tawas Lake, a 1,600-acre inland lake not far from Lake Huron, is home to Michigan’s largest bed of native wild rice, called manoomin in the Native Anishinaabemowin language. A new lake management plan for Tawas Lake will start with efforts to remove invasive species from the lake – a goal everyone supports. Read the full story by MLive.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20250827-tawas-wild-rice
Those for and those against constructing a tunnel under the Straits of Mackinac are making their cases. A comment period for the necessary permits from the Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy ends this Friday. Read the full story by Michigan Public Radio.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20250827-line5-comments-close
Visitors sometimes leave stuff behind at Great Lakes beaches. One of the most common pieces of plastic trash found are cigarette butts. Read the full story by Michigan Public Radio.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20250827-cigarette-polution
Following a protest by First Nations and environmentalists of the planned use of herbicides along Lake Huron’s shoreline, a forestry company has cancelled plans to spray herbicides that contain the chemical glyphosate in the area. Read the full story by CBC News.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20250827-canceled-herbicides
The United Nations has recently designated August 27 as World Lake Day. The day should be used to acknowledge the benefits derived from the Great Lakes and take action to ensure that they remain healthy. Read the full story by The Globe and Mail.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20250827-world-lake-day
Demand for water in Great Lakes states is likely to spike from data centers, mining and other uses. Officials should take a more proactive management approach to stave off shortages, according to a new report published by the nonprofit Alliance for the Great Lakes. Read the full story by MLive.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20250825-datacenters-waterdemand
Shoreline erosion on Lake Ontario is happening as more extreme storms are making bigger waves that churn up more sediment and pull it deeper into the lake. For the St. Lawrence River, shoreline erosion happens when the river and its tributaries flood. Local governments, organizations, and communities are seeking solutions and investing in shoreline resilience. Read the full story by North Country Public Radio.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20250825-shoreline-erosion
Two lighthouses have helped guide ships into the canal and under the Aerial Lift Bridge into Duluth-Superior Harbor for over a century, and both lighthouses may soon be open to the public. Read the full story by MPR News.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20250825-duluth-lighthouses
A Door County, Wisconsin, tour guide spotted something unusual, leading to the discovery of a cargo ship that sunk over a century ago. Read the full story by the Wisconsin Public Radio.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20250825-wisconsin-shipwreck
Until a Michigan shipwreck hunter found it, the Carruthers was the last of eight vessels still missing on Lake Huron that sank during a 1913 storm. It also, until recently, was among the largest sunken ships in the Great Lakes that were still lost. Read the full story by Detroit Free Press.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20250825-huron-shipwreck-carruthers
This is the third consecutive year of record-setting piping plover breeding in the Great Lakes. Now an increasing number of the federally endangered birds are establishing nests on the Lake Huron side of Michigan’s Lower Peninsula. Read the full story by MLive.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20250825-piping-plover
As the sun rose over Lake Superior on the morning of August 24th, over 150 people went to Park Point, Minnesota, to participate in the first annual Great Lake Superior Swim. Read the full story by WDIO-TV – Duluth, MN.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20250825-lake-superior-swim
A new study shows that Great Lake surface temperatures have experienced increasing extremes from heat waves to cold spells dating back to the late 1990s. Read the full story by Great Lakes Now.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20250822-lake-temperature-extremes
Michigan Department of Natural Resources researchers said they determined a lake trout caught in Lake Superior in 2023 was 62 years old. According to officials, the fish, dubbed Mary Catherine, is the oldest known lake trout in the Great Lakes. Read the full story by The Detroit News.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20250822-old-trout
Experts on aquatic ecosystems say confirmed reports of blue-green algae blooms on Lake Superior are a cause for concern, but the degree to which they’re tracked nowadays is much more robust than in the past. Read the full story by SNnewswatch.com.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20250822-superior-algal-bloom
Yorkville, Illinois, is preparing to receive Lake Michigan water from the DuPage Water Commission to replace the diminishing aquifer that currently serves the city. Officials say bids to build the first section of water pipeline are more expensive than expected. Read the full story by WSPY – Plano, IL.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20250822-pipeline-bids
Work to reintroduce Lake Sturgeon to the Maumee River and Lake Erie is showing some promising results, researchers say. Read the full story by WTVG-TV – Toledo, OH.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20250822-sturgeon-comeback
