The National Park Service is inviting public input on a study to determine the feasibility of designating the Finger Lakes region of New York as a national heritage area. Read the full story by The Daily News.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20210507-parks
Every year, 22 million pounds of plastic end up in the Great Lakes. This plastic breaks down and slips through water treatment systems, entering our drinking water and the food we eat. Read and listen to the full story by Michigan Radio.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20210506-plastic
Native American tribes say the risk of an oil spill from the Line 5 oil pipeline poses a “grave threat” to their right to hunt, fish and gather in northern Michigan and the Great Lakes. Tribal nations in Michigan assert that the Straits of Mackinac remain critically important for tribal fishers in the region, connected with cultural and spiritual practices and as a way to pass down teachings through generations. Read the full story by Canada’s National Observer.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20210506-tribes-line5
A bipartisan bill to enhance wildlife protection was introduced in Congress this week. The Recovering America’s Wildlife Act would provide states, territories and tribes with $1.4 billion annually to protect important species and their associated habitats, and directs the money towards Wildlife Action Plans used by conservation agencies. Read the full story by Great Lakes Echo.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20210506-conservation-bill
Local elected officials and a Lake Erie environmental group raised the alarm Wednesday about a burst in new applications to expand or establish new intensive livestock operations on farms in the western Lake Erie watershed. Manure from these operations flows into tributaries and feed harmful algal bloom on Lake Erie. Read the full story by Toledo Blade.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20210506-cafo-concerns
Ohio Governor Mike DeWine stopped in Toledo, Ohio, on Wednesday, to highlight Lake Erie as a tourism destination on Ohio Tourism Day. Governor DeWine touted his H2Ohio initiative to address serious water issues in Ohio, including harmful algal blooms on Lake Erie caused by phosphorus runoff from farm fertilizer. Read the full story by TV – WTOL – Toledo, Ohio.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20210506-dewine
The Lake Express Ferry will launch its 2021 travel season on Friday, May 7 with four daily crossings on Lake Michigan between Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and Muskegon, Michigan. Officials say the four-engine powered ship provides the most daily crossings of Lake Michigan and the fastest service with each trip taking only two-and-a-half hours. Read the full story by TV – WDJT – Milwauke, WI.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20210506-milwaukee-ferry
Heading into the summer season, water levels on Lake Erie are about 17 inches lower than they were last year, according to the Army Corps of Engineers. Lower levels will help lessen erosion and flooding issues along the lakeshore – especially near the western basin where the lake is much more shallow. Read the full story by TV – WOIO – Cleveland, Ohio.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20210506-erosion
Community organizations and philanthropic foundations in Southeast Michigan are working on a new plan to create a land and water trail along the St. Clair River, Lake St. Clair, and Detroit River. Read the full story by Metromode.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20210506-bike-path
The Presque Isle Lighthouse near Erie, Pennsylvania is considered one of the area’s most treasured historic sites, watching over the water near Beach 9 since the 1870s. Read the full story by Erie News Now.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20210506-presque-isle-pa
The capture of a 6-foot-10-inch, 240-pound female sturgeon in the Detroit River last week by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has renewed hope among fisheries biologists that sturgeon populations are on their way to recovery and restoration. Read the full story by WTTW-TV – Chicago, IL.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20210505-sturgeon
U.S. Rep. Bob Latta (R., Bowling Green, OH) is proposing a bill that would redefine “waters in the United States” to exclude smaller bodies of water such as smaller streams, wetlands, and groundwater. However, these smaller bodies of water eventually flow into and can potentially endanger the lakes and rivers we normally think of when it comes to water protection, and should reamain included in those protections. Read the full story by The Toledo Blade.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20210505-wetlands
The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation has announced a virtual meeting for the public to learn about the status of Lake Erie and Upper Niagara River fisheries. Read the full story by The Daily News.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20210505-webinar
Concerns about COVID-19 have pushed back the start of the 2021 season for the MS Chi-Cheemaun ferry, which operates between Manitoulin Island and Bruce Peninsula, Ontario, in the upper end of Lake Huron. Read the full story by the Sudbury News.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20210505-ferry
A group of Michigan fishermen have caught a massive muskellunge in West Grand Traverse Bay, Lake Michigan. Read the full story by WPBN-TV – Traverse City, MI.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20210505-muskie
Piping plovers have returned to Lake Michigan’s shoreline and are in need of nest guardians at Silver Lake State Park in Michigan. Read the full story by MLive.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20210505-plover
A northern Wisconsin lakefront area struggles with the aftereffects of PFAS contamination by a local industrial facility. Read the full story by Great Lakes Now.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20210505-pfas
A recent study found that cladophora algae adsorbs microfibers, meaning that the plastic attaches to living algae cell walls. Read the full story by Great Lakes Echo.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20210505-algae
Despite Ontario’s stay-at-home order barring gatherings of more than just your household, thousands of sun-seeking city dwellers flocked to Lake Erie communities. In Bayham, officers ticketed 31 vehicles parked illegally outside the entrance to Port Burwell Provincial Park. Read the full story by The London Free Press.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20210504-ontario-beach-parking
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20210504-pollution-clean-up
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20210504-beach-drones
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20210504-preservation-fundraising
