2020 marked a grim milestone in Lake Michigan, with a record number of drownings in its waters – 56 total – the highest number since 2010, when the Great Lakes Surf Rescue Project started tracking drownings. Read the full story by WBND – TV – South Bend, IN.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20210616-drownings
A Chicago bus driver looking for a way to relieve stress during the coronavirus pandemic jumped into Lake Michigan for a 365th straight day last Saturday. Read the full story by the Associated Press.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20210616-lake-michigan
A Canadian company is using underwater robots to inspect sewage pipes, nuclear plants, shipwrecks, and aquaculture nets. Read the full story by The St. Catharine Standard.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20210616-robots
A new, preliminary flood map released by FEMA would mean that anyone included in the yellow boxed areas would have ‘flood-prone’ property. That would mean those individuals would need to obtain flood insurance. Read the full story by Finger Lakes 1.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20210616-fema-floodzone
The National Weather Service in Grand Rapids said Wednesday that offshore buoys and infrared satellite data indicate that cold water is upwelling at many of West Michigan’s popular beaches. Read the full story by MLive.com.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20210616-water-temp
Indigenous tribes are asserting their rights under a treaty that predates Michigan’s statehood while pursuing strategies to stop the construction of a new oil pipeline under the Straits of Mackinac. Read the full story by MLive.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20210614-tribespipeline
Those responsible for monitoring and managing water flow in the Great Lakes have deviated from their usual flow controls to address lower-than-average rainfall totals they say raise concerns for water levels in Lake Ontario and the St. Lawrence River. Read the full story by WBFO – Buffalo, NY.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20210614-monitors
According to the Duluth Seaway Port Authority, the Midwest Energy Resources Company terminal hasn’t seen an oceangoing ship at its dock since the 1990s, but that changed this month. Read the full story by the Superior Telegram.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20210614-portexec
A $2.7 million project to mitigate flooding in the town of Sterling, New York, has been completed. The goal of the project was to prevent flooding along West Bay Road, which has been affected by Lake Ontario’s high water levels. Read the full story by the Auburn Citizen.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20210614-westbayroad
A pair of piping plovers have set up housekeeping on the beach at Maumee Bay State Park on Lake Erie. They’re the first pair to nest in Ohio in at least 80 years. Read the full story by The Toledo Blade.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20210614-rarebirds
In New York, the Sodus Bay Historical Society is gearing up for the 2021 season with a sesquicentennial celebration of the “Old Stone” Lighthouse at Sodus Point on the bluff overlooking beautiful Lake Ontario. Read the full story by the Finger Lakes Times.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20210614-sodusbay
U.S. Coast Guard crews from the Great Lakes teamed up with Michigan’s neighbors to the north for some recent training. Read the full story by WPBN-TV – Traverse City, MI.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20210614-coastguardtrain
A new book shares details of a Michigan couple’s decades-long search for the ship, Le Griffon, which they believe sank near the Huron Islands, a group of small, rocky islands northeast of Green Bay. Read the full story by Cleveland.com.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20210614-legriffon
The rare piping plovers nesting on Montrose Beach are getting a second chance to become parents this year. “Rose and Monty” lost their eggs just days ago to a skunk that managed to get into their protected area, but they have built another nest and Rose laid a new egg. Read the full story by WLS – TV – Chicago, IL.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20210611-piping-plover
The state held a public feedback event this past week as New York State works on a study about creating wind energy in the Great Lakes, which is expected to be finished early next year. Read the full story by WIVB – TV – Syracuse, NY.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20210611-wind-energy
Central Michigan University received a $10 million grant from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the latest in a series of grants from the EPA with $30 million being awarded to CMU since 2010 in support of coastal wetland monitoring. Read the full story by Epicenter Mt. Pleasant.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20210611-wetlands-epa
The wetlands are a major part of the Ohio Department of Natural Resource’s H2Ohio initiative to improve Lake Erie water quality, but there has been controversy as some doubt it will serve that purpose. Read the full story by WTVG – TV – Toledo, OH.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20210611-wetlands-restoration
The Great Lakes News Collaborative noted in February that experts view the state, with its abundant supply of fresh water, as a likely refuge for climate migrants. Though the collaborative found that, in many cases, the coordinated, long-range preparation for climate change has not been done. Read the full story by GreatLakesNow.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20210611-great-lakes-climate-change
