By Ellen Knickmeyer, Emily Swanson and Nathan Ellgren, Associated Press
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden heads to a vital U.N. climate summit at a time when a majority of Americans regard the deteriorating climate as a problem of high importance to them, an increase from just a few years ago.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2021/10/ap-majority-concerned-climate-poll/
SAULT STE. MARIE, Mich. (AP) — Lake Superior State University in Michigan’s eastern Upper Peninsula has been selected as a hub for a center that will look at the impacts of oil spills in freshwater environments.
The U.S. Coast Guard National Center of Expertise for the Great Lakes also will help develop effective responses to spills, according to the school.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2021/10/ap-center-impact-oil-spills-freshwater/
One of the main concerns opponents have to two of the proposed underground sites for storing Canada’s spent nuclear fuel, one of which is in the Lake Huron watershed, is the potential impact on the environment. A group of Ontario researchers is setting the groundwork to answer that question with a new project.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2021/10/monitor-aquatic-species-nuclear-storage/
This story is the first in a four-part series looking at sturgeon restoration efforts.
Lake sturgeon restoration efforts are taking place across the Great Lakes basin.
But what that restoration looks like is entirely dependent on location and other factors, such as whether or not any lake sturgeon remain in the area.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2021/10/sturgeon-restoration-studying-michigan-wisconsin-populations/
This story is the first in a four-part series looking at sturgeon restoration efforts.
Lake sturgeon restoration efforts are taking place across the Great Lakes basin.
But what that restoration looks like is entirely dependent on location and other factors, such as whether or not any lake sturgeon remain in the area.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2021/10/sturgeon-restoration-studying-michigan-wisconsin-populations/
The gold medal winner of this year’s annual San Francisco Chronicle Wine Competition was a light unoaked chardonnay from Debonné Vineyards – a vineyard located in the Lake Erie region of northeast Ohio.
Despite the American wine and grape industry’s association with California’s Napa Valley, the Great Lakes region boasts four of the top 10 wine producing states in the nation.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2021/10/grapes-soil-climate-great-lakes-wine-producing/
Ron Meyer and Jerry Gunderson had already spent decades collecting different items when they learned about the trilobites turning up in a quarry just outside Milwaukee in 1984. The two men, friends since childhood, took a trip to the active quarry site and spoke with the foreman about any fossils that might have been found.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2021/09/fleshy-quarry-fossils-wisconsin-watery-past/
CHICAGO (AP) — Rowers, kayakers and other users of the Chicago River are getting a real-time look at one measure of water quality in the system that weaves through downtown and several neighborhoods.
Chicago nonprofit Current in 2019 installed three sensors in the river’s three main branches to continuously estimate the amount of bacteria from human and other warm-blooded animals’ waste.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2021/09/ap-sensors-chicago-river-quality/
North America has 3 billion fewer birds today than five decades ago, according to a recent scientific study.
That loss equates to more than a quarter of the continent’s entire bird population, and the research documenting the decline has shown that it may be worse than first realized.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2021/08/north-america-bird-population-habitat/
TRAVERSE CITY, Mich. (AP) — Scientists have traced the genetic makeup of lake trout, a feat that should boost efforts to rebuild populations of the prized fish in the Great Lakes and other North American waters where they’ve been hammered by invasive species, overfishing and pollution, officials said Tuesday.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2021/08/ap-genetic-mapping-restoration-lake-trout/
Every year, Nicole and Tom Watson take a trip to Alaska. Like the typical tourist, they enjoy fly fishing and experiencing the untamed wilderness, yet their visit is no ordinary vacation. Among their duffel bags and backpacks, there’s a special piece of carry-on luggage: a carefully sealed container of fish eggs.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2021/08/grayling-revival-researchers-native-fish/
Scientists have a new idea for how Earth got its oxygen: It’s because the planet slowed down and days got longer.
A study published Monday proposes and puts to the test the theory that longer, continuous daylight kick-started weird bacteria into producing lots of oxygen, making most of life as we know it possible.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2021/08/ap-theory-earth-days-oxygen-growth/
Natural populations of oil-degrading bacteria could help to clean up freshwater rivers and lakes after spills from pipelines and trains, researchers have found after experiments that simulated spills in a Canadian lake.
Vince Palace, who led the work at the International Institute for Sustainable Development’s Experimental Lakes Area in western Ontario, said that the methods currently in use for cleaning up spills in rivers and lakes – mostly digging up and dumping contaminated soil – are not particularly effective.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2021/07/bacteria-nature-clean-up-oil-spills/
This article was republished here with permission from Great Lakes Echo.
