An Illinois bill that requires life equipment to be available along the Lake Michigan coasts was passed by both houses of the state’s Congress after activists pushed for increased safety measures following multiple drownings. Read the full by the Loyola Phoenix.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20220422-rescue-equipment
Changing ecosystems and the COVID-19 pandemic are forcing Lake Michigan commercial fishing companies to change where they fish and how they sell their products. Read the full story by Wisconsin Public Radio.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20220422-fishing
In less than a decade, the city of Joliet, Illinois, home to 150,000 people and roughly 45 minutes southwest of Chicago, could run out of water. The city is facing a looming water crisis as the patchwork of underground wells and aquifers it currently uses for municipal water is drying up, leading elected officials to join with other municipalities to create a regional water commission now focused on one looming goal: connecting these communities to Lake Michigan water. Read the full story by Great Lakes Now.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20220420-lake-michigan
In western Michigan, sprawled like a gigantic swimming pool atop a bluff overlooking Lake Michigan, is the Ludington Pumped Storage Plant, which uses simple technology to produce electricity for 1.6 million households: water is piped from a lower reservoir to an upper one, then released downhill through supersized turbines that generate electricity. Read the full story by The Associated Press.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20220420-energy
Rising water temperatures and pollutants such as microplastics and road salt are threatening the health of Ontario’s Georgian Bay in Lake Huron. Read the full story by the Midland Mirror.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20220420-loon
The world’s two oldest-known common loons once again have returned to Michigan, and if they choose each other as mates, it will mark a record 26 consecutive summers together for the pair. Read the full story by MLive.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20220420-loon
As the weather warms up, Ontarians are looking to get back outside and to the lakes, with fishing being a favorite pastime for many. While the Great Lakes provide many great fishing spots, the lakes have struggled in a battle against invasive carp species, and anglers must take caution against contributing to the risk of invasion. Read the full story by The Hamilton Spectator.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20220420-carp
Round gobies, an invasive fish, are of particular concern in the Great Lakes because of the impact they can have on the sporting fishing industry. Gobies first established themselves in Lake Erie and Lake Ontario and continued their eastern migration into the St. Lawrence River. Read the full story by the Poughkeepsie Journal.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20220420-goby
The International Lake Ontario-St. Lawrence River Board, the organization that controls outflows from Lake Ontario, indicated this week that it is not worried that flooding will occur on the lake’s New York shore this year based on current water levels. Read the full story by The Buffalo News.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20220420-flooding
The People’s Water Board Coalition in Benton Harbor, Michigan, is calling on state and local officials to be more transparent with the public about the quality of the town’s drinking water over concerns about bacterial contamination. Read the full story by The Herald-Palladium.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20220420-benton-harbor
The Upper Peninsula Land Conservancy has gifted nearly 1,300 acres of pristine highlands wilderness in Marquette County to the Michigan Department of Natural Resources to protect the property from degradation and maintain public access. Read the full story by Up North Voice.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20220420-land-gift
Plans to restore the Ford Cove shoreline along Lake St. Clair will be shared with the public during an event on April 30 from 1-4pm. Read and hear the full story by Macomb Daily.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20220418-ford-house
The U.S. Coast Guard announced Saturday that its icebreaking operations on the western Great Lakes are complete for the season. Read and hear the full story by WLUC-TV – Marquette, MI.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20220418-icebreaking
In Minnesota, where early colonists came from France and later came from other parts of Europe, roughly 90 percent of lakes in the researchers’ sample were Name Lake. Read the full story by MinnPost.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20220418-lake-names
The United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Michael S. Regan and Canada’s Minister of Environment and Climate Change Steven Guilbeault have issued a statement to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the United States-Canada Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement. Read the full story by the WaterWorld Magazine.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20220418-wqa
Head of Alliance for the Great Lakes praises Milwaukee initiative to stop overflows by 2035. Read the full story by the Wisconsin Public Radio.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20220418-overflow
Michigan is home to five national parks: Isle Royale park, Keweenaw park, Sleeping Bear Dunes, Pictured Rocks national lakeshore and River Raisin park. These five gems are rich in both history and scenery. Read the full story by the WDIV -TV – Detroit, MI.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20220418-national-parks
