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
When we wash our clothes, they shed up to hundreds of thousands of microfibers, some of which will enter our waterways. Now a two-year-long study into washing machine filters in an Ontario community shows something can be done. Read the full story by Great Lakes Now.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20211215-microfibers
Efforts by politicians to create a hunting season for eastern sandhill cranes in both Wisconsin and Michigan are stirring debates among hunters, farmers and birders. Read the full story by Great Lakes Echo.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20211215-cranes
The Great Lakes Water Authority and several other partners are now monitoring the water quality of the Detroit River through a new buoy. Read the full story by WXYZ-TV – Detroit, MI.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20211215-buoy
The New York Power Authority was out on Lake Erie Tuesday putting in the ice boom at the mouth of the Niagara River. Since 1964, the ice boom has been used every winter to reduce the amount of ice that goes into the Niagara River. Read the full story by WGRZ-TV – Buffalo, NY.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20211215-ice-boom
Wisconsin is set to receive nearly $143 million to rebuild the state’s water infrastructure and address harmful lead and “forever chemical” contaminations across the state, a first installment from the newly passed federal infrastructure bill that includes hundreds of millions more in the coming years. Read the full story by Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20211213-wisconsin
Lake Superior State University has officially opened its $14.2-million Richard and Theresa Barch Center for Freshwater Research and Education. The two-story 18,000-square-foot building includes the Great Lakes Discovery Center, and space for National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and Michigan Sea Grant. Read the full story by The Sault Star.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20211213-freshwater-research
Community activists and environmentalists reacted with disappointment to approval by the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency of a one-year permit extension for a “confined disposal facility” on Lake Michigan operated by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. Read the full story by WTTW-TV – Chicago, IL.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20211213-illinois
The Port of Cleveland has seen more and more companies looking at the port for imports and exports, which can be beneficial to the entire Great Lakes region. Read the full story by Spectrum News Ohio.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20211213-shipping
More than 10,000 acres of land in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula have avoided losing protection. The grounds known as the Slate River Timberlands were recently acquired by the Nature Conservancy, an environmental nonprofit group, after nearly 60 years under a family’s ownership. Read the full story by The Detroit News.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20211213-conservation
The vacant site of a coal-fired power plant on Lake Ontario is set to sprout 8,000 homes, 200,000 square feet of retail and 1.8 million square feet of offices under a plan to transform it into “destination waterfront.” Read the full story by The Real Deal.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20211213-ontario-waterfront
New York State Department of Environmental Conservation announced the completion of the restoration of the North Sandy Pond barrier bar. The project funds were awarded to the town of Sandy Creek, Oswego County, as part of the State’s Resiliency and Economic Development Initiative. The North Sandy Pond barrier bar is part of the largest barrier-pond ecosystem on Lake Ontario’s New York shore. Read the full story by Watertown Daily Times.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20211213-restoration
A 9-year-old Michigan resident became a champion of a fish that hasn’t been in Michigan for 85 years. Declan O’Reilly has raised over $1,400 for the Michigan Arctic Grayling Initiative fledgling and has started an Arctic grayling club. Read the full story by Associated Press.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20211213-arctic-grayling
Residents along the Lake Erie shoreline have been fighting against wind turbines in and around Lake Erie for the last 13 years. As residents were ramping up opposition, the pandemic limited their efforts. As restrictions ease, they held their first big meeting since totaling 60 people, which consisted primarily of boaters and fishermen. Read the full story by Observer Today.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20211213-turbines-erie
Michigan landowners are under fire once again after part of a seawall collapsed along the Detroit River last month, spilling contaminated soil into the water exactly two years after a nearly-identical incident occurred at the same site. Read the full story by WDIV-TV – Detroit, MI.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20211210-detroit-river
Lake Superior State University’s Center for Freshwater Research and Education will host a virtual symposium to inform the public about invasive species research and issues affecting Great Lakes ecosystems and economies. Read the full story by The Sault News.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20211210-symposium
