National, state, and provincial parks around the Great Lakes are expecting a spike in visitation this summer as the United States and Canada continue to distribute COVID-19 vaccines. Read the full story by Great Lakes Now.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20210628-parks
The International Lake Ontario-St. Lawrence River Board has indicated that unless the Lake Ontario and St. Lawrence River basin receives “significant” rainfall, it appears that water levels have reached maximum for the season. Lake Ontario’s level is presently at 245.14 feet, more than a foot below its long-term average for this point in the year of 246.29 feet. Read the full story by Watertown Daily Times.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20210628-water-levels
Record-high water levels in Lake Ontario in 2017 and 2019 caused significant flooding and erosion along New York state’s Crescent Beach. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers recently completed repairs to a breakwater that was damaged during the high waters, and further efforts to mitigate future impacts from flooding include the development of a barrier bar beach to reduce wave energy that reaches the shoreline. Read the full story by Finger Lake Times.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20210628-ontario-water-level
PFAS has been detected in the groundwater below the Oakland County International Airport in Waterford Township, Michigan. Thirteen of the 24 homes on well water north of the airport opted for their water to be tested by the Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy and results for 11 homes showed detectable concentrations of one or more PFAS compounds. Read the full story by The Oakland Press.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20210628-pfas
In 2016, severe storms in northern Wisconsin sparked a flood that’s linked to several deaths and caused more than $41 million in damage. Local, state and federal leaders recently marked efforts to restore one of the hardest hit areas during a grand opening celebration. They hope changes made at Iron County’s Saxon Harbor will prevent damage from more frequent, intense storms due to climate change. Read the full story by Wisconsin Public Radio.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20210625-harbor
While invasive zebra mussels consume small plant-like organisms called phytoplankton, researchers discovered during a long-term study that zebra mussels can actually increase Microcystis, a type of phytoplankton known as “blue-green algae” or cyanobacteria, that forms harmful floating blooms. Read the full story by MSU Today.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20210625-algae
Niagara County residents along the Lake Ontario shoreline are encouraged to participate in a survey on changing lake conditions, as part of the Niagara Orleans Coastal Lakeshore Economy and Resiliency initiative. Read the full story by the Niagara Gazette.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20210625-survey
Protests in northern Minnesota over a Canadian oil pipeline have been drawing national attention. As the fight against Enbridge Energy’s Line 3 grows larger, here’s what you need to know. Read the full story by the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20210625-line3
“Access to clean water and sanitation is not a future problem,” writes Cameron Davis, commissioner of Chicago’s Metropolitan Water Reclamation District, who served as President Obama’s Great Lakes “czar” from 2009 through 2017. “It is here and now and will exponentially increase in severity if we do not address it head-on.” Read the full story by Chicago Sun-Times.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20210625-access
An EPA research vessel docked in Marquette’s Lower Harbor Thursday morning. The Lake Guardian, a 180 foot-long, 959 ton ship left Milwaukee a couple days ago and is taking samples from Lake Superior. Read the full story by WLUC-TV – Negaunee, MI.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20210625-ship
A regional effort to prevent the spread of invasive species will cross over to other states and Canada. The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation, seven Great Lakes states and two Canadian provinces are partnering for the third annual Aquatic Invasive Species Landing Blitz. Read the full story by WWTI-TV – Watertown, NY.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20210625-blitz
Each spring, melting snow and April showers fill low-lying areas with water, forming shallow pools. These vernal, or spring, pools are short-term wetlands that will be forest-fire dry by the 4th of July. Vernal pools are a highly valuable wetland habitat that is increasingly threatened across most of North America. Read the full story by Great Lakes Now.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20210625-vernal
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers said Wednesday it would conduct an extensive review of Enbridge Energy’s plan to build an oil pipeline tunnel beneath a Great Lakes channel in Michigan, which could significantly delay the project. The tunnel would house a replacement for a portion of Enbridge’s Line 5 that crosses the bottom of the Straits of Mackinac. Read the full story by the Associated Press.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20210625-tunnel
Canada is expanding its rules for ballast water in ships. The rules require all Canadian ships and all ships visiting Canadian ports to treat ballast water. That includes so-called “lakers,” ships which only haul cargo within the Great Lakes. Read the full story by Michigan Radio.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20210625-ballast
New York state Health Department released updated guidelines this week increasing the number of fish caught in bodies of water across the state. Entire families can safely eat an increased number of wild fish from Lake Ontario, the Niagara River and most of the St. Lawrence River for the first time in decades after new data showed lower levels of chemicals in various sportfish. Read the full story by Livingston County News.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20210623-ontario-fish