The West Michigan Tourist Association has once again released its Lake Michigan Lighthouse map. Read the full story by MLive.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20220418-lighthouses
DNR teams completed more than 260 fisheries surveys across Michigan in 2021. DNR fisheries staff surveyed 152 inland lakes and 115 streams. Read the full story by The Detroit News.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20220418-dnr-survey
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has partnered with other Michigan organizations to sponsor and oversee the restocking of lake sturgeon in the Saginaw Bay watershed and other bodies of water feeding into Lake Huron. Read the full story by the Huron Daily Tribune.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20220418-sturgeon
Researchers have found that a common wetland plant native to Australia can remove toxic “forever chemicals” from the surrounding environment. Read the full story by Great Lakes Now.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20220418-pfas
Scientists studying the bay this summer, including George Bullerjahn, a biology professor at Bowling Green State University who has studied the bay’s algae for years, hope to figure out why Sandusky Bay’s algal bloom problem suddenly went away in 2020 and 2021,. Read the full story by The Advertiser-Tribune.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20220418-sandusky-bay
The Indiana DNR is busy stocking steelhead trout in the St. Joseph River, a tributary of Lake Michigan. Read the full story by WNDU – TV – South Bend, IN.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20220418-trout
In the next two years, cruise lines are expecting more than 50,000 people to get aboard Great Lake cruises as local travel has become more popular during the pandemic. Read the full story by WPBN-TV – Traverse City, MI.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20220415-cruise
Researchers warn dangerous algae blooms and warming water around the Great Lakes will impact Metro Detroit more intensely and for longer as climate change continues to heat up around the globe. Read the full story by WWJ – Detroit, MI.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20220415-climate
Earlier this week, the first Great Lakes piping plover to be seen back in Michigan this spring was spotted at Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore. Read the full story by MLive.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20220415-plover
Ohio Governor Mike DeWine has a decision on his hands whether to sign into law or veto a bill approved by the Legislature last week that would ease the way Ohio’s ephemeral streams are regulated. Read the full story WEWS-TV – Cleveland, OH.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20220415-ephemeral-stream
The town of Evans, New York, is hoping for a total reconstruction of the Sturgeon Point Marina harbor wall along the Lake Erie Shoreline. Read the full story by WGRZ-TV – Buffalo, New York.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20220415-harbor-wall
As of Thursday evening, The Sullivans, a WW II destroyer, could be seen listing (tilting in the water) and the rear deck has started to go underwater. Read and view the full story by WGRZ-TV – Buffalo, New York.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20220415-the-sullivans
More than 150 inches of snow fell on the Grand Marais area of Minnesota this winter, creating powerful waterfall along the North Shore of Lake Superior. Read the full story by Star Tribune.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20220415-waterfalls
The Thousand Islands Land Trust reached an agreement with Blind Bay Associates to buy the property on the St. Lawrence River that the U.S. Customs and Border Protection was eyeing for a new facility, but that they deemed environmentally sensitive. Read the full story by WWNY-TV – Carthage, NY.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20220415-blind-bay
The Legault government has unveiled a new, more modest vision of its “third link” tunnel that would connect Québec City and the city of Lévis, on the south shore of the St. Lawrence River. Read the full story by CBC News.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20220415-tunnel
Perch and other fish native to the Great Lakes have dwindled in part due to invasive species. UWM School of Freshwater Sciences’ Osvaldo Jhonatan Sepulveda Villet says the solution might be to farm these fish through genetically improved lines that breed fish that grow bigger faster. Read the full story WUWM – Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20220415-perch
Shipping season is underway on the Great Lakes, but some of the big lakers are bunched up in a group just off the Marquette coastline today, apparently waiting out some big winds whipping across Lake Superior. Read the full story by Mlive.com.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20220415-gale-winds
Sometimes called “the coral reefs of the northern forest,” vernal pools are bodies of water that hold the key to sustaining a multitude of plant and animal life, according to the Michigan Department of Natural Resources. They may at first appear as leaf-littered ponds, but a closer look reveals a magical array of species beneath the surface. Read the full story by the Iosco County News-Herald.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20220413-vernal-pools
In January, Michigan State University received a $1.9 million grant to look at toxicity in PFAS, and researcher professor Cheryl Murphy will lead the multi-institutional team of researchers conducting the study. Read the full story by Great Lakes Now.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20220413-pfas-study
