The Minnesota Department of Natural Resources is planning a pilot project set to launch this spring to determine best practices for minnow dealers who trap spottail shiners in lakes designated as infested waters for zebra mussels. Read the full story by Alexandria Echo Press.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20220221-zebra-mussels
Respect for water was as much a part of Phillip Solomon’s fishing education as sawing through thick winter ice. The Anishinaabe fisherman can see how rising temperatures are changing Gitchigumi and the fish his community relies on. Read the full story by The Narwhal.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20220221-climate-ice
A transformer at the Hydro One Bathurst Transmission Station in North York, ON failed last week resulting in insulating mineral oil being released into the Don River. The cleanup alongside the creek and outside the station is projected to take two to three days. Read the full story by CBC News.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20220221-oil
Lake Michigan’s ice cover hit 37% last week, the most yet in the season, and trended closer to average than originally forecasted according to data from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Great Lakes Environmental Research Laboratory. Read the full story by The Chicago Tribune.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20220221-ice-cover
A fisherman got lost in blowing snow on Lake Superior and then his snowmobile got stuck in heavy slush before rescuers found him overnight, officials said. The man was found miles from shore around 2 a.m. Monday by a U.S. Coast Guard helicopter. Read the full story by MLive.com.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20220221-lake-snow
The Chippewa Luce Mackinac Conservation District has distributed grants to support five Michigan conservation projects that support wildlife habitat, erosion control, recreation opportunities, student learning, pollinator habitat restoration, outdoor education, and vegetative management. Read the full story by The Sault News.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20220221-up-projects
Great Lakes ice extent reached 44.4% on February 5th, the highest extent this winter and very close to the maximum ice extent of the winter of 2020-21, which was 45.8%. Read the full story by WOOD-TV – Grand Rapids, MI.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20220207-ice-coverage
A series of earthquakes continue to shake Lake Erie just northeast of Cleveland, Ohio, generating dozens of reports by local residents. In the last 40 days, there have been 5 earthquakes of magnitude 1.6 to 2.5, all clustered just off-shore in the southeastern portion of the Great Lake. Read the full story by Weatherboy.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20220207-earthquakes
Concerns over ice coverage and a previous study by researchers from Ohio State University published several years ago could suggest Lake Erie yellow perch hatches are more robust after winters that produce longer and later periods of ice cover. Read the full story by The Columbus Dispatch.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20220207-yellow-perch
Michigan’s Selfridge Air National Guard Base is taking steps to reduce the levels of “forever chemicals” used in firefighting. Selfridge, has been found to be among at least six U.S. military sites in the Great Lakes region contaminated with high levels of toxic PFAS detected as high as 17,000 ppt last year. Read the full story by Macomb Daily.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20220207-pfas
Historic images from southeast Michigan’s River Raisin show the complications of ice jams and bridge design over 100-year frequency floods. Read the full story by The Monroe News.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20220207-ice-jams
In their latest forecast the Army Corps of Engineers hydrologists report that most of the Great Lakes will remain above their long-term average water levels in the coming months but won’t reach the record highs of recent years. Read the full story by The Detroit News.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20220207-water-levels
Interlake Maritime Services, through its new subsidiary, Soo Maritime Services, will now oversee operations of the tour boats Hiawatha, Bide-A-Wee and Holiday that have provided river and lock tours in the Upper Peninsula for more than six decades. Read the full story by MLive.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20220207-soo-locks
Lake sturgeon have called the Great Lakes home for 10,000 years but now is a threatened species in many parts. Efforts have been made in the past year that raise hope of a new beginning, but what caused its decline in the first place? Read the full story by Campus Times.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20220207-sturgeon
The Coast Guard reported personnel in a helicopter saw the group of around 18 people and several ATVs on an ice floe around 1 p.m. Sunday. The ice floe had separated from land near Catawba Island in Lake Erie, which is slightly southwest of Pelee Island. Read the full story by the Windsor Star.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20220207-ice-floe
After nesting in spring and early summer in the North America’s Great Plains, many canvasback ducks migrate in fall to overwintering grounds on Lake St. Clair, Detroit River and Lake Erie. Read the full story by Great Lakes Now.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20220207-ducks
Richard Gray, 35, died Monday from a tragic accident aboard the 1,000 – foot freighter Walter J. McCarthy, off the shore of Gary, Indiana. Gray was a graduate of Great Lakes Maritime Academy. He also served as 1st Vice President of the International Shipmasters’ Association Grand Traverse Lodge #23. Read the full story by WWTV – WWUP-TV Traverse City.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20220124-remembering-shipmaster
Throughout January, ice across the basin expanded beyond early projections that suggested the winter of 2022 might feature near-record low ice coverage. Now, maximum ice cover is expected to peak at 49 percent, a substantial jump from initial National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration forecasting model. Read the full story by MLive.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20220124-ice-cover
Research in a set of unique Canadian lakes is backing up a strange consequence of evolutionary theory often predicted but never shown. Given the right circumstances, fish get decades old but they don’t age. Read the full story by Canadian Press.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20220124-lake-trout
Major projects benefiting the Great Lakes region will receive a large infusion of funding as part of $14 billion awarded through the bipartisan infrastructure law and other sources. Read the full story by NPR.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20220124-infrastructure
Internal documents reviewed by The Intercept describe how Enbridge launched an initiative known as Opposition Driven Operational Threats, or ODOT, to focus the company’s attention on Indigenous opposition to Line 3 and Line 5, two controversial pipelines that transport carbon-intensive tar sands oil between Canada and the United States. Read the full story by The Intercept.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20220124-enbridge