By Hannah Brock, Great Lakes Echo
Toxins from harmful algal blooms are known to pollute water, but now researchers are looking at how they harm Great Lakes air.
And that also could have implications for human health, they say.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2021/07/great-lakes-algae-threatens-air-quality/
As an avid angler, Great Lakes Now Host Ward Detwiler has encountered suckers, a bottom-feeding family of fish that are present in all five Great Lakes and spawn in the rivers of the watershed.
But he’s never been terribly mindful of them.
“It’s never something you’re really out looking for,” Detwiler said.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2021/07/suckers-scientist-best-supporting-fishes-great-lakes-food-web/
While initial populations of invasive zebra mussels were brought to the Great Lakes on boats and in freighter ballast water, a new source of the invasive species has researchers concerned — pet stores.
The Minnesota Aquatic Invasive Species Research Center has partnered with the University of Minnesota Genomics Center to genetically trace zebra mussels that have been found in aquarium moss balls in pet stores.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2021/07/invasive-zebra-mussel-research-genetic-testing/
This article was republished here with permission from Great Lakes Echo.
By McKoy Scribner, Great Lakes Echo
Scientists from the W.K. Kellogg Biological Station first noticed an invasive population of zebra mussels in Gull Lake in the mid-1990s. Afterwards, unexpected harmful algal blooms started appearing.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2021/07/researchers-invasive-zebra-mussels-toxic-algae/
TRAVERSE CITY, Mich. (AP) — Wolf pups have been spotted again on Isle Royale, a hopeful sign in the effort to rebuild the predator species’ population at the U.S. national park, scientists said Monday.
It’s unknown how many gray wolves roam the island chain in northwestern Lake Superior.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2021/07/ap-scientists-births-isle-royale-wolves/
As President Joe Biden tries to advance his high-profile legislative agenda in a sharply divided Congress, a low-profile bill that could help the Great Lakes region is progressing with bipartisan support.
If passed, it could finally help the region shake its Rust Belt image.
The legislation is the U.S.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2021/07/legislation-investment-tech-research-great-lakes-cities/
By Lester Graham, Michigan Radio
The Great Lakes News Collaborative includes Bridge Michigan; Circle of Blue; Great Lakes Now at Detroit Public Television; and Michigan Radio, Michigan’s NPR News Leader; who work together to bring audiences news and information about the impact of climate change, pollution, and aging infrastructure on the Great Lakes and drinking water.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2021/07/soup-chemicals-drinking-water/
For the second year in a row, scientists predict the annual Lake Erie cyanobacteria bloom will be smaller than it has been in the past decade.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s forecast, assembled with the help of multiple partners, indicates an expected bloom severity index of 3 on a scale of 10.5.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2021/07/2021-harmful-algal-blooms-toxic-algae/
Collecting data for scientific research across large geographic areas can be challenging, but researchers have found an easy solution – the public.
The Huron River watershed covers 900 square miles, and the Huron River Watershed Council has been collecting data from the watershed for years. Yet collection from such an expansive area would not have been possible without the help of an army of dedicated citizen, or community, scientists.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2021/06/great-lakes-everyday-people-science-public/
This article was republished here with permission from Great Lakes Echo.
By McKoy Scribner, Great Lakes Echo
Although Great Lakes water levels are down, the risk of coastal erosion remains high, Michigan State University researchers say. Now, the researchers are enlisting “citizen scientists” to assist in helping better understand coastal change.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2021/06/researchers-volunteers-document-coastal-erosion-michigan/
For some, getting to contribute to scientific research might sound like a far-fetched possibility.
Jason Frenzel, stewardship coordinator at the Huron River Watershed Council, is one of the countless people working to change that assumption.
The HRWC is one of many organizations in the Great Lakes region that offer people, most with little prior scientific training, the opportunity to participate in science.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2021/06/citizen-science-opportunities/
I Speak for the Fish is a new monthly column written by Great Lakes Now Contributor Kathy Johnson, coming out the third Monday of each month. Publishing the author’s views and assertions does not represent endorsement by Great Lakes Now or Detroit Public Television.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2021/06/fish-vernal-pools-baby-salamanders/
A four-year research project looking into the impact of microplastics on freshwater ecosystems and on agricultural soils will have important implications for the Great Lakes, said its principal researcher.
