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
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
Long rumored to be on the floor of the lake but never seen, the F.J. King schooner had eluded divers and taunted storytellers for generations. It was miles off the Door Peninsula in Wisconsin. Read the full story by the New York Times.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20250924-new-shipwreck
Former U.S. Environmental Protection Agency leaders fear Great Lakes states with a long history of industrial pollution will suffer if protections are eliminated or weakened. Read the full story by The Chicago Tribune.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20250402-epa-cuts
Last fall, fisheries biologists found a rare shore-spawning brook trout in Lake Superior along the Minnesota shoreline. It may be a sign that the once bountiful species is finally coming back. Read the full story by The Minnesota Star Tribune.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20250402-rare-trout
An oil spill that occurred Thursday on the St. Clair River appears to be under control. There’s no evidence of the spill spreading, and final cleanup efforts are expected to wrap by the end of the week. Read the full story by Planet Detroit.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20250402-stclair-oil
The Trump administration has reversed firings and a hiring freeze that threatened Great Lakes lamprey control efforts. Officials are now scrambling to hire staff, cautiously optimistic but acknowledging the program may need to be less ambitious this year. Read the full story by Bridge Michigan.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20250402-lamprey-cuts
Oil stemming from damaged electrical transformers was visible on the Grand River in Grand Rapids, Michigan, after thunderstorms ripped through Michigan on Sunday. Cleanup operations have begun, and an environmental contractor is placing booms and pads to absorb the oil and limit its spread. Read the full story by MLive.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20250402-grandriver-oil
A new light lager from Saugatuck Brewing Company is supporting the Michigan Department of Natural Resources and its lake sturgeon conservation efforts. Read the full story by WXMI-TV – Grand Rapids, MI.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20250402-sturgeon-beer
Two Northern Michigan lighthouses, Charlevoix South Pier Lighthouse on Lake Michigan and the Gull Rock Lighthouse on Lake Superior, will receive more than $100,000 in grants to support ongoing preservation efforts. Read the full story by WXYZ-TV – Detroit, MI.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20250402-lighthouse-preservation
The Sable Points Lighthouse Keepers Association has opportunities for volunteers to serve as day keepers at its historic lighthouses along Michigan’s Lake Michigan shoreline for the 2025 season. Read the full story by the Manistee News Advocate.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20250402-lighthouse-keepers
The thawing of Wisconsin’s lakes means it’s boating season again, and a popular activity on the water is wake boating. Some advocate for rules to reel in the adverse effects of wake boating, such as damage to shoreline and transporting invasive species. Read the full story by Wisconsin Public Radio.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20250402-wake-boats
Massena Village, New York, trustees tabled a resolution that would have voiced opposition to the New York Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) ending a 40-year walleye restocking program in the Oswegatchie River, a tributary to the St. Lawrence River. Read the full story by Northern News Now.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20250402-walleye-stocking
U.S. Senators Bernie Moreno (R-OH) and Gary Peters (D-MI) will co-chair the Senate Great Lakes Task Force for the 119th Congress. They will hold meetings to coordinate legislative initiatives, funding priorities, and oversight efforts to protect the Great Lakes. Read the full story by WTVG-TV – Toledo, OH.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20250328-task-force
Since taking office in January, President Donald Trump and his administration has repeatedly stoked tensions with Canada, once considered the United States’ closest ally. Along with trade and tariffs, this strife has also raised questions about how the region’s water resources will be managed. Read the full story by Grist.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20250328-us-canada-relations
Climate change is making it easier for Great Lakes water birds to get sick, according to a recent University of Illinois study. The study identified avian diseases in the Great Lakes, including botulism and avian influenza, that could be primed for outbreaks amid warming waters and shifting migration patterns. Read the full story by Great Lakes Echo.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20250328-sick-birds
A Michigan House representative recently introduced a bill that could add a lot of regulations to fishing in Saginaw Bay. This could potentially be a massive obstacle for state licensed commercial fishers in the area. Read the full story by the Huron Daily Tribune.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20250328-saginaw-bay-fisheries
While they support bolstering the U.S. shipbuilding industry, officials warned millions of dollars in fees each time a Chinese-built ship stops at a U.S. port would threaten Great Lakes shipping. Read the full story by the Duluth News Tribune.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20250328-chinese-ships
U.S. and Canadian officials are monitoring a crude oil spill that was detected Thursday in the Canadian side of the St. Clair River near the Suncor Sarnia Refinery in Sarnia, Ontario. No impacts to drinking water were reported for Ontario or Michigan residents, although water intake valves were temporarily closed on the Michigan side. Read the full story by CBS News Detroit.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20250328-oil-spill
After reports have surfaced of dead birds on the shores of Lake Michigan, the city of South Haven, Michigan, is urging residents to leave the carcasses alone and report die-offs of six carcasses or more. Read the full story by MLive.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20250328-dead-birds
