In areas where floods were once rare, now some neighborhoods are flooding repeatedly. Stormwater sewers are being overwhelmed by more intense storms. To find a solution, researchers at the University of Michigan are helping wastewater managers to use internet connected sensors to better manage sewers. Read the full story by Michigan Radio.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20211112-flooding-app
Parks Canada and Windsor are exploring the possibilities of turning some of the city’s most ecologically sensitive areas into a new national urban park. The National Urban Park project was announced last summer and has a budget of $130 million ($105 million USD) drawn from $2.3 billion ( $1.86 billion USD) in funding to help Canada meet its goal of preserving 25% off the country’s waterways and coasts by 2025. Read the full story by Great Lakes Echo.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20211112-parks-canada
Port Huron, Michigan is taking steps to stabilize parts of the Black River Canal’s eroding shoreline but officials said it is too soon to know what a long-term fix will look like, much like the rest of the city’s miles of aging seawall. Read the full story by the Times Herald.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20211112-port-huron
Wayne Valliere is an artist-in-residence at Northwestern University and one of only a handful of Native birchbark canoe builders left in the United States. His canoe’s recent launch into a choppy Lake Michigan is likely unprecedented in modern times. Read the full story by The Star.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20211110-canoe
Experts have confirmed the recent bird and fish die-off that brought hundreds of carcasses to the shores of Ontario’s Wasaga Beach is likely botulism, and it likely has a lot to do with invasive species. Read the full story by Orillia Matters.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20211110-dieoff
Several Great Lakes states mark popular gamefish with an adipose fin clip. If anglers catch an adipose fin clipped fish, they should turn in the head at a local drop-off station. Fish tag returns help biologists understand survival, age and movements of important sport fish. Read the full story by the Manistee News.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20211110-adipose
Minnesota pollution officials on Monday released a proposed impaired waters list for 2022, an update that included the addition of 15 northeastern and central Minnesota water bodies where fish have been contaminated with long-lasting chemicals. Read the full story by the Associated Press.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20211110-impaired
The U.S. and Canada will discuss the future of an oil pipeline that crosses part of the Great Lakes and is the subject of rising tension over whether it should be shut down, the White House said Monday.. Read the full story by the Associated Press.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20211110-line5
The Saginaw Bay Watershed Initiative Network announced that a total of 4,055 sturgeon, including an additional 728 this fall, have been released into the Cass, Tittabawassee, Flint, and Shiawassee rivers since 2017. Read the full story by MLive.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20211110-sturgeon
Researchers are hoping new data from research buoys that were pulled from the water this week will help them monitor Lake Michigan. These buoys were deployed in partnership with Northwestern Michigan College and Michigan Technological University. Read the full story by WPBN-TV – Traverse City, MI.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20211110-yeah-buoy
Results from a survey of 241 municipalities in the Great Lakes Basin show coastal damage from climate change in these regions will cost at least $1.94 billion over the next five years. Those same communities have already spent $878 million on coastal damages over the past two years. Read the full story by the Manitowoc Herald Times Reporter.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20211110-climate
It’s been a busy year for the Great Lakes Shipwreck Historical Society, which has discovered a record-high nine shipwrecks across Michigan’s lakes. Read the full story by Michigan Radio.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20211110-shipwrecks
It was 46 years ago today that the Edmund Fitzgerald was being loaded with 26,000 tons of iron ore, prepped for what would become her doomed final voyage. Read the full story by MLive.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20211110-edmund-fitzgerald
Water levels on lakes Erie and St. Clair remain well above average, leaving vulnerable shoreline areas at risk. Average daily levels on Lake Erie at the beginning of November were around 174.71 m, which is down about 43 cm from last year’s peak daily average record set at the end of May. Read the full story by Chatham Daily News.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20211108-lake-levels
A recent study by Central Michigan University professors and students examined ring-billed gull travel patterns at several Lake Michigan beaches in Michigan’s Ottawa and Muskegon counties. Ring-billed gulls travel between populated beaches and human waste sites like landfills and water treatment plants, carrying human pathogens with them. Read the full story by Capital News Service.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20211108-gulls-birds
Researchers at Michigan State University are collecting data on Great Lakes shorelines, including how residents view coastlines and the impact of high water levels. Read the full story by The Associated Press.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20211108-shoreline