Earlier this month, the 1,000-year-flood event that hit Milwaukee led to the largest combined sewer overflow since the Deep Tunnel – a combined wastewater and stormwater sewer system – was installed in 1992, with more than five billion gallons of untreated water released into nearby waterways over the course of 78 hours. Read the full story by the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20250822-combined-sewer-overflow
Moving boats up and down through Erie Canal locks 34 and 35 in Lockport, New York used to take more than a dozen people 100 years ago; now, it’s a job of one. The current team of three operators, all of whom take solo shifts, is working through the celebration of the Erie Canal’s bicentennial anniversary. Read the full story by WKBW-TV – Buffalo, NY.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20250822-erie-canal-bicentenntial
The Alliance for the Great Lakes invites volunteers from across the Great Lakes region to join for a Great Lakes Day of Action. Hundreds of Adopt-a-Beach volunteers will clean and celebrate Great Lakes shorelines as part of the International Coastal Cleanup. Read the full story by The Alpena News.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20250822-beach-cleanup
The Great Lakes’ water supply is threatened by increased demand from industries like data centers and mining, coupled with climate change impacts. Data centers, attracted by tax incentives, consume vast amounts of water, often untracked, while mineral mining poses contamination risks. Read the full story by the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20250820-water-supply-risks
Toronto’s deep lake water cooling network draws cold water from the lake and passes it through heat exchangers and circulates the cool water through a closed loop, connecting downtown buildings. When two of Toronto’s largest hospitals tapped the frigid depths of Lake Ontario for cooling, the impacts were immediate. Read the full story by the Penticton Herald.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20250820-ontario-cooling-system
The Trump administration’s budget proposal calls for a $1.7 billion reduction in NOAA’s budget and directs the complete elimination of the Office of Oceanic and Atmospheric Research. This jeopardizes the existence of Great Lakes Environmental Research Laboratory in Ann Arbor, Michigan, the only federal freshwater research labs serving the Great Lakes. Read the full story by WEMU – Ypsilanti, Michigan.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20250820-funding-cuts
Lawmakers in the Michigan House and Senate introduced several bills last week to crack down on microplastics in the Great Lakes. Specifically, the proposed legislation aims to limit pollution and study its impact on public health. Read the full story by WWMT-TV – Kalamazoo, Michigan.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20250820-microplastic-bills
Owen Sound is one of six Ontario communities joining the first-ever Great Lakes Coastal Cleanup on World Rivers Day, to tackle shoreline litter and protect local waters. Read the full story by The Owen Sound Current.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20250820-coastal-cleanup
Michigan wildlife managers are proposing a new lake sturgeon catch and release season in one portion of the state and a shortened harvest season in another. These decisions are informed by fisheries biologist assessments of lake sturgeon populations and law enforcement capacity to support the regulated seasons. Read the full story by Detroit Free Press.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20250820-lake-sturgeon-regulations
Lake Superior has been named the cleanest lake in the United States in a new 2025 report which analyzed chemical data from the nation’s largest lakes and determined that Superior’s water registered virtually zero pollution. Read the full story by The Sun Times News.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20250820-clean-superior
A new FishPass barrier will replace the Union Street dam in Traverse City, Michigan, which is the last barrier between Lake Michigan and the Boardman-Ottawa River. This passageway will have the ability to sort and selectively pass desirable fish while blocking harmful invaders. Read the full story by Great Lakes Now.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20250820-fishpass-project
The Great Lakes are filled with around 35,000 islands. Two of them have just been named among the top 11 most underrated islands in the country: Drummond Island in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula and the Apostle Islands in Wisconsin. Read the full story by MLive.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20250820-great-lake-islands
Researchers used tree ring data and Indigenous oral histories to reconstruct the fire history of the Great Lakes region. Reintroducing controlled burns, often following Indigenous practices, is suggested as a way to manage forests and adapt to a changing climate. Read the full story by the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20250820-fire-history
Starting Monday, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s sea lamprey control team will begin putting lampricides in the Muskegon River in Michigan. Read the full story by WZZM-TV – Grand Rapids, MI.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20250818-muskegon-lampricides
A malfunctioning research buoy from the Lake Superior National Estuarine Research Reserve in Superior, Wisconsin, was rescued by the RV Blue Heron during a July trip shared by several area scientists. The buoy measures levels of potentially toxic blue-green algae. Read the full story by Wisconsin Public Radio.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20250818-blue-heron-rv
