Could climate migration bring new life to shrinking towns in Michigan’s U.P., or will rising costs and lagging infrastructure get in the way of population growth? Read the full story by Great Lakes Now.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20251001-burden-climate-migration-impact-michigan-upper-peninsula
A recent collaborative study conducted by nine Indigenous entities and academic researchers was conducted to understand how climate change threatens the lake sturgeon and to develop adaptation strategies rooted in tribal knowledge. Read the full story by Capital News Service.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20251001-western-indigenous-knowledge-lakesturgeon
The Great Lakes are home to as many as 30 islands with year-round residents, including nine in Michigan alone. Read the full story by MLive.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20251001-greatlakes-islands-yearround-residents
Scientists used an autonomous underwater vehicle to explore shipwrecks in Lake Michigan for the first time. The expedition highlighted the significant challenges of exploring the Great Lakes, even with advanced tools. Read the full story by the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20251001-underwater-robot-deep-scans-lake-michigan-shipwrecks
In New York, Farmers across five Finger Lakes counties are receiving major support for conservation projects that reduce runoff, manage nutrients, and improve long-term water quality throughout the state. Read the full story by Fingerlakes1.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20251001-fingerlakes-award-waterquality
As the 50th anniversary of the Edmund Fitzgerald’s sinking approaches, a new book revisits the ship’s captain, Ernest McSorley, and the tragedy that claimed 29 lives. Read the full story by The Sun Times News.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20251001-last-captain-edmund-fitzgerald
At Cleveland’s Sturgeon Fest, to be held on October 4, 1,500 lake sturgeon fingerlings will be released into the Cuyahoga River. Read the full story by WKYC-TV – Cleveland, OH.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20251001-lakesturgeon-cuyahogariver
A show that brings Great Lakes beach glass enthusiasts is returning to Erie, Pennsylvania, on October 11 and 12. Read the full story by Erie Times-News.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20251001-erie-expo-beach-glass
An $8 billion data center campus is coming to Port Washington, Wisconsin. The city’s common council unanimously approved the development in August, despite dozens of residents sharing their concerns over the potential environmental impacts and energy needs of the massive facility. Read the full story by Spectrum News 1.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20251001-port-washington-data-center-watersupply
Kevin Holsten, manager of SkipperBud’s Oshkosh Marina, holding his new certified Wisconsin Clean Marina sign. Credit: Wisconsin Sea Grant
SkipperBud’s Oshkosh Marina has received a Wisconsin Clean Marina designation from Wisconsin Sea Grant and its partners for the marina’s efforts to prevent pollution and protect fish, wildlife, and public health.
Wisconsin’s Clean Marina Program launched in 2010 to promote clean and safe waterways for the state’s marine industry through best practices while meeting state and federal pollution and safety laws. There are 26 marinas currently certified, and this is the fourth SkipperBud’s to receive certification.
“SkipperBud’s Oshkosh Marina implemented a number of changes, including clean fueling practices, posting signage on best boater practices, and installing a boat-washing area,” said Theresa Qualls, Wisconsin Clean Marina Program coordinator.
SkipperBud’s Oshkosh Marina is a full-service marina on Lake Butte des Morts, which is part of the Winnebago Pool (a group of interconnected lakes) and connected to Lake Winnebago by the Fox River. Many boaters double as anglers due to the lake’s impressive walleye, largemouth bass, and northern pike populations. The lake is also home to many native wetland plants like American lotus and wild rice, which provide food for wildlife and improve water quality.
Protecting this special region is just one of many reasons SkipperBud’s team wanted to become a Clean Marina. “We are committed to keeping Wisconsin waters free of pollution, and following sustainable practices is one way to ensure that,” said Marina Manager Kevin Holsten.
After having recently gone through the same process, John Swise, the manager of SkipperBud’s Madison Marina, assisted the Oshkosh team, helping to guide them toward their own certification.
“Working with both Kevin and John was so encouraging to see how two marinas can work together to achieve the common goal of environmental sustainability,” said Qualls.
Marinas and related industries contribute more than $2.7 billion to Wisconsin’s economy. The Wisconsin Clean Marina Program is administered by the University of Wisconsin Sea Grant Program in partnership with the Wisconsin Marine Association, Wisconsin Coastal Management Program, Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources, and Fund for Lake Michigan.
