The invasive round goby has impacted fisheries in the Great Lakes and the Finger Lakes. Cornell University researchers have described a new technique in which they analyzed environmental DNA from water samples to gather information about the presence of these invasive fish. Read the full story by the Olean Times Herald.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20210127-edna
Ice coverage on the Great Lakes hit record lows in January and is well below the seasonal average, prompting concerns from experts about the environmental impact caused by a lack of ice. Read the full story by the Toronto Star.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20210127-ice-cover
Great Lakes steel production fell by 7,000 tons last week and remains depressed by nearly 10%, with U.S. steel mills only operating at about three-fourths of capacity, 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/20210127-steel-production
In February, the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency will release a blueprint on how it plans to begin to deal with “forever chemicals.” Read the full story by the Superior Telegram.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20210127-contaminants
A new tugboat, 32.2-metre-long Amy Lynn D tug, is plying Bay of Quinte and Lake Ontario waters after making an epic journey across the Atlantic Ocean to her new home at Picton Terminals in Prince Edward County. Read the full story by Whig Standard.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20210126-shipping-tug
Beginning this month, through state of Michigan funding, a project for removing mine trailing sands located in stamp sand will truck the dredged sands 4 miles north of the Grand Traverse harbor and placed in a temporary disposal area. This area is located on an existing stamp sand deposit, away from the immediate reach of Lake Superior. Read the full story by The Mining Journal.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20210126-mining-dredge-michigan
Beech leaf disease has been added to Michigan’s invasive species watch list and state officials are asking residents to be on the lookout for trees infested with the damaging disease. Read the full story by Detroit Free Press.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20210126-invasive-michigan
President Joe Biden is set to sign an Executive Order, titled “Strengthening ‘Buy American’ Provisions, Ensuring Future of America is Made in America by All of America’s Workers”, which includes strong support of the Jones Act and references the recently passed National Defense Authorization Act, which the American Maritime Partnership recently described as the most consequential maritime legislation enacted in years. Read the full story by gCaptain.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20210126-shipping-maritime
Microplastic particles, typically studied as aquatic pollutants, are also common in coastal dunes on Great Lakes’ shorelines, according to a new study which has found that microplastic pollution is frequently transported from shore to coastal land. Read the full story by The Mining Journal.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20210126-microplastic-pollution
The Great Lakes are threatened by toxic, greenhouse-gas-emitting algae that thrive on phosphorus pollution. A new study, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Science, helps explain why the blooms persist: Hordes of invasive quagga mussels have effectively reengineered the largest freshwater ecosystem on Earth. Read the full story by Grist.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20210126-invasive-pollution-algae
Since its inception, the GLRI has invested more than $2.7 billion in more than 5,400 projects across all eight Great Lakes states. GLRI projects address five main areas and is helping to prevent non-native species from invading, support clean up, restore habitat and more. Read the full story by Great Lakes Now.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20210126-glri-funding-restoration
Wisconsin ‘s Climate Change Report was published last month by the governor’s Task Force on Climate Change and included for the first time in a government report, an Indigenous land acknowledgement that notes this land was stolen from Indigenous people. The task force sought input from the 12 Native tribes in the state for the Climate Change Report. Read the full story by Green Bay Press-Gazette.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20210126-climate-change-wisconsin-tribes
Nearly one mile of undeveloped Lake Huron coastline in northern Michigan is slated to become home to a public park after recently being purchased by the conservation group Huron Pines. Read the full story by MLive.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20210125-waterfront-park
Nearly four years since the presence of perfluorooctanoic acid and perfluorooctanesulfonic acid were discovered at Michigan’s Alpena Combat Readiness Training Center, the U.S. military, the state, and local health officials are moving forward to rectify the situation. Read the full story by The Alpena News.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20210125-pfas-cleanup
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is working to clean up aluminum cans and can fragments that were “inadvertently deposited” as part of an effort to replace eroded sand on Minnesota Point, a popular Lake Superior beach. Read the full story by WDIO-TV – Duluth, MN.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20210125-minnesota-point
The Michigan Citizens for Water Conservation is contesting a decision by the Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes and Energy, which dismissed the group’s challenge to a permit to let Nestle Waters extract more groundwater for bottling under the Ice Mountain brand. Read the full story by MLive.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20210125-nestle-case
