The Nature Conservancy is wrapping up restoration of Erie Marsh Preserve set to be completed in 2023. The project, which began in 2011, reconnected the marsh to Lake Erie making roughly 250 acres of potential habitat available to fish for spawning and foraging. Read the full story by The Monroe Evening News.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20220615-erie-preserve
Staff at the Little Traverse Bay Bands of Odawa Indians Natural Resources Department have been working since 2013 to revitalize vulnerable fish species in the 1836 treaty territory. Read the full story by Michigan Advance.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20220615-fish
Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources has started to release the findings of voluntary per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) testing of water utilities across the state, finding new contaminations. Read the full story by Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20220615-pfas-locations
In a recent, unofficial outlook of the Great Lakes water levels, the Army Corps of Engineers Detroit District forecasts that the Great Lakes water levels may continue to be above their long-term average for the following year should weather and ice cover conditions be similar to this past winter. Read the full story by Thumbwind.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20220615-lake-levels
Michigan is giving thousands of dollars in grant funding to 16 schools across the state to develop science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) projects that teach students about the importance of Michigan’s Great Lakes and freshwater resources. Read the full story by MLive.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20220613-great-lakes-programs
The State of Michigan recognized June 4-12 as Great Lakes and Freshwater Week to raise awareness about our state’s beautiful inland lakes, rivers, streams, and groundwater. Read the full story by the Holland Sentinel.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20220613-freshwater-week
The city of Kingston, Ontario recently installed a Seabin, a contraption that will be collecting plastics from Lake Ontario as part of the Great Lakes Plastic Cleanup. Read the full story by The Kingston Whig Standard.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20220613-seabin
A new state law will soon require water rescue equipment along Lake Michigan in Illinois. Read and view the full story by WWTW -TV – Chicago, IL.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20220613-water-rescue
Oil spilled from an Ontario steel mill into the waterway connecting Lake Superior and Lake Huron is “not recoverable,” said the U.S. Coast Guard. Read the full story by MLive.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20220613-oil-spill
Twenty-seven thousand Atlantic salmon were released from a spawning hatchery into the St. Mary’s River this week. Read and listen to the full story by Soo Today.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20220613-salmon
Mayflies have begun emerging along the shoreline of Lake Erie. Read and view the full story by WTVG -TV – Toledo, OH.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20220613-mayfly
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is moving to restore power to states and tribes to veto energy infrastructure projects that could pollute local rivers and streams. Read the full story by Popular Science.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20220613-tribal-voice
Despite the Great Lakes water levels making their annual seasonal rise during the summer, they are still falling from the record highs seen a few years ago. Read the full story by the Huron Daily Tribune.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20220613-water-levels
The University of Toledo’s Lake Erie Center, located on Maumee Bay, held a ceremony May 10 to formally unveil its new research boat, named the R/V Spangler, in honor of the late Captain Dave Spangler. Read the full story by the Sandusky Register.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20220613-ut
The Huron Pride made its way from Somerset, Massachusetts, arriving in Port Huron on Tuesday by flatbed truck. It is a 40-foot all-aluminum, deep V boat, with a foam collar and a top speed of about 42 miles an hour. Read the full story by the Times Herald.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20220613-new-boat
Nine African scientists took part of the first in-person cohort of the African Center for Aquatic Research and Education’s African Women in Science program. This exchange program allowed state and federal agencies in the Great Lakes an opportunity to learn from and work with the African scientists. Read the full story by Great Lakes Now.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20220610-african-scientist-exchange
A Wisconsin Sea Grant fisheries specialist explains how invasive species have altered Lake Michigan’s fisheries. Read the full story by WUWM – Milwaukee, WI.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20220610-fisheries
Great Lakes piping plovers Goo and Gabby have returned from their winter territory to the shores of Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore in Michigan to nest and raise a family. Thanks to Sleeping Bear Touring Co, it’s possible to learn first-hand of piping plover behaviors, charms, perils and conservation practices. Read the full story by the Traverse City Record Eagle.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20220610-piping-plover
