Terry Sheehan, Member of Parliament for Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario, announced $747,000 in funding to several Indigenous-led organizations to support the study and preservation of species habitats and water conservation, and to improve the health of the Great Lakes and the St. Marys River. Read the full story by The Sault Star.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20241115-environment-funding
According to a new study conducted by researchers with Wisconsin Sea Grant and the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point, ski hills in Wisconsin are relying more on snowmaking and other strategies to adapt to changing snow conditions due to climate change. Read the full story by Great Lakes Now.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20241115-snowmaking-study
Congressman Dan Kildee (MI-08), along with other Michigan Congressional representatives, sent a letter urging lawmakers to include his bipartisan amendment in the final bill opposing the Government of Canada’s plans to build a facility that would permanently store high-level nuclear waste in the Great Lakes basin. Read the full story by WEYI-TV – Saginaw, MI.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20241115-nuclear-storage-prevention
The possibility of Tawas Bay, Michigan, becoming a new cruise ship destination on Lake Huron is gaining momentum among local stakeholders. With renewed efforts, the Tawas community is hopeful that the initiative will boost local tourism and invigorate the economy. Read the full story by WISC-TV – Madison, WI.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20241115-cruise-tourism
With the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration forecasting “warmer-than-average” temperatures for parts of the Great Lakes, Michigan’s winter festivals from Metro Detroit to the Western Upper Peninsula are preparing to adapt. Read the full story by Great Lakes Echo.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20241115-winter-adaptation
A Wisconsin-based author released the first novel from her mystery series, “Superior’s Secret: A Great Lake Mystery Novel.” The story follows a fictional University of Wisconsin-Superior student who teams up with a supernatural detective to investigate the mystery of Lake Superior. Read the full story by KBJR-TV – Superior, WI.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20241115-superior-book
It was a perfect fall day as two scuba divers descended on the James R. Bentley shipwreck in Lake Huron with the goal of finding sunken treasure. It wasn’t jewels or gold they were after, but rather the shipment of rye that had been on the ship when it sank in November 1878. Read the full story by WOOD-TV – Grand Rapids, MI.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20241113-sunkentreasure-greatlakes
The federal government of Canada announced on Tuesday it’s investing over $25 million toward four Ontario projects, funded under the Green Shipping Corridor Program, including a multi-million-dollar project at Sterling Fuels in Windsor. Read the full story by CTV News.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20241113-windsorsterlingfuels-greatlakes
Through a Department of Energy grant, faculty members at Central Michigan University will be researching three Michigan watersheds, modeling future risks of extreme precipitation. The research aims to enhance infrastructure preparedness and resilience to flooding for local communities. Read the full story by WZZM-TV – Grand Rapids, MI.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20241113-cmu-researchers-lakemichigan-rainfallrisks
The reopening of the Palisades nuclear plant comes as Michigan, and other states, push to meet “clean” energy goals and brace for increased energy demands coming from new infrastructure, like data centers. Read the full story by the Michigan Advance.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20241113-palisades-nuclearplant-lakemichigan-2025-comeback
The late season walleye fishing around Lake Erie is in full swing and Fall Brawl anglers are reporting that large schools of trophy fish are moving toward the waters off Huron, Ohio, the prime pre-staging waters for the spring spawning season. Read the full story by The Beacon.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20241113-lakeerie-cools-fallbrawl
Ludington State Park, situated near Ludington, Michigan, on 4,300 acres between Lake Michigan and Hamlin Lake, is closed for 10 months for construction. Read the full story by MLive.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20241113-lakemichigan-statepark-upgrades
Every Great Lake besides Lake Superior is running near or above recent historically warm temperatures with data going back around 30 years to 1995. Read the full story by WROC-TV – Rochester, NY.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20241113-lakeontario-warm-lakeeffect
Whether it is regulations on walleye, northern pike or smallmouth bass, or on snagging salmon, there are strongly held convictions on multiple sides of fishing on southern Lake Michigan and the Chicago lakefront. Read the full story by the Chicago Sun-Times.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20241113-dueling-fishing-opinions
U.S. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer unveiled a two-part initiative aimed at fighting harmful algal blooms that have plagued the Finger Lakes, endangering public health, regional tourism, and local agriculture. Schumer emphasized the urgent need for federal support after this year’s record-breaking algae blooms disrupted communities and businesses, particularly at the end of the summer. Read the full story by FingerLakes1.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20241113-schumer-harmal-algalblooms-fingerlakes
Due to low water levels on the Mississippi River, shipping on the St. Lawrence Seaway utilizing the Great Lakes may provide a streamlined, direct supply chain for agricultural exporters. Read the full story by the Ohio County Journal.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20241113-riverchallenges-greatlakes