Two of the Great Lakes, Lake Huron and Lake Ontario, are within a fraction of a degree of their warmest surface water temperature measured in the past 30 years. Read the full story by MLive.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20250818-warm-greatlakes
A new nature reserve created by the Thunder Bay Field Naturalists includes high cliffs, scenic bays and offshore islands at a 213-acre site on Lake Superior south of Neebing, Ontario. Read the full story by TBnewswatch.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20250818-superior-nature-reserve
A Wisconsin adaptive sailing program created by the Milwaukee Community Sailing Center, in coordination with the Abilities Center, allows anyone to go sailing in Lake Michigan. Read the full story by WDJT-TV – Milwaukee, WI.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20250818-adaptive-sailing
People interested in protecting and improving Little Lake Butte des Morts in Winnebago County, Wisconsin, intend to form a nonprofit lake association to help fund and implement projects benefiting the public. Read the full story by the Appleton Post-Crescent.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20250818-littlelake-buttedemorts
For the first time in the history of Tall Ships Erie, the Brig Niagara won’t be leading the way into Presque Isle Bay in Erie, Pennsylvania. Read the full story by the Erie Times-News.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20250818-brig-niagara
A new photo collection entitled The Third Coast: America’s Great Lakes Shoreline explores the locations, culture, and history that define the Great Lakes region—from the tulips of Holland to Sleeping Bear Dunes to the Straits of Mackinac and beyond. Read the full story by Northern Express.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20250818-greatlakes-photography-culture
More than a dozen Michigan beaches are under bacteria advisories — or are closed — as Michiganders head into the third week of August. Read the full story by Detroit Free Press.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20250818-beach-bacteria-advisories
Sheboygan, Wisconsin, has had a rich surf culture for more than half a century, and local tourism leaders eventually branded it “Malibu of the Midwest,” claiming the title of freshwater surfing capital of the world. Read the full story by KCUR – Kansas City, MO.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20250818-surfing
Freshwater jellyfish roughly the size of a penny have recently been spotted in western and eastern Lake Erie. Most of the time, they’re stuck to the bottom of the lake as polyps, but occasionally they grow into the traditional jellyfish form. Read the full story by the Times-Reporter.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20250815-erie-jellyfish
Microplastics are everywhere, including the Great Lakes. They come in many forms but are typically smaller than 5 millimeters. Scientists are concerned about their impact on human health. The Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy will host its first virtual microplastics summit this October. Read the full story by WDET – Detroit, Michigan.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20250815-microplastics-virtual-summit
Mining operations left behind uniquely colored beaches in Minnesota and Michigan, but the materials are different. Minnesota’s Black Beach in Silver Bay contains stamp sands from taconite tailings and is a popular tourist area. About 100 miles away in the town of Gay, Michigan, copper tailings have created a Superfund site. Read the full story by The Minnesota Star Tribune.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20250815-mine-tailing-beaches
The Alpena County Library and the Friends of the Thunder Bay National Marine Sanctuary have installed a Story Walk along the Great Lakes Maritime Heritage Trail in Alpena, Michigan, for all to enjoy. The picture book tells the story of how the lakes were formed, their importance as a major source of freshwater, and how to preserve this amazing resource. Read the full story by The Alpena News.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20250815-story-walk
The bottom of the Great Lakes are home to thousands of shipwrecks and other historical artifacts. The state of Michigan has an Underwater Salvage and Preserve Committee that works to protect and preserve these bottomlands. One Central Michigan University staff member was recently re-appointed to this committee. Read the full story by WCMU – Mt. Pleasant, MI.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20250815-bottomlands-protections
A 62-year-old lake trout named Mary Catherine was found in 2023 on the reefs of a remote island in the middle of Lake Superior. While lake trout can live for decades, the discovery of a fish this old is unusual. Read the full story by WJBK-TV – Detroit, Michigan.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20250815-old-trout
In 1878, a vessel carrying a cargo of rye grain sunk to the bottom of Lake Huron after hitting a submerged sand bank during a storm. Thanks to the perseverance of a Michigan whisky distiller, its haul is about to be used to make whisky. Read the full story by The Drinks Business.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20250815-shipwreck-whisky
Nothing says quintessential Wisconsin summer like days spent on the shores of Lake Michigan and Lake Superior. And now, after the New York Times published a story highlighting six Great Lakes beaches, more than just Wisconsin residents may be flocking to the state’s lakeshores. Read the full story by the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20250815-nyt-highlight
