They’re known as the gales of November, and they conjure images of hurricane-force winds, towering waves, ice-cold temperatures, and bobbing ships. Maritime historians estimate they are responsible for roughly half of Great Lakes shipwrecks. Read the full story by The Sault News.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20251103-november-gales
Environmental activists and lawmakers are pushing for action as abandoned boats are being left on the shores of Wisconsin’s rivers and lakes. Wisconsin law does not currently require swift removal of abandoned boats from state waters. Read the full story by Spectrum News 1.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20251103-abandoned-boats
Two Ontario fisheries facilities along Lake Erie are getting $10 million facelifts to protect local fisheries and jobs. Planned improvements include replacing aging infrastructure, expanding facility space, and incorporating new technologies to improve efficiency and safety. Read the full story by CK News Today.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20251103-ontario-fisheries
One of the last remaining large urban coastal wetlands on Lake Ontario received a $1.61 million boost from Ottawa this year, with work restoring the health of under-threat Second Marsh in Ottawa already underway. Read the full story by INsauga.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20251103-ontario-wetlands
Environmental professionals, business leaders, and others discussed the challenges facing the Great Lakes at the 18th annual Freshwater Summit in Traverse City, Michigan. One focus at the summit is how climate change could impact the health of the Great Lakes. Read the full story by WPBN/WGTU-TV – Traverse City, MI.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20251103-freshwater-summit
Sea lampreys—invasive, leechlike creatures that once nearly destroyed the Great Lakes’ fishing economy—are kept in check by a small U.S.-Canadian program. Will it survive Trump’s slash-and-burn campaign? Read the full story by The New Yorker.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20251027-lamprey-control
Because of the federal government shutdown, a trip to Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore along Lake Michigan or to Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore on the Lake Superior coast may look quite different this fall. Read the full story by the Detroit Free Press.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20251027-shutdown-parks
The state budget has cut funding for the Michigan Invasive Species Grant Program this year, but it won’t reduce money for controlling invasive sea lampreys. Read the full story by The Mining Journal.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20251027-michigan-invasives
The U.S. Coast Guard contends with staffing and equipment issues as it provides the types of rescues few other agencies can offer. Read the full story by The Detroit News.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20251027-coast-guard
The opening of the Erie Canal 200 years ago was touted as an incredible achievement of human ingenuity, but the lakes would never be the same again. One particularly harmful invasive species that used the Erie Canal to access the Hudson River is the round goby. Read the full story by Democrat & Chronicle.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20251027-erie-canal-invasives
The Strawberry Creek Chinook Salmon Facility near Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin, is the primary, and in some years only, site for chinook egg collection. Data collected at the facility helps biologists manage the fishery and make stocking decisions. Read the full story by the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20251027-chinook-eggs
Plenty of people had already settled in the wild territory of Michigan before the opening of the Erie Canal, but numbers picked up notably thanks to the faster, smoother waterway. Read the full story by WOOD-TV – Grand Rapids, MI.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20251027-erie-canal-michigan
More than any other historical event, the opening of the Erie Canal, on Oct. 26, 1825, set Chicago on the path to becoming the city it is today. Read the full story by the Chicago Sun-Times.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20251027-erie-canal-chicago
In a warm fall, the relatively warm waters of Lake Michigan and Lake Huron help us stay warmer overnight. This extra warmth and moisture off the Great Lakes slows down the leaf color-changing process and makes the vibrant colors last longer. Read the full story by MLive.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20251027-fall-color
The recent Fall Brawl and Walleye Slam fishing derbies usually attract more than 10,000 boat anglers to Lake Erie. But big northwesterly winds and 10-foot waves roiled the lake, and most boats likely remained on their trailers throughout the weekend. Read the full story by The Plain Dealer.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20251027-erie-derbies
The U.S. Geological Survey is planning to lay off 79% of the workforce of the Great Lakes Science Center that’s headquartered in Ann Arbor, Michigan, as part of a reduction in force across the U.S. Department of the Interior. Read the full story by The Detroit News.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20251022-glsc-layoffs
Ten Great Lakes Indigenous Nations have filed a brief before the U.S. Supreme Court, urging a finding against Enbridge on a case involving the Line 5 oil and gas pipeline in the Straits of Mackinac. A second federal lawsuit involving Michigan and Enbridge is pending. Read the full story by the Detroit Free Press.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20251022-enbridge-brief
As the federal government shutdown continues, most U.S. Environmental Protection Agency workers doing everyday work with air and water environmental protection in Michigan are furloughed, but emergency responders are still working. Read the full story by Michigan Public.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20251022-epa-furloughed
Two U.S. representatives from Michigan are asking the federal government to send at least one new icebreaker ship to the Great Lakes as part of a deal between the U.S. and Finland. Read the full story by WXYZ-TV – Detroit, MI.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20251022-new-icebreaker
A recent collaborative study aims to understand how climate change threatens lake sturgeon and to develop adaptation strategies rooted in tribal knowledge. Read the full story by WCMU – Mt. Pleasant, MI.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20251022-sturgeon-study
A township in Michigan will receive $600,000 in state funds to help convert the shuttered Holland Coast Guard Station into a fire department water rescue base. Read the full story by MLive.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20251022-new-rescue-base
Multiple experts on the Edmund Fitzgerald shipwreck will be coming to Duluth, Minnesota, for a conference organized by the Lake Superior Marine Museum Association. Read the full story by the Duluth News Tribune.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20251022-fitzgerald-conference
The National Park Service, Pennsylvania officials, and other groups are working on an ambitious plan to create the Great Lakes Waterfront Trail in the United States. The U.S. trail would link to an existing trail, more than 3,600 kilometers long, in Canada. Read the full story by Erie Reader.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20251022-waterfront-trail