The Minnesota Environmental Partnership (MEP), the state’s largest coalition of environmental and conservation groups, proposed investments that would result in immediate and long-term reductions in greenhouse gas emissions and improvements in Minnesotans’ quality of life. Read the full story by Grand Rapids Herald-Review.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20220124-climate
Due to a Michigan Department of Environment Great Lakes and Energy 2019 decision to amend portions of the state’s Safe Water Drinking Act involving lead and copper rules, the South Haven Area Water and Sewer Authority must replace lead service lines leading to homes and businesses. Read the full story by The South Haven Tribune.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20220124-lead
Enbridge Energy currently operates the Line 5 pipeline, which runs under the Straits of Mackinac, and now they’re proposing to replace it with a tunnel to run the pipeline through. But experts say the current plan has major safety flaws. Read the full story by WSJM-TV – St. Joseph, MI.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20220124-line-5
With temperatures dipping well below zero for most of this month, parts of the Toronto Harbor have now frozen over solid, and people were spotted skating across the lake over the past week. Read the full story by Freshdaily.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20220124-toronto
You’ve heard of blizzards and maybe even the polar vortex, but have you heard of ice pancakes? What about ice bites or ice jams? These unique names sound fascinating but require specific weather conditions. Read the full story by CNN.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20220124-ice-pancakes
Rochman Laboratory at the University of Toronto and Georgian Bay Forever conducted a study with households adding a filter to the outflow of water from their washing machines and measured the amount of microfibres in the town’s wastewater treatment plant. With approximately 10 per cent of town homes fitted with a filter, the team saw a large decrease in microfibres. Read the full story by Parry Sound North Star.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20220110-microfiber-plastic
Researchers in Ontario have discovered 6PPD-quinone – which has been found to harm populations of fish – in two Toronto waterways, the Don River and Highland Creek, both of which empty into Lake Ontario. Read the full story by Michigan Radio.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20220110-pollution
During the Ice Age, much of Canada and the northern United States were covered with a massive ice sheet. As this began to melt, Lake Agassiz formed from the meltwater forming an immense proglacial lake. Read the full story by The Travel.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20220110-lakes
In July 2020, province of Ontario released a Sustainable Bait Management Strategy, which describes the new approach to managing baitfish and leeches to reduce the ecological risks associated with the use and movement of bait. Read the full story by Orillia Matters.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20220110-bait
Minnesota county crews are installing 28 new boat-cleaning stations on lakes infested with starry stonewort in an effort to prevent the spread of the invasive species. Read the full story by Star Tribune.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20220110-starry-stonewort
Ohio’s Democratic congressional delegation is excited to watch billions of dollars in infrastructure funding come to the state, but where that funding goes now depends on local efforts. Read the full story by Ohio Capital Journal.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20220110-infrastructure
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers was not able to carry out dredging for Sandusky’s harbor in 2021 as it was lacking a place that could legally accept dredged material. However, the Corps is on track to resume dredging this year by using dredged material to build a new wetland. Read the full story by Sandusky Register.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20220110-sandusky
Among other things, deer are jeopardizing efforts to restore the Lake Erie Sand Spit Savannah, a globally rare ecosystem that supports 25% of the species at risk in the park. Read the full story in the Windsor Star.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20220110-deer
For close to four decades, U.S. Coast Guard motor lifeboat 40300 was on duty in Lake Michigan and later, in the Eastern Upper Peninsula. Now at 81, is among the most recent properties added to the National Register of Historic Places, based on its importance in maritime engineering and maritime history. Read the full story by Capital News Service.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20220110-historic-ship
Built on the shores of Presque Isle, the original U.S. Brig Niagara played a major role in defeating the British in the Battle of Lake Erie during the War of 1812. Read the full story by WJET-TV – Erie, PA.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20220110-ship
Road salt is threatening the Great Lakes’ fresh waters and creating even bigger problems for the inland rivers, lakes, and aquifers. But decades of experiments have yet to yield an alternative anywhere near as effective and affordable. Read the full story by Bridge Michigan.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20220103-salt
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20220103-mercury-fish
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20220103-reef-fish
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20220103-ports-lake-erie
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20220103-buffalo-river
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20220103-port
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20220103-glri
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20220103-algae
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20220103-mining
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20220103-shipping
Wisconsin is set to receive nearly $143 million to rebuild the state’s water infrastructure and address harmful lead and “forever chemical” contaminations across the state, a first installment from the newly passed federal infrastructure bill that includes hundreds of millions more in the coming years. Read the full story by Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20211213-wisconsin
Lake Superior State University has officially opened its $14.2-million Richard and Theresa Barch Center for Freshwater Research and Education. The two-story 18,000-square-foot building includes the Great Lakes Discovery Center, and space for National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and Michigan Sea Grant. Read the full story by The Sault Star.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20211213-freshwater-research
Community activists and environmentalists reacted with disappointment to approval by the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency of a one-year permit extension for a “confined disposal facility” on Lake Michigan operated by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. Read the full story by WTTW-TV – Chicago, IL.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20211213-illinois
The Port of Cleveland has seen more and more companies looking at the port for imports and exports, which can be beneficial to the entire Great Lakes region. Read the full story by Spectrum News Ohio.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20211213-shipping
