Queen Elizabeth II died on Thursday at her residence at Balmoral Castle. She was 96 years old. As many people take a moment to look back on her life and legacy following her passing, it includes a moment in Wisconsin history when the British monarch visited the United States. Read the full story by WGBA-TV – Green Bay, WI.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20220909-queenelizabeth-milwaukee
Michigan has had a record number of piping plover chicks. That means the United States is nearly halfway to its goal of having 150 breeding pairs of piping plover parents. The Great Lakes piping plovers have been endangered since the 1980s when as few as 12 to 17 pairs of the birds had fledglings. Read the full story by Michigan Radio.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20220909-greatlakes-pipingplovers
In a press release, U.S. Senator Gary Peters (D-MI) applauded FEMA for its intent to fund the Safeguard Tomorrow through Ongoing Risk Mitigation Act, which is intended to address shoreline erosion and flooding. Read the full story by the Huron Daily Tribune.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20220909-fema-stormact
If you’re in Toronto and have noticed a storm drain covered in green paint, there is a unique and environmentally-focused reason for it. Students at the University of Toronto, a collection of them that go by the “U of T Trash Team,” said the green paint means the storm drain is, in fact, an Enviropod “LittaTrap” that collects trash and litter and “diverts it” from draining into Lake Ontario. Read the full story by CityNews.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20220909-torontostormdrains
Mermaid Straw, the Valparaiso-based reusable straw maker, is partnering with Save the Dunes to clean up West Beach at the Indiana Dunes National Park. The business that makes metallic straws to replace single-use plastics coordinates volunteers to pick up litter on the beaches as part of its mission to save the Earth. Read the full story by NWI Times.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20220909-savethedunes-beachcleanups
The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) recently completed two projects to create new spawning habitat for native fish that are critical for local economies and ecological diversity in Jefferson County. Read the full story by the Central New York Business Journal.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20220909-spawningprojects-ontario
Harmful algal blooms now rank with climate change as a systemic ecological threat and a severe public policy challenge. Collaboration between governments has generated formal state, federal, and bi-national commitments to reduce nutrient discharges, and thorough action plans to achieve them. Read the full story by Michigan Radio.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20220909-toxicalgaeblooms
After years of limited action, the federal government is moving forward with multiple plans to establish regulations limiting toxic contamination from two PFAS chemicals used for nearly a century to make products resistant to heat, water, grease and stains. Read the full story by the Indiana Environmental Reporter.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20220909-indianapfasproblem
Over the next six to eight years, the U.S. Army Corps will outfit an engineered channel in the Brandon Road Lock on the Des Plaines River, just outside Chicago, with a series of high-tech barriers that will prevent invasive carp from travelling upstream to Lake Michigan while still allowing boats to pass through. Read the full story by Cottage Life.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20220909-invasivecarp
Work to lift the submerged James Whalen tugboat from Ontario’s Kaministiquia River is set to begin later this week. The century-old tugboat, which the City of Thunder Bay, ON has owned and kept moored along the river for nearly 30 years, took on water and then sank earlier this year. Read the full story by CBC News.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20220909-jameswhalentugboat
On Thursday evening, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers heard from the public regarding construction on Enbridge Energy’s Line 5 during an online event. Read the full story by Great Lakes Now.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20220907-line-5
A cross-border program keeps sea lamprey populations in the Great Lakes at bay. But a two-year disruption was never part of the plan. Now experts predict there will be at least a temporary surge to lamprey populations in the lakes following a dip in control efforts during the early stages of the Covid-19 pandemic. Read the full story by Undark.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20220907-lamprey
The New York state Assembly is putting together a task force to examine economic development and environmental issues unique to the Lake Erie and Lake Ontario watersheds. Read the full story by Spectrum News 1.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20220907-task-force
A class of chemical compounds that are no longer produced in significant quantities nor being used in the manufacture of new products, called polychlorinated naphthalenes, or PCNs, has been found in herring gull eggs in the St. Lawrence River; the probable source of these chemical contaminants is the Detroit River. Read the full story by Great Lakes Now.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20220907-herring-gull
It was a banner year for the Great Lakes piping plover. Audubon Great Lakes reports 150 chicks have survived the fledgling process, the largest number since the bird was placed on the federal endangered species list in 1986. Read the full story by WOOD-TV – Grand Rapids, MI.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20220907-plovers
Since their launch August 6th, two uncrewed, drone-operated sailboats are quietly collecting data from Lake Superior to study the accuracy of fish abundancy estimates in the Great Lakes. Read the full story by Wisconsin Public Radio.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20220907-sail-drones