Local mid-Michigan officials said state and federal agencies have conducted an extensive investigation of a toxic green ooze site in Madison Heights, Michigan, installed a treatment system, and collected more than 350,000 gallons of contaminated groundwater to be treated. Read the full story by WDIV-TV – Detroit, MI.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20210125-toxic-ooze
A retired Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry biologist is looking to the provincial government to save the last remaining woodland caribou along Lake Superior’s north shore. Read the full story by Soo Today.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20210125-caribou
The state of Michigan is seeking input from the public on an updated public lands strategy that will affect roughly 4.6 million acres of state-owned forests, parks, trails, game and wildlife areas and other public lands. Read the full story by The Associated Press.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20210125-public-lands
A shipwreck hunter is in talks with the Racine Heritage Museum to donate artifacts related to shipwrecks in the Wisconsin side of Lake Michigan, totaling up to a value of over $1.5 million. Read the full story by The Journal Times.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20210125-shipwreck-artifacts
The Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources policy board has refused legislators’ request to implement a wolf hunt immediately. Read the full story by The Associated Press.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20210125-wolf-hunt
Great Lakes shipping only declined by 1.7% during the 2020 navigation season, despite the turmoil the coronavirus pandemic unleashed on the global economy. Read the full story by The Northwest Indiana Times.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20210125-great-lakes-shipping
The Great Lakes currently have record low ice coverage. Ice coverage across all the lakes is 3.9%, compared with 11% at the same time last year. Read the full story by CNN.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20210122-no-ice
Since 1985, communities across the Great Lake region have come together to clean and restore heavily contaminated sites in 42 Great Lakes Areas of Concern (AOCs). The U.S. and Canadian federal government have spent over $22.5 billion to bring back the ecosystems, to reinvigorate habitat and to clean up the sediment so that the fish and wildlife populations can survive. Read the full story by Great Lakes Echo.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20210122-aoc
With the Coronavirus Response and Relief Supplemental Act of 2021, Great Lakes tribal fisheries were included in the $30 million allotted for tribal fisheries nationwide. Another $15 million was set aside for “non-tribal commercial, aquaculture, processor and charter fishery participants” in Great Lakes states. Read the full story by Great Lakes Now.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20210122-fisheries
Environmentalists would like to see President Biden reinstate stricter policies with a focus on water level regulations that protect the Great Lakes. Activists also hope addressing climate change remains one of President Biden’s top priorities. Read the full story by KQDS–TV – Duluth, MN.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20210122-biden-env-policy
With a new administration committed to the environment and climate change, an increase in funding for the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative, and with Chicago’s history of innovation, the city has an opportunity to again be a leader in U.S. infrastructure and water management. Read the full story by Crain’s Chicago Business.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20210122-chicago-water
The Great Lakes face numerous stressors that threaten the Lake Michigan’s ecology, including invasive species, climate change and nutrient pollution. Read the full story by Crain’s Chicago Business.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20210122-stressors
A federal agency has awarded the University of Toledo’s Lake Erie Center nearly $80,000 to transform the Sandpiper cruise vessel into a floating laboratory to help area teachers provide more hands-on learning experiences along the Maumee River. Read the full story by The Toledo Blade.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20210122-sandpiper
Construction began this week on a project to restore the Boardman River in Traverse City, Michigan. The restoration project includes an innovative “adaptive fish sorting channel” that will allow desirable fish to move up- and downstream while restricting passage of invasive species. Read the full story by MLive.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20210122-boardman
Hazardous PFAS chemicals linked to cancer have been found in the Yahara River and all five of surrounding lakes near Madison, Wisconsin. State officials have not warned against eating the fish until they confirm they are contaminated. Read the full story by the Wisconsin State Journal.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20210121-aquatic-species
Warm temperatures and low ice coverage on Lake Erie are limiting ice fishing opportunities this year for anglers in Erie, Pennsylvania. Read the full story by the Erie Times-News.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20210122-presque-isle
This evening, the Midland-Penetanguishene Field Naturalists in Ontario welcomes guest speaker Kat Lucas, a Toronto Zoo Aqua-Links program assistant, who will deliver a virtual presentation on aquatic species at risk in the Great Lakes. Read the full story by Orillia Matters.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20210121-aquatic-species
