The city of Rochester Hills, Michigan, was awarded $300,000 in funding for habitat restoration. The funds will allow the city to use herbicide, mechanical removal, and prescribed fire methods to reduce invasives in the natural areas in Rochester Hills and the Clinton River watershed. Read the full story by C&G Newspapers.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20250205-rochesterhills-fight-invasive-species
The owners of a shuttered nuclear plant on the shores of Lake Michigan are still banking on its historic reopening later this year, despite the confusion of President Donald Trump’s mixed messages on nuclear power. Read the full story by Planet Detroit.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20250205-palisades-nuclear-plant
The Minnesota Court of Appeals handed environmental groups a win in their continuing legal fight against the expansion of a massive pond for mining waste three miles from Lake Superior. Their ruling says the DNR was too quick to reject a comprehensive study of the basin, which holds more than 40 years’ worth of mine waste near Silver Bay. Read the full story by The Minnesota Star Tribune.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20250205-dnr-massive-pool-mine-waste
Michigan’s sturgeon fishing season on Black Lake set a record Saturday as the fastest ever, wrapping up in just 17 minutes. Read the full story by the Detroit Free Press.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20250205-michigan-2025-sturgeonseason-blacklake
Greenhouse growers would love to tap into Lake Erie directly for water, cutting development charges. Municipal officials say the move would also reduce strain on the municipal water system. Read the full story by The Chatham Voice.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20250205-growers-lakeerie
While the lakes have varying degrees of ice cover, the Great Lakes as a whole are significantly more ice covered than in recent memory, providing ice fishing opportunities that haven’t existed since 2022. Read the full story by WTOL-TV – Toledo, OH.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20250203-ice-cover
Hundreds of red-breasted mergansers have been found either dead or sick over the past few days along Lake Michigan in Chicago and into the northern suburbs. Officials suspect that highly contagious bird flu is the cause of the illnesses found in the mergansers, a species of diving duck that winters in the Great Lakes region. Read the full story by the Chicago Sun-Times.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20250203-bird-flu-deaths
Ohio State Representative Jon Cross proposed legislation to ban cities from dumping sewage into Lake Erie and impose stiff fines for violations. The move follows revelations that the City of Maumee has been dumping as much as 150 million gallons of sewage each year into the Maumee River for the past 20 years – far exceeding their allowable limit. Read the full story by WKTN – Kenton, OH.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20250203-sewage-dumping-legislation
Walleye restocking efforts by the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) and local sportsmen’s clubs have likely contributed to more walleye over the past few decades on the St. Lawrence River. Due to the success of the program, the DEC plans to stop restocking walleye in the river, leading to some concern among anglers and county legislators. Read the full story by WWNY-TV – Carthage, NY.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20250203-restocking-stoppage
Total cargo throughput at the Port of Duluth-Superior declined by 6.8% in the 2024 navigation season, totaling 26.8 million metric tonnes, down from 28.8 million tonnes in 2023. The decline was primarily driven by reduced iron ore shipments. Read the full story by WorldCargo News.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20250203-cargo-decline
The film Great Lakes, All Too Clear, was part of the opening night of the Thunder Bay International Film Festival that screened more than 50 films about the Great Lakes and waters around the world at various locations in northeast Michigan. Read the full story by the Presque Isle County Advance.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20250203-mussel-documentary
The Sable Point Lighthouse Keepers Association announced that Big Sable Point Lighthouse in Hamlin Township, Michigan, is tentatively scheduled to open on July 1. The iconic Lake Michigan lighthouse had a short season in 2024 due to construction at Ludington State Park. The 2025 season will include extended hours and five bus days. Read the full story by MLive.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20250203-lighthouse-season
The U.S. Coast Guard has conducted 16 ice rescues on all of Lake Erie so far this year. Officials in Medina County, Ohio, have been training for ice rescues and issued recommendations for people to take precautions when going out on the ice. Read the full story by WJW-TV – Cleveland, OH.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20250203-ice-precautions
A new documentary released to streaming services, THE FISH THIEF: A Great Lakes Mystery, tells the story of the sea lamprey’s rise and fall on the Great Lakes. Read the full story by WXMI-TV – Grand Rapids, MI.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20250203-lamprey-documentary
As part of a series profiling Michigan neighborhoods, the Detroit Free Press is highlighting St. Clair Shores in Macomb County, a city proudly known as “The Boating Capital of Michigan” and the “Gateway to the Great Lakes,” titles well-earned due to its vibrant boating culture. Read the full story by the Detroit Free Press.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20250203-neighborhood-profile
A White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) memo Monday left states, universities, nonprofits, lawmakers, public officials and average citizens struggling to understand the implications of a broad stop on trillions in federal grant spending. Read the full story by MLive.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20250131-omb-confusion