News and history of regulatory violations should result in alarms to immediately shut down Pipeline 5 in Michigan’s Straits of Mackinac. The question isn’t if an oil pipeline will become a problem, but when. Read the full story by Traverse City Record-Eagle.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20211108-line-5-oil
There have been large botulism kills of birds in Lake Huron and Lake Erie since 1998. It killed many birds in Georgian Bay in October 2011 and October 2012, and again this October. Read the full story by Orillia Today.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20211108-algae-botulism
Oaktree Capital Management LP and American Industrial Partners are exploring a sale of the Great Lakes marine transportation company Rand Logistics, which could fetch more than $1 billion, including debt, according to people with knowledge of the matter. Read the full story by Bloomberg.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20211108-transportation-shipping
Oaktree Capital Management LP and American Industrial Partners are exploring a sale of the Great Lakes marine transportation company Rand Logistics, which could fetch more than $1 billion, including debt, according to people with knowledge of the matter. Read the full story by Bloomberg.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20211108-transportation-shipping
Students in Careerline Tech Center’s Natural Resources and Outdoor Studies program are exploring the issue of microplastics by collecting samples from six beaches along Lake Michigan in Michigan’s Ottawa County, from Grand Haven State Park to Holland State Park. Read the full story by Holland Sentinel.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20211108-plastic
Students in Careerline Tech Center’s Natural Resources and Outdoor Studies program are exploring the issue of microplastics by collecting samples from six beaches along Lake Michigan in Michigan’s Ottawa County, from Grand Haven State Park to Holland State Park. Read the full story by Holland Sentinel.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20211108-plastic
Residents in Pellston, MI can expect another round of water testing as the state Department of Health and Human Services looks to see how per- and polyfluoroalkyl substance levels have fluctuated. Read the full story by Traverse City Record-Eagle.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20211108-pfas
Residents in Pellston, MI can expect another round of water testing as the state Department of Health and Human Services looks to see how per- and polyfluoroalkyl substance levels have fluctuated. Read the full story by Traverse City Record-Eagle.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20211108-pfas
For the first time since 1983, a U.S.-flagged freighter has been constructed on the Great Lakes. Fincatieri Bay Shipbuilding, based in Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin, built the 639-foot vessel for the Great Lakes’ own Interlake Steamship Company, whose roots trace back more than a century, to 1913. Read the full story by the Northern Express.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20211108-shipping
The popular SS Badger is away from her home for a bit for a long-awaited sprucing up. The U.S. Coast Guard requires the ship to be inspected every five years. The Badger last made the trip to Sturgeon Bay in 2015, but because of her fresh-water operations and seasonality, Interlake Steamship Company, the ferry’s parent company, received an extension for an additional year. Read the full story by Green Bay Press-Gazette.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20211108-ship-inspection
The Viking cruise line has announced new expedition cruises in 2023 that include a two-week cruise on the Great Lakes and a 16-day cruise on the St. Lawrence River and Atlantic coast. Read the full story by Cruise Fever.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20211108-cruises
Great Lakes fish and wildlife populations would get a boost under a bill introduced in the U.S. Senate. Supporters say the Great Lakes Fish and Wildlife Restoration Act will provide critical resources to conserve and restore fish and wildlife populations across the region. Read the full story by the Duluth News Tribune.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20211105-legislation
Maritime archaeologists with the Wisconsin Historical Society recovered a dugout wood canoe from the bottom of Lake Mendota that is believed to be approximately 1,200 years old. Read the full story by MLive.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20211105-canoe
The decades-overdue overhaul of the Soo Locks is moving swiftly as the nearly $1.5 billion infrastructure project is on schedule to be completed by 2030 and will bolster commerce in Michigan and the Midwest, according to maritime industry leaders. Read the full story by The Detroit News.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20211105-soo-locks
A piping plover chick named Erie who was born in Michigan’s Maumee State Park this summer, will be spending the winter at the Detroit Zoo with the hopes of release next spring. Read the full story by WTVG-TV – Toledo, OH.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20211105-piping-plover
High waters have sped erosion along Lake Michigan’s Wisconsin shoreline, swallowing beaches, damaging public lands, and draining homeowners’ savings. Many residents are installing shoreline barriers, but such structures are temporary and may harm downstream beaches. Read the full story by Wisconsin Watch.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20211105-shoreline
A grant worth $5.1 million was awarded for shoreline restoration at the Point Betsie Lighthouse along the Lake Michigan coast in northern Michigan. Read the full story by Huron Daily Tribune.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20211105-lighthouse