Water levels across the Great Lakes have fallen to their lowest in about a decade, sitting 15 inches below normal. Despite the drop, there’s no cause for panic. Read the full story by The London Free Press.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20251022-water-levels
A rare “sextuplet” waterspout formation – six funnels snaking between the clouds and the water’s surface – was spotted on Lake Erie on Tuesday off Long Point, Ontario. Read the full story by MLive.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20251022-sextuplet-funnels
Once numbering in the thousands, now only dozens of commercial fishers remain in lakes Michigan and Huron as whitefish stock collapse; and unlike other fish crises, this one can’t be fixed by docking boats until stocks recover. Read the full story by Bridge Michigan.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20251013-whitefish-fishers
The collapse of lake whitefish stocks threatens Michigan’s environment, economy, and culture. Saving lake whitefish requires suppressing quagga and zebra mussels, but now, the infestation is only getting worse. Read the full story by Bridge Michigan.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20251013-whitefish-crisis
Park trails along Lake Michigan’s shoreline in Michigan and Wisconsin are eroding because of more frequent extreme precipitation events and increased foot traffic from visitors in undesignated recreation areas. Read the full story by The Detroit News.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20251013-trail-erosion
American and Canadian students are teaming up to prevent potential oil spills in the Great Lakes through collaborative research projects. Read the full story by the Sault Ste. Marie News.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20251013-oil-spill-research
The preliminary results for the 2025 walleye hatch have been ranked ‘Exceptional,’ the highest on the Ohio Division of Wildlife’s scale. This translates into a high probability that this year’s young will enter the fishery in 2027 in numbers of 20 million or more. Read the full story by The Columbus Dispatch.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20251013-walleye-hatch
Hundreds gathered in Rome, New York, the birthplace of the Erie Canal, to welcome the Seneca Chief, a full-scale replica of the original vessel that carried New York Governor, DeWitt Clinton, who was credited with the building of the historic waterway. Read the full story by the Utica Observer Dispatch.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20251013-erie-canal-celebration
For the past 40 years, the Split Rock Lighthouse near Beaver Bay, Minnesota, has observed the anniversary of the Edmund Fitzgerald’s sinking with a beacon lighting ceremony. This year’s event will continue that tradition. Read the full story by Minnesota Public Radio.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20251013-edmund-fitzgerald-ceremony
After nearly 50 years of service, the aging tugboat Arctic was dismantled and beached north of the harbor in Manitowoc, Wisconsin, in 1930. The shipwreck was surveyed in 2017, and its remains can be viewed by divers and snorkelers. Read the full story by the Herald Times Reporter.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20251013-tugboat-arctic
Michigan is seeing less daylight each day, and we’ve already felt the chill from frost in recent days, meaning the state’s inland water and Great Lakes are quickly cooling off. Read the full story by the Detroit Free Press.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20251013-lakes-cooling
A plan to redevelop the historic railroad ferry terminal grounds in the Lake Michigan village of Elberta, Michigan, received $1.75 million to create a mixed-use redevelopment and a large public park with a shoreline trail, nature preserve, and expanded lake access. Read the full story by MLive.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20251013-waterfront-revival
After decades of cleanup efforts and community engagement, Muskegon Lake, between Lake Michigan and the city that bears its name in Michigan, has been removed from a U.S. and Canadian list of most polluted sites. Read the full story by the Detroit Free Press.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20251008-muskeon-lake-delisted
At a time of rising temperatures and water levels, along with the threat of wildfires and smoke, many are reassessing where to live and Buffalo, New York, is embracing the “climate haven” tag. Read the full story by Great Lakes Now.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20251008-buffalo-climate-haven
The history of the Edmund Fitzgerald, the lives of the men who served on the ship, and the repercussions of that final voyage are the subject of a new book. Read the full story by Michigan Public.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20251008-edmund-fitzgerald-book
Chicago has more than 412,000 confirmed and suspected lead service lines — the most of any city in the country — but replacements are lagging and millions of dollars in federal and city loans dedicated to replacing lead pipes remain unused. Read the full story by Great Lakes Now.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20251008-chicago-lead-pipes
Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro was elected chair of a group of leaders from across the Great Lakes region who collaborate on shared priorities. Read the full story by the Erie-Times News.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20251008-shapiro-chair
The replica Seneca Chief, a floating museum and tribute to the original vessel that carried New York Governor DeWitt Clinton in 1825, will stop at ports in the Mohawk Valley, New York, to mark the 200th anniversary of opening of the Erie Canal. Read the full story by the Utica Observer Dispatch.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20251008-seneca-chief
Nearly 30 agencies from Michigan, Indiana, and Ohio gathered in St. Ignace, Michigan, this week for a large-scale emergency response training simulating a midair plane crash over Lake Huron near the Mackinac County Airport. Read the full story by WWTV-TV – Cadillac, MI.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20251008-huron-training
A blue-green algal bloom is currently in parts of the Sandusky Bay and Sandusky River, Ohio, and could be full of dangerous toxins. The whole watershed is in a drought. Read the full story by the Fremont News-Messenger.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20251008-sandusky-algae
A federal judge ruled that the now-defunct Erie Coke Corporation on the shores of Lake Erie in Erie, Pennsylvania, must pay $700,000 for a multi-year conspiracy to violate the U.S. Clean Air Act, a decision some environmental activists said isn’t enough. Read the full story by WJET-TV – Erie, PA.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20251008-erie-coke-fine
Recent budget decisions, statements about commercial fishing, and underfunding of critical conservation work raise concerns about whether representatives are prioritizing Michigan’s fisheries. Read the full story by The Alpena News.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20251008-fishery-opinion
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
