The Great Lakes Commission launched the Blue Accounting data portal on Feb.1. GLC Executive Director Erika Jensen says it’s a tool for elected leaders and decision-makers, but anyone can use it. Read and hear the full story by WDET – Detroit, MI.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20220214-blue-accounting
This year, companies will invest nearly $83 million into repairing their vessels moored in New York, Ohio, Wisconsin, and Pennsylvania. Read the full story by the Lake Superior News.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20220214-vessel-repair
New sessions of Michigan’s NotMISpecies webinar series will cover how conservation officers help prevent invasive species introductions, as well as ways to enjoy the outdoors while minimizing harmful effects of invasive plants, animals and pests. Read the full story by the Daily Press.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20220214-invasive-species
The committee working on an overhaul of the plan that governs water-level management in Lake Ontario has developed a computer model that may predict the impact of higher water on lakefront property. Read the full story by The Buffalo News.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20220214-flood-forecast
Clean Water and Air, LLC, filed a complaint accusing Tofte Wastwater Treatment Association (aka Bluefin Bay) of past and ongoing violations of the Clean Water Act (CWA), including the continued pollution of Lake Superior with “mercury, fecal matter, coliform, and suspended solids.”. Read the full story by Law Street Media.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20220214-pollution
Michigan State University professor Dr. Alan Arbogast has used repeat photography to study the changing landscape on Lake Michigan’s sand dunes. Read the full story by WJBK – TV – Detroit, MI.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20220214-dunes
The waves of Lake Erie form the ice dunes along the beaches, but each wave creates another layer of unstable ice, making for an unsafe place to walk. Read the full story by WJET -TV – Erie, Pennsylvania.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20220214-ice-safety
The Nature Conservancy in Ohio (TNC) and the city of Ashtabula recently wrapped up a three-year project to restore beach and dune habitat at Walnut Beach Park. Read the full story by the Star Beacon.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20220214-restoration
The Great Lakes’ warming winters are well-known through Michigan, in part because declining ice cover is visible from the surface. Read the full story by Michigan Public Radio.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20220214-climate-change
The White Earth band of Anishinaabe the largest of the six federally recognized Indigenous reservations that make up the Minnesota Chippewa Tribe, is fighting to prevent the line 3 pipeline from crossing wetlands used for harvesting native wild rice. Read and hear the full story by Canada’s National Observer.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20220214-wild-rice
The Great Lakes are staying frozen for less time each year, and the ice that does form is more unstable thanks to shifting climate patterns and water temperatures. Read the full story by Grist.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/202202011-climate-change
As the U.S. EPA prepares to expand its Great Lakes Restoration Initiative with the $1 billion-dollar windfall from the infrastructure bill, Ojibwe Tribal executive Michael “Mic” Isham wants an increased emphasis on protection of the Great Lakes with a priority for Lake Superior. Read the full story by Great Lakes Now.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/202202011-lake-superior
Wednesday, Rep. Frank J. Mrvan announced that the Sanitary District of Michigan City, Indiana, will receive a grant award from the Nonpoint Source Runoff and Nutrient Reduction Program under the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative. Read the full story by WIMS – Michigan City, IN.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/202202011-glri-grant
According to NOAA’s Great Lakes Regional Coordinator, the designation of an area in Lake Ontario waters as a national marine sanctuary to protect a nationally significant collection of shipwrecks is about to enter its final stage. Read the full story by the Watertown Daily Times.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/202202011-marine-sanctuary
Pennsylvania’s Coastal Resources Management Program has awarded Erie County over $250,000 for coastal projects to address increasing pressure from development, erosion, biodiversity loss, and pollution. Read the full story by Erie News Now.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/202202011-coastal
Some Ohio residents have mounted a legal challenge to the wind project being deliberated by the Ohio Supreme Court citing concerns about the turbines’ environmental impact. Read the full story by Spectrum News1.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/202202011-wind-farm
Forty-three species of native freshwater mussels exist in Michigan, but up to 75 percent of them are endangered or threatened. The native freshwater mussels are an important factor in maintaining thriving rivers and lakes, so how can we better protect them? Read the full story by WWTV-TV – Cadillac, MI.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/202202011-mussels