As the Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement reaches its 50-year anniversary this week, much in terms of protections and improvements must still be tackled in the years ahead, according to a newly formed group of activists, the Citizens Environment Alliance. Read the full story by the Windsor Star.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20220413-great-lakes-agreement
Two popular West Michigan buoys are back on the water after spending the winter away. Boaters and swimmers can check the buoy before they head to the lake for conditions like wind speed, air temperature, water temperature, and more. Read the full story by WOOD-TV – South Haven, MI.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20220413-weather-buoys
A voluntary conservation program will be relaunched in the Western Lake Erie Basin, Lake Macatawa, and Saginaw Bay watersheds through a partnership among Michigan state and federal agriculture agencies and regional conservation districts. The effort is expected pull in $40 million in federal funds toward protecting land and water resources. Read the full story by MLive.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20220413-fund-water-quality
The movement of two native fish species called suckers are being studied in a northern Michigan river as part of a larger studies to see how fish move into, through and out of the Ottaway River, and the impacts they have on nutrient and energy dynamics. Read the full story by the Traverse City Record-Eagle.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20220413-sucker-study
The Great Lakes Boat Building School on the northwest corner of Lake Huron in Michigan’s eastern Upper Peninsula is expanding to meet the needs of Michigan’s marine industry. Read the full story by Great Lakes Echo.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20220413-marine-industry
The Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources cannot enforce one of its key environmental protection tools, known as the “spills law,” without first creating a definitive list of hazardous substances approved by lawmakers, a Waukesha County judge ruled Tuesday. Read the full story by the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20220413-state-cleanup
The International Lake Ontario-St. Lawrence River Board has confirmed that it will host two virtual public meetings in mid-April to review winter and early spring conditions and shared updated forecasts for the Lake Ontario and St. Lawrence River basin. Read the full story by WWLP-TV – Messena, NY.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20220413-public-meeting
If you find yourself fascinated by shipwrecks, it may surprise you to learn just how many shipwrecks you can find around Michigan and even in some that can be visited by paddle boat. Read the full story by WKFR – Kalamazoo, MI.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20220413-shipwrecks
Canada is back at the binational table with funding in the 2022 federal budget to protect the Great Lakes fishery. It’s the first time in 40 years the federal government has fully funded the binational treaty organization Great Lakes Fishery Commission. Read the full story by Welland Tribune.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20220411-glfc-funding
Lake Huron Coastal Centre Stewardship Technician Alyssa Bourassa says 83.3 per cent of the twenty-four lake water samples that were collected from Lake Huron at the beginning and the end of last year’s Coast Watcher season, contained micro-plastics. And when the samples were tested in 2018, 95.7 per cent of the samples contained micro-plastics. Read the full story by CKNX-TV – Windsor, ON.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20220411-plastic-pollution
The debate over the expansion of a toxic waste landfill in Niagara County, which is going on 20 years, could soon come to a close. The first in a series of hearings on the matter will take place Monday, April 11. Since 2003, local groups fought to stop CWM Chemical Services and Waste Management from expanding their toxic waste landfills in the town of Porter, NY. Read the full story by Spectrum News.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20220411-pollution
High and dry for easy viewing this summer will be one of Michigan’s newest exposed wrecks, the Jennie and Annie. The 137-foot schooner, built in 1863, was rounding Sleeping Bear Point in November 1872 when gale-force winds pushed it into the shallows and reefs of Lake Michigan’s notorious Manitou Passage. Read the full story by The Detroit News.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20220411-shipwrecks
The City of Defiance, Defiance College and Sen. Sherrod Brown have worked together to secure funding to form the Ohio Tri-River Research Alliance in Defiance, OH. The alliance will receive $500,000 in government funding to research systemic problems associated with the Upper Maumee River Watershed which is the primary source of drinking water for the City of Defiance. Read the full story by The Crescent-News.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20220411-river-habs
West Grand Traverse Bay officially hasn’t frozen over this winter, and long-term trends show that’s becoming the norm. In recent decades, those freeze-overs are happening less frequently; averages from 1980 on show it happened about 40 percent of the time, compared to nearly 80 percent of winters in the preceding decades. Read the full story by The Record-Eagle.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20220411-ice-coverage