According to the U.S. Coast Guard, an oil spill temporarily closed shipping traffic on the St. Marys River between Ontario and Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. Read the full story by The Associated Press.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20220610-oil-spill
More than a dozen teams of scientists from the U.S. and Canada collected samples of ice, snow and frosty lake water in a coordinated scientific event called Winter Grab, a research effort to assess the winter conditions of the Great Lakes and Lake St. Clair. Now they are beginning to analyze results. Read the full story by National Public Radio.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20220610-winter-grab
Wisconsin Governor Tony Evers proclaimed June as “Invasive Species Action Month.” The campaign is designed to encourage Wisconsinites to help prevent the introduction and spread of invasive species that harm Wisconsin’s native wildlife, wetlands, forests, prairies, lakes and rivers. Read the full story by the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20220610-invasive-species
A University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee researcher says hundreds of homes in southeast Wisconsin could end up in Lake Michigan. Now, there is an effort to protect it. Read the full story by WITI-TV – Milwaukee, WI.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20220610-shoreline-protection
A Wisconsin judge agreed to keep on hold his ruling from April that prevented state regulators from requiring businesses and others responsible for pollution by PFAS chemicals to investigate and clean up the contamination. Read the full story by The Associated Press.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20220610-pfas
Shore erosion is a natural process for lakes, but one that was made worse during high water levels. Shoreline erosion risks damaging both infrastructure and fish and wildlife habitat. Read the full story by The Petoskey News-Review.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20220610-erosion
Presque Isle State Park in Pennsylvania will receive federal funding to replenish sand on peninsula beaches this summer. Although the money is coming a little later this year, that should have minimal effect on swimming in Lake Erie. Read the full story by the Erie Times-News.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20220610-presque-isle
The Wisconsin, Michigan, and Illinois Departments of Natural Resources recently concluded a multi-year law enforcement investigation into the poaching and over-harvesting of hundreds of vulnerable spawning lake whitefish from the Menominee River. Read the full story by the Green Bay Press-Gazette.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20220608-poaching
Visitors to the Lake Michigan shoreline in southeast Wisconsin have been welcomed over the past week by the unmistakable scent of dead fish as hundreds of dead alewife wash up on shore. Read the full story by Spectrum News.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20220608-alewife
The Lapeer Conservation District in eastern Michigan received a grant through the Great Lakes Aquatic Invasive Species Landing Blitz, a weeklong outreach event held throughout the Great Lakes basin to raise awareness about preventing the spread of aquatic invasive species. Read the full story by The County Press.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20220608-landing-blitz
Mayflies are beginning to hatch and emerge from the depths of Lake Erie, with swarms so dense they were detected on weather radar over the lake. Read the full story by WOIO-TV – Cleveland, OH
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20220608-mayflies
The significant fluctuations in Lake Michigan’s water levels are causing shoreline damage and erosion to Chicago beaches. Listen to the full story by WTTW – Chicago, IL.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20220608-chicago-beaches
The U.S. Army Corps is shoring up eroded beaches this summer along Lake Michigan using dredged sand from harbor mouths. Read the full story by MLive.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20220608-dredged-sand
A new study from researchers at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign focused on how high lake levels influence the bidirectional flow of the Chicago Area Waterway System and its connection to the Mississippi River basin. Read the full story by The Center Square.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20220608-study
Enbridge and the Canadian government are trying to circumvent Tribal rights and avoid a mandated shutdown by the State of Michigan by calling upon a 1977 pipeline treaty. Read the full story by the Toronto Star.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20220608-line-5
Environment Career Days at Monroe Middle School in southeast Michigan provided students an opportunity to collect and analyze water samples on Lake Erie. Read the full story by The Monroe News.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20220608-career-days
Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker has signed a bill into law that will require life rings to be placed along the state’s Lake Michigan shoreline to prevent drownings. Read the full story by the Lake & Mchenry County Scanner.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20220608-life-rings