The International Joint Commission’s Great Lakes Science Advisory Board proposes regional coordination to systematically measure Great Lakes microplastics. This would be a huge win for the fight against microplastics, which are adversely affecting the Great Lakes. Read the full story by Buffalo Rising.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20250131-microplastic-monitoring
President Donald Trump has repeatedly threatened to impose a stiff 25% tariff on Canadian imports. If this trade war gets underway and escalates, the integrated flow of Great Lakes maritime trade is at risk of a breakdown. Read the full story by Forbes.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20250131-canadian-good-tariff
Photographer and one-man-documentary-crew, Daryl Granger, started telling the story of Port Dover, Ontario’s commercial fishery. After months of work, he released the award-winning two-hour documentary, Netting the Waters, which “sets the record straight” about commercial fishing on the Great Lakes. Read the full story by CBC News.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20250131-fishing-documentary
After years of preparation, state officials have identified three cool-water river systems where they will reintroduce Arctic grayling to Michigan. It will take years to know whether the experiment succeeds. Read the full story by Bridge Michigan.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20250131-grayling-return
The documentary Bad River is about the Bad River Band of Chippewa Indians fight for sovereignty and ongoing battle with Enbridge, whose Line 5 runs through about 12 miles of the reservation. A Tribal Elder is traveling to showings of the film and hauling a 60-foot banner with him to raise awareness along the way and collect signatures to show how much support there is to end Line 5. Read the full story by WLUC-TV-Marquette, Michigan.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20250131-line5-banner
On January 29, Lee Zeldin was sworn in as 17th Administrator of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). During his Senate confirmation hearing, he was asked about many environmental problems that the U.S. is facing including PFAS pollution. Read the full story by Great Lakes Now.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20250131-epa-administrator
Every year from April to November, the Michigan Department of Natural Resources (DNR) is on the Great Lakes, surveying the important and diverse Great Lakes fisheries. Information collected directly informs fisheries management decisions and provides data to help gauge the success of past actions. Read the full story by the Iosco County News-Herald.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20250131-2024-fisheries-survey
The Great Lakes and St. Lawrence Cities Initiative welcome Mayor Angie Nelson Deuitch and Michigan City, Indiana, to its growing coalition of more than 260 mayors and top elected local leaders working to advance the socioeconomic and environmental health of communities in the Great Lakes and St. Lawrence River Basin. Read the full story by WIMS – Michigan City, Indiana.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20250131-michigan-city
In late January, winds were blowing offshore near Chicago and pushing ice away from the coastline. Areas of thin dark ice closer to shore transitioned into patchy areas of bright white ice away from shore that had piled up forming a rough surface. Read the full story by the SciTechDaily.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20250131-unexpected-freezeing
The health of the Great Lakes, a vital resource and historical treasure for millions, faces an uncertain future as President Donald Trump’s temporary freeze on grants and loans takes effect. Read the full story by the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20250129-funding-freeze
There’s a new plan to help restore and protect Michigan’s remaining native wild rice beds. The stewardship plan comes one year after wild rice, or Manoomin, was officially made Michigan’s state native grain. Read the full story by MLive.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20250129-manoomin-plan
A process that could establish a commercial bycatch fishery for lake trout on the Wisconsin waters of Lake Michigan took another step forward January 22 when the Natural Resources Board approved a preliminary public hearing and comment period on a scope statement. Read the full story by the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20250129-trout-rule
A process that could establish a commercial bycatch fishery for lake trout on the Wisconsin waters of Lake Michigan took another step forward January 22 when the Natural Resources Board approved a preliminary public hearing and comment period on a scope statement. Read the full story by the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20250129-trout-rule
A process that could establish a commercial bycatch fishery for lake trout on the Wisconsin waters of Lake Michigan took another step forward January 22 when the Natural Resources Board approved a preliminary public hearing and comment period on a scope statement. Read the full story by the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20250129-trout-rule
A process that could establish a commercial bycatch fishery for lake trout on the Wisconsin waters of Lake Michigan took another step forward January 22 when the Natural Resources Board approved a preliminary public hearing and comment period on a scope statement. Read the full story by the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20250129-trout-rule
The Michigan state attorney general continues to challenge Enbridge’s permit to operate the Line 5 pipeline in the Straits of Mackinac. An Enbridge attorney argued federal regulators exercise sole authority over pipeline safety, saying challenging the pipeline’s operations would violate a 1977 treaty with Canada. Read the full story by Michigan Advance.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20250129-line5-hearings
Saginaw Bay was ranked as the fourth-best ice fishing spot in the U.S. by FishBooker, which looked at criteria like location, fish species you can reel in, and whether you’ll land a trophy. Read the full story by the Lansing State Journal.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20250129-saginaw-bay-fishing
