Broadcasting in our monthly PBS television program, The Catch is a Great Lakes Now series that brings you more news about the lakes you love. Go beyond the headlines with reporters from around the region who cover the lakes and drinking water issues. Find all the work HERE.
This month, The Catch features a story about cruising the Great Lakes.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2022/11/the-catch-cruising-the-great-lakes/
They stop dozens of vehicles creating traffic jams so that a single boat can dawdle through and sometimes they make us late. They’re usually very old and expensive to maintain and operate and holy smokes, they move slow as cold molasses.
But seriously, aren’t they great?
“It can definitely be an inconvenience, but in all reality it’s only a few minutes every hour,” Port Clinton Mayor Mike Snider said.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2022/11/great-lakes-moving-bridges/
Do you know if your state has an official food or drink? If you live in the Great Lakes region, chances are your state boasts multiple official foods, drinks and even crops. Some of them – not all – a part of the region’s water-related culture, history and traditions.
Each state chooses their respective official delicacy for a variety of reasons.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2022/10/know-your-state-foods/
Editor’s Note: Look for coverage of Great Lakes recreation and adventure in this new monthly feature. The author, Ian Solomon, founded Amplify Outside, a nonprofit dedicated to increasing access and representation by Black people in the outdoors, starting in the Great Lakes region. Find more about him HERE.
From the Detroit River to the shores of Tawas Bay, I chased the last bite of summer I could manage.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2022/10/the-debut-of-ian-outside/
“Craft beers inspired by Lake Superior.”
That’s how Sleeping Giant Brewing Company describes its menu. Founded in 2012, this Canadian beer brand was the first independent brewery to open in Thunder Bay, Ontario. And its beer is more than just inspired by the lake.
Sleeping Giant uses roughly 50,000 liters of lake water per month to produce beers with colorful names like Northern Logger and Mr.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2022/10/coastal-craft-beers-come-to-lake-superior/
By Mark Scolforo, Associated Press
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — Pennsylvania is spending $45 million to add new state parks at a nature preserve in Tunkhannock, on Big Elk Creek in the Philadelphia suburbs and along the Susquehanna River near Wrightsville, officials were set to announce Tuesday.
The additions to the state’s 121-park system will be an existing nearly 700-acre nature preserve on the Vosburg Neck in Wyoming County, a 1,700-acre tract in Chester County and some 1,100 acres in York County.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2022/09/ap-pennsylvania-spending-45m-new-state-parks/
Love staring at a map and discovering something interesting? Then “Mapping the Great Lakes” is for you. It’s a monthly Great Lakes Now feature created by Alex B. Hill, a self-described “data nerd and anthropologist” who combines cartography, data, and analytics with storytelling and human experience.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2022/09/mapping-the-great-lakes-underwater-discoveries-await/
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/2022/09/i-speak-for-the-fish-a-fishs-shelf-life/
Queen Elizabeth II left her mark in the Great Lakes region, from joining President Dwight D. Eisenhower at the opening of the St. Lawrence Seaway to sailing on Lake Michigan and Lake Huron.
Following the Thursday news of the longest-reigning British monarch’s passing, PBS stations across the nation broadcasted programs commemorating her life and local news organizations reported on the late queen’s special connection to the region, highlighting the 45-day tour of Canada and the Great Lakes she took in 1959.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2022/09/look-back-on-queen-elizabeths-great-lakes-tour/
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 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/2022/08/michigans-up-north-forests-could-be-doomed/
Ever visited a U.S. national marine sanctuary and look forward to another trip? If so, you can have inspiration through a new set of postage stamps.
In honor of the 50th anniversary of the NOAA’s National Marine Sanctuary System, the U.S. Postal Service is releasing 16 new postage stamps showing scenes from sanctuaries around the world.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2022/08/stamps-celebrate-noaa-landscapes-marine-life/
The village of Dresden is nestled amid charming vineyards and the placid blue waters of Seneca Lake, the largest of Upstate New York’s Finger Lakes.
Wineries, breweries, dairy farms, and state parks dot the lake’s shoreline, making it a picture-perfect vacation destination.
But for local residents, the three auburn-colored smokestacks of Greenidge Generation’s plant towering above the trees are an unnerving reminder that their natural resources are at risk.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2022/08/bitcoin-mining-plant-dirty-coal-ash-problem/
Broadcasting in our monthly PBS television program, The Catch is a Great Lakes Now series that brings you more news about the lakes you love. Go beyond the headlines with reporters from around the region who cover the lakes and drinking water issues. Find all the work HERE.
Want to head out to the Great Lake Erie Birding Trail?
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2022/07/the-catch-lake-erie-birding/
Two Great Lakes cities are among “The World’s 50 Greatest Places of 2022” as compiled by Time magazine.
Detroit and Toronto made the list along with destinations on all the continents and in outer space. The magazine said the list came from its “international network of correspondents and contributors, with an eye toward those (destinations) offering new and exciting experiences.”
What puts these key Great Lakes cities in such company?
