By Daniel Wanschura, Interlochen Public Radio
Points North is a biweekly podcast about the land, water and inhabitants of the Great Lakes.
This episode was shared here with permission from Interlochen Public Radio.
Dave Naftzger found out about the 100% Fish Project entirely by accident.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2024/04/points-north-more-than-just-filet-of-fish/
It all started with a mottled little crustacean crawling across a soccer field in Ontario’s Burlington City Park in October 2021, a few miles from Lake Ontario.
The animal may have looked innocuous, but this was the first sign of a costly and grueling ongoing battle against a potentially devastating new invasive species in the Great Lakes.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2024/04/marbled-crayfish-raises-eyebrows-and-concerns/
This story is a part of “A Year in the Wild Kitchen of the Great Lakes,” a series in partnership with expert forager Lisa M. Rose with the mission of nurturing a deeper connection with the natural world through foraging.
The Importance of Ecological Awareness in Foraging
As we delve into the world of foraging, it’s crucial to cultivate an understanding of the ecosystems we interact with, especially when harvesting wild plants like ramps (wild leeks) and ostrich ferns.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2024/04/a-fleeting-wild-taste-of-spring-ephemerals-ramps-and-ostrich-fern/
The Biggest Week in American Birding draws a worldwide audience to glimpse dozens of species of migrating birds including the stars of the show, tiny warblers, as well as local birds in northern Ohio — and officials say they’ve been seeing changes in recent years.
“There appears to be a little shifting in the short-distance migrants versus the tropical migrants,” said Mark Shieldcastle, research director at Black Swamp Bird Observatory (BSBO), event host.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2024/04/ohio-birding-transitions/
Hot dog on a stick. Water torch. Supermarket of the swamp.
Cattails go by many names, but almost everyone can recognize the pervasive wetland plant that grows along lakes, ponds, marshes, and swamps.
Their thin green stems and leaves can reach up to nearly ten feet in height.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2024/04/finding-creative-new-ways-to-manage-invasive-cattails/
Foraging connects us with the natural world, offering a pathway to understand the land, its cycles, and the bountiful edible plants that grow wild around us. Whether you’re a novice eager to explore the greens outside your doorstep or an experienced forager looking to deepen your practice, this guide provides essential insights into starting your foraging journey, identifying plants, harvesting sustainably, and ensuring safety.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2024/04/your-foraging-journey-a-framework-to-sustainable-and-safe-practices/
I Speak for the Fish is a 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/2024/04/i-speak-for-the-fish-never-underestimate-a-smallmouth/
By Ellie Katz, Interlochen Public Radio
Points North is a biweekly podcast about the land, water and inhabitants of the Great Lakes.
This episode was shared here with permission from Interlochen Public Radio.
We often think of the deep parts of the Great Lakes as cold, empty spaces.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2024/04/points-north-quest-for-kiyi/
An eerie sight is blossoming throughout coastal wetlands in Georgian Bay: ghostly grey specters lining the shores behind otherwise healthy-looking wetlands.
“Do you see these dead trees?” asked Patricia Chow-Fraser. The McMaster University biologist was addressing attendees of a lecture at The Water Institute at the University of Waterloo in early March.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2024/04/ghostly-grey-specters/
In 1979, there were just four nesting pairs of bald eagles in the entire state of Ohio. Today there are more than 900 pairs spread throughout all but three of Ohio’s 88 counties, not including the immature birds that still appear mottled with brown and white because haven’t yet developed white plumage on their heads.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2024/04/bald-eagle-return-exceeds-expectations/
By Kathryn Peiman, The Narwhal
Photography by Kathryn Peiman
The Great Lakes News Collaborative includes Bridge Michigan; Circle of Blue; Great Lakes Now at Detroit Public Television; Michigan Public, Michigan’s NPR News Leader; and The Narwhal 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/2024/04/wild-fish-spring-to-life-in-lake-ontario-despite-dams-pollution-and-hatchery-competitors/
By Kimberly Rosvall, Indiana University and Liz Aguilar, Indiana University
is an independent and nonprofit source of news, analysis and commentary from academic experts.
The total solar eclipse on April 8, 2024, coincides with an exciting time for wild birds. Local birds are singing for mates and fighting for territories as they gear up for their once-a-year chance to breed.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2024/04/during-the-2024-eclipse-biologists-like-us-want-to-find-out-how-birds-will-respond-to-darkness-in-the-middle-of-the-day/
By Matthew Daly, Associated Press
PHILADELPHIA (AP) — The head of the Environmental Protection Agency on Friday defended a new $20 billion federal “green bank” program, saying it will finance a variety of projects to create low-carbon solutions to combat climate change, including in disadvantaged communities that are most affected by pollution.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2024/04/epa-head-regan-defends-20b-green-bank-i-feel-really-good-about-this-program/
By Daniel Wanschura, Interlochen Public Radio
Points North is a biweekly podcast about the land, water and inhabitants of the Great Lakes. This episode was shared here with permission from Interlochen Public Radio.
