Even with federal protection on its north shore, Lake Superior is still at risk. Read the full story by the National Observer.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20220815-superior-protections
Cody Bertrand’s sighting while practicing for an Angler’s Choice tournament on Lake Calumet led to the finding and removal of a 22-pound silver carp; plus a primer on what to do in such cases Read the full story by the Chicago Sun Times.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20220815-silver-carp
Two major studies are underway to try to better understand why mallard duck populations are declining in the U.S. The Great Lakes population has been down by about 16-17%. Researchers are using new technology to help solve the mystery. Read the full story by WKAR.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20220812-mallardpopulations-greatlakes
Pelicans are becoming a common sight on many state waterways, including the Winnebago System, Mississippi River, the Fox River and Green Bay. The birds have earned a starring role in the book of modern Wisconsin wildlife recovery stories. Read the full story by the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20220812-featheredjewels-whitepelicans-wi
Climate change is imposing new challenges for the Great Lakes, such as lost ice cover, intensifying storms and fluctuating lake levels. However, so far, the impact of climate change on the health of the lakes is “undetermined,” according to the report. Read the full story by the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20220812-stateofthegreatlakes-climatechange
Several invasive species, such as the zebra mussel, are native to the Ponto-Caspian region, which includes the Black, Caspian and Azov Seas, and were imported to North America by transoceanic ships. These species are known to have disrupted ecosystems around the world, including those of the Great Lakes and St. Lawrence River. However, the impacts of these invaders on native biodiversity appear to have been less extensive in the St. Lawrence River than in the Great Lakes. This phenomenon might be explained by the river’s weaker conductivity. Read the full story by The Conversation.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20220812-stlawrenceriver-hostiletoinvasivespecies
Gov. Tony Evers, together with Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, announced Thursday their departments of transportation will seek $889.5 million in federal funding, available through the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL), also known as the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, to rebuild the John A. Blatnik Bridge between Duluth and Superior. Read the full story by Business North.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20220812-federalfunds-duluthsuperiorbridgeproject
The first blue-green algae bloom appeared in Lake Superior a decade ago and until 2018, the blooms were small and short-lived, lasting from only a few hours to a day. But for Brenda Moraska Lafrancois, an aquatic ecologist for the National Park Service, a “sinking feeling” lingered long after the 2018 bloom. She realized this “wasn’t just a fluke but maybe part of a recurring pattern.” Read the full story by the Milwaukee Sentinel.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20220812-bluegreenalgae-lakesuperior
Saildrone, a California based company that provides data solutions for maritime security, ocean mapping, and ocean data, launched two Saildrone Explorer uncrewed surface vehicles Tuesday on a large-scale mission in Lake Superior to support the sustainable management of the $7 billion per year Great Lakes fishery. Read the full story by TB News Watch.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20220812-drones-lakesuperior
The Great Lakes region is enjoying another year of lower water levels and wider beaches. July water levels on Lake Michigan and Lake Huron are down more than 2 feet from 2020, a year of near historic highs when waves devoured cherished stretches of sandy coastline. With the exception of Lake Ontario, the other Great Lakes are falling as well. Read the full story by the Chicago Tribune.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20220812-lakemiwaterlevels
Lake Erie Energy Development Corp. may resume its long-stalled efforts to build the first offshore wind project in the U.S. Great Lakes after the Ohio Supreme Court rejected a challenge to its permit. Read the full story by G Captain.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20220812-ohiosupremecourt-greatlakesoffshorewind
Over 60 nature organizations in Ontario have signed a letter calling on both the federal and provincial governments to officially protect the Great Lakes. This letter asks David Piccini, Ontario’s minister of environment, conservation and parks, and federal Minister of Environment and Climate Change Steven Guilbeault to designate the lakes as a national marine conservation area. Read the full story by Canada’s National Observer.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20220812-ontario-natureorganizations
Twenty-three-foot long Saildrone solar-powered sailboards are out on Lake Superior now recording data on populations of small fish like whitefish, herring and smelt. It’s part of a three-year project across the Great Lakes to see what larger research boats may have been missing under water. Read the full story by the Duluth News Tribune.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20220810-drones
A new network of high-tech radio transmitters is being installed along the Ohio coastline as part of a telecommunications project advocates say will help optimize Lake Erie environmental management and accelerate water-based technology development. Read the full story by MLive.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20220810-radio-network
After flooding events between 2017 and 2019, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers will work with federal agencies and the Great Lakes states to fund the Great Lakes Coastal Resiliency Study, estimated to cost $10.5 million over four years. Read the full story by Spectrum News Buffalo.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20220810-coastal-resiliency