The Lake Superior buoy operated by National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, located a mere 50 miles offshore from Grand Marais, Minnesota, experienced anomalously cold water temperatures this year: temperatures that haven’t been recorded in decades. Read the full story by WTIP – North Shore, MN.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20220907-lake-temp
As lake sturgeon populations have decreased in Lake Michigan, the Michigan Department of Natural Resources hope to reintroduce and rehabilitate the lake sturgeon population through a streamside rearing program. Read the full story by WLUC-TV – Marquette, MI.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20220907-sturgeon
The Environmental Protection Agency will be addressing concerns raised by the St. Regis Mohawk Tribe over remediation efforts on New York’s Grasse River after the Tribal Council said the EPA’s chosen remedy to remediate the Grasse River was a “devastating failure.” Read the full story by the Watertown Daily Times.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20220907-grasse-river
An Ottawa County, Michigan, electroplating company and two of its top officers have pleaded guilty to violating the federal Clean Water Act by discharging wastewater with excessive amounts of zinc. Read the full story by Great Lakes Echo.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20220907-clean-water-act
Illinois state Rep. Marcus Evans has introduced a bill that lays the groundwork for a proposed wind farm in Lake Michigan, about 10 miles from the shores of the Southeast Side of Chicago. Read the full story by the Chicago Tribune.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20220902-offshore-wind
A federal district judge in Michigan denied a request from members of hunting and fishing advocacy groups to intervene in treaty rights negotiations underway among state, federal, and tribal authorities. Read the full story by MLive.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20220902-fishing-rights
Officials at the Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore in Michigan are confident the recent change in the Platte River outlet did not happen naturally and are seeking those responsible. Read the full story by the Manistee News Advocate.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20220902-platte-river
Dragonflies have gathered in masses in Wisconsin and recent brisk west winds have helped concentrate the migrating dragonflies along Lake Michigan. Read the full story by the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20220902-dragonflies
A stand-up paddler from Kalamazoo, Michigan expects to break a Guinness World Record by paddling approximately 100 miles from Ludington to Suttons Bay, Michigan. Read the full story by the Ludington Daily News.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20220902-paddling
An incredible waterspout swirling over Lake Huron has been captured on camera. Read the full story by The Mirror.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20220902-water-spouts
Environmental activist group, Environmental Defence, claims that not enough has been done to reduce the impacts on Lake Erie from nutrient runoff. Read the full story by The Hamilton Spectator.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20220902-erie
A barge, belonging to Ashton Marine out of Muskegon, Michigan, ran aground early Wednesday on Lake Erie. It got stuck in the sand, about 10 feet offshore from a beach on the western side of Van Buren Point near Dunkirk, New York. Read the full story by The Post Journal.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20220902-barge
A U.S. National Weather Service Station radar signature of an estimated 500,000-member bank and barn swallow and purple martin “roost ring” (or bird doughnut) over Long Point, Ontario has bird enthusiasts fascinated. Read the full story by The Toronto Star.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20220902-bird-migration
During a web conference hosted by the International Joint Commission on Tuesday, Kyle McCune, alternate U.S. chair for all three regional water regulation boards under IJC jurisdiction, explained why water levels are significantly low. Read the full story by the Watertown Daily Times.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20220902-water-levels
A new vessel has joined the U.S. Flag Fleet and has the distinction of being the first to be built on the Great Lakes since the early 1980’s. The ship was built by the Interlake Steamship Company and designed to carry all types of cargo throughout the Great Lakes freshwater system but officials say the vessel was specifically designed to navigate the tight bends of the Cuyahoga River in Cleveland. Read the full story by WJW-TV – Cleveland, OH.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20220831-greatlakesfreighter
Restoring water service to seven southeast Michigan communities affected by an August 13 water main break will take even longer than initially estimated, officials for the Great Lakes Water Authority said. They attribute the delay to needing to send a piece of pipe back to its manufacturer because it didn’t meet specifications. Read the full story by The Detroit News.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20220831-restoringwater-mainbreak
A recent study out of Université du Québec à Rimouski has identified new combinations of contaminants in the St. Lawrence River and Lake Ontario that could affect biodiversity. Read the full story by Global News Canada.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20220831-emergingcontaminants-stlawrenceriver
McGill University researchers and scientists have been busy launching weather balloons high above Quebec this year as part of an effort to better understand regional climate change. Read the full story by CBC News.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20220831-climatechangestudy-stlawrenceriver
Five million Illinoisans live near water systems that utilize Lake Michigan water, which is reported to have “worrisome concentrations” of PFAS, according to a database of Illinois PFAS water testing created by the Chicago Tribune. Local leaders in Illinois have said they were aware of the latest research regarding PFAS are awaiting new guidance from the EPA. Read the full story by The Record North Shore.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20220831-foreverchemicals-treatment-water
