Although still above normal, Great Lakes water levels have dropped steadily since last fall and are expected to remain below 2020 levels for most of this year, according to a U.S. Army Corps of Engineers forecast. Read the full story by the Associated Press.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20210524-levels
An effort is underway to improve the access to one of the top fisheries in Pennsylvania. Senator Dan Laughlin, a Republican from Erie, is proposing to double the size of the marina on Walnut Creek on Lake Erie. Read the full story by the Erie Times-News.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20210520-erie-access
A group of property owners along the flood-prone Lake Erie shoreline — on Erie Shore Drive — say they’ve taken legal action against the Municipality of Chatham-Kent. The group argues that the town has breached its obligations under Ontario’s Drainage Act, resulting in members paying the costs for shoreline protections. Read the full story by CBC.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20210520-erie-shore
Checking its data through early May, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the National Center for Water Quality Research at Heidelberg University in Tiffin, Ohio, agreed the dry spring in the Northwest Ohio region could result in a smaller harmful algal bloom (HAB) forecast for Lake Erie during the late summer months, prime time for HABs to flourish. Read the full story by The Beacon.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20210520-erie-bloom
The Southwest Michigan Land Conservancy announced that it has been awarded grant funding to acquire property for a new nature preserve outside of Downtown Allegan. $1 million of Kalamazoo River Natural Resources Damages Assessment settlement funds will be used to purchase 140 acres of property along the west bank of the Kalamazoo River. Read the full story by WNWN- Battle Creek, MI.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20210520-allegan
In a series on underrated destinations, this article highlights Indiana Dunes National Park, Indiana Dunes State Park, and the surrounding area. Read the full story by the Daily Beast.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20210520-dunes
A former merchant marine on the Great Lakes is working to restore a lifeboat that was damaged during a fall storm. Read the full story by the Petoskey News-Review.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20210520-lifeboat
The SS Badger prepares for its first voyage across Lake Michigan under new ownership. The new ownership will have to learn the ins and outs of the vessel and navigate challenges presented by COVID-19. Read the full story by Ludington Daily News.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20210520-badger
The mediator in the dispute between Enbridge Inc. and the State of Michigan over the controversial Line 5 pipeline says the two sides plan to keep talking. Retired U.S. district court judge Gerald Rosen, who was appointed in March to oversee the talks, says the parties discussed a “range of issues” when they met Tuesday. Read the full story by The Canadian Press.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20210520-line5
Michigan lawmakers on Wednesday proposed spending $500 million to repair aging dams a year after a hydroelectric dam failed to hold back floodwaters in the Midland area, causing more than $250 million in damage, draining lakes and forcing thousands of residents to evacuate their homes. Read the full story by Crain’s Detroit Business.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20210520-dam-repair
Michigan lawmakers on Wednesday proposed spending $500 million to repair aging dams a year after a hydroelectric dam failed to hold back floodwaters in the Midland area, causing more than $250 million in damage, draining lakes and forcing thousands of residents to evacuate their homes. Read the full story by Crain’s Detroit Business.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20210520-dam-repair
The Southern Ontario Nature Coalition, a collection of environmental, Indigenous, and agricultural groups, have outlined plans for building a network of natural areas within the urban and suburban landscapes of southern Ontario to support conservation and resilience efforts around Lake Ontario. Read the full story by the National Observer.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20210519-roadmap
The Traverse City Board of Commissioners in Michigan unanimously voted to file an appeal to a judge’s ruling that requires the city’s FishPass Project to be put to a community vote before proceeding. The FishPass project would install a barrier to invasive sea lamprey along the Boardman River, but has received opposition from some residents. Read the full story by WWUP-TV – Cadillac, MI.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20210519-fishpass
The Biden Administration has not yet taken a position on the legal battle between Enbridge Energy and the State of Michigan over the Line 5 oil pipeline. The federal government is expected to become involved as legal questions arise around international treaties regarding Line 5 and issues of federal authority over managing pipeline operations. Read the full story by Michigan Advance.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20210519-line5
A years-long effort is underway in the Milwaukee harbor in Wisconsin to remove and dispose of contaminated sediment within the Milwaukee Estuary Area of Concern. Read the full story by Spectrum News 1.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20210519-aoc
After being hunted to the brink of extinction and wiped out in Michigan over 100 years ago, the trumpeter swam is making a comeback in part due to the efforts of the W.K. Kellogg Bird Sanctuary at Michigan State University. Read the full story by Michigan Radio.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20210519-swans