The USACE Buffalo District and its contractor Michigan-based Great Lakes Dock & Materials, L.L.C have completed the repair work to the east breakwater in Great Sodus Harbor in Wayne County, NY. Repairs include 525 feet steel sheet pile wall providing protection critical to reduce the rate of erosion. Read the full story by DredgingToday.com.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20210611-erosion-new-york
During a virtual meeting with people from Niagara and Orleans counties, the New York Department of State explained the Clear Program, and its goal of creating long term measures to protect the shoreline from extreme lake water levels. Read the full story by Spectrum News 1.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20210611-ontario-water-levels
Researchers from the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, N.Y. found that from 1980 to 2017, oxygen levels fell by about five per cent near the surface and 19 per cent in deep waters. Raising concern among scientists about the health of aquatic life. View images by CBC News.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20210611-climate-change-oxygen
Rebecca Esselman, a 20-year conservation veteran and executive director of the nonprofit Huron River Watershed Council discusses the status of PFAS, per and polyfluoroalkyl chemicals known to be persistent in the environment and Michigan’s recent lack of transparency in alerting citizens about PFAS. Read the full story by GreatLakesNow.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20210611-pfas-pollution
Cities like Detroit, Cleveland, and Buffalo will still be livable as the climate changes, and have the space to absorb climate migrants. Read the full story by Fast Company.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20210611-climate-change
The University of Wisconsin-Superior is studying whether year-round shipping might someday be possible at the Twin Ports of Duluth/Superior. The study will look at decreasing ice on the Great Lakes due to climate change and the construction of a new lock in the Soo Locks. Read the full story by KBJR TV Channel 6 in Duluth.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20210611-shipping
Marquette, Michigan is getting an extra 1,000 feet of Lake Superior shoreline for free in a deal with a utility company. The Marquette City Commission recently voted to accept the land gift from the utility We Energies. Read the full story by MLive.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20210609-beach
The Conservation Fund confirmed it would resume repopulation efforts of lake sturgeon, including a return trip to Michigan’s Cass River with a new delivery of the fish. The repopulation efforts work toward a long-term goal to reverse the effects that dropped the number of lake sturgeon. Read the full story by the Huron Daily Tribune.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20210609-sturgeon
Extraordinarily dry weather and low water levels on Lake Ontario and the St. Lawrence River have prompted officials to cut outflows at the Moses-Saunders Power Dam in Massena, New York and to host two open forums to discuss the issue with the public. Read the full story by Watertown Daily Times.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20210609-ijc
U.S. Representative Marcy Kaptur from Toledo, Ohio emphasizes the importance of agriculture in Northern Ohio and calls for assistance for farmers. Read the full story by The Toledo Blade.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20210609-kaptur
Researchers at Michigan State University are studying changes in the Great Lakes shoreline. To track the changes, MSU is enlisting the help of special volunteers across the state to fly drones with special cameras to capture the changes on the lakefronts. Read the full story by WILX-TV- East Lansing, MI.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20210609-drones
With the help of anglers and a sophisticated tracking system, scientists have been able to track the whereabouts of difficult to catch sportfish. The tracking system is a collaboration between numerous agencies and provides information on how fish travel hundreds of miles. Read the full story by MLive.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20210609-muskie
Environmental opponents of Line 5 on Tuesday unveiled ads on TV and radio featuring actor and Michigan native Jeff Daniels lambasting it as “an aging, dangerous pipeline” that needs to be shut down for good. Read the full story by The Detroit News.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20210609-line5-ads
The lake levels are expected to continue to fall over the next six months, but that doesn’t mean things are getting much better. The shorelines are naturally eroding at a pace of a foot or two feet per year. Read the full story by WXYZ-TV-Detroit, MI.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20210609-erosion
Rain that fell on Ohio this spring contained a surprisingly high amount of toxic “forever chemicals” known as PFAS, according to raw data from a binational Great Lakes monitoring program that tracks airborne pollution. Read the full story by MLive.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20210609-pfas-rain
Over the next two decades, Indiana will need more than $13 billion to repair or replace aging water and wastewater infrastructure according to the Healing Our Waters-Great Lakes Coalition, which said the Biden administration’s budget plan is a step in the right direction. Read the full story by Indiana Public Media.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20210607-biden-budget