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2022/07/detroit-toronto-time-50-greatest-places/
By Harm Venhuizen, Associated Press/Report for America
MADISON, Wis. (AP) — Conservatives on the Wisconsin Supreme Court ruled June 30 that a conservation group couldn’t challenge an agency’s decision to sell state park land for the construction of a high-end golf course along the shores of Lake Michigan.
Opponents said the ruling will make it much harder for the public to challenge decisions of state agencies.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2022/07/ap-wisconsin-court-kohler-golf-course/
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 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/2022/06/borrow-free-camping-gear-michigan/
This month of The Catch features a look at shoreline shipwrecks in Michigan.
Author and editorial director of MichiganTrailMaps.com Jim DuFresne published a “Landlubbers Guide to Shoreline Shipwrecks,” and takes Great Lakes Now on a virtual tour of some of his favorites which include wrecks on the shores of Sleeping Bear Dunes and Isle Royale National Park.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2022/06/the-catch-shoreline-shipwrecks/
By Julie Riddle, 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 — Spring showers may bring spring flowers, but they can also carry pollutants into the lake that provides Alpena’s drinking water and many tourism dollars.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2022/06/keeping-pollutants-out/
MACKINAC ISLAND, Mich. (AP) — At least 15 people who attended a public affairs conference last week on Michigan’s Mackinac Island have tested positive for COVID-19, including U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg.
The gathering is put on each year by a business group, the Detroit Regional Chamber, and attracts more than 1,000 public officials, journalists and others who discuss a variety of political and policy issues.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2022/06/ap-covid-michigan-event/
The North American Sea Glass Association held its 16th Annual Sea Glass Festival at Maumee Bay State Park Lodge on Lake Erie – the first time it wasn’t held at a saltwater venue.
“This is probably the crème de la crème of festivals,” said Beverly Vinch, of Washed Ashore Jewelry, based in Avon Lake, Ohio.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2022/06/great-lakes-sea-glass/
By Zahra Ahmad, Bridge Michigan
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/2022/06/michigan-great-lakes-summer/
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/2022/05/trout-feeding-frenzy/
By Briana Rice, 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/2022/05/detroit-river-world-heritage-site/
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 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/2022/05/michigan-state-parks-covid/
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.
There are many similarities between Toronto’s lower Don River and metropolitan Detroit’s Rouge River.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2022/05/great-lakes-moment-don-rouge-rivers/
Editor’s Note: This is part two of a two-part story. Read the first part here.
Ed Matusik and his wife were in their new summer vacation trailer for just a month at Bay Point Resort and Marina in 2006 when they received an eviction letter: the investment group which recently purchased the site had plans for a new development in that section of the resort.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2022/04/trailer-parks-campgrounds-waterfront-developments/
Broadcasting in our monthly PBS television program, The Catch is a Great Lakes Now series that brings you more news about the lakes you love. Go beyond the headlines with reporters from around the region who cover the lakes and drinking water issues. Find all the work HERE.
Mount Baldy is moving inland.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2022/04/the-catch-dune-moves-inland/
In-person events are back as people slowly reintroduce themselves to dining in, large gatherings and a return to the office.
But even as indoors becomes less taboo, let’s not forget the great outdoors, which served us well over the past two years. And what better time to show your gratitude to the parks than Earth Day.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2022/04/earth-day-2022/
Editor’s Note: This is part one of a two-part story. Look for the next part next week.
Every summer for the last decade, James Peterson, his wife and two daughters traveled from Charleston, West Virginia, to Kaspar’s Lake Breeze Cottages in Marblehead, Ohio, to fish, relax and soak up the beauty and restorative power of Lake Erie.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2022/04/water-access-grows-out-of-reach/
LANSING, Mich. (AP) — Michigan is investing more than $4.7 billion to improve infrastructure, including drinking water upgrades, internet access and fixing roads, bridges and dams.
The spending plan includes some of the biggest infrastructure investments in state history, Gov. Gretchen Whitmer said Wednesday before signing the bipartisan legislation in Grand Rapids.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2022/03/ap-gov-whitmer-signs-4-7b-infrastructure/
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 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/2022/03/michigan-parks-struggle-staff-up-summer/
Great Lakes Now tries to make every episode interesting and educational.
In “Surf and Slide,” GLN Host Ward Detwiler learns ice boating from one of the best in the world – right in southeast Michigan. Follow along with the all-women surfing group Lake Surfistas as they strive to make lake surfing more welcoming and stay warm in winter waves.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2022/03/surf-and-slide-episode-quiz/
Sunny weather, bikinis and board shorts, the salt spray of the ocean – surfing tends to conjure a very specific image in most people’s minds, and it’s on the ocean coasts, not the freshwater ones in the Midwest.
But to a small community around the Great Lakes region, surfing looks very different – featuring more full-body coverage and ice-cold weather.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2022/03/surfing-great-lakes-where-to-start/
On a cool fall day in 2007, Robin Pacquing slipped on a wetsuit, grabbed a surfboard and headed into Lake Ontario.
As a teenager, Pacquing had been a huge Baywatch fan and learned to love surfing during a family trip to Hawaii. As an adult, she went on to surf the waves off Tofino, British Colombia, never dreaming she might do the same just outside her door.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2022/03/surfing-great-lakes/
The largest known muskie is 67 pounds 8 ounces. Or it’s 69 pounds 11 ounces. Or it’s 70 pounds 10 ounces. Depending on the type of record, whom you ask or what organization you trust, it could be any of those answers.