Researchers at the University of Wisconsin-Superior are studying whether less winter ice across the Great Lakes might enable year-round shipping. The Great Lakes traditionally shut down to shipping from early January into March. Read the full story by the Duluth News Tribune.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20210519-shipping
After decades of absence in the cold waters of Michigan, a successful collaboration between Michigan’s Department of Natural Resources and the Little River Band of Ottawa Indians has helped the arctic grayling make a return to their native habitats. Read the full story by WZZM-TV – Grand Rapids, MI.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20210519-grayling
Erie County, New York, pumps and treats over 20 million gallons of water a day from the Niagara River to provide drinking water to residents in the county. Read the full story by WKBW-TV – Buffalo, NY.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20210519-water
Growing demand for goods in Canada and the United States as the two countries’ economies recover has translated into a boost in the amount of goods shipped on the Great Lakes-St. Lawrence Seaway by nearly 4 percent. Read the full story by the St. Catharine’s Standard.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20210519-cargo
Green infrastructure is a strategy that cities around the Great Lakes basin have increasingly been employing to ease the burden on their wastewater infrastructure and improve water quality, while deferring or avoiding costly upgrades to wastewater treatment plants. Read the full story by Great Lakes Now.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20210518-green-infrastructure
The Chicago Park District announced that a pair of endangered birds, namely Monty and Rose, has produced three eggs at their Montrose Beach Dunes Natural Area breeding grounds on the north side of Chicago, Illinois. Read the full story by The Science Times.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20210518-piping-plovers
The plan envisions a broad land bridge connecting the downtown malls to the area just north of First Energy Stadium and the Great Lakes Science Center. The 350-foot-wide greenway, known as a plinth, would soar over railroad tracks and the Ohio 2 Shoreway and provide a park-like connection to Cleveland’s biggest asset. Read the full story by cleveland.com.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20210518-cleveland-lakefront
A dispute near the northern U.S. border is threatening relations between America and Canada. Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer has ordered the shutdown of the Line 5 pipeline, which carries up to 540,000 barrels a day of crude oil and natural gas. Read the full story by The Wall Street Journal.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20210518-pipeline
A formerly troublesome dirt path, connecting Bowmanville Avenue to West Beach Road of the Great Lakes Waterfront Trail in Bowmanville, Ontario was recently paved to allow for improved recreation opportunities along Lake Ontario’s northern shoreline. Read the full story by Oshawa This Week.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20210518-waterfront-trail
A group of students, researchers and volunteers at the University of Toronto in Toronto, Ontario — called the U of T Trash Team — are dumping plastic bottles with GPS trackers to pinpoint exactly where trash goes in the water to help determine ways to retrieve it. Read the full story by Yahoo News.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20210518-ontario-trash
On this day May 18, 1894, the Milwaukee-built canal schooner Lem Ellsworth foundered on Lake Michigan taking her crew of seven with her. Read the full story by On Milwaukee.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20210518-lem-ellsworth
The Ohio Department of Natural Resources awarded money for 150 new water quality projects on private property in the Lake Erie watershed, mostly to create new wetlands, the state agency said. Read the full story by the Sandusky Register.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20210518-wetland-projects
The town of Cobourg, Ontario will begin its annual spring removal of built-up sediment by dredging the harbour and area. Read the full story by CHUC- Cobourg, Ontario.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20210518-dredging
Construction of a streambank restoration and pedestrian bridge replacement project will soon begin in Petrifying Springs Park, Wisconsin, on a section of the Pike River that is the most substantial stretch of publicly owned river within the greater urban Kenosha area and has been termed a green infrastructure hub in the Pike River Watershed-based Plan. Read the full story by Kenosha News.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20210517-wisconsin-restoration
H2Ohio, a voluntary Ohio program that works closely with local farmers to reduce Lake Erie’s harmful algal bloom problem, has indicated in its 2020 annual report that the Ohio Department of Agriculture has entered into agreements with 1,815 producers across 1,092,852 acres of farmland, representing approximately 44% of the targeted cropland project area. Read the full story by WTOL-TV – Toledo, OH.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20210517-h2ohio-water-quality
About halfway between Racine, Wisconsin, and Holland, Michigan, sensors keep close tabs on the temperature of Lake Michigan at a depth of 492 feet and have reported this data almost hourly for 30 years. This 30 year dataset indicates that the depths of Lake Michigan are warming and the annual “turnover” of the lake from warm to cold is changing. Read the full story by WTMJ-TV – Milwaukee, WI.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20210517-wisconsin-climate
It has been 16 months since a severe storm wreaked havoc on southeast Wisconsin’s shoreline, damaging popular pathways. Moving forward, the City of Racine not only wants to fix the damage, but wants to do so in a way that lessens the potential destruction of future storms amid rising waters of Lake Michigan. Read the full story by The Journal Times.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20210517-wisconsin-shoreline