On November 11, 2023, Ben Karasch is up in his treestand, waiting for a deer.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2024/04/points-north-not-always-the-apex-predator/
Increasingly, scientists and regulators are concerned about the presence of pharmaceutical pollution in our waterways, including in the Great Lakes region. This contamination has the potential to harm wildlife and make antibiotics less effective. However, more research needs to be done to understand this issue, according to scientists who have studied pharmaceuticals and other contaminants.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2024/03/through-a-glass-darkly/
By Juanpablo Ramirez-Franco, WBEZ
This coverage is made possible through a partnership between WBEZ and Grist, a nonprofit, independent media organization dedicated to telling stories of climate solutions and a just future. Sign up for WBEZ newsletters to get local news you can trust.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2024/03/illinois-and-army-corps-at-an-impasse-over-building-barrier-to-prevent-invasive-carp/
This article was republished here with permission from Great Lakes Echo.
By Kayla Nelsen, Great Lakes Echo
A California woman on “The Daily Show” recently swapped her sandals for snowshoes after moving to Duluth to escape her state’s wildfires.
The Comedy Central show featured Duluth as a climate haven, an ideal place to live to avoid wildfires, droughts, hurricanes and extreme flooding.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2024/03/are-great-lakes-cities-ready-for-climate-migrants/
Lake Erie covers about 9,900 square miles and stretches 240 miles from southwest to northeast with an average depth of 62 feet. It borders four states and the province of Ontario. About 12 million people live in the watershed, including 17 major metropolitan areas. More than 10 million people rely on the lake as a source of drinking water.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2024/03/from-the-ice-age-to-now-a-lake-erie-timeline/
On April 8, a solar eclipse will march from Maine to Mexico, darkening the skies during midday. The moon’s shadow will black out the sun completely just south of Michigan, but folks in the southeast part of the state will be close to the action and also experience almost complete darkness.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2024/03/the-solar-eclipse-is-a-great-opportunity-for-students-and-citizen-scientists-alike/
By Kelly House, Bridge Michigan
The Great Lakes News Collaborative includes Bridge Michigan; Circle of Blue; Great Lakes Now at Detroit Public Television; Michigan Public, Michigan’s NPR News Leader; and The Narwhal 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/2024/03/road-salt-use-dips-37-in-michigan-warm-winter-saving-millions-easing-pollution/
I Speak for the Fish is a 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/2024/03/i-speak-for-the-fish-when-a-bass-is-not-a-bass/
By Katie Thoresen, WXPR
This story was originally published by WXPR. WXPR is a community-licensed public radio station serving north central Wisconsin and adjacent areas of Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. Listen to their stories here.
Bright blue tubes web between the trees that run to the little red pump house that sits in the woods on the edge of 10 acres full of maple trees at Whataview Farm in Phelps.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2024/03/the-northwoods-is-now-a-month-into-unusually-early-maple-tapping-season/
By Todd Richmond, Associated Press
RACINE, Wis. (AP) — Michigan Tech University biologists have been observing a remote Lake Superior island’s fragile wolf population every winter since 1958, but they had to cut this season’s planned seven-week survey short after just two weeks.
The ski plane they study the wolves from uses the frozen lake as a landing strip because there’s nowhere to touch down on the island.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2024/03/ap-fewer-fish-and-more-algae-scientists-seek-to-understand-impacts-of-historic-lack-of-great-lakes-ice/
Driving through the Ottawa National Forest north of Land O’Lakes towards Dinner Lake you’ll see snow-covered piles stacked up every few feet in the woods along the road.
Many of the piles are wood debris and branches left over from logging operations on the Ottawa.
