More than $5 million in funding from the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative has helped restore and protect the 13.5-acre marsh habitat in western New York and now the purple martin bird has returned. Read the full story by WGRZ-TV – Grand Island, NY.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20220107-purple-martins
The new ordinance calls for a civil infraction and fine to be issued to people who enter closed areas of the beach or pier. Based on feedback from the city council at the Dec. 20 meeting, the fine for violating the ordinance has been set at $1,000 per occurrence. Read the full story by MLive.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20220107-pier-rules
For the second time this week the earth moved under Lake Erie in Lake County, Ohio causing a small earthquake. Read the full story by the Akron Beacon Journal.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20220107-earthquake
Surfers from around Minnesota were braving the cold to take advantage of the best surfing conditions in years. Read the full story by MPR News.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20220107-surfers
As climate change shows signs of altering the lakes’ ice cover, water temperatures, water levels and shorelines, experts are pushing plans to deploy more so-called smart technologies to monitor these changes. Read the full story by WBEZ-TV – Chicago, IL.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20220105-smart-technologies
The state of Michigan has released an adaptive management plan to improve the water quality in Lake Erie in an effort to reduce the number of harmful algal blooms, but environmental groups worry the plan is flawed. Read the full story by the Daily Telegram.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20220105-lake-erie
The Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources is asking for feedback on the environmental impact of the soon-to-be re-routed Enbridge Line 5 oil pipeline through the northernmost part of the state. Read the full story by the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20220105-enbridge
Bob Ragotzkie served as Wisconsin Sea Grant’s first director and was instrumental in bringing the program to life in the Great Lakes. Bob’s legacy is now being celebrated as Wisconsin Sea Grant celebrates its 50th anniversary. Read the full story by WUWM-TV – Milwaukee, WI.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20220105-sea-grant-
For the second time this week the earth moved under Lake Erie near Timberlake in Lake County, Ohio. According to the U.S. Geological Survey, both quakes took place about three miles below the surface of Lake Erie. Read the full story by the Akron Beacon Journal.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20220105-quake
U.S. Coast Guard Sector Sault Ste. Marie commenced Operation Taconite to prevent newly formed ice from hampering commercial shipping across the western Great Lakes. Read the full story by The Sault News.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20220105-ice-breaking
The village of shanties along the Leland River on Michigan’s Leelanau Peninsula has endured for over 100 years. But surging Great Lakes water levels have increased flooding of the Leland River, prompting a $3.4 million effort to raise the foundations of the dozen shanties in Fishtown, Michigan. Read the full story by Bridge Michigan.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20220105-fishtown
The Great Lakes hold about one-fifth of the Earth’s fresh water, but a new report by Hilary Dugan, an assistant professor in the Center for Limnology at University of Wisconsin-Madison, indicates they’re getting saltier – and says that’s reason for concern. Read they full story by WXPR – Rhinelander, WI.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20220105-salt
The Great Lakes Water Authority in Detroit, using its Water and Field Services teams in partnership with LimnoTech and the University of Windsor, has deployed the first buoy to the Detroit River in an effort to enhance water quality monitoring of its source water. Read the full story by DBusiness.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20220105-buoy
Great Lakes ports are reporting a rebound in cargo shipments this year after the region’s largest port witnessed historic lows during the coronavirus pandemic in 2020. Read the full story by Wisconsin Public Radio.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20220105-shipping
As climate change shows signs of altering the lakes’ ice cover, water temperatures, water levels and shorelines, experts are pushing plans to deploy more so-called smart technologies to monitor these changes. Read the full story by WBEZ-TV – Chicago, IL.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20220105-smart-technology
Road salt is threatening the Great Lakes’ fresh waters and creating even bigger problems for the inland rivers, lakes, and aquifers. But decades of experiments have yet to yield an alternative anywhere near as effective and affordable. Read the full story by Bridge Michigan.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20220103-salt
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20220103-mercury-fish
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20220103-reef-fish
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20220103-ports-lake-erie
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20220103-buffalo-river
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20220103-port
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20220103-glri
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20220103-algae
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20220103-mining
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20220103-shipping
Cities from Milwaukee to Green Bay and small communities in Door County must confront erosion — a key portion of climate impacts that Wisconsin’s shoreline communities expect to cost at least $245 million over the next five years. Read the full story by the Sheboygan Press.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20211222-shoreline
Officials on two Lake Huron islands denied Enbridge permission to install cameras to keep tabs on shipping traffic through the Straits of Mackinac and across the path of its underwater Line 5 dual pipelines – in one case at least partly because of controversy surrounding the company itself. Read the full story by MLive.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20211222-line5-camera
An intertribal agency says Wisconsin’s draft environmental review for a planned reroute of an oil and gas pipeline across northern Wisconsin is incomplete and flawed. Read the full story by The Associated Press.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20211222-line5
The United States Coast Guard cutter Katmai Bay has been called upon to break up ice on Lake Superior ice in order to allow commercial traffic to safely navigate in and out of the Thunder Bay, Ontario, area. Read the full story by Thunder Bay News Watch.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20211222-icebreaker