The Port of Monroe has the distinction of being the only Michigan port on Lake Erie and the only one created by Public Act (PA) 234 of 1925, also known as the Port Districts Act. Read the full story by The Monroe News.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20210517-shipping-port
Enbridge, the Canadian energy company, claims the state of Michigan has no authority to enforce a deadline to shut down operation of Line 5, and will only shut down the oil pipeline if ordered by a federal court or their regulator. Read the full story by WDET – Detroit, MI.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20210517-enbridge-line-5
The Saint Lawrence Seaway Development Corporation was renamed the Great Lakes St. Lawrence Seaway Development Corporation by U.S. Congress via the 2021 Consolidated Appropriations Act, to “acknowledge the Corporation’s long-standing contributions and important to the Great Lakes region and economy.” Read the full story by WWTI-TV – Washington, D.C.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20210517-seaway
New data from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ Detroit office show that all of the lakes have lower levels, with Lake Ontario experiencing the largest drop at 28 inches. Read the full story by Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20210517-waterlevels
Dry weather is putting the Great Lakes’ water levels on a downward trend, with new forecasts for the summer placing water levels at depths where boaters and shipping won’t have to worry about low water levels or adjusting dock heights due to record high water. Read the full story by MLive.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20210514-waterlevels
Tribes in Michigan are legally entitled to hunting and fishing rights in Michigan through historic treaties. However, because wildlife and fish often cross jurisdictional boundaries, tribes, state and federal agencies must work together to manage wildlife populations and reconcile conflicting science and management priorities. Read the full story by Great Lakes Now.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20210514-conservation-coordination
Taconite iron ore shipments on the Great Lakes are trending up, and the Port of Duluth-Superior is experiencing a bustling start to the shipping campaign. This year’s shipments represent a 48% increase over the 2020 pace and a 23% improvement on the five-season average. Read the full story by Duluth News Tribune.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20210514-taconite
The Chicago Park District announced that Monty and Rose, a pair of endangered Great Lakes piping plovers, have produced three eggs at their breeding grounds at Montrose Beach Dunes Natural Area on Chicago’s north side. Read the full story by WLS-TV – Chicago, IL.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20210514-plover-eggs
Anishinaabe chiefs of the upper Great Lakes are calling for a ban on aerial spraying of the herbicide across the Robinson Huron Treaty area in northern Ontario. Their requests are receiving parliamentary support by Ontario MPs in the Green Party. Read the full story by APTN News.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20210514-anishinaabe
The federal government announced on Thursday that it no longer needs the Cleveland Harbor West Pierhead Lighthouse, and would be giving away the lighthouse for free to eligible, federal, state or local organizations. Read the full story by WOIO-TV – Cleveland, OH.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20210514-free-lighthouse
Eighty-one percent of registered northwest Ohio voters want stronger rules and regulations on large livestock facilities known as concentrated animal feeding operations, or CAFOs, according to results of a new poll released Thursday. Read the full story by the Toledo Blade.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20210514-cafos
Eighty-one percent of registered northwest Ohio voters want stronger rules and regulations on large livestock facilities known as concentrated animal feeding operations, or CAFOs, according to results of a new poll released Thursday. Read the full story by the Toledo Blade.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20210514-cafos
Enbridge Energy defied Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer’s order to shutdown the Line 5 pipeline, breaking Michigan state law. Read the full story by WNEM-TV – Saginaw, MI.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20210514-enbridge
Enbridge Energy defied Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer’s order to shutdown the Line 5 pipeline, breaking Michigan state law. Read the full story by WNEM-TV – Saginaw, MI.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20210514-enbridge
A bill proposed by Ohio lawmakers seeks to remove pollution control for a large swath of Ohio streams and wetlands by relaxing regulations to align Ohio’s rules with the environmentally unsound federal regulation known as the Navigable Waters Protection Rule. Read the full story by The Columbus Dispatch.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20210514-bill
Algoma University in Sault St. Marie, Ontario, is partnering with other universities and community partners in the Lake Superior region to create the Lake Superior Climate Action Field School. The Field School will train a diverse group of young Canadians to become regional and national climate leaders through an experiential program of virtual workshops, community site visits, and events around the Lake Superior watershed. Read the full story by The Sault Star.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20210514-climate-school
Anglers on Lake Huron are encouraged to check any salmon or trout they catch in Lake Huron for an electronic tag on the fish’s adipose fin. The tags are used by state and federal researchers to track fish populations, and anglers could receive $100 for their catches. Read the full story by The News Herald.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20210514-fish-tags
