Storm chasers and meteorologists observed a record number of waterspouts over the Great Lakes this month, according to the Toronto-based International Centre for Waterspout Research. Read the full story by Michigan Radio.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20201012-waterspouts
The Anishinaabe people lived along the Great Lakes for centuries before European explorers arrived, however the history of indigenous people is overlooked by many. Organizations in Michigan are working to include more details about the lives of Native Americans in exhibits, museums, and statewide historical markers. Read the full story by Upper Michigan’s Source.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20201009-anishinaabe
The American shipping industry has kept itself safe on the Great Lakes during the pandemic, but the shippers are feeling the economic impact of the shutdown that caused declines in manufacturing output. Read the full story by Duluth News Tribune.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20201009-ore-down
A western Michigan woman honored by the federal government for her environmental activism is attributing her recent cancer diagnosis to toxic PFAS chemicals that polluted her community’s drinking water supply. Read the full story by The Associated Press.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20201009-pfas-activist
Sleeping Bear Dunes turns 50 this month and is a cornerstone of tourism in northern Michigan. But it took nearly a decade to establish the National Park site because of heated opposition from residents. Read the full story by Interlochen Public Radio.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20201009-sleeping-bear
Western Lake Erie’s summer 2020 algal bloom is still present and visible from space. With fall temperatures dropping, the remaining toxic microcystin chemicals will soon deteriorate. Read the full story by The Toledo Blade.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20201009-tough-bugger
The Indiana Department of Environmental Management will host a free virtual webinar series to teach about watershed protection and restoration efforts within the Lake Michigan basin. Read the full story by the Indiana Environmental Reporter.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20201009-idem
Researchers at Michigan Technological University have partnered with a Canadian shipping company to develop autonomous marine vessels to use for cargo shipping on the Great Lakes. Read the full story by State Scoop.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20201009-boat-research
Temperamental fall weather and high lake levels threaten a beleaguered stretch of shoreline road in Chatham-Kent, Ontario, that has been closed due to erosion. Read the full story by The Community Press.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20201009-lake-erie-autumn
An upstate New York couple is scrambling to protect their water supply after they were denied state funding to repair damages from record flooding on Lake Ontario in 2019. Read the full story by WWNY – TV – Watertown, NY.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20201009-ontario-flooding-dw
To make beaches safer, the Great Lakes Surf Rescue Project confronts the issue of drowning on five fronts: gathering statistical data, education, support and advocacy for drowning victims and their families, lifeguard and service training and first responder training. Read the full story by the Petoskey News-Review.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20201009-swimming
It’s just the beginning, but Saugeen Shores, Ontario, is taking its first crack at protecting part of its shoreline from erosion. Hardening the shoreline is happening up and down the Lake Huron coast, as record setting lake levels batter the water’s edge. Read the full story by CTV News.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20201009-saugeen
Together, the five Great Lakes contain upwards of 6,000 shipwrecks. These vessels are scattered across the entire Great Lakes from the Thousand Islands on the eastern end of Lake Ontario to Duluth on the western end of Lake Superior and provide habitat for fish and other aquatic species. Read the full story by Great Lakes Now.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20201008-shipwrecks
The Trent Port Marina in Trenton, Ontario is using cutting-edge technology to filter plastic waste out of the water and stop more plastic from finding its way in. Read the full story by The Intelligencer.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20201008-plastics-cleanup
Researchers at the University of Windsor have been using an underwater robot to study harmful algal blooms and low oxygen levels in Lake Erie. Read the full story by CTV News.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20201008-uwindsor-robot
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) officials visited Cleveland, Ohio Wednesday announcing they will start the process to delist the Ashtabula River as an Area of Concern (AOC) “as final beneficial use impairment is removed.” Read the full story by WEWS-TV -Cleveland, OH.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20201008-ashtabula-river
Both the University of Toledo and Bowling Green State University are recipients of large federal grants announced this week to address the national rise of harmful algal blooms and the toxins they create which can endanger public health. Read the full story by The Toledo Blade.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20201008-lake-erie-algae