The government of Québec Premier François Legault is taking a step back and will re-evaluate its megaproject of a tunnel between Québec City and Lévis under the St. Lawrence River that was originally proposed to have 6 lanes and cost $10 billion. Read the fully story by the Montreal Gazette.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/202202011-tunnel
Historical satellite imagery from Google Earth shows how erosion along the Lake Michigan shoreline in Wisconsin counties has affected public spaces, as well as lakefront homes. Read the full story the Wisconsin State Journal.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/202202011-erosion
The proposal to build a cruise ship dock in Holland, Michigan could put it at odds with Muskegon, which, just 31 miles north, has its own dock for cruise ships in Lake Michigan. But Holland City Manager Keith Van Beek said he doesn’t expect a Holland cruise ship dock would take business from Muskegon. Read the full story by MLive.com.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/202202011-dock
The Great Lakes Commission launched a new website to track progress on important environmental issues, including dealing with harmful algal blooms in Lake Erie. Read the full story by the Sandusky Register.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20220209-website
The ice near a Great Lake’s shoreline might look safe. Satellite images show why it’s very dangerous. Read the full story by MLive.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20220209-ice
In a weekly Great Lakes water level update from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Lake Ontario outflows through the St. Lawrence River were confirmed to be above average and are expected to remain high. Read the full story by WWTI-TV – Watertown, NY.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20220209-outflows
Those fishing in the Saginaw Bay of Lake Huron may have noticed a lack of perch on their fishing lines. According to the Michigan DNR, the reason why lies in an effort to increase the walleye population in the Great Lakes. Read the full story by the Huron Daily Tribune.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20220209-perch
Almost fifty years after a Lake Huron storm washed away a portion of Old Lakeshore Road, Sarnia, Ontario, is taking action to re-establish ownership of the right-of-way for public use and reconnect to existing lakefront trails. Read the full story by The Sarnia Journal.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20220209-shoreline-
A large amount of plastic—the equivalent of about 3,400 plastic water bottles in volume—were found in Lake Ontario during a four-month period last year by a Toronto “Trash Team”. Read the full story by CTV News.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20220209-trash-team
Millions of federal dollars from the Infrastructure and Jobs Act are going towards shoring up and improving the infrastructure of the Port of Duluth-Superior. Read the full story by KQDS-TV – Duluth, MN.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20220209-infrastructure-funding-
Photos and videos captured from around Lake Michigan highlight a strange the frozen phenomenon of “ice volcanoes”. Read the full story by WOOD-TV – Grand Rapids, MI.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20220209-volcanoes
The Ontario city of Sault Ste. Marie has created a task force to analyze the potential opportunity, consult with the public and develop a competitive bid to host the federal agency. Read the full story by The Sault Star.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20220209-canada-water-agency
Starting on Feb. 9, the Marine Museum of the Great Lakes in Kingston, Ontario, will be open and conducting tours to share maritime heritage of the Great Lakes once again. Read the full story by the Global News.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20220209-museum-
Great Lakes ice extent reached 44.4% on February 5th, the highest extent this winter and very close to the maximum ice extent of the winter of 2020-21, which was 45.8%. Read the full story by WOOD-TV – Grand Rapids, MI.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20220207-ice-coverage
A series of earthquakes continue to shake Lake Erie just northeast of Cleveland, Ohio, generating dozens of reports by local residents. In the last 40 days, there have been 5 earthquakes of magnitude 1.6 to 2.5, all clustered just off-shore in the southeastern portion of the Great Lake. Read the full story by Weatherboy.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20220207-earthquakes
Concerns over ice coverage and a previous study by researchers from Ohio State University published several years ago could suggest Lake Erie yellow perch hatches are more robust after winters that produce longer and later periods of ice cover. Read the full story by The Columbus Dispatch.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20220207-yellow-perch
Michigan’s Selfridge Air National Guard Base is taking steps to reduce the levels of “forever chemicals” used in firefighting. Selfridge, has been found to be among at least six U.S. military sites in the Great Lakes region contaminated with high levels of toxic PFAS detected as high as 17,000 ppt last year. Read the full story by Macomb Daily.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20220207-pfas