Unless it’s, say, the Titanic, shipwrecks don’t often make it into commonplace lore. But one 109-year-old wreck deep in Lake Michigan’s chilly waters has wedged itself into the fabric of the Great Lakes, inspiring plays, stories, art, and even songs about its demise. And understandably so. Read the full story by Thrillist.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20211222-shipwreck
Strong winds on Lake Erie create waves up to eight feet tall that crash onto the beaches of Presque Isle State Park, located four miles west of Erie, Pennsylvania. Surfers flock to the park when the waves form, even if the temperature is below freezing and the wind chill is below zero. Read the full story by The Washington Post.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20211222-surfing
The sucker maybe not be a popular recreational fish, but the Great Lakes native works hard to contribute to the ecosystems of all five lakes as well as the creeks and streams feeding into them. Read the full story by Great Lakes Now.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20211222-shedd-fish
Kathy Johnson of Great Lakes Now reminisces on her journey to bring freshwater fish content to PBS and onto the national stage. Read the full story by Great Lakes Now.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20211222-fish
Leamington’s Hillman Marsh Conservation Area in southern Ontario has undergone an extensive restoration thanks to the Ontario government and Ducks Unlimited Canada, providing protection for the ecologically significant marsh. Read the full story by the Windsor Star.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20211217-marsh
Mercury pollution remains a problem in many parts of the Great Lakes, but new research from Canada’s Experimental Lakes Area in northern Ontario shows that efforts to reduce the amount of mercury going into a lake can have quick and dramatic effects on the levels of the pollutant in fish populations. Read the full story by Great Lakes Now.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20211217-mercury
In Detroit and Flint, Michigan, one in 10 households spend more than a quarter of their income, outside of other essentials like food and utilities, on water services. Read the full story by the Detroit Free Press.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20211217-water-cost
A new federal regulation requires higher safety standards for pipelines carrying oil and other hazardous liquids through the Great Lakes region, marine coastal waters and beaches. Read the full story by The Associated Press.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20211217-satefy-standards
Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore will soon begin charging visitors entrance fees for the first time in the 55-year history of the tourist destination in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. Read the full story by The Associated Press.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20211217-pictured-rocks
Michigan Department of Natural Resource officials reported 12 elk died after falling through the ice on a private lake in northern Michigan. Read the full story by MLive.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20211217-elk
Enbridge Energy moved to shift a Michigan lawsuit to federal court, seeking the shutdown of an oil pipeline that runs beneath a channel linking two of the Great Lakes. Read the full story by The Associated Press.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20211217-pipeline
Testing revealed more evidence of groundwater contaminated with dioxane in residential areas in southeast Michigan. This comes just more than a month after officials announced the discovery of the toxic chemical pollution. Read the full story by MLive.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20211217-dixoane
An appeals court is ruling on a lawsuit filed in White Earth Tribal Court attempting to stop the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources from issuing a permit to Enbridge Energy to pump water from trenches dug to lay the pipe for the Line 3 oil pipeline. Read the full story by MPR News.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20211217-tribal-court
State testing shows a drop in toxic lead levels in the west Michigan community of Benton Harbor due to a corrosion treatment at the water plant. However, community advocates remain skeptical of the results due to concerns with previous testing efforts. Read the full story by MLive.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20211217-lead-levels
Midwest governors and Congressional delegates are advocating for funding to speed along the fortification of a chokepoint lock and dam near Chicago that would become the last line of defense against invasive carp reaching the Great Lakes when completed. Read the full story by MLive.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20211215-carp
A group of Democratic U.S. Senators from Great Lakes states wants President Joe Biden to prioritize projects that benefit the region when he allots dollars from the $1.2 trillion bipartisan infrastructure deal adopted earlier this year. Read the full story by The Plain Dealer.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20211215-infastructure
According to newly released data, Minnesota has lost an average of 10 to 14 days of lake ice over the past 50 years — a change officials say is hurting local economies, the environment and the Minnesota way of life. Read the full story by The Associated Press.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20211215-minnesota
Lake Michigan’s high waters in recent years have limited beach access and damaged amenities at state parks along the Wisconsin shoreline. The state Department of Natural Resources is weighing a fundamental question: Preserve land or let nature take its course? Read the full story by Wisconsin Public Radio.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20211215-wisconsin
The Biden administration has invited Great Lakes tribes for input on upcoming talks with Canada over the fate of Enbridge Inc.’s Line 5. Read the full story by E&E News.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20211215-line-5
The historic wooden-hulled snow-brig U.S. Brig Niagara has been out of the water for the first time in years, sitting in Cleveland for some much needed repairs. But after two months away, Erie’s beloved tall ship is returning home. Read the full story by WICU-TV – Erie, PA.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20211215-brig
Road salt is affecting everything in Lake Erie, including suppressed reproduction, low survival rates, and reduced growth rates of fish and macroinvertebrates. Read the full story by WTVG-TV – Toledo, OH.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20211215-salt