Some of the piles have been waiting there for two years as the Forest Service let them dry out.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2024/03/ottawa-national-forest-creates-shaded-fuel-brakes-to-help-protect-communities-from-wildfires/
The long, fast, toothy muskellunge (also known as muskie or musky) is nicknamed the “Fish of 10,000 Casts” due to its notoriously elusive nature. It is the apex predator in all waters where it’s found, known to hide in underwater cover, aggressively ambushing prey. They eat fish almost exclusively, though they have been known to consume just about anything they can swallow including birds, small mammals, and their own kind.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2024/02/wisconsins-state-fish-tops-the-food-chain/
I Speak for the Fish is a 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/2024/02/i-speak-for-the-fish-bringing-muskie-to-the-masses/
The Lake Guardian is currently in its winter home, nestled along the docks in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. In warmer months, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) uses this ship to gather data on water quality, and has for over forty years. And each year since 1991, a group of lucky educators has squeezed on board and, for nine days, also called this ship home.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2024/02/teachers-and-scientists-work-together-on-the-lake-guardian/
By Izzy Ross, Interlochen Public Radio
This coverage is made possible through a partnership with IPR and Grist, a nonprofit independent media organization dedicated to telling stories of climate solutions and a just future.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2024/02/warm-winters-are-a-wet-blanket-for-small-ski-slopes-in-northern-michigan/
As apex predators, adult muskie occupy the very top tier of the Great Lakes food chain. Reaching up to six foot in length with teeth lining their jaws, the roof of their mouths and their throats, few can escape them. They are feared by most species underwater and revered by many people above.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2024/02/want-healthy-walleye-fishery-stock-some-muskie/
This article was republished here with permission from Great Lakes Echo.
By Kayla Nelsen, Great Lakes Echo
Researchers in Minnesota are creating a national map to identify peatlands – soggy areas of slowly decaying organic matter – and guides for how to restore them.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2024/02/preserving-minnesotas-bogs-could-fight-climate-change/
Catching and eating fish is a way of life for many people around the Great Lakes and connecting St. Lawrence River, but decades of industrial pollution have made it unsafe to eat too many, too often. The advice about how many and how often can vary wildly depending on which jurisdiction, even though the fish don’t care about the lines humans draw on a map.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2024/02/how-safe-great-lakes-fish-to-eat-depends-on-who-you-ask/
In order to do meaningful things at scale, everyone has to be at the table. This is what Curt Wolf, Managing Director of the University of Michigan’s Urban Collaboratory, said about the Michigan Center for Freshwater Innovation in an interview with Great Lakes Now. Last month, he explained the benefits of pulling together stakeholders, the Great Lakes Water Authority, and major universities like the University of Michigan, Wayne State, and Michigan State to all work alongside each other to collaborate on grand challenges, like catastrophic flooding in the region.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2024/02/the-future-of-water-management-with-curt-wolf/
By Kelly House, Bridge Michigan
The Great Lakes News Collaborative includes Bridge Michigan; Circle of Blue; Great Lakes Now at Detroit Public Television; Michigan Public, Michigan’s NPR News Leader; and The Narwhal 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/2024/02/as-michigan-winters-vanish-researchers-study-snow-for-clues-about-whats-next/
By Seth Borenstein and Steve Karnowski, Associated Press
ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) — For the eighth straight month in January, Earth was record hot, according to the European climate agency. That was obvious in the northern United States, where about 1,000 people were golfing last month in a snow-starved Minneapolis during what the state is calling “the Lost Winter of 2023-24.”
For the first time, the global temperature pushed past the internationally agreed upon warming threshold for an entire 12-month period, with February 2023 to January 2024 running 2.74 degrees Fahrenheit (1.52 degrees Celsius) hotter than pre-industrial levels, according to the Copernicus Climate Change Service of the European Space Agency.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2024/02/ap-globe-breaks-heat-record-for-8th-straight-month-golfers-get-to-play-in-minnesotas-lost-winter/
By Kelly House, Bridge Michigan
The Great Lakes News Collaborative includes Bridge Michigan; Circle of Blue; Great Lakes Now at Detroit Public Television; Michigan Public, Michigan’s NPR News Leader; and The Narwhal 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/2024/02/michigans-lost-winter-cancels-sturgeon-season-ski-dog-sled-races/
By Todd Richmond, Associated Press
A stretch of unusually warm weather has forced federal officials to suspend researchers’ annual wolf-moose count in Isle Royale National Park for the first time in more than six decades.
Isle Royale is a 134,000-acre (54,200-hectare) island situated in far western Lake Superior between Grand Marais, Minnesota, and Thunder Bay, Canada.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2024/02/ap-warm-weather-forces-park-officials-to-suspend-isle-royale-wolf-count-for-first-time-in-decades/
By Ellie Katz, Interlochen Public Radio
Points North is a biweekly podcast about the land, water and inhabitants of the Great Lakes.
This episode was shared here with permission from Interlochen Public Radio.
White-tailed deer are one of a few species that have managed to thrive as we urbanize and suburbanize the Midwest.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2024/02/points-north-doe-a-deer-a-sterilized-female-deer/
This article was republished here with permission from Great Lakes Echo.