For more information:
Theresa Qualls, Wisconsin Clean Marina Program, (920) 465-5031, quallst@uwgb.edu
###
The University of Wisconsin Aquatic Sciences Center administers Wisconsin Sea Grant, the Wisconsin Water Resources Institute, and Water@UW. The center supports multidisciplinary research, education, and outreach for the protection and sustainable use of Wisconsin’s water resources. Wisconsin Sea Grant is one of 34 Sea Grant programs supported by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration in coastal and Great Lakes states that encourage the wise stewardship of marine resources through research, education, outreach and technology transfer.
The post SkipperBud’s Oshkosh Marina certifies as Wisconsin Clean Marina first appeared on Wisconsin Sea Grant.
News Releases | Wisconsin Sea Grant
News Releases | Wisconsin Sea Grant
https://www.seagrant.wisc.edu/news/skipperbuds-oshkosh-marina-certifies-as-wisconsin-clean-marina/
By Camila Bello Castro
A Chicago man biked around Lake Michigan in eight days, battling self-doubts and a major thunderstorm and raising $25,000 for the Michigan Credit Union Foundation, which advocates and promotes the credit union movement by providing educational opportunities and consumer awareness.
Great Lakes Echo
https://greatlakesecho.org/2025/10/01/mans-around-the-lake-in-8-days-bike-ride-raises-25k-for-charity/
The ready access to nature and winter sports is what prompted Elizabeth Scott and her family to up sticks from Portland, Oregon, to Houghton on Michigan’s Keweenaw Peninsula in summer 2021.
With 29% of Michigan’s territory and only 3% of its population, to many, the Upper Peninsula (U.P.) might appear a dream place to start over.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2025/09/climate-migrations-impact-on-michigans-upper-peninsula/
Current watches, warnings, and advisories for Brown County (WIC009) WI
Current watches, warnings, and advisories for Brown County (WIC009) WI
https://api.weather.gov/alerts/urn:oid:2.49.0.1.840.0.43ec7606490bfe5375432defba49f2521e7abea5.001.1.cap
Current watches, warnings, and advisories for Brown County (WIC009) WI
Current watches, warnings, and advisories for Brown County (WIC009) WI
https://api.weather.gov/alerts/urn:oid:2.49.0.1.840.0.b96a9b753d6393cd1fc50414c8f4cfe938fa7230.001.1.cap
By Kelly House, Bridge Michigan
The Great Lakes News Collaborative includes Bridge Michigan; Circle of Blue; Great Lakes Now at Detroit PBS; 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/2025/09/time-running-out-for-great-lakes-whitefish-can-ponds-become-their-noahs-ark/
As the 200th anniversary of the Erie Canal approaches on October 26 in New York, organizers are seeking to temper the celebration with an acknowledgment of the waterway’s displacement of Native American communities. Read the full story by The New York Times.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20250929-erie-canal-bicentennial
From dining on authentic cuisine served on the ill-fated freighter to a solemn laying of wreaths on the water, the Detroit Historical Society is hosting a weekend of events to honor the 29 mariners who died in the sinking of the Edmund Fitzgerald nearly 50 years ago. Read the full story by The Detroit Free Press.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20250929-edmund-fitzgerald-anniversary
As part of a court case filed by environmental advocacy groups, The Campbell’s Company recently admitted to violating the Clean Water Act more than 5,000 times from 2018 to 2024 at their Napoleon, Ohio, facility which discharges water into the Maumee River. Read the full story by Spectrum News 1.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20250929-campbells-violations
A cruise line focused on U.S. destinations will join the growing Great Lakes cruising industry in 2026. The new ship will sail lakes Erie, Huron, Michigan, and Ontario from May to August 2026 with 9- and 14-day itineraries. Read the full story by MLive.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20250929-great-lakes-cruises
After recent sightings, the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources (DNR) is increasing monitoring in Lake Winnebago for invasive round gobies. The DNR is working with local fishing groups and partners to help catch the fish. Read the full story by Wisconsin Public Radio.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20250929-winnebago-gobies
With the closing of a crossing between a sleepy Ontario island and a village in New York State, islanders face modest inconvenience — and the end of an era. Read the story by The New York Times.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20250929-us-canada-ferry
Local historians are looking for one of the last radios to be in contact with the Edmund Fitzgerald. The radio was among discarded items when the Auxiliary Coast Guard building in Grand Marais, Michigan, was emptied. Read the full story by The Detroit Free Press.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20250929-missing-radio
A lake sturgeon reintroduction program in Ohio’s Maumee River has released 3,000 fingerlings annually since 2018. Early survival rates are promising, and researchers aim to establish a self-sustaining population of 1,500 sturgeon by 2038. Read the full story by WFFT-TV – Fort Wayne, IN.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20250929-maumee-sturgeon
A new business provides lessons along the Detroit River on a relatively new type of watercraft. e-Foils, motorized surfboard-like watercraft derived from kiteboarding, allow users to travel over the water at up to 30 mph for about an hour at a time. Read the full story by MLive.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20250929-efoil-lessons
A $5.5 million expansion at the National Museum of the Great Lakes in Toledo, Ohio, made room for a pilot house, a new permanent gallery, space for rotating exhibits, offices, a conference room and places for seminars and workshops. Read the full story by the Toledo City Paper.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20250929-museum-expansion
By Samantha Ku
New federal policy is aimed at addressing the nation’s wildfire crisis by boosting timber production, but some experts say it’s not expected to have a major impact in Michigan.