Saginaw Bay was ranked as the fourth-best ice fishing spot in the U.S. by FishBooker, which looked at criteria like location, fish species you can reel in, and whether you’ll land a trophy. Read the full story by the Lansing State Journal.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20250129-saginaw-bay-fishing
Saginaw Bay was ranked as the fourth-best ice fishing spot in the U.S. by FishBooker, which looked at criteria like location, fish species you can reel in, and whether you’ll land a trophy. Read the full story by the Lansing State Journal.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20250129-saginaw-bay-fishing
In the Great Lakes region alone, Ducks Unlimited has been involved in hundreds of projects in the past decade that involve either the conservation of wetlands through acquisition, or the restoration and management of wetlands. Read the full story by Great Lakes Now.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20250129-ducks-unlimited
When ice piles up along Great Lakes shorelines, it can create spectacular blue ice, craggy piles and “volcanoes” that spray water high into the air, but officials say people should stay off shelf ice along the beach because it hides deadly secrets. Read the full story by the Lansing State Journal.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20250129-deadly-ice
When ice piles up along Great Lakes shorelines, it can create spectacular blue ice, craggy piles and “volcanoes” that spray water high into the air, but officials say people should stay off shelf ice along the beach because it hides deadly secrets. Read the full story by the Lansing State Journal.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20250129-deadly-ice
When ice piles up along Great Lakes shorelines, it can create spectacular blue ice, craggy piles and “volcanoes” that spray water high into the air, but officials say people should stay off shelf ice along the beach because it hides deadly secrets. Read the full story by the Lansing State Journal.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20250129-deadly-ice
Before 1900, North American rivers had the highest diversity and density of freshwater mussels on Earth, but today, mussels rank among the most endangered organisms. Mussel populations in the Midwest currently face many challenges but were first decimated by the button industry. Read the full story by Great Lakes Now.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20250129-mussel-buttons
A new decades-long study found that fish-eating gulls and terns nesting on Michigan shoreline areas known to have long-standing industrial contamination reproduce less, have fewer chicks that survive, and develop more deformities than those on nonpolluted shorelines. Read the full story by The Detroit Free Press.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20250129-contaminated-birds
A new decades-long study found that fish-eating gulls and terns nesting on Michigan shoreline areas known to have long-standing industrial contamination reproduce less, have fewer chicks that survive, and develop more deformities than those on nonpolluted shorelines. Read the full story by The Detroit Free Press.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20250129-contaminated-birds
A new decades-long study found that fish-eating gulls and terns nesting on Michigan shoreline areas known to have long-standing industrial contamination reproduce less, have fewer chicks that survive, and develop more deformities than those on nonpolluted shorelines. Read the full story by The Detroit Free Press.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20250129-contaminated-birds
Scientists in northwest Ontario say they made a breakthrough in the search for a tool to identify the boundaries of environmental spills below ice: a U.S. dog trained to detect the scent of oil under several inches of ice and snow. Read the full story by The Detroit News.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20250129-oil-dog
Ottawa Sands County Park, located in Spring Lake, Michigan, was transformed from a former sand mining site to a vibrant ecological and recreational hub has been recognized for its design by state park officials. Read the full story by MLive.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20250127-ottawacountypark-transformation-miningsite
The Michigan Department of Natural Resources worked this fall to stock hundreds of thousands of fish in waters across the state — fish that will provide anglers with more opportunities in seasons to come. Read the full story by The Daily News.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20250127-dnr-restocked-michiganwaters
After a few mild winters that left the Great Lakes with a lack of ice cover, anglers are rejoicing about the colder temperatures and thicker ice this winter. As of Friday, Lake St. Clair was 100% covered by ice. Read the full story by The Detroit News.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20250127-anglers-ice-longerseason
During the winter months, the water levels drop in the Great Lakes as part of an annual cycle, according to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. They predict water levels will continue to drop until around April. All the Great Lakes this winter are below 2023-2024 levels. Read the full story by the Erie Times-News.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20250127-greatlakes-waterlevels-january
The Manitoulin, a 663-foot Canadian vessel with 17 people on board, got stuck in the ice on Lake Erie on Wednesday after it dropped off a load of wheat in Buffalo, New York, and was heading back to Canada. Read the full story by The Associated Press.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20250127-greatlakes-freighter-lakeerie-freed
The sea lamprey, native to the Atlantic Ocean, invaded the Great Lakes generations ago and killed off much of the lake trout population. Read the full story by The Plain Dealer.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20250127-greatlakes-predator