A 575-foot section of embankment that has significantly eroded and continues to pollute Michigan’s St. Joseph River with sediment and nutrients will be stabilized with a construction project starting this month. Read the full story by the South Bend Tribune.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20220810-st-joseph-river
With species like wild rice, paper birch and moose at risk from a changing climate, the Fond du Lac Band of Lake Superior Chippewa, Bois Forte Band of Chippewa, and Grand Portage Band of Lake Superior Chippewa are all working on strategies to aid ecosystems on their reservation lands in northeast Minnesota. Read the full story by the Star Tribune.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20220810-native-climate-change
For 12 days since mid-July, Niagara County health officials have deemed Krull Park beach in Olcott, New York, unsafe for swimming because of elevated bacteria levels in the water. Read the full story by The Buffalo News.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20220810-olcott-beach
Collaborative efforts are being made in Cedar River, Michigan, to help restore the sturgeon population in Lake Michigan. Members of the Michigan Department of Natural Resources and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service have been caring for 164 sturgeon and are gearing up for their eventual release at the end of August. Read the full story by the Daily Press.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20220810-sturgeon
Project Clean Lake, currently underway in Northeast Ohio, has been reducing combined sewage overflow into Lake Erie through the construction of storage tunnels to channel stormwater and sewage to water treatment facilities before reaching the lake. Read the full story by WEWS-TV – Cleveland, OH.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20220810-project-clean-lake
Based on indicators of ecosystem health, the Great Lakes are collectively assessed as ‘fair and unchanging’ in the State of the Great Lakes 2022 Report. While progress has been made in reducing toxic chemicals and the establishment of new non-native aquatic species, significant concerns remain. Read the full story by The Manitoulin Expositor.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20220810-state-of-lake
All signs indicate that the warmest water on the Great Lakes is occurring now or has just happened. It could be downhill from here on the water temperature graphs. Read the full story by MLive.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20220810-water-temperatures
New public life jacket stations have been set up at beaches in South Haven, Michigan, aimed at helping increase safety during a summer when several Lake Michigan drownings have occurred. Read the full story by MLive.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20220810-life-jacket
Fall migration has begun for certain species of Great Lakes birds, marking the start of the annual spectacle when millions of waterfowl, waterbirds, shorebirds, songbirds and raptors leave their summer nesting areas and fly south to warmer climates for the winter. Read the full story by MLive.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20220808-bird-migration
High-resolution satellite data and near real-time observations about the Earth’s atmosphere are now available to state-level air quality monitoring agencies across the Great Lakes. Michigan is already putting the information to good use. Read the full story by MLive.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20220808-air-quality
Buffalo Niagara Waterkeeper is working with the Buffalo Niagara River Land Trust on the Cayuga Creek Stream and Floodplain Restoration project in the Town of Niagara, New York. Read the full story by Niagara Frontier Publications.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20220808-restoration
A U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service assessment crew will be working Aug. 16-26 in Douglas County, Wisconsin to estimate the abundance of sea lampreys in the Amnicon, Poplar, Brule and Middle rivers. Read the full story by The Superior Telegram.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20220808-lamprey
An invasive silver carp was removed earlier this week after it was found swimming in Lake Calumet on the Far South Side, the Illinois Department of Natural Resources announced Friday. Read the full story by the Chicago Sun Times.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20220808-carp
New York State is beginning a $1.6 million project to restore and increase wetlands at the Woodlawn Beach State Park in Blasdell, NY. Read and hear the full story by The Buffalo News.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20220808-wetlands
Ohio State University professor John Lenhart will be using a $150,000 grant to test drinking water in Cleveland, Ohio and surrounding areas for tiny bits of plastic. Read the full story by The Plain Dealer.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20220808-plastic
Piles of dead alewives – tiny, silvery fish – are lining the beaches of Lake Michigan, rolling in wave by wave. Read the full story by WGBA – TV – Green Bay, WI.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20220808-alewife
While there are thousands of known sites of contamination across the country from hazardous waste dumped or not properly secured by manufacturing facilities and landfills, the ones government officials consider the most dangerous are called Superfund sites. Read the full story by WXYZ – TV – Detroit, MI.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20220808-pfas
Centuries after the war of 1812, the U.S. Brig Niagara, a replica of the U.S.S. Niagara, brings the history of the Battle of Lake Erie to the Festival of Sails and many other locations. Read the full story by WDIO – TV – Duluth, MN.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20220808-niagara
An annual effort to clean the waters of Marquette’s Lower Harbor is returning Saturday. For the fourth straight year, the Great Lakes Scuba Divers and Lake Preservation Club is holding its Underwater Cleanup. Each year, divers from the U.P. and even the Midwest have come to the Lower Harbor to pick up tons of tires and other junk at the bottom of Lake Superior. Read the full story by WLUC-TV – Marquette, MI.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20220805-scubadivers-marquettesharbor