Northwestern Michigan College students aided in the multi-million dollar FishPass Project on Wednesday in Traverse City, MI. Scientists implanted radio trackers in some fish, and the students scanned the river to find them and monitor their movement. It will serve as baseline data before the systems installed. Read the full story by WWUP-Cadillac, MI.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20201008-fishpass
For more than a decade, dozens of agencies and millions of dollars in state funding have supported the Black River Watershed Initiative in New York, and stakeholders continue to push for environmental remediation in the mostly-forested north country drainage basin. Read the full story by Watertown Daily Times.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20201008-black-river
The federal government is about to spend $15 million on a new push to restore the Cuyahoga River by adding more twists and turns to its sections that traverse Cuyahoga Valley National Park in Ohio. Read and hear the full story by The Plain Dealer.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20201008-cuyahoga-restoration
The water level on Lake Michigan continued its seasonal decline and had fallen below record stage as of early October. September marked the first month of 2020 in which the Lake Michigan-Huron basin did not set a record for the highest monthly average water level. Read the full story by WWMT-TV – Kalamazoo, MI.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20201008-lake-micihgan
One of three shoreline projects in Bright’s Grove, Ontario meant to prevent Old Lakeshore Road from falling into Lake Huron wasn’t done this year and must be retendered. Read the full story by The Sarnia Journal.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20201008-shoreline-restoration
The Lake Erie Bill of Rights, the surprisingly successful ballot measure that conferred legal rights on Lake Erie, is hanging on by a legal thread. Read the full story by The Toledo Blade.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20201007-lake-stunt
Large swaths of Northeastern Minnesota’s wild country — including the Superior National Forest and North Shore state parks — are potential safe zones for nature to adapt to climate change, but only if they remain protected and undeveloped. Read the full story by the Duluth News-Tribune.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20201007-wild-areas-MN
A family property with a long history of Great Lakes maritime heritage is now under the control of the Michigan Maritime Museum. Read the full story by MLive.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20201007-maritime
In Port Clinton, Ohio, members of the Port Clinton Lighthouse Conservancy raised $47,000 to keep a bronze statue near the shores of Lake Erie. Read the full story by The Beacon.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20201007-lighthouse
Painesville, Ohio, is celebrating its new $14 million, 4,000-foot raw water intake pipe in Lake Erie, which has been in the works since November 2016. It was the longest microtunneling project in the United States by tunneling 25 feet below the bottom of Lake Erie’s shale and clay for a total of almost 4,000-feet for the 60-inch pipe. Read the full story by The Plain Dealer.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20201007-microtunneling
With fall now in full swing, animals are preparing for the winter and birds have begun their migration. At Michigan’s Lake Erie Metropark, you can view the great migration, at a designated watch site for raptor migration. Read the full story by The News-Herald.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20201007-migration
In preparation for the winter months, a freighter dropped 20,000 tons of salt in Hancock, Michigan, last week. It’s the first of two deliveries to the forming mining town in the Keweenaw Peninsula. Read the full story by MLive.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20201007-freighter
The highest number of waterspouts/funnels ever recorded took place recently over the Great Lakes during a seven-day period. Read the full story by CTV News.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20201007-waterspout
Great Lakes steel production ticked up by 5,000 tons last week but remains depressed by nearly a fifth so far this year, 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/20201007-steel
Green Bay officials gathered Tuesday to celebrate the completion of the city’s five-year effort to remove more than 2,000 lead pipes. Read the full story by Wisconsin Public Radio.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20201007-lead
Michigan voters will decide next month whether to change how money can be spent under a popular program that buys land for public use and supports projects such as construction of trails, playgrounds and boat launches. Read the full story by The Associated Press.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20201006-michigan-natural-resources-fund
The Minnesota Department of Natural Resources has confirmed reports of zebra mussels in Lake Minnie-Belle, near Litchfield in Meeker County, after a watercraft inspector reported finding a zebra mussel on a four subsequent settlement samplers. Read the full story by West Central Tribune.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20201006-minnesota-zebra-mussels
Lake Erie’s Western Basin received an overall C+ on its report card produced by the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science based on a variety of factors regarding the lake’s condition. Read the full story by Great Lakes Now.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20201006-lake-erie-report