Wisconsin DNR Deputy Secretary Todd Ambs announced he’s retiring later this month during Wednesday’s meeting of the Natural Resources Board. Ambs said he’s dedicated his life to public service over the last 42 years, adding it’s been an honor to serve at the agency. Read the full story by Wisconsin Public Radio.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20211210-ambs
U.S. Sen. Gary Peters, chairman of the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, held a hearing Thursday with two panels of witnesses to examine how servicemembers, their families and communities in Michigan – and across the country – have been affected by PFAS connected to military sites. Read the full story by WXMI -TV – Grand Rapids, MI.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20211210-pfas
The Wisconsin state Department of Natural Resources is weighing a fundamental question: Preserve land or let nature take its course as water reshapes shorelines? Read the full story by Wisconsin Watch.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20211210-wisconsin-shoreline
The New York Power Authority and Ontario Power Generation has announced that the ice boom could be returning to the Niagara River as early as this weekend. Read the full story by WGRZ- TV – Buffalo, NY.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20211210-niagara
Ohio Governor Mike DeWine and Lt. Governor Jon Husted announced today that more than $109 million will be awarded to help fund critical water projects in all of Ohio’s 88 counties as part of the third and final round of grants awarded through the new Ohio BUILDS water infrastructure grant program. Read the full story by WKTN – Kenton, Ohio.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20211210-ohio
Three wetland mitigation projects are reaching completion as part of an effort to restore more than 150 acres in Wisconsin’s Sheboygan, Portage and Rock counties. Read the full story by The Country Today.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20211210-wetlands
A University of Toledo study, titled “Road Salts, Human Safety and the Rising Salinity of Our Fresh Waters,” warns of the overuse of road salts. Read the full story by Phys.org.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20211210-road-salt
The Tamarack Creek Stream and Wetland Habitat Restoration Project in Southfield, Michigan aims to revitalize the “wetland and stream to manage invasive species, as well as to provide habitat for fish and wildlife,” a city press release states. Read the full story by the Southfield Sun.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20211210-restoration
The Nature Conservancy of Canada says a stretch of shoreline on Manitoulin Island in Ontario is now protected land. The non-profit organization says the 76 square kilometre parcel is one of its largest single-property acquisitions in Ontario to date. Read the full story by the Toronto Star.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20211208-manitoulin
A Wisconsin shipwreck a little more than 13 miles northeast of the Sheboygan Breakwater Lighthouse on Lake Michigan has been added to the State Register of Historic Places. Read the full story by the Sheboygan Press.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20211208-shipwreck
Contradicting the historical conservation planning tenet that gave preference to protecting larger, more intact areas, a recent study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Science has shown that small, isolated patches of habitat are inordinately important for biodiversity conservation. Read the full story by Great Lakes Now.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20211208-habitat-patches
The curb appeal of the Great Lakes region is that it appears to be a relatively safe place to ride out the wild weather of the future, and climate migration may soon lead to increased city size in the Midwest. Planning in advance for a potential influx of people can alleviate the stress on cities as well as on their newcomers. Read the full story by Grist.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20211208-climate-havens
Great Lakes steel production fell by 7,000 tons last week, while U.S. steel mills fell further under 85% capacity utilization. National steel output is now less than 20% higher than at the same time last year, when steel mills sank to just over half-capacity early in the coronavirus pandemic. Read the full story by The Times of Northwest Indiana.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20211208-steel
Researchers at The Natural Resource Research Institute in Duluth, Minnesota, said data shows a rise in air temperatures, causing a worrisome increase in water temperatures throughout the Great Lakes. Read the full story by KBJR-TV- Duluth, MN.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20211208-warming
Approximately 85,000 homeowners in the Great Lakes region will see rate reductions in their home flood insurance because of the National Flood Insurance Program’s new risk rating system. The new system, Risk Rating 2.0, was created to address inequities in flood insurance pricing in the old system, which was last updated in the ‘70s. Read the full story by Great Lakes Now.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20211208-flooding
