Trolling for muskie in the St. Louis River. Image credit: Todd Furo

Between the Fond du Lac Dam and Minnesota and Wisconsin points, the St. Louis River Estuary is becoming a destination for many types of water recreation. Thanks to pollution remedies and controls combined with habitat restoration, the river is cleaner than it has been in decades.

Despite these improvements, there are still safety hazards people should consider before recreating in the estuary. Whether people swim, paddle, hunt waterfowl, fish, sail or pleasure cruise on the river, local partners including the St. Louis River Area of Concern Coordinators and Sea Grant Programs in Minnesota and Wisconsin offer a web page with tips for appropriate precautions.

A shorter, “quick tips” fact sheet with similar information can be downloaded from here.

“We receive a lot of inquiries from people who want to know if it’s safe to swim in the estuary now,” said Barb Huberty, St. Louis River Area of Concern coordinator with the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency. “I reached out to the Sea Grant programs for help because of their community connections and communications expertise. We worked since last fall to gather input on what should be included in the fact sheet and web page from various water safety and harbor groups, and we are happy to have compiled information to give people.”

The text was written by Kelsey Prihoda, Great Lakes transportation extension educator with Minnesota Sea Grant. Editing and design services were provided by Wisconsin Sea Grant, which also distributes the information.

The post Heading for the St. Louis River? Local groups offer water safety tips first appeared on Wisconsin Sea Grant.

Original Article

News Releases | Wisconsin Sea Grant

News Releases | Wisconsin Sea Grant

https://www.seagrant.wisc.edu/news/heading-for-the-st-louis-river-local-groups-offer-water-safety-tips/

Marie Zhuikov

Boating on a Budget: Get off land and onto the Great Lakes

The Great Lakes are great for many reasons – their economic power, the lifestyle they provide millions of residents, as a getaway for tens of millions visitors and the livelihood it offers hundreds of thousands in lakes-related industries.

And then there’s the water. Summer sees the lakes filled with people soaking, swimming, skiing – and boating.

Read Now at Great Lakes Now.

Original Article

Great Lakes Now

Great Lakes Now

https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2021/07/boating-budget-great-lakes-recreation/

James Proffitt

Tokyo Time: How to watch the Great Lakes sailors in Olympic competition

Six sailors from Ontario, along with three from Wisconsin and one from Illinois are in Japan and ready for the Olympic sailing competition.

Great Lakes Now Host Ward Detwiler spoke with three of them in advance of their travels:

Here’s how to watch and follow these Great Lakes sailors in the Games:

Reports from World Sailing

US Sailing Olympic Homepage

Sail/Voile Canada Olympic Homepage

Links to Live Coverage:

CBC Streaming Schedule for Sailing Events: https://www.cbc.ca/sports/olympics/summer/sailing/streaming-schedule

NBC Olympics Streaming Site for Sailing Events:

https://www.nbcolympics.com/schedule/sport/sailing

Events and Schedules for the Great Lakes Sailors – start times for sailing events are 11 p.m.

Read Now at Great Lakes Now.

Original Article

Great Lakes Now

Great Lakes Now

https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2021/07/watch-great-lakes-sailors-2021-olympics/

GLN Editor

Sarah Douglas: From Lake Ontario to the Tokyo Olympics

Canada has nine sailors heading to the Olympics, six of which hail from the Great Lakes. Sarah Douglas is one of them.

“I’m excited, you know, I’m trying to treat it like any other competition,” Douglas said, “I think with the restrictions that we have, it’s going to be easier, the less distractions, but I’m just going out there to race.”

Douglas, a Toronto native who grew up in Barbados, will be competing in the Laser class in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.

Read Now at Great Lakes Now.

Original Article

Great Lakes Now

Great Lakes Now

https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2021/05/douglas-lake-ontario-tokyo-olympics/

GLN Editor