The population of sea lampreys in the Great Lakes could increase significantly in the next year or two due to pandemic delayed mitigation, and it’s currently unclear how quickly the population can be culled back. Read the full story by WJET – Erie, PA.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20220606-lamprey
As Chicago battles erosion intensified by climate change on its 26 miles of public lakefront, officials are scrambling to find more money for repairs, scientists are tracking the disappearing sand and environmental groups are seeking ways to protect the fragile resource. Read the full story by The Chicago Tribune.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20220606-chicago-shoreline
Pictured Rocks National Shoreline officials say they are struggling to keep up with the crowds of visitors that flock to the picturesque shoreline in Michigan’s upper peninsula which was the country’s first designated national lakeshore in 1966. Last year, more than 1.3 million people visited the park which is seasonally staffed for around 400,000-500,000 visitors. Read the full story by MLive.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20220606-pictured-rocks
In the closing round of the 2022 Wisconsin Governor’s Business Plan Contest, all three finalists offered ideas for dealing with threats to water supply. Innovation in water is one of Wisconsin’s most vital resources for many reasons and offers hope in the years ahead as pressures mount on the supply and quality of fresh water in Wisconsin and beyond. Read the full story by Madison.com.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20220606-wisconsin-innovation
Flooding on the Minnesota-Ontario border is a disaster of historic proportions and causing millions of dollars in damages. Measurements of the flooding have topped those of the record 1950 flood that have been measured among other lakes and rivers in the watershed and increasing concern about leached mine pollutants. Read the full story by StarTribune.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20220606-flooding-mines
According to the results from a Minnesota Walleye population survey, the walleye population in the St. Louis River Estuary is strong and growing. Read the full story by The Bedmidji Pioneer.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20220606-walleye
Anglers and people using the St. Marys Rapids in Sault Ste. Marie, ON are advised that the area will see the highest flow since 2019 after June 6. The compensating works gate movements are scheduled for June 6 and will increase the flow to approximately 720 cubic meters per second, or 25.4 thousand cubic feet per second. Read the full story by SooToday.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20220606-lake-flows
Four years ago, fisheries management biologist Heather Hettinger began stocking Elk Lake with brown trout. In 2018, she stocked 40,000 fish. In 2019, 40,000 more. The count of brown trout stocked into Elk Lake is now over 180,000. And yet, according to the reports Hettinger receives in her role with the Michigan Department of Natural Resources, very few have been caught. Read the full story by Record-Eagle.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20220606-trout-missing
Minnesota state legislators approved a bill funding more than 40 high-priority conservation projects, including culvert improvements benefiting brook trout populations as a part of Minnesota’s Outdoor Heritage Fund. Read the full story by WTIP – Grand Marais, MN.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20220606-mn-trout
The former Valley View Pork farms near Walkerville, Michigan, are at the center of a Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy investigation into PFAS groundwater and soil contamination after leather tannery sludge waste was spread on fields there starting in the mid-1990s. Read the full story by MLive.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20220603-tannery
The scraggly cedars growing on Lake Michigan’s white limestone cliffs are amazing. With an estimated age of 1,400 years in one case, they are the oldest living trees in Michigan, having sprouted centuries before Europeans settled North America and likely dating back to the era of the vanished Hopewell indigenous culture. Read the full story by MLive.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20220603-clifftrees
The Ohio Department of Natural Resources approved a water withdrawal and consumptive use permit for Massachusetts-based Aquabounty on March 14. The permit will allow operators to pull about 28 million gallons from the Michindoh Aquifer to fill salmon tanks, plus about four million gallons per day thereafter. Read the full story by Great Lakes Now.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20220603-salmonfarm
With the recent expansion of service, Duluth-Superior is the only U.S. port besides Cleveland, Ohio, that’s capable of handling maritime container shipments on the Great Lakes-St. Lawrence Seaway System. Read the full story by Wisconsin Public Radio.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20220603-supplychain
Michigan’s summer is looking sweet: Water levels are receding, summer is expected to be hotter than normal, fisheries are strong, invasive species are mostly in check and algae blooms are expected to remain relatively low. Read the full story by Great Lakes Now.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20220603-amplefish
A stalled movement to give the invasive Asian carp a more palatable name has regained momentum, and the big reveal is now set for June 22. Read the full story by WTTW – Chicago, IL.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20220603-asiancarp