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20210504-aoc-epa
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20210504-climate-trees
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20210504-national-parks
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20210504-water-quality-erie
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20210504-pollution-plastic
Audubon Great Lakes has released a new report focusing on restoring the Great Lakes for birds and people. Read the full story by Wisconsin Public Radio.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20210503-birds
The international body that oversees the regulation of Lake Ontario and the St. Lawrence River is in the middle of a comprehensive review of Plan 2014, the water management plan that governs decisions on things like outflows. As part of that process, the committee leading this effort has developed a new tool that has some shoreline homeowners feeling optimistic about the future. Read the full story by WBFO.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20210503-flooding
George A. Elmaraghy, a former Ohio EPA official, writes in a guest column today that bolder state action is needed to curb the phosphorus runoff feeding toxic algal blooms in Lake Erie. Read the full story by the Plain Dealer.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20210503-algae
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20210503-nuclear
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20210503-walleyes
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20210503-cable
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20210503-line5
Ohio State Sen. Theresa Gavarone, R-Bowling Green, has been named to the Great Lakes Commission, an interstate commission of eight member states — Ohio, Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, New York, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin — and two Canadian provinces. Read the full story by the Sandusky Register.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20210503-gavarone
Shipping advocates are calling for a harmonized schedule for the Great Lakes maritime transportation system — that the shipping system should be opened all at the same time and closed at the same time. Read the full story by Watertown Daily Times.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20210503-shipping
The Great Lakes have tides that occur twice each day, but they are much smaller in scale and barely noticeable in comparison to ocean tides. Read the full story by WROC-TV – Rochester, NY.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20210503-tides
The Minnesota Supreme Court on Wednesday affirmed a lower court’s reversal of a critical mining permit for the proposed PolyMet copper-nickel mine in northeastern Minnesota. Read the full story by The Associated Press.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20210430-polymet
A circuit court judge ruled the proposed FishPass project at the Union Street Dam in Traverse City, Michigan, needs voter approval before construction can go forward. Read the full story by Interlochen Public Radio.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20210430-fishpass
Wild rice waters contaminated with sulfate from industrial pollution have never been included on Minnesota’s long list of officially polluted waters that require fixing. They will now, thanks to federal regulators who stepped in to say the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency was breaking federal law by not listing them as impaired. Read the full story by the Star Tribune.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20210430-wildrice
Just in time for boating and beach season on Lake St. Clair, officials in Macomb County, Michigan, said they now can reduce the volume of county sewage that overflows into the lake during heavy rains. Read the full story by the Detroit Free Press.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20210430-manhole
Another permit has been called into question for Aquila Resources’ plans to build the Back Forty mine near the Menominee River on the Michigan-Wisconsin border. Read the full story by Wisconsin Public Radio.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20210430-backforty
A U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service crew caught a 240-pound sturgeon last week. It is 6-foot-10, with a girth of nearly 4 feet. It is a native — and threatened — species to Michigan, and one of the largest lake sturgeon ever caught in the United States. Read the full story by the Detroit Free Press.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20210430-hugesturgeon
The Mayors Commission on Water Equity of the Great Lakes and St. Lawrence Cities Initiative is calling upon Congress to allocate $58 billion to replace lead pipes, as well as lead paint in homes and schools. Read the full story by WUWM – Milwaukee, WI.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20210430-mayors
Michigan bird enthusiasts will be excited to hear about an upcoming birding trail mapping initiative, a joint project between Macomb and St. Clair Counties. Read the full story by Metromode Detroit.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20210430-birdwatching
Social media has been buzzing with reported sturgeon sightings in the Boardman River in Traverse City, Michigan, and one woman caught it on camera. Read the full story by WWTV-TV – Traverse City, MI.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20210430-sturgeonsighting
In Ontario, the slow process of sorting out what to do with Port Colborne’s eight miniature public beaches continued this week, with a consultant coming down definitively against any plan to sell them into private ownership. Read the full story by the Port Colborne Leader.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20210430-colborne
The University of Toronto kick-started their “Tagging Trash” program this week, where GPS-tracked water bottles get placed into Lake Ontario to see where they end up. Read the full story by CTV News Toronto.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20210429-bottles
Each year midges, small insects also known as lake flies, arrive and swarm along the shores of Lake Ontario and the St. Lawrence River for a span of two or three weeks as part of their life cycle. Read the full story by Global News Canada.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20210429-midges
Another $7.4 million in federal funding is coming to southeast Michigan land and water conservation organizations. The city of Ann Arbor’s greenbelt program, administered by The Conservation Fund, led efforts to secure the funding, acting as the lead partner among nine conservation groups that joined to create the Lake Erie Conservation Partnership. Read the full story by MLive.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20210429-conservation