As a part of a three year study including 61 ecosystem indicators and 40 organizations a report out from the 2019 Canada-United States State of the Strait Conference indicates improving ecosystem health including the return of birds of prey, lake sturgeon, lake whitefish and beaver; but also is evidence that these ecosystems are facing eight health challenges including climate change, eutrophication and algal blooms, and toxic substance contamination among others. Read the full story by Great Lakes Now.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20201006-great-lakes-ecosystem
The Indiana Department of Natural Resources has named Terry Coleman the new director of Indiana State Parks. Coleman has served as deputy director of state parks since 2014 and has been serving as interim state parks director since his predecessor, Dan Bortner, was appointed director of the DNR in August. Read the full story by Inside Indiana Business.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20201006-indiana-parks-director
The William Richard is a $4M jet ferry that officially completed necessary trials by transporting only luggage to and from Mackinac Island on behalf of Grand Hotel guests on Sunday. Read the full story by MLive.com.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20201006-mackinac-ferry
The Great Lakes Children’s Museum is reopening to the public on October 14 in Traverse City, MI after going through air and soil vapor testing. Staff is currently adding COVID-19 safety measures, including sanitizing stations. Read the full story by UpNorthLive.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20201006-great-lakes-museum
A Detroit site tied to the notorious “green ooze” on I-696 last year was purportedly on its way to having its contaminants removed last January; now more than eight months later, the site is unsecured, easily accessible, with pollution remaining. Read the full story by Detroit Free Press.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20201006-detroit-pollution
The company is one of six shipbuilders to receive a $7 million award on Sept. 4 from the Navy to develop a prototype for a new unmanned ship that would be between 200 and 300 feet long with a focus on being low-cost, reconfigurable designs with capabilities to attack both land and sea targets. Read the full story by the Green Bay Press Gazette.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20201006-ship-design
The Canadian federal government is in the market for another used icebreaker that could be converted for use by the Canadian Coast Guard on the Great Lakes, much to the dismay of shipbuilders across the country as this decision would represent a loss of domestic jobs and investment into local economy hard hit by the coronavirus outbreak. Read the full story by CBC News.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20201006-canadian-icebreaker
Michigan Senator Gary Peters introduced bipartisan legislation that codifies the United States Coast Guard’s icebreaking mission on the Great Lakes and increases icebreaking capacity of the Great Lakes fleet. Read the full story by the Cheboygan Daily Tribune.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20201005-ice-breaking
The Trump administration’s new plan to fast-track mining projects and incentivize mining in the U.S. could spoil rivers and lakes in Minnesota’s Iron Range. Read the full story by Great Lakes Now.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20201005-mining
Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer announced a new $500 million dollar initiative to upgrade drinking water and wastewater infrastructure across the state. The plan includes funding for lead service line replacements, PFAS removal, and combined sewer overflow control. Read the full story by The Associated Press.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20201005-lebor
The U.S. House of Representatives passed a bill introduced by U.S. Rep. Marcy Kaptur, Ohio, that would add “Great Lakes” to the name of St. Lawrence Seaway Development Corporation, the group that oversees navigation along the U.S. side of the St. Lawrence Seaway. Read the full story by the Toledo Blade.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20201005-gl-slsdc
U.S. Congress recently passed the America’s Conservation Enhancement Act, which includes $15 million in annual funding for coordinated research and monitoring of binational fisheries within the Great Lakes Basin. Read the full story by the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20201005-congress-conservation-bill
After nearly becoming extinct a few years ago, the Lake Superior caribou herd is rebounding but is not yet at numbers biologists believe is necessary for sustained survival. Read the full story by CBC News.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20201005-caribou
Former Michigan Lieutenant Governor Brian Calley argues that building a tunnel to house the Line 5 oil pipeline under the Straits of Mackinaw for the Line 5 pipeline will reduce the risk of an oil spill in the Great Lakes and provide jobs to the Michigan economy. Read the full story by Ionia Sentinel-Standard.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20201005-calley-oped
The Minnesota Pollution Control Agency should take a stronger stance in enforcing the Clean Water Act and supporting the Lake Superior Chippewa Bands and environmentalists against mining companies seeking to bypass environmental standards. Read the full story by MinnPost.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20201005-mpca