A proposed plan to charge a royalty on bottled water produced from Michigan groundwater would put an estimated $250 million annually into a water trust fund to be used to replace lead lines, create water affordability plans, and provide emergency water funds. Read the full story by the Manistee News Advocate.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20211208-bottled-water
For the first time in Michigan’s Lower Peninsula, biologists have found a nuisance algae called “rock snot,” or didymo. Read the full story by Great Lakes Now.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20211208-rock-snot
A poll by the Great Lakes Water Quality Board asked 4,500 Great Lakes residents in the U.S. and Canada to rate the current status of the environmental health of their favorite Great Lake, and more people think the Great Lakes are in bad shape than those who think they’re in good shape. Read the full story by Great Lakes Now.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20211208-health
A conference discussing research and policy on chemicals called PFAS starts today. The “Great Lakes Virtual PFAS Summit” is a week-long event where policymakers, environmentalists and researchers can learn about how to address the threat posed by PFAS. Read the full story by WNMU-FM – Marquette, MI.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20211206-pfas-summit
Under the plan proposed by For Love of Water, a nonprofit environmental organization in Traverse City, Michigan residents would pay 3 to 6 cents and bottled water companies would pay 25 cents per gallon of water they pump from the ground to package and sell. Read the full story by Capital News Service.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20211206-bottled-water
Faced with growing uncertainties over the future of fossil fuels, Enbridge wants to cut by a decade the estimated economic life span of its Upper Midwest pipeline system, which includes the newly built Line 3. Read the full story by Star Tribune.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20211206-enbridge
A new project using a sophisticated system of receivers across Saginaw Bay and Lake Huron will help guide researchers in their efforts to return state-threatened lake sturgeon to the Saginaw Bay system. Read the full story by WSGW-TV – Saginaw, MI.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20211206-sturgeon-fish
PFAS chemicals have been detected in every one of the Great Lakes and in the drinking water of nearly 2 million Michiganders to date. Communities across the state are impacted. Read the full story by Detroit Free Press.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20211206-pfas-pollution
Michigan’s State Senate approved a $3.3 billion water infrastructure plan, including $680 million specifically for dam safety, in a unanimous and bipartisan vote last week. Read the full story by Midland Daily News.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20211206-michigan-dam
Scientists with Fisheries and Oceans Canada spurred an online furor this week by posting photos of a nearly four-pound goldfish found as part of ongoing three-year project with the goal to study what can be done to control the exploding aquarium released pond populations and prevent ecological damage and potential release to Lake Ontario. Read the full story by Welland Tribune.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20211206-goldfish
More than a century ago, townspeople wearied of looking at the fire-torched hull of the SS Muskegon, which had been abandoned in the Michigan City marina. So they dragged it out into Lake Michigan and sank it. Now the shipwreck of the 211-foot freighter that sank near Mount Baldy in Michigan City in 1911 could become Indiana’s second underwater preserve. Read the full story by the Northwest Indiana Times.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20211206-indiana-shipwreck
Indiana Dunes’ iconic Mount Baldy dune is gradually creeping inland and now covers part of a popular road. Park officials hope to preserve access to Mount Baldy but don’t have a plan to address its shifting sands. Read the full story by Travel Awaits.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20211206-indiana-dunes
Lefroy Harbour Resorts in Innisfil, Ontario was recognized at this year’s 39th annual Conservation Awards, hosted by the Lake Simcoe Region Conservation Authority (LSRCA), for its efforts to keep the lake clean and pristine through water quality protection efforts including microplastic collecting Seabins. Read the full story by BarrieToday.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20211206-harbor
More Great Lakes residents in the U.S. and Canada think the Great Lakes are in bad shape than those who think they’re in good shape according to a poll by the Great Lakes Water Quality Board. Read the full story by Michigan Radio.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20211203-poll
Indigenous communities in the Great Lakes have been hand harvesting wild rice for more than a thousand years. Now, it’s mostly gone. However, there are efforts from tribes to restore rice beds and bring more recognition to the grain in Michigan. Read and listen to the full story by WKAR – East Lansing, MI.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20211203-wild-rice