The Ministry of the Environment, Conservation and Parks has confirmed the presence of blue-green algae in a water sample collected at Swimming Area of Hazelwood Lake, north of Thunder Bay, ON on June 14. The Ministry is conducting toxin analysis on the water sample. However, it is important to remember that water should be avoided whenever a blue-green algae bloom is present, and for about 2 weeks after it has dissipated, regardless of the toxin analysis results because blue-green algae can turn toxin production on and off in response to environmental conditions. Read the full story by GreatLakesNow.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20210623-algae-ontario
An Ottawa-based renewable energy organization is looking to raise a fresh round of financing in a bid to acquire two new wind turbines along the shore of Lake Huron. The Ottawa Renewable Energy Co-operative says it’s launching a new offering to raise up to $1.3 million to purchase the two turbines in partnership with an independent power producer that belongs to a “well-established, municipally owned group of energy infrastructure companies.” Read the full story by Ontario Business Journal.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20210623-wind-energy
Federal officials have designated 962 square miles off of Wisconsin’s Lake Michigan coastline as a National Marine Sanctuary to protect historic shipwrecks in the area from Kewaunee County south to Ozaukee County. The designation will protect 36 shipwrecks, 21 of which are on the National Register of Historic Places and may include as many as 60 additional shipwrecks. Read the full story by Madison.com.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20210623-shipwreck-sanctuary
A postdoctoral fellow at McMaster University in Hamilton who studies bird behavior and communication spent two weeks gathering trash along a 7 km stretch of shoreline and found 380 balloons. The plastic balloons found mark some of the biggest milestones in our lives: births, deaths, graduations, homecomings, engagements, and gender reveal parties end up in the Great Lakes by the hundreds of thousands. Read the full story by CBC News.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20210623-pollution
The Ohio Department of Agriculture has been awarded a $2 million Great Lakes Restoration Initiative program grant from the United State Environmental Protection Agency to help administer the H2Ohio initiative across the Maumee River Watershed. The grant project will run through October 2024 to support H2Ohio’s long-term work to improve water quality across the Maumee Watershed. View images by Ohio’s Country Journal.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20210623-ohio-water-quality
Much of the Southwestern United States is currently under severe drought conditions. The knee-jerk solution to the problem is to look toward Great Lakes water. Read the full story by thumbwind.com.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20210623-drought-great-lakes-water
With the passing of colors and brief remarks from each, command of the Corps’ Great Lakes and Ohio Division passed from Maj. Gen. Robert F. “Bob” Whittle Jr. to Col. Kimberly “Kim” A. Peeples in a June 11 change of command ceremony. Read the full story by The Waterways Journal.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20210623-army-corps-great-lakes
Lake Michigan has weathered seasons of smelly and slimy shores in decades past. The 1960s and ’70s were especially dire and demanded human intervention in order for clean water to be restored. Salmon stocking and introduction are credited for assisting in the clean up and slashing the invasive alewife population by 90% of its peak. Read the full story by WOOD – TV – Grand Rapids, MI.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20210623-fish
A four-year research project funded by the Canadian government, looking into the impact of microplastics on freshwater ecosystems and on agricultural soils will have important implications for the Great Lakes. It will measure microplastic levels in wastewater from treatment plants draining into Ontario rivers and streams that feed into the Great Lakes. Researchers hope to better understand which treatments are best able to deal with microplastics. Read the full story by GreatLakesNow.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20210623-plastic-pollution
The GLRI, launched in 2010 by the Obama administration and funded with bipartisan support by the U.S. Congress, began with an initial budget of $475 million in its first year, and roughly $300 million in each subsequent year through 2020, when it jumped to $320 million. Read the full story by The Voice News.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20210621-glri
PFAS, short for per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, are a group of widespread man-made chemicals that don’t break down in the environment or the human body and have been flagged as a major contaminant in sources of water across the country. Read the full story by Great Lakes Now.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20210621-pfas
Shipment of iron ore — a key raw material that feeds the blazing blast furnaces at Northwest Indiana’s lakefront steel mills — have risen more than 7% year-over-year to 1.4 million tons thus far this shipping season. Read the full story by the Northwest Indiana Times.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20210621-iron-ore
The announcement Friday amounted to a swap of assets — with the Alder heading for a year of maintenance and then permanent residency in San Francisco, while USCG Cutter Spar will be bound for Duluth, Minnesota in spring 2022. Read the full story by the Duluth News Tribune.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20210621-alder-cutter
Researchers found lake users were willing to travel 56 minutes farther for every 1 meter increase in water clarity in Minnesota and Iowa lakes, even when controlling for other factors. Read the full story by The Gazette.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20210621-tourists