Funded by the Canadian government, the $1-million project was announced in May. It will measure microplastic levels in wastewater from treatment plants draining into Ontario rivers and streams that feed into the Great Lakes.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2021/06/canada-microplastics-study-wastewater-impact/
By Brett Walton, Circle of Blue
The Great Lakes News Collaborative includes Bridge Michigan; Circle of Blue; Great Lakes Now at Detroit Public Television; and Michigan Radio, Michigan’s NPR News Leader; who work together to bring audiences news and information about the impact of climate change, pollution, and aging infrastructure on the Great Lakes and drinking water.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2021/06/marine-blooms-harmful-algae-increasing/
A decades-long monitoring project in the Great Lakes basin has started checking for PFAS in rain. It’s finding the forever chemicals across the basin in large amounts.
Those numbers aren’t published yet, but PFAS are showing up in concentrations higher than legacy contaminants like mercury, PCBs (polychlorinated biphenyls) and pesticides.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2021/06/raining-pfas-outpacing-legacy-contaminants/
By Darby Hinkley/The Alpena News
This article is part of a collaboration between The Alpena News and Great Lakes Now at Detroit Public Television to bring audiences stories about the Great Lakes, especially Lake Huron and its watershed.
ROGERS CITY — BEN gets around.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2021/06/autonomous-vessel-rogers-city-lake-huron/
By Darby Hinkley, The Alpena News
This article is part of a collaboration between The Alpena News and Great Lakes Now at Detroit Public Television to bring audiences stories about the Great Lakes, especially Lake Huron and its watershed.
ALPENA — A trio of researchers who have been studying the Alpena-Amberley Ridge are joined this month by a group of undergraduate students from the University of Texas at Arlington.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2021/06/marine-archaeology-research-texas-lake-huron-shipwrecks/
Great Lakes Moment is a monthly column written by Great Lakes Now Contributor John Hartig. Publishing the author’s views and assertions does not represent endorsement by Great Lakes Now or Detroit Public Television.
The United States and Canada now have over 40 years of collaborative history in use of an ecosystem approach to protect and restore the Great Lakes.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2021/06/international-ecoystem-approach-restoration-great-lakes/
PFAS, short for per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, are a group of widespread man-made chemicals that don’t break down in the environment or the human body and have been flagged as a major contaminant in sources of water across the country.
Keep up with PFAS-related developments in the Great Lakes area.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2021/06/pfas-news-professor-stories-study-high-levels-fertilizer/
Oxygen levels have dropped in hundreds of lakes in the United States and Europe over the last four decades, a new study found.
And the authors said declining oxygen could lead to increased fish kills, algal blooms and methane emissions.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2021/06/ap-hundreds-lakes-united-states-europe-losing-oxygen/
This article was republished here with permission from Great Lakes Echo.
By Hannah Brock, Great Lakes Echo
A type of algae that a recent study found collects microfibers brings up questions about microplastic pollution impacts and how it could affect human health.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2021/05/algae-vacuum-microplastics-greater-health-threat/
Watershed cleanups are popular ways of dealing with local plastic pollution, but once large plastic trash disintegrates into microplastics, they're nearly impossible to pick up.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2021/05/plastic-debris-great-lakes-drinking-water-food/
Microplastics act like a chemical sponge, soaking up contaminants such as persistent organic pollutants and heavy metals.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2021/05/chemical-impact-microplastic-pollution/
DETROIT (AP) — Now that’s a whopper — a very old whopper!
A 240-pound (108.8 kilograms) sturgeon that could be more than 100 years old was caught last week in the Detroit River by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2021/05/ap-240-pound-fish-sturgeon-detroit-river/
This article was republished here with permission from Great Lakes Echo.
By Brandon Chew, Great Lakes Echo
It was atmospheric pressure waves that produced 6-foot water waves in Lake Michigan on April 13, 2018, damaging docks and cottages and submerging breakwalls in Ludington.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2021/04/meteotsunami-great-lakes-contaminants/
MOUNT PLEASANT, Mich. (AP) — The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has awarded grants to Central Michigan University and Clarkson University to continue monitoring coastal wetlands and fish contaminants throughout the Great Lakes basin.
Central Michigan will receive $10 million to monitor approximately 1,000 wetlands over the next five years.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2021/04/ap-epa-great-lakes-grants-central-michigan-clarkson/
By Ben Goldfarb, Hakai Magazine
This story originally appeared in Hakai Magazine and is republished here as part of Covering Climate Now, a global journalism collaboration strengthening coverage of the climate story.