Great Lakes Echo
https://greatlakesecho.org/2025/09/29/federal-wildfire-policy-sparks-debate-timber-or-trees/
By Eric Freedman
Motorcycles and deer don’t mix. And motorcyclists are especially vulnerable to injury or death when they do, according to a recent study of a decade’s worth of crashes in Michigan.
Great Lakes Echo
https://greatlakesecho.org/2025/09/27/study-finds-high-risk-of-injury-or-death-in-motorcycle-deer-collisions/
Current watches, warnings, and advisories for Brown County (WIC009) WI
Current watches, warnings, and advisories for Brown County (WIC009) WI
https://api.weather.gov/alerts/urn:oid:2.49.0.1.840.0.0f20828568deef567187ebc16eb2449f7c7d45fa.001.1.cap
Cities across the Great Lakes are trying to plan and prepare for a growing population due to climate migration. Read the full story by Great Lakes Now.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20250926-climate-migration
Federal cuts to Great Lakes science would harm the quality of life, the multibillion-dollar economies built around the lakes, and emergency preparedness, a group of environmental advocacy officials, academics and local government representatives said Wednesday. Read the full story by the Detroit Free Press.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20250926-greatlakes-science-cuts
Mayors from major cities in the Great Lakes and St. Lawrence River region launched a 10-year economic transformation plan positioning the region as a “Fresh Coast” corridor to capitalize on growing global water scarcity. Read the full story by the Cleveland Plain Dealer.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20250926-fresh-coast-initiative
Thunder Bay, Ontario, is joining the first-ever Great Lakes Coastal Cleanup on September 28, World Rivers Day. Read the full story by CBC News.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20250926-thunderbay-cleanup
An employee error led to the wastewater leak at the South Shore Water Reclamation Facility in Oak Creek, Wisconsin, earlier this month. Read the full story by Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20250926-wastewater-overflow
The Chicago River made news recently for hosting an open water swim, the first organized swim event in the river in nearly 100 years. The Cuyahoga River in Cleveland, Ohio, may not be ready for such an event. Read the full story by the Cleveland Plain Dealer.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20250926-cuyahga-river-swim
Expanding underwater spearfishing in Michigan would open more of the Great Lakes to the sport and broaden the kinds of fish anglers could harvest, but wildlife regulators must first approve the change. Read the full story by WJBK – Detroit, MI.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20250926-michigan-spearfishing
City council members are demanding accountability after a chemical spill from Lubrizol’s Avon Lake, Ohio, facility released 6,600 gallons of diluted polyurethane into Powdermaker Creek. Read the full story by the Cleveland Plain Dealer.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20250926-avon-lake-spill
Great Lakes piping plovers, a rare shorebird species endemic to the Great Lakes basin, are experiencing a remarkable resurgence in northern Michigan. Read the full story by Up North Live.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20250926-piping-plovers
Fish Caught Off of Bowen St. Fishing Pier in Oshkosh In June, an angler caught a round goby in Lake Winnebago at the Bowen Street Fishing Pier in Oshkosh, the first known detection there. The invasive fish is about 3 to 6 inches long with bulging frog-like eyes and a fused fin on their [...]