By Daniel Schoenherr, Great Lakes Echo
Lake Erie is the first of the Great Lakes getting connected to the internet with a series of offshore “smart” buoys.
And it’s not just for sending texts on the water.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2024/01/smart-buoys-help-brace-great-lakes-for-environmental-challenges/
MADISON, Wis. (AP) — The National Science Foundation has given a consortium of Great Lakes-area universities and tech companies $15 million to develop ways to extract harmful substances from wastewater.
The foundation announced Monday that it has named the Great Lakes ReNEW group as one of 10 regional innovation engines across the country.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2024/01/ap-consortium-of-great-lakes-universities-and-tech-companies-gets-15m-to-seek-ways-to-clean-wastewater/
In Douglas, Michigan, houses dot the coast of Lake Michigan, with wooden stairs — some newly built, others with broken steps — descending the steep hillside to give shoreline residents access to the narrow sandy beach. When winds grow fierce, waves crash against the boulders and large sandbags stacked along the base of these homes.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2024/01/you-cant-stop-the-lake/
By Izzy Ross, Interlochen Public Radio
This coverage is made possible through a partnership with IPR and Grist, a nonprofit independent media organization dedicated to telling stories of climate solutions and a just future.
On a Sunday morning in Charlevoix, people gather in the small, one-room building of the Greensky Hill Indian United Methodist Church.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2024/01/it-only-makes-sense-houses-of-worship-adding-solar-arrays/
By Josh Boose, Ideastream Public Media
This story was originally published by Ideastream.
Lake Erie is behind its typical freezing schedule.
The schedule depends on different weather patterns, according to National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Director of Communications Jennifer Day.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2024/01/lake-erie-is-13-frozen-expect-less-freezing-in-the-future/
Points North is a biweekly podcast hosted by Daniel Wanschura and Morgan Springer about the land, water and inhabitants of the Great Lakes.
This episode was shared here with permission from Interlochen Public Radio.
At the bottom of Lake Huron there’s a ridge that was once above water.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2024/01/points-north-can-ai-caribou-lead-us-to-our-prehistoric-past/
By Emma McIntosh, The Narwhal
The Great Lakes News Collaborative includes Bridge Michigan; Circle of Blue; Great Lakes Now at Detroit Public Television; Michigan Public, Michigan’s NPR News Leader; and The Narwhal 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/2024/01/restoring-ontarios-lost-grasslands-important-as-planting-trees/
By Shantal Riley, Undark
Shantal Riley is an award-winning health and environmental reporter, focused on water quality in communities of color. Her work has been featured by Frontline PBS, NOVA PBS, the Washington Post Magazine, and other publications.
This story was supported in part by The Uproot Project, which is operationally and financially supported by Grist.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2024/01/the-toxic-sands-threatening-fish-in-lake-superior/
By Izzy Ross, Interlochen Public Radio
This coverage is made possible through a partnership with IPR and Grist, a nonprofit independent media organization dedicated to telling stories of climate solutions and a just future.
Elk Rapids is surrounded by water.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2024/01/elk-rapids-wants-to-help-its-shoreline-through-new-state-climate-corps-program/
This article was republished here with permission from Great Lakes Echo.
By Ben Eiler, Great Lakes Echo
The founder of a company that uses drones to recover deer carcasses that hunters cannot find says that Michigan’s prohibition of the practice violates his First Amendment rights.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2024/01/lawsuit-could-complicate-drone-laws-for-michigan-hunters-and-anglers/
By Kelly House, Bridge Michigan
The Great Lakes News Collaborative includes Bridge Michigan; Circle of Blue; Great Lakes Now at Detroit Public Television; and Michigan Public, 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/2024/01/michigan-lawmakers-have-more-energy-priorities-in-2024/
By Zaria Johnson, Ideastream Public Media
This story was originally published by Ideastream.
Northeast Ohio’s parks are frequented by white-tailed deer, wild turkeys and a variety of squirrel species throughout the year, along with migratory birds, monarch butterflies and more. But where do these critters spend their winters?
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2024/01/where-northeast-ohios-wildlife-spends-the-winter/
The trek in the Great Lakes region’s efforts to stop the advance of invasive carp could be classified as a long, strange and seemingly never-ending trip.
It started in the early 2000’s when advocates were successful in securing electric barriers to repel the fish. That was an interim measure and was followed by an over-the-top $18 billion plan to separate two great watersheds.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2024/01/great-lakes-policy-advocate-calls-out-illinois-for-intransigence-on-invasive-carp-solution/