The Biden administration is rewriting how it protects endangered species — making significant shifts in regulations that could affect how habitat is kept safe for these and other imperiled birds, fish, insects, mammals and plants across the United States. Read the full story by Maryland Matters.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20210621-endangered-species
The U.S. Coast Guard plans to close its seasonal station in Grand Marais, Minnesota by next year and will rely instead on its Duluth station more than 100 miles away for severe water emergencies. Read the full story by Duluth News Tribune.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20210621-coast-guard
The story of Monty and Rose, a breeding pair of piping plovers, is being retold in a children’s book, with proceeds from its sale benefiting a study to boost the population of the endangered Great Lakes piping plover. Read the full story by the Block Club Chicago.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20210621-piping-plover
Eighteen beaches in Benzie, Grand Traverse, and Leelanau counties showed satisfactory water quality after test results were released for harmful levels of E. coli bacteria Thursday morning. This was the first of weekly testing that will occur every Wednesday until Sept. 8. Read the full story by the Traverse City Record-Eagle.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20210621-beach-monitoring
A decree allowing native tribal members fishing rights, but regulating the types of gear and fishing areas used, is currently under negotiation after it was set to expire on Summer 2020. The deadline has been extended to June 30, 2021. Read the full story by the Traverse City Record-Eagle.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20210621-native-fishing
For the second consecutive year, experts are anticipating Lake Erie’s seasonal harmful algal bloom will be smaller than the year before, according to the most recent early projection made by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Read the full story by the Port Clinton News Herald.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20210618-hab
It’s been a relatively easy year for Kenosha shorelines in 2021, as Lake Michigan has dropped from historically high water levels last year due to a combination of factors. Read the full story by the Kenosha News.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20210618-water-level
The Lake Superior Magazine is recognizing a Marquette County partnership for its dedication to Lake Superior. The Superior Watershed Partnership was named the recipient of the 2020 Achievement Award for its significant contribution to Lake Superior and surrounding communities. Read the full story by WLUC-TV- Marquette, MI.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20210618-award
A provincewide effort to monitor and limit the spread of invasive species, such as the zebra mussel, is looking for help from some citizen scientists. Read the full story by the Whig Standard.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20210618-invasive
Along the beaches and coastal areas of Saugeen Shores, Ontario don’t be surprised to see youth participants in the Coastal Conservation Youth Corps this summer. The program gives high school aged students a summer opportunity to take action on conservation and restoration projects. Read the full story by the Shoreline Beacon.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20210618-youth-program
University of Wisconsin-Green Bay is receiving a boost in its effort to designate the Bay of Green Bay as a national research site. On Thursday afternoon, the state provided nearly $49,788 to help in the process. Read and view the full story by WLUK-TV- Green Bay, WI.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20210618-greenbay
Bay City, Michigan’s own Appledore IV is officially sailing the straits for the summer. BaySail, an environmental education non-profit, takes passengers on an hour and half sail through the Straights of Mackinaw. Read the full story by WEYI-TV- Saginaw, MI.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20210618-sail
Workers at Toledo Refining Company worry that they will lose their jobs if Enbridge Line 5 pipeline is shut down. The Ohio Senate this week unanimously passed a resolution urging Whitmer to stand down. Read the full story by WTVG-TV- Toledo, OH.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20210618-refinery
The U.S. Coast Guard honored three “good Samaritans” Wednesday for a rescue in Lake Superior last year. Read and view the full story by WLUC-TV- Munising, MI.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20210618-kayakers
Wisconsin regulators have ordered the Village of Somers in Kenosha County to halt construction on its project to draw water from Lake Michigan. The village began work before receiving all the necessary approvals to move forward. Read and listen to the full story by Wisconsin Public Radio.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20210618-divert
The Great Lakes are in a period of the year when their water levels usually rise. But all of the Great Lakes are not rising or just barely rising. Read the full story by MLive.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20210616-water-levels
New research has revealed a growing prevalence of highly toxic “forever chemicals” known as PFAS in rainwater in the Great Lakes basin, increasing fears about the negative health effects for humans and wildlife. Read the full story by The Windsor Star.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20210616-pfas
One group of scientists who study the annual Lake Erie algae blooms have recently made their forecast for this summer and they’re calling for a smaller, milder algae problem than average. Read the full story by the Toledo Blade.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20210616-algae
Advisers to the bilateral Great Lakes Fishery Commission have passed a resolution recommending moving management of the Great Lakes Fishery Commission away from Fisheries and Oceans Canada and back to Global Affairs Canada. Read the full story by CTV News.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20210616-fisheries
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