It was 49 years ago from Sunday, November 10, that the Edmund Fitzgerald was being loaded with 26,000 tons of iron ore, prepped for what would become its tragic final voyage. Once the largest ship on the Great Lakes, the 728-foot ship left Superior, Wisconsin, on November 9, 1975; a day later, the ship was gone, broken in two and laying on the bottom of Lake Superior in 530 feet of water. All 29 souls aboard were lost. Read the full story by MLive.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20241111-edmundfitzgerald-anniversary
The water levels of the Great Lakes have gone down significantly in the past few months, partly because of the natural annual lowering of water levels in most fall seasons and partly because of the lack of rain in the past couple months. Read the full story by WOOD-TV – Grand Rapids, MI.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20241111-water-levels
The National Museum of the Great Lakes in Toledo, Ohio, is hosting a micro exhibit which tells a story of the community’s investment into the Great Lakes Museum through donations of one-of-a-kind artifacts, which helps educate visitors about the history of the Great Lakes. Read the full story by The Toledo Blade.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20241111-artifact-donations
The Pennsylvania Steelhead Association and the Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission shared concerns about anglers trespassing and littering at one of Erie’s most popular steelhead creeks. Anglers are being reminded to observe the signs if they want the area to remain open to fishing. Read the full story by the Erie Times-News.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20241111-fishing-creek-concerns
Over the last two centuries, more than 70 ships have plunged to their demise on the Great Lakes during November. Some, like the iron ore carrier the Edmund Fitzgerald, went down and took the entire crew down with them. Read the full story by the Detroit Free Press.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20241111-november-shipwrecks
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency plans to finalize more than $200 million in grant funding through its Clean Ports Program in the coming weeks to accelerate the clean energy transition at three Great Lakes shipping ports. Read the full story by the Energy News Network.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20241111-clean-port-funding
Waterfront Toronto has removed the last pieces of the wall that once separated the mouth of the Don River and Lake Ontario as a next step in a project featuring a new island that could become home to thousands of people. Read the full story by CBC News.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20241111-waterfront-project
The sinking of the SS Edmund Fitzgerald took the lives of all 29 crew members, including the ship’s cook. His daughter and Abilene, Kansas, resident Pamela Johnson, now 73, remains a yearly advocate for her father along with those who perished at memorials and for various interviews. Read the full story by the Abilene Reflector Chronicle.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20241111-edmundfitzgerald-crew-descendent
“Beach season,” per the Chicago Park District, runs from the Friday before Memorial Day through Labor Day. Outside of this period, swimming is not permitted. Historically, this made a lot of sense; however, many people can still be seen swimming into October as Chicago has had at least 17 days since September 1 with temperatures greater than 80 degrees Fahrenheit. Read the full story by the Chicago Sun-Times.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20241111-climate-risks
The Mariners’ Church of Detroit held its 59th annual Great Lakes Memorial Service on Sunday. The occasion honors and remembers 30,000 people who have died in the Great Lakes and on Michigan’s waters over the years. Read the full story by WDIV-TV – Detroit, MI.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20241111-mariners-memorial-service
A five-year-old female Great Lakes piping plover was recently spotted in its favorite wintering grounds in Crandon Park, Florida. Read the full story by MLive.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20241108-snowbirdsurvives-greatlakespipingplover-florida
Michigan is stepping up efforts to analyze the flow of harmful nutrients into the Western Basin of Lake Erie. Water quality monitors have been set up in five sub-watersheds in the southeast corner of the state that either feed directly into the lake or one of its tributaries. Read the full story by The Plain Dealer.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20241108-michigan-watershed-monitors
The Edmund Fitzgerald sank nearly half a century ago in “the gales of November.” The lake has taken hundreds of other ships, too. The Great Lakes Shipwreck Historical Society has its own underwater research vessel that scours the lake for shipwrecks. Read the full story by The Minnesota Star Tribune.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20241108-lakesuperior-shipwrecks-dramatictales
The Great Storm of 1913 was easily the Great Lakes region’s largest natural disaster ever. Fast-moving “trains” of huge waves — some topping 30 feet high — lashed ships making their late-season runs. Read the full story by MLive.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20241108-whitehurricane-november-1913-greatlakes
A busy port and moody skies make the “November gales” a special time to watch massive “lakers” and oceanbound “salties.” Read the full story by The Minnesota Star Tribune.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20241108-greatlakes-duluth-stormseason
An iconic piece of Two Rivers, Wisconsin, history has been listed for sale, and owners say they hope to find a buyer to give the fishing boat a new lease on life. Read the full story by WGBA-TV – Green Bay, WI.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20241108-iconic-fishing-boat-lakeshore
After four decades, a Minnesota writer has brought a radio play capturing the SS Edmund Fitzgerald’s fateful final voyage to life. Read the full story by MPR News.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20241108-fitzgerald-final-voyage
