Daily News (Page 100)

Republican and Democratic state legislators, the Michigan United Conservation Clubs, Ducks Unlimited, and Audubon-Great Lakes all gathered this past week to discuss the use of $30 million in American Rescue Plan Act money for wetlands in areas that drain into Lake Erie and the Saginaw Bay of Lake Huron. Read and listen to the full story by Michigan Radio.

The nonprofit WATERshed Program of Southeast Wisconsin recently received grants to support its award-winning, hands-on environmental education program for Racine students during the 2022-2023 school year. The grants will be used to help educate students about the value of living in a coastal community with freshwater resources, and to demonstrate how human activities impact local watersheds. Read the full story by The Journal Times.

Saturday, the Niagara Coastal organization in Fort Erie, Ontario was joined by representatives from Niagara College, Niagara Peninsula Conservation Authority, Town of Fort Erie and others for a coastal day of action, planting and transplanting native beach grass along the shore at Bay Beach. Read the full story by the St. Catharines Standard.

Now is the time for a new CWA, call it the Clean Water Alliance, a pervasive grassroots initiative in support of responsible lakefront living, wise use of lake resource and protection of inland lakes which face the threat of severe decline. A Clean Water Alliance would become a potent grassroots force to influence lake-protective laws and regulations where necessary. Read the full story by Wisconsin Examiner.

The idea of utilizing wind energy above the waters of Lake Erie is again a focus of the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority in their second feasibility study. The first report by NYSERDA lists many concerns about placing wind turbines and their infrastructure in one of the world’s largest freshwater ecosystems and drinking water sources. Read the full story by Buffalo News.

Two fishermen accused of conspiring to cheat in a lucrative Lake Erie walleye tournament pleaded not guilty before a grand jury this past week in Cleveland, Ohio to felony charges of cheating, attempted grand theft, possession of criminal tools and alleged misdemeanors. Read the full story by Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.

The Medina County (Ohio) Park District is creating the Little Killbuck Creek Wetlands project on a 173-acre site it acquired through a $900,000 H2Ohio grant. At least 55 acres of wetland will be restored at the Little Killbuck Creek Wetlands site. Read the full story by Akron Beacon Journal.

This past week marked the 50th anniversary of the Clean Water Act passed by Congress to protect U.S. waterways from abuses. Decades later, progress has been made but many waterways are still in peril and a new challenge has emerged; the fallout of thousands of sites potentially contaminated with perfluorooctanoic acid and perfluorooctane sulfonic acid substances known as PFAS. Read the full story by Macomb Daily.

The history of Cleveland, Ohio is intertwined with the story of its water. Jeff Opperman retells the history of Cleveland and its relationship with Great Lakes water through beer labels focused on the history of the region. Read the full story by Cleveland.com.

Algal blooms are wreaking havoc in Lake Erie, but the Michigan Department of Natural Resources has a plan: swamps. Since blooms commonly occur when runoff from farmland carrying fertilizer enters a body of water, like Lake Erie, a wetland that can intercept runoff from farms would act as a barrier, slowing down the flow of the water and giving the phosphorus time to absorb into the soil. Read the full story by Capital News Service.

Graphic Packaging spilled roughly 1,500 gallons of industrial wastewater into the Kalamazoo River this past week, sparking a no-contact order along a nearly six mile stretch of the river north of Kalamazoo, Michigan. Read the full story by MLive.

Community member conflict and criticism increase over limited involvement and PFAS cleanup efforts and plans at Wurtsmith Air Force Base Oscoda, Michigan. Read the full story by MLive.

Coastal port congestion is sparking interest in short-sea shipping on the Great Lakes, in U.S. ports like the Port of Cleveland and in Canadian ports. Read the full story by WKYC-TV – Cleveland, OH.

CCGS Vincent Massey and her two sister ships, CCGS Jean Goodwill and CCGS Captain Molly Kool, were purchased in 2018 to keep icebreaking services running in Atlantic Canada, the St. Lawrence and the Great Lakes. Read the full story by Maritime Executive.

This past week the Western New York Partnership for Regional Invasive Species Management hosted its Invasive Species Symposium at SUNY Buffalo State, which is home to the Great Lakes Center. Over the course of the day, partners spoke about some of the many different adaptive management approaches that are in use across the region on both land and water, and what can be learned from their successes and failures. Read the full story by The Post-Journal.

Lake Ontario’s levels are currently just below the historical average, and just about a foot lower than at this time last year. Officials state that this is above the record lows, and within a normal range. Read the full story by WRVO-TV – Oswego, NY.

Shipments of limestone on the Great Lakes totaled 3.5 million tons in September, a decrease of 3.7 percent compared to a year ago.  Limestone cargos were below the month’s 5-year average by 2.7 percent. Read the full story by Lake Superior News.