A pair of piping plovers are nesting at Maumee Bay State Park in Lucas County, according to the Ohio Department of Natural Resources. This is an exciting development for a species that is listed as federally and state endangered and has not had a documented nest in Ohio in at least 80 years. Read the full story by The Scioto Post.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20210607-ohio-beach
The Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy has awarded $4.7 million dollars in grants for watershed management projects across the state. Read the full story by WFQX-TV – Cadillac, MI.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20210607-funding
Beneath the waters of Lake Michigan sit the remains of approximately 20 shipwrecks. While the majority are only accessible to those willing to dive beneath the waves, there are a handful that can be seen from the shoreline, and one such sunken ship recently decided it no longer wished to remain at its location, “setting sail” on an unprecedented journey. Read the full story by The Vintage News.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20210607-sunken-ship
The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation will hold five workshops this month to assist those who live in communities along the Lake Ontario shoreline with planning and long-term protective measures in the event of periodic extreme water levels. Read the full story by WGRZ-TV – Buffalo, NY.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20210607-ontario-water
An endangered shorebird may get a reprieve after facing threats from high water on the Great Lakes, as the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service says there’s now more suitable habitat for piping plover to nest as lake levels are subsiding. Read the full story by Radio Iowa.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20210607-plover-chicks
An experiment is underway at a Mississippi River to see if sound can keep invasive carp from moving through a lock and dam near Keokuk, Iowa. Read the full story by Radio Iowa.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20210607-carp-testing
An experiment is underway at a Mississippi River to see if sound can keep invasive carp from moving through a lock and dam near Keokuk, Iowa. Read the full story by Radio Iowa.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20210607-carp-testing
Operating in Georgian Bay in the upper end of Lake Huron, the Chi-Cheemaun ferry will resume operations on Tuesday, June 8. The vessel typically runs from May to October between South Baymouth on Manitoulin Island and Tobermory on the Bruce Peninsula. Read the full story by Soo Today.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20210604-ferry
The International Lake Superior Board of Control reported the latest water levels Thursday, noting Lake Superior is now just 3.9 inches above the 102-year average for June 1. The big lake is now 6 inches below the June 1 level from 2020. Read the full story by the Duluth News-Tribune.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20210604-water-levels
A team of scientists headed by a University of Windsor researcher has received C$1 million in funding to fight microplastics pollution. A key to the research, aimed at developing new tools to test, analyze and track the pollutant in Ontario, will be determining where it all comes from. Read the full story by the Windsor Star.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20210604-microplastics
This week the Wisconsin DNR, UW-Green Bay, UW-Milwaukee, and NEW Water partnered to put the Green Bay West and East buoys back on the water. The buoys are fundamental tools used to measure current weather conditions like wind speed, water temperatures, air temperatures, and wave height. Read the full story by WFRV-TV- Green Bay, WI.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20210604-buoys
Grand Haven Area Public Schools elementary students recently partnered with Grand Valley State University’s Groundswell program to help protect the Grand River watershed in western Michigan. Students conducted hands-on learning to explore a variety of environmental topics. Read the full story by WXMI-TV- Grand Rapids, MI.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20210604-students
The Conservation Fund and the Bay Area Community Foundation has presented Sturgeon For Tomorrow Black Lake Chapter with an $8,000.00 grant to purchase food for lake sturgeon at the Black River Sturgeon Facility and associated expenses with raising lake sturgeon. Read the full story by WSGW-Carrollton, MI.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20210604-sturgeon
Great Lakes steel production rose by 14,000 tons last week, while U.S. steel mills exceeded 80% capacity utilization, according to the American Iron and Steel Institute. Read the full story by the Northwest Indiana Times.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20210604-steel
A popular state park along Lake Michigan is set to reopen. Fisherman’s Island State Park in Michigan is set to fully reopen after high water and storm damage that caused the partial closure of its main access road and campsites. Read the full story by MLive.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20210604-michigan-park
The dispute over the cross-border Line 5 pipeline is entirely for Michigan to deal with, the state’s attorney general argues in a legal brief released Wednesday that flatly rejects Canada’s depiction of a foreign-policy matter that Ottawa and the White House must resolve. Read the full story by The Canadian Press.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20210604-line5