The post Round Goby Discovery in Winnebago Update; Assessment Ramps Up appeared first on Fox-Wolf Watershed Alliance.
Fox-Wolf Watershed Alliance
https://fwwa.org/2025/09/26/round-goby-discovery-in-winnebago-update-assessment-ramps-up/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=round-goby-discovery-in-winnebago-update-assessment-ramps-up
By Maya Moore
Blight Hernandez is a master of turning everyday trash into something of value. A Southwest Detroit native, Hernandez has called himself an artist since he was 6. Now a full-time working artist for five years, his sustainable business is called Be The Light. It’s born out of intention and focused on higher consciousness, keeping things out of the landfill, and making things that people love, Hernandez said.
The post The sustainable art of Blight Hernandez: ‘No waste’ first appeared on Great Lakes Echo.Great Lakes Echo
https://greatlakesecho.org/2025/09/25/the-sustainable-art-of-blight-hernandez-no-waste/
Current watches, warnings, and advisories for Brown County (WIC009) WI
Current watches, warnings, and advisories for Brown County (WIC009) WI
https://api.weather.gov/alerts/urn:oid:2.49.0.1.840.0.df298d6fe82072807e76d041e1ed15cf6108a8ab.001.1.cap
Current watches, warnings, and advisories for Brown County (WIC009) WI
Current watches, warnings, and advisories for Brown County (WIC009) WI
https://api.weather.gov/alerts/urn:oid:2.49.0.1.840.0.10a09893863d4ff48b9f1b5cf636ddc45005e752.001.1.cap
After the U.S. Coast Guard closed its Grand Marais, Minnesota, station in 2022, the Grand Portage Band of Lake Superior Chippewa launched what’s believed to be the first Indigenous-led coast guard, now rescuing vessels and serving Minnesota’s North Shore. Read the full story by WTIP – Grand Marais, MN.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20250924-indigenous-coast-guard
Wisconsin Congressman Tom Tiffany reintroduced the Apostle Islands National Park and Preserve Act this month, which aims to designate Apostle Islands National Lakeshore in Wisconsin as a National Park. Read the full story by MLive.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20250924-apostle-islands
The U.S. Coast Guard Sector of the Eastern Great Lakes plans to introduce a tool called Aqua Alerts, which will be sent straight to the public’s phones to notify them and local mariners about search and rescue efforts on Lakes Erie and Ontario. Read the full story by Spectrum News 1.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20250924-aqua-alerts
New research shows a fivefold expansion of seawalls, riprap, groins and other hard armoring of Lake Michigan beaches in recent years. Coastal armoring temporarily protects properties from erosion but makes the problem worse in the long run. Read the full story by Bridge Michigan.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20250924-armored-shoreline
The Northeast Ohio Regional Sewer District’s $3 billion ‘Project Clean Lake’ has passed the halfway point, with billions of gallons of sewage already kept out of Lake Erie. When completed, massive storage tunnels will help capture and treat 99% of the district’s combined stormwater and sanitary sewage. Read the full story by The Plain Dealer.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20250924-project-clean-lake
The Riveredge Nature Center in Saukville, Wisconsin, has raised hundreds of lake sturgeon that will soon be released in Lake Michigan. In partnership with the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources, this rehabilitation effort has released over 22,000 sturgeon in the past two decades. Read the full story by Spectrum News 1.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20250924-sturgeon-release
The Lake Michigan car ferry, S.S. Badger, crashed into a docked ship last week when its engines didn’t respond. The engines are in working order despite this anomaly, but the ship’s damaged seagate was removed and will be replaced at the end of the season. Read the full story by MLive.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20250924-badger-collision
In terms of popular fascination, few shipwrecks compare to the foundering of the Edmund Fitzgerald in a 1975 Lake Superior storm, with the loss of its entire 29-person crew. The shipwreck’s ‘human element’ keeps its story alive. Read the full story by the Duluth News Tribune.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20250924-edmund-fitzgerald
The Alliance for the Great Lakes recently issued a report that the Great Lakes region isn’t prepared for the dramatic water and energy use demands of data centers. The region is at a critical moment, one that requires caution, statewide oversight, strong regional planning, and transparency. Read the full story by The Capital Times.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20250924-data-centers