Historic images from southeast Michigan’s River Raisin show the complications of ice jams and bridge design over 100-year frequency floods. Read the full story by The Monroe News.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20220207-ice-jams
In their latest forecast the Army Corps of Engineers hydrologists report that most of the Great Lakes will remain above their long-term average water levels in the coming months but won’t reach the record highs of recent years. Read the full story by The Detroit News.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20220207-water-levels
Interlake Maritime Services, through its new subsidiary, Soo Maritime Services, will now oversee operations of the tour boats Hiawatha, Bide-A-Wee and Holiday that have provided river and lock tours in the Upper Peninsula for more than six decades. Read the full story by MLive.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20220207-soo-locks
Lake sturgeon have called the Great Lakes home for 10,000 years but now is a threatened species in many parts. Efforts have been made in the past year that raise hope of a new beginning, but what caused its decline in the first place? Read the full story by Campus Times.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20220207-sturgeon
The Coast Guard reported personnel in a helicopter saw the group of around 18 people and several ATVs on an ice floe around 1 p.m. Sunday. The ice floe had separated from land near Catawba Island in Lake Erie, which is slightly southwest of Pelee Island. Read the full story by the Windsor Star.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20220207-ice-floe
After nesting in spring and early summer in the North America’s Great Plains, many canvasback ducks migrate in fall to overwintering grounds on Lake St. Clair, Detroit River and Lake Erie. Read the full story by Great Lakes Now.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20220207-ducks
Hundreds of millions of dollars have been spent on sewage treatment and sewer system improvements, habitat restoration, among other things. But the results have been generally disappointing, especially when it comes to fish recovery. Read the full story by the Hamilton Spectator.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20220204-hamilton-harbor
A Michigan’s city’s winter festival has been postponed because of too much winter. Due to the inclement weather, St. Joseph has postponed its 2022 Ice Fest until Feb. 25-27. The annual festival had been scheduled for this weekend. Read the full story by MLive.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20220204-winter-fest
The Minnesota Public Facilities Authority awarded just over $180 million in the second half of 2021 to 26 Minnesota cities to improve water service and protect waterways. This funding resulting in a total of $193 million invested in Minnesota’s water ways during those six months. Read the full story by Red Lake Nation News.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20220204-facilities
Many of nearly 300 people who attended a 10-hour-long virtual public hearing spoke out against a $450 million plan to reroute an oil and gas pipeline across northern Wisconsin. Read the full story by the Star Tribune.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20220204-pipeline
Northern Michigan University is working with the state to bring the Arctic grayling back to Michigan with research focused on finding the best in-stream incubators for the native fish. Read the full story by MLive.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20220204-grayling
A big increase in cruise ships docking at Port Milwaukee is bringing around $6 million in improvements to help accommodate that traffic. And a major piece of that funding will be a $3.5 million grant to help expand maritime infrastructure for larger cruise ships. Read the full story by the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20220204-cruise
Lafarge and the City of Alpena, Michigan will receive $3.7 million as one of 25 grantees of the U.S. Department of Transportation’s port infrastructure development grants, awarded at the end of 2021. The investments in the Alpena port, and others across the nation, will strengthen supply chains and speed up delivery of goods to residents. Read the full story by Great Lakes Now.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20220204-lafarge-port
An animation from the Great Lakes Environmental Research Laboratory (GLERL) shows the growing ice coverage from Dec. 3 when there was almost no ice to Jan. 31 when the five lakes were 40% frozen over. Read the full story by MLive.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20220204-ice-coverage
In order to learn more about what happens under the ice, crews from more than a dozen U.S. and Canadian universities and government agencies will make their way onto frozen sections of lakes Erie, Huron, Michigan, Ontario and Superior during the week of Feb. 14. Read the full story by the Associated Press.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20220204-winter
Minnesota regulators are hoping to reduce possible human, wild animal and pet waste that spurs E. coli outbreaks, as five Duluth waterfront areas are being targeted for bacteria reduction. Read the full story by the Duluth News Tribune.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20220202-bacteria-