Since October, the water temperatures on all five of the Great Lakes have hovered at record-high autumn levels, about five to six degrees above average. The record-warm water temperatures over the Great Lakes fit into a pattern of warming lakes all over the planet. Read the full story by the Washington Post.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20211105-warmer-waters
Gov. Gretchen Whitmer signed an executive directive meant to strengthen Michigan’s water laws and policies amid the state’s latest drinking water crisis in Benton Harbor. Read the full story by MLive.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20211105-water-laws
Line 5 pipelines are an environmental ticking time bomb pumping oil nearly 20 years past their intended lifespan in raging currents at the bottom of the Straits of Mackinac that join Michigan’s upper and lower peninsulas. Read the full story by the Traverse City Record Eagle.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20211105-line-5
Even though the changing leaves were late this year, towns along Lake Huron still feature trees vibrant with yellows, reds and oranges. Read the full story by MLive.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20211105-fall-colors
Lake Erie’s harmful algal bloom season dragged on this year. The 2021 cyanobacterial bloom surpassed scientists’ predictions and ended up measuring moderately severe on a HAB severity index. Read the full story by Fermont News-Messenger.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20211105-algal-blooms
While cooler fall temperatures arrive, agricultural field research into the causes of western Lake Erie algal blooms remains a hot issue, with more scientific detective work on the horizon. Teams of researchers are still hoping to fine-tune ways the agricultural community can keep more of its nutrient-laden water on its fields and lose less into creeks and streams whose waters eventually flow into Lake Erie. Read the full story by The Toledo Blade.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20211103-agatha-christie
Between record low waters in January 2013 and a record high in July 2020, Lakes Michigan and Huron water levels collectively swung more than 6 feet. Climate scientists attribute the volatility to the interplay of the region’s rising temperatures and precipitation from more frequent and intense storms. Read the full story by WPR.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20211103-shoreline
A high-tech strategy could help Detroit save $165 million while also pinpointing the number of lead water lines in the city. Read the full story by the Associated Press.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20211103-software
The first U.S.-flagged Great Lakes freighter built on the Great Lakes in 40 years recently launched at Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin, shipyard in a maritime tradition marking the first time a vessel is moved into the water. Read the full story by The Times of Northwest Indiana.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20211103-freighter
The first U.S.-flagged Great Lakes freighter built on the Great Lakes in 40 years recently launched at Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin, shipyard in a maritime tradition marking the first time a vessel is moved into the water. Read the full story by The Times of Northwest Indiana.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20211103-freighter
In the Great Lakes, climate change is considered a threat multiplier, meaning it exacerbates other threats to the ecosystem. Read the full story by The Canadian Press.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20211103-climate
In the Great Lakes, climate change is considered a threat multiplier, meaning it exacerbates other threats to the ecosystem. Read the full story by The Canadian Press.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20211103-climate
The harmful algae bloom in Lake Erie has largely sputtered out after exceeding early summer projections on its severity. On a severity index of 10, this year’s “moderately severe” bloom hit a 6, according to forecasters with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Read the full story by MLive.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20211103-algae
Sandhill crane migration peaks between mid-October and late November, bringing thousands of these graceful giants through the state from breeding areas as far north as the Northwest territories of Canada. Many of these birds congregate in groups numbering in the hundreds or even thousands as they make their way across the Great Plains and parts of the Great Lakes, creating a breathtaking scene when they fly in at dusk to rest and refuel on their journeys. Read the full story by MLive.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20211103-cranes
Addressing environmental impacts in the Great Lakes will require investment programs and federal funding. Read the full story by the Ohio Capital Journal.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20211103-advocates
Lurking below the surface of Lake Erie is a ship graveyard that is estimated to include up to 2,500 vessels, with the earliest wreck dating to the 1800s when Lake Erie was part of the water route from the Atlantic Ocean to the upper Midwest. Read the full story by the Daily Mail.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20211029-eerie-erie
For just a few weeks in October, the fish technicians at the Platte River Fish Hatchery in Benzie County, Michigan, do egg takes on over 600 coho salmon males and females a day to eventually spawn new coho salmon. Read the full story by WWUP-TV – Cadillac, MI.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20211029-salmon-eggs