Wisconsin seems to be a consequence-free place to ditch a boat. Since Oct. 13, the owner of a local salvage company has been the only person who has shown any initiative in removing an abandoned boat, Deep Thought, from the Lake Michigan shoreline in Milwaukee. Read the full story by the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20250328-abandoned-boat
The Soo Locks are open and ships are moving through all of the Great Lakes, bringing out “boat nerds” for spring ship watching. There are several ways for freighter enthusiasts to track them online. Read the full story by MLive.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20250328-boat-nerds
On March 14, Ohio gubernatorial candidate Vivek Ramaswamy said that perhaps Lake Erie should be changed to Lake Ohio. When looking at history, changing the names of the Great Lakes is not completely unheard of, but is a bit more complicated in today’s world. Read the full story by Great Lakes Now.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20250328-lake-ohio
The spending bill in the Republican-led U.S. House reduces the funding available for Army Corps of Engineers construction projects next year by roughly 44% ― a change that could have consequences for the $3 billion project to build a new Great Lakes freighter shipping lock in Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan. Read the full story by The Detroit News.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20250312-corps-cuts
With parts of the U.S. facing chronic drought, President Trump has reportedly threatened to tear up joint agreements between the U.S. and Canada regulating the Great Lakes. Read the full story by the Financial Post.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20250312-trump-freshwater
The Michigan House Oversight Committee recently reviewed a report on the state’s water withdrawal monitoring program that highlighted data discrepancies, data security concerns, failure to track withdrawal assessments and water use, and a lack of policies for responding to public complaints. Read the full story by Michigan Advance.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20250312-michigan-water
After yearslong litigation with community groups, staunch opposition from residents, and recent resistance from the state environmental agency, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers announced Tuesday it was dropping a plan to expand a toxic waste dump along Chicago’s Lake Michigan shoreline. Read the full story by the Chicago Tribune.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20250312-chicago-dump
New research suggests that the Great Lakes started forming hundreds of millions of years ago, long before the glaciers melted and receded northward. Read the full story by Bridge Michigan.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20250312-lake-origins
Ice on the Great Lakes is steadily retreating under warm spring temperatures. Great Lakes ice coverage stands at 17.3%, with Lake Erie at 32.9% coverage. Read the full story by the Detroit Free Press.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20250312-ice-retreat
A new exhibit at the Wisconsin Maritime Museum showcases the history of commercial fishing in Lake Michigan and highlights challenges faced by the industry. Read the full story by the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20250312-fishing-exhibit
Trips across Lake Michigan on the SS Badger ferry will begin in mid-May. Before that, the ferry will travel to Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin, for repairs. Read the full story by WLUK-TV – Green Bay, WI.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20250312-badger-repairs
Bird watchers along Lake Huron photographed an orange-colored snowy owl, which has been nicknamed Rusty and Creamsicle. But there is no consensus about what caused its unusual tint. Read the full story by The New York Times.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20250312-orange-owl
Explorers have discovered the sunken wreckage of the Western Reserve, one of the first steel cargo ships to ply the Great Lakes and which sank in a gale on Lake Superior in August 1892. Read the full story by The Associated Press.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20250312-superior-shipwreck
The Michigan Department of Natural Resources leans heavily on hunting and fishing license sales to fund fish stocking, wildlife conservation, and habitat protection. But those fees, now some of the lowest in the Midwest, have been frozen for more than a decade, while fewer and fewer Michiganders buy them, resulting in a funding crisis for the agency. Read the full story by MLive.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20250303-license-fees
A former administrator from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) said the Trump Administration’s decision to terminate hundreds of NOAA employees nationwide has major implications for the Great Lakes region, including the ongoing effort to curb western Lake Erie’s harmful algal blooms. Read the full story by The Blade.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20250303-layoff-impacts
A marine researcher has taken a deep dive into North America’s largest freshwater commercial fishing fleet, in Ontario’s Great Lakes, in a new documentary that explores challenges and opportunities local fisheries face in maintaining the industry. Read the full story by the CBC.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20250303-fishery-documentary
A Great Lakes regional organization is working with local leaders to protect the ecosystem from the effects of climate change. Mayor Eddie Melton of Gary, Indiana, has joined the Mayors Commission on Economic Transformation, an initiative that helps foster the creation of a clean economic corridor in the Great Lakes and St. Lawrence River region, which runs through Canada and into the U.S. Read the full story by the Chicago Tribune.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20250303-mayors-commission
The Mackinac Straits Corridor Authority met in Lansing Friday to hear updates on the Line 5 Tunnel Project, especially about the permits that would allow construction to begin. Last week, the Michigan Court of Appeals upheld the state permit, though there’s still time for another appeal to the Michigan Supreme Court. Read the full story by WPBN-TV – Traverse City, MI.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20250303-line-5