After Great Lakes Now published a column on muskies that referenced record sizes, it kicked off a dispute among readers on what record was the most accurate, so Great Lakes Now decided to do a deeper dive.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2022/03/who-caught-worlds-largest-muskie/
By Susan Montoya Bryan, Associated Press
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — National Park Service Director Chuck Sams said Tuesday he and other officials are committed to boosting the role Native American tribes can play in managing public lands around the U.S.
He told members of a congressional committee during a virtual hearing that part of the effort includes integrating Indigenous knowledge into management plans and recognizing that federal lands once belonged to the tribes.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2022/03/ap-us-boost-cooperation-tribes-land-management/
CHICAGO (AP) —
The Adler Planetarium in Chicago will open this week for the first time since it closed its doors nearly two years ago because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The famed planetarium on the shores of Lake Michigan will on March 4 reopen, joining the ranks of museums and other institutions that have opened their doors once again in recent days months after the pandemic forced them to close.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2022/03/ap-chicago-adler-planetarium-reopening/
By Tara Lohan, The Revelator
This story originally appeared in The Revelator and is republished here as part of Covering Climate Now, a global journalism collaboration strengthening coverage of the climate story.
Climate change is already shaking up the natural world, changing the timing of seasonal snow melts, flower blooms and animal migrations.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2021/11/goodbye-national-parks-road-trips/
Scott Stecher would like it if all baits, or lures, were Reefrunners. He’s been manufacturing and selling his series of Ripshads, Rippers, Cicadas and Wiglsticks baits for decades, and they hold sway in the walleye community.
Stecher, who lives in Marblehead, Ohio, said his lures have landed walleye (and other fish) in places like South America, Europe and Asia.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2021/11/walleye-windfall-lake-erie-bait-and-tackle-is-big-small-business/
By Jill Zarestky, Colorado State University, The Conversation
is an independent and nonprofit source of news, analysis and commentary from academic experts.
Modern society benefits when people understand science concepts. This knowledge helps explain how cryptocurrency works, why climate change is happening or how the coronavirus is transmitted from person to person.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2021/11/unexpected-places-adults-learn-science/
Gary and Roseann Sauvey have been operating Kaspar’s Lake Breeze Cottages in one capacity or another for 65 years.
The Sauveys’ waterfront home sits on a couple acres, sporting a side yard with five 20×20 cottages that haven’t changed much over the decades. From beautiful, quaint wood interiors to a small fishing pier and breathtaking sunrises, it’s a site stuck in time.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2021/11/walleye-lake-erie-population-ohio-economy/
INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — Seventeen Indiana state park sites will be closing their gates to visitors for a pair of two-day deer hunts later this month.
The hunts are scheduled for Nov. 15-16 and Nov. 29-30, with the parks closing the evening before and reopening the next day.
The annual deer hunts began in 1993, with the Indiana Department of Natural Resources saying wildlife biologists evaluate the parks to determine where the hunts are needed to ensure healthy habitats for native plants and animals.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2021/11/ap-indiana-state-parks-closing-deer-hunts/
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.
LUDINGTON (AP) — The SS Badger backed into its dock Oct.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2021/10/ss-badger-makes-final-lake-michigan-crossing-of-season/
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.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2021/07/boating-budget-great-lakes-recreation/
When the Milwaukee River Lake Sturgeon Reintroduction Project began 16 years ago, success wasn’t immediately apparent.
Having a solid scientific foundation for the project wasn’t the problem: sturgeon were raised in the Milwaukee River so they would return there to spawn when the time came. The problem was that lake sturgeon don’t return to a river to spawn for around 15 years.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2021/07/ways-see-touch-appreciate-sturgeon-great-lakes-region/
CHESTERTON, Ind. (AP) — Officials at Indiana Dunes National Park want to hear from visitors as they develop a strategy to add services at the park, ranging from food or beverage sales to organized tours.
Two open houses are set for Thursday and Friday at the national park in northwestern Indiana.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2021/07/ap-indiana-dunes-visitors-ideas-new-services/
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration announced the beginning of a public comment period on its draft environmental impact statement and management plan for the proposed marine sanctuary in eastern Lake Ontario, the next step toward official designation.
“Any possible new sanctuary is a big deal for NOAA, the surrounding community and the nation,” said Nicole LeBoeuf, acting director of NOAA’s National Ocean Service.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2021/07/public-comment-lake-ontario-marine-sanctuary-proposal/
By Makayla Coffee, Bridge Michigan
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/great-lakes-surfers-michigan-beaches-rough-waves/
By Makayla Coffee, Bridge Michigan
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/drowning-warnings-michigan-great-lakes-beaches/
With a rebounding economy and plenty of federal relief funds, states across the country are finding themselves with extra money to spend.
Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer yesterday announced a proposal to spend $150 million of relief funds from the American Rescue Plan on state and local parks and trails.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2021/07/great-lakes-trails-new-planned-recreation/