City Council members from Toledo, Maumee and Bowling Green joined Rep. Marcy Kaptur at a press conference Tuesday to talk about how the Great Lakes Authority proposal could help northwest Ohio. Read the full story by WNWO-TV – Toledo, OH.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20220831-greatlakesauthorityproposal-kaptur
The Great Lakes are very susceptible to microplastics, because of the enormous amount of industry and the concentration of the population around the lakes. The Cleveland Water Department began testing for microplastics in 2019 and are still working to understand the problem. Read the full story by Spectrum News.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20220831-microplastics-clevelandwater
Authorities posted a public advisory Tuesday at Edgewater Beach in Cleveland, Ohio, after a combined sewer overflow at the beach Monday night, the second time this has happened this month. Read the full story by The Plain Dealer.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20220831-sewageoverflows-lakeerie
Katie Church spent her whole summer searching, finding, and plucking invasive European water chestnut from the Welland River, in the Niagara Region. It’s one of just three known populations in Ontario. Read the full story by CBC News.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20220831-europeanwaterchestnut
The Ohio Division of Wildlife is reminding pet fish owners not to release their aquarium fish into state waters, since they can harm native fish species. Technicians found what appeared to be a foot-long goldfish during a fish survey this month on Lake Erie in Fairport Harbor, the division posted Monday to its Facebook page. Read the full story by WJW-TV – Cleveland, OH.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20220831-hugegoldfish-lakeerie
In the year since its designation, the Wisconsin Shipwreck Coast National Marine Sanctuary has been busy laying the groundwork for future tourism and research, including sonar mapping of the lakebed in the entire sanctuary, installing weather buoys and searching for undiscovered shipwrecks. Read the full story by Manitowoc Herald Times.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20220829-shipwreck-sanctuary
The annual fall migration of monarch butterflies is about to be underway, when scores of the iconic black-and-orange winged insects, recently categorized as endangered, travel thousands of miles to their wintering grounds in the Sierra Madre Mountains of Mexico. As monarchs navigate through the Great Lakes, the migration is viewable in Michigan’s hotspots: Stonington Peninsula and Tawas Point State Park. Read the full story by MLive.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20220829-monarch-butterflies
The Ohio Supreme Court ruled earlier this month that the Ohio Power Siting had obtained enough information about the potential impacts of Icebreaker on birds and bats before issuing a permit for the project. Now that legal obstacles to the Icebreaker project have been removed, efforts to construct the demonstration wind farm in Lake Erie have started up again. Read the full story by The Plain Dealer.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20220829-wind
Nearly $500,000 in Great Lakes Restoration Initiative funding was awarded to Muskegon County Water Resources for additional restoration work for Mona Lake. The Great Lakes fish habitat funding will pay for long-contemplated restoration of former celery fields that previously were wetlands along Black Creek and Mona Lake (located inland along Lake Michigan, northwest of Grand Rapids, Michigan). Read the full story by MLive.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20220829-restoration
A pair of eco-friendly drones or “litter bots” made their Michigan debut in Muskegon on this week along the shores of Lake Michigan, where the drones whimsically named “PixieDrone” and “BeBot” trundled through the water and the sand gathering plastic debris that has become endemic in the Great Lakes. Read the full story by MLive.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20220829-drone
Ongoing consideration of remediation and excavation efforts for coal ash ponds in Virginia, North Carolina and South Carolina may have implications and serve as an example for coal ash units in Indiana and Ohio. Read the full story by Great Lakes Now.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20220829-coal-ash
Staff and volunteers at the Nottawasaga Valley Conservation Authority in Southern Ontario are working to restore eroding riverbanks along the Nottawasaga River to improve habitat for two species at risk, lake sturgeon and northern brook lamprey. Read the full story by Collingwood Today.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20220829-ontario-fish
Shannon Orr, a professor of political science at Bowling Green State University, is being recognized by Case Studies in the Environment with its top prize article for 2021 for her award-winning research into the various competing interests for keeping Asian carp out of the Great Lakes. Read the full story by Sentinel-Tribune.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20220829-carp
On a beautiful and sunny Sunday in Kingston, Ontario, a group of local divers strapped on their gear and hit the water in the name of sustainability. At Gord Downie Pier the divers convened toting along their gear in preparation for the first-ever trash dive for Sustainable Kingston’s “Underwater Pitch-IN” event. Read the full story by Global News.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20220829-trash-dive
After a two-month delay, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has announced plans to start dredging the South Haven Harbor in South Haven, Michigan this month. Sampling results confirm the proposed outer harbor dredge material is suitable and 18,000 cubic yards of material will be placed as nourishment material south of South Beach. Read the full story by South Haven Tribune.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20220829-dredge