Great Lakes steel production rose by 20,000 tons last week but remains depressed by nearly 10% with U.S. steel mills only operating at about three-fourths of capacity, according to the American Iron and Steel Institute. Read the full story by The Times of Northwest Indiana.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20210121-steel-production
Due to the pandemic, this year’s wolf and moose study at Isle Royale National Park has been scrapped to protect the scientists and support personnel from possible exposure to the virus, Superintendent Denice Swanke said Friday. Read the full story by Great Lakes Now.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20210121-isle-royale
A recently published details the NASA-funded research of the 11 largest freshwater lakes. A combination of satellite observations and field data provided a new understanding of how water fixes carbon in large bodies of water and how climate change influences these interactions. Read the full story by The Science Times.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20210121-climate-change
The Central Michigan Cooperative Invasive Species Management Area (CM-CISMA) is hoping to continue research on invasive species in the area, this time focusing on the effects of last May’s flood on invasive species along the Tittabawassee River. Read the full story by the Midland Daily News.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20210121-cisma
In passing an omnibus bill which included the Water Resources Development Act, Congress authorized a plan from the Army Corps of Engineers to restore the Chicago River’s South Fork, a 1.25-mile stretch more familiarly known as Bubbly Creek. Read the full story by WTTW-TV-Chicago, IL.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20210121-bubbly-creek
To address the issue of harmful algal blooms, Ohio Sea Grant, in conjunction with the University of Toledo, co-manage the Ohio Department of Higher Education’s Harmful Algal Bloom Research Initiative. These funds are leveraged with NOAA Sea Grant support to study Like Erie stressors. Read the full story by Ohio’s Country Journal.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20210121-erie-research
Pennsylvania’s Presque Isle State Park will receive a total of $3 million for sand replenishment in 2021, according to park operations manager Matt Green. Read the full story by Erie News Now.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20210121-presque-isle
The Black River Area of Concern in Ohio removed another item of concern from its list, according to a news release from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Read the full story by The Chronicle Telegram.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20210121-black-river
Three weeks into January the percentage of ice coverage on the Great Lakes is historically low with not even 2% of ice coverage on the lakes. Read the full story by WSYR-TV Syracuse, NY.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20210121-ice-cover
The Army Corps included $3.8 million for the Brandon Road Lock and Dam gauntlet project in its fiscal year 2021 work plan. The project would reconfigure the Brandon Road lock in Illinois with an electric barrier, bubble barrier, acoustic deterrents and flushing lock, to prevent invasive silver and bighead carp from moving upstream. Read the full story by MLive.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20210120-asian-carp-invasive
Plans to restore Lake Michigan’s Waugoshance lighthouse have now been abandoned due to the extensive damage. Read the full story by Harbor Light News,
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20210120-lighthouse-restoration
Does Flint finally have clean water? Almost. Nearly four years after a court order required the replacement of lead pipes in the water system of Flint, Michigan, the work is only just now approaching completion. Read the full story by New York Magazine.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20210120-michigan-flint-water-quality
In Ohio, Cuyahoga County’s Lakefront Public Access Plan aims to provide access to Lake Erie and improve transportation along the shoreline while enhancing erosion control and shoreline stability. Read the full story by Spectrum News Ohio.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20210120-shoreline-access-ohio
The effort to keep the invasive grass carp from running rampant in Lake Erie has been culminated in “The Lake Erie Grass Carp Response Strategy: 2019–2023,” which outlines Ohio Department of Natural Resources’ strategy for preventing grass carp from expanding beyond western Lake Erie and the Maumee and Sandusky rivers. Read the full story by Port Clinton News Herald.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20210120-grass-carp-invasive
About half a century after local leaders first proposed building a breakwall in Lake Ontario to prevent flooding in New York’s Olcott Harbor, the project finally has reached the brink of state and federal approval, with state agency and Army Corps of Engineers permits remaining. Read the full story by The Buffalo News.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20210120-new-york-harbor
In Michigan, Lake Superior State University was awarded a grant from the U.S. Forest Service’s Great Lakes Restoration Initiative to help create green infrastructure through the St. Marys River Green Stormwater Demonstration Project at a former industrial brownfield site later this year. Read the full story by WLUC – TV – Negaunee, MI.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20210120-green-infrastructure-restoration
After a year of overwhelmed sewer systems, compromised roadways, lost beachfront property, and rampant erosion along the shoreline, Traverse City, Michigan is finally getting some relief: Water levels in the Great Lakes are dropping. Read the full story by The Ticker.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20210120-water-levels-erosion-michigan