Volunteers for the Hancock Trails Club, Weubben Construction and the City of Hancock, Michigan, are collaborating together in the improvements of Maasto Hiihto’s Trail 17 with a bridge, boardwalk and more accessible trail conditions. Read the full story by the Daily Mining Gazette.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20241108-maastohiihto-improvements
Restoration of the historic Belle Isle Boathouse is progressing, as the Michigan Department of Natural Resources has selected a proposal after years of debate on preserving the structure. Read the full story by the Detroit Free Press.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20241108-belleisle-boathouse
A former lifeguard in London, Ontario, is on a crusade to teach others about the dangers of Great Lakes rip currents after an especially deadly summer in the surf. Read the full story by The London Free Press.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20241108-ex-lifeguard-greatlakes-ripcurrents
Dozens of Wisconsin communities will receive more than $273 million from the state for drinking water projects that include removing lead pipes and addressing PFAS contamination. Read the full story by Wisconsin Public Radio.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20241106-wisconsin-water
Public comment about a proposed copper mine in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula focused on how special the area was: many said it should be evaluated differently because of its old-growth forests, proximity to Lake Superior, and other environmental factors. Read the full story by Interlochen Public Radio.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20241106-copper-mine
The 2024 western Lake Erie algal bloom has become the second in modern history to linger into November with about 10 square miles of the bloom remaining. Read the full story by The Blade.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20241106-algal-bloom
Currently, the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resource’s process for setting new fishing limits can take years. The agency says that a new rule would allow it to better respond to changes in the lake trout and cisco populations. Read the full story by Wisconsin Public Radio.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20241106-fish-rule
Northwest Ohio municipalities could soon hear regional planners being more vocal in their support of a stronger and more robust management strategy for western Lake Erie, such as one that has become a hotly debated issue in U.S. District Court. Read the full story by The Blade.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20241106-erie-recommendations
The impending closure of North and South Manitou islands during a multi-year infrastructure project at the Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore in northern Michigan may spell the end for a 107-year-old Michigan ferry service. Read the full story by MLive.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20241106-manitou-ferry
A newly formed, not-for-profit association of local governments and industries is the latest group trying to become added as a defendant in the landmark Lake Erie case in U.S. District Court. Read the full story by The Blade.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20241106-erie-defendant
November is the deadliest month for shipwrecks on the Great Lakes. Despite the harsh storms, ships would often have overloaded cargo holds for the final trip of the year, making them more vulnerable as storms arose. Read the full story by MLive.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20241106-november-shipwrecks
Of the 350 shipwrecks at the bottom of Lake Superior, there is one particularly famous steamship called the SS Kamloops. In 1977, fifty years after the ship disappeared, the divers that found the wreck were met with a grisly sight. Read the full story by Great Lakes Now.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20241106-ss-kamloops
In 1998, elementary school students in Belle River, Ontario, threw letters in a bottle into Lake St. Clair. Twenty-six years later, a kindergarten student from the same school found one of the bottles and its letter about Great Lakes water. Read the full story by the CBC.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20241106-bottle-message
The Detroit Historical Society is honoring lost mariners during its annual Lost Mariners Remembrance this weekend in Detroit, Michigan. It’s the 25th year the society has held the event, which also marks the anniversary of the sinking of the S.S. Edmund Fitzgerald. Read the full story by WXYZ-TV – Detroit, MI.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20241104-mariners-remembrance
An anaerobic digester in Michigan was shut down after a liquid waste product called “digestate” escaped a nearby farm and flooded a neighboring home’s backyard. Environmentalists point to this incident as a prime example of what can go wrong if anaerobic digesters aren’t adequately regulated while lawmakers are pushing legislation that would expand the market for biogas produced by digesters and exempt them from certain regulations. Read the full story by MLive.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20241104-biogas-legislation
Lake Erie’s 2024 walleye hatch is being characterized as “low,” meaning that in two years, when the current crop grows to legal keeper size of 15 inches, something fewer than 10 million will be added. The most recent hatch and the only other rated low during the past 10 years happened in 2016. Read the full story by The Columbus Dispatch.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20241104-walleye-hatch
Michigan’s freshwater sand dunes make up the largest collection of freshwater dunes on the planet. A pair of West Michigan lawmakers seek to solve the problem of vague legal protections with planned legislation to protect the state’s most sensitive dunes, or those that were designated as “critical dunes” in 1989. Read the full story by Great Lakes Echo.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20241104-dune-protection