In the world of competitive sportfishing, the name Arostegui is royalty.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2021/04/microfishing-angling-recreational-fishing/
As COVID-19 changed the pattern of life around the Great Lakes region in 2020, it also altered the pattern of Great Lakes drownings in unfortunate if predictable ways.
With larger than normal crowds and a fatigue with restrictions, the rise in drownings isn’t a surprise.
“You get no lifeguards, heavier beach crowds, more people who were just escaping their house in the heat, going to the beach, and you’re putting more people into a dangerous situation,” said Chris Houser, a professor in the school of environment at University of Windsor.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2021/04/drownings-increase-research-connection-covid-19-restrictions/
By Lester Graham, Michigan Radio
The Great Lakes News Collaborative includes Bridge Michigan; Circle of Blue; Great Lakes Now at Detroit Public Television; and Michigan Radio, Michigan’s NPR News Leader; who work together to bring audiences news and information about the impact of climate change, pollution, and aging infrastructure on the Great Lakes and drinking water.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2021/04/scientists-bottom-food-web-great-lakes/
As the pandemic wears on, antidepressant use is on the rise.
Claims for selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors increased by 17% in Canada between 2019 and 2020, according to one report. In the United States, the number of prescriptions filled per week for antidepressant, anti-anxiety and anti-insomnia medications increased 21% between Feb.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2021/04/fish-study-pandemic-antidepressant-freshwater-ecosystems/
By Kelly House, Bridge Michigan, through the Institute for Nonprofit News network
The Great Lakes News Collaborative includes Bridge Michigan; Circle of Blue; Great Lakes Now at Detroit Public Television; and Michigan Radio, Michigan’s NPR News Leader; who work together to bring audiences news and information about the impact of climate change, pollution, and aging infrastructure on the Great Lakes and drinking water.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2021/04/report-lake-michigan-more-storms-less-fish/
As spring comes to the Great Lakes region and icy roads and sidewalks become a distant memory, a new study shows the salt we apply over the winter can linger in summertime rivers at alarming levels.
The University of Toronto study measured chloride in four Greater Toronto Area rivers and found it was high enough in many locations to put at least two-thirds of aquatic life at risk during early stages of their development.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2021/03/salt-levels-wintertime-de-icing-toronto-rivers-summer/
Of the many possible new invasive threats to the Great Lakes, 144 stand out in particular, according to a study released in 2021.
The study lists 144 fish, plants and invertebrates that could invade the Great Lakes or expand their range within them. The species were listed by the risk of damage they pose to the Great Lakes environment or culture and the likelihood they’d be introduced by one of six pathways.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2021/03/great-lakes-invasive-species-early-detection/
By Kelly House, Bridge Michigan, through the Institute for Nonprofit News network
The Great Lakes News Collaborative includes Bridge Michigan; Circle of Blue; Great Lakes Now at Detroit Public Television; and Michigan Radio, Michigan’s NPR News Leader; who work together to bring audiences news and information about the impact of climate change, pollution, and aging infrastructure on the Great Lakes and drinking water.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2021/03/dam-traverse-city-fish-restoration-project/
TRAVERSE CITY, Mich. (AP) — Powerful gusts linked to global warming are damaging water quality and creating a hazard for fish in Lake Erie and perhaps elsewhere in the Great Lakes, according to researchers.
Extremely high winds occasionally churn up deep water with low oxygen and high levels of phosphorus in Erie’s central basin and shove it into the shallower western section, creating a hazard for fish and insects on which they feed.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2021/03/ap-scientists-climate-whipped-winds-great-lakes-hazards/
By Lester Graham, Michigan Radio
The Great Lakes News Collaborative includes Bridge Michigan; Circle of Blue; Great Lakes Now at Detroit Public Television; and Michigan Radio, Michigan’s NPR News Leader; who work together to bring audiences news and information about the impact of climate change, pollution, and aging infrastructure on the Great Lakes and drinking water.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2021/03/university-michigan-discovery-lake-erie-dead-zone/
Deep below the cold, dark surface of Lake Superior, sensors strung like pearls along a vertical steel cable sway with the currents. Recording the lake’s dropping temperatures as winter sets in, their gentle rhythm belies their worrying readings: the lake is getting warmer.
Jay Austin heaved several of these science experiments off a boat last fall – tossing concrete blocks into the deep water to anchor the cable of sensors stretching down from floating platforms just below the surface.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2021/03/lake-superior-researchers-impact-warming-winters/