Bottles, bottle caps, straws, lighters, beach toys, bags, and dental floss picks. All these items have one thing in common — plastic bits and pieces washed ashore on the beaches of the Great Lakes. In collaboration with SEA LIFE Michigan Aquarium inside Great Lakes Crossing in Auburn Hills, Royal Oak, artist Hannah Tizedes spent over a year collecting trash from the Great Lakes to create a six-foot-long mosaic of repurposed plastic. Read the full story by The Oakland Press.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20220805-royaloakartist-trashintotreasure-greatlakes
Scenic road trips just got supercharged as the Midwest works together to create an electric route along the Lake Michigan shoreline. The Lake Michigan EV Circuit Tour will be a network of electric vehicle chargers spanning over 1,100 miles of drivable shoreline around Lake Michigan. Read the full story by MLive.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20220805-lakemishoreline-electicroute
Green algae scum is visible along Magee Marsh Wildlife Area’s shoreline, as scientists have bumped up their Lake Erie Harmful Algal Bloom (HAB) severity seasonal projections this week. NOAA’s National Centers for Coastal Ocean Science and its research partners originally predicted a severity of 3.5 on a scale of 10 in late June. Wednesday, NOAA revised its projection and now expects a bloom with a severity of 4.5 with a range up to 5.5 due to model uncertainty. Read the full story by Fremont News Messenger.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20220805-lakeeriealgaebloom
Rock snot, officially called didymo, was the centerpiece of the underwater research the DNR recently conducted in Lake Superior. Rantala and several other DNR researchers, fisheries biologists and members of the state agency’s aquatic invasive species unit traveled to Grand Marais in late July to collect samples from the bottom of Lake Superior. Read the full story by WTIP – Grand Marais, MN.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20220805-lakesuperiordive
Toxic algae in lakes and rivers is a growing problem for cities, pets, swimmers and fishers — and, increasingly, the farmers who are causing it. Harmful algal blooms are becoming a regular summer feature around the country, thanks to fertilizer-laden runoff and hot water temperatures. NOAA estimates algal blooms have cost coastal economies $1 billion over the past several decades in lost recreation, tourism and seafood harvesting. Read the full story by POLITICO.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20220805-toxicalgae-perennialcrop
“Tremendous progress” is being made to restore and protect the Great Lakes from the impacts of toxic chemicals and the introduction of non-native invasive species. That’s according to the authors of a joint report issued by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and Climate Change Canada on July 29. Lake Michigan was assessed as “fair” and “unchanging.” Read the full story by the Manistee News Advocate.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20220805-binationalreportstateofthelakes
Positioning wind farms offshore has proven successful in oceanic waters off Europe. Some say it has never been done in freshwater lakes and should not be tried on Lake Erie. Oceans are excellent for siting wind farms; freshwater lakes are better. The absence of corrosive salt water, oceanic tides, storms, and great depth give lakes the edge. Read the full story by The Buffalo News.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20220805-lakeeriewindfarm
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Trash Free Waters Program paid for the UW-Oshkosh Marine Debris Mitigation Project boat that is helping to clear the waters of the Great Lakes. It’s Wisconsin’s first aquatic trash boat. Read the full story by Door County Pulse.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20220805-boatcleansgreatlakes
Muskegon is one of 27 Great Lakes ports that are welcoming passengers back after cruises were grounded for two years due to the pandemic. Pent-up demand and the growing popularity of Great Lakes cruises are making this a record-breaking year and bringing millions of dollars to local communities. Read the full story by MLive.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20220805-cruiseshipsmuskegon
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration will launch a robotic Uncrewed Surface Vehicle in Lake Erie to help with Great Lakes monitoring and is asking the public to keep their distance. Read the full story by The Toledo Blade.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20220803-drones
Advocates for the Mississippi River are hoping that a proposed federal funding program, modeled after the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative, could assist with river restoration efforts. Read the full story by WWNO – New Orleans, LA.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20220803-mississippi
In Ohio, decomposing algae at the bottom of Lake Erie has led to recurring problems with discolored water reaching the taps of some Cleveland Water Department customers, which is an issue the department is now looking to remedy. Read the full story by The Plain Dealer.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20220803-discolored-water
A Chicago man recently completed his 1,400-mile biking journey around Lake Superior, which is the last of the five Great Lakes he has biked since starting his journey twelve years ago. Read the full story by WLUC-TV – Negaunee, MI.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20220803-bike
Great Lakes’ water temperatures usually mimic summer air temperatures, but Lake Superior has remained cooler than average. Read the full story by MLive.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20220803-water-temperature
With federal authorities limited in their ability to require power plants to substitute fossil fuels with other energy sources, state efforts in New York will need to ramp up to reduce future climate risks to the Great Lakes. Read the full story by Spectrum News Buffalo.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20220803-power-plants
The Michigan Department of Natural Resources reports that 73 nests were observed this year and 65 of those nests hatched, giving this threatened species hope for recovery. Read the full story by WZZM-TV – Grand Rapids, MI.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20220803-piping-plovers
