A federal judge has ruled that an Elk Rapids, Michigan, food processing company illegally polluted wetlands and tributaries that drain to Elk Lake and ultimately to Lake Michigan’s Grand Traverse Bay. Read the full story by MLive.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20251119-wetland-pollution
It was 67 years ago Tuesday that the SS Carl D. Bradley sank to the bottom of Lake Michigan near Beaver Island, claiming the lives of thirty-three men. On Saturday, between 100 and 150 people attended a bell-ringing ceremony at the Great Lakes Lore Maritime Museum in Rogers City, Michigan, to remember the crew. Read the full story by WCMU – Mount Pleasant, MI.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20251119-shipwreck-remembrance
In Illinois, the City of Joliet is working to approve a Project Labor Agreement (PLA) to establish a collaborative framework between the city, labor unions, and contractors to ensure that work is completed safely, efficiently, and in the best financial interest of residents. The PLA applies to eight major work packages that include essential improvements to the city’s water system, all of which are required to facilitate the delivery of Lake Michigan water by 2030. Read the full story by WJOL – Joliet, IL.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20251119-labor-collaboration
A U.S.-based cruise company won’t be launching its new Great Lakes itineraries out of Cleveland next year as originally planned, opting instead to launch from Buffalo, New York. Toledo will be the cruise company’s only port call in Ohio. Read the full story by The Plain Dealer.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20251119-cruise-launch
The Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission has several improvements underway in Erie, including a plan to increase the number of steelhead trout it produces and a new vessel. Read the full story by Erie-Times News.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20251117-pa-steelhead
Stanton Yards, a Detroit riverfront development, aims to be a gathering place where people find inspiration in art and reconnect with nature through the transformation of the former Gregory Marina. Read the full story by Great Lakes Now.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20251117-stantonyards
New research reveals how gray wolves in Isle Royale National Park, Michigan seasonally alter their habitat preferences to align with beavers’ habitat preferences, a shift that might have implications for the island’s ecosystem. Read the full story by Capital News Service.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20251117-wolves-beavers
Chicagoans and Northwest Indiana residents are living on land that once belonged to Potawatomi Tribes. The Potawatomi Pokagon Band claims the land as where their Tribe was born. Read the full story by the Chicago Tribune.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20251117-potawatomi-lands
The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission is taking steps to terminate Michigan’s Au Train Dam’s operating license following years of unresolved safety violations. The move marks the most serious enforcement action against the century-old dam, which is considered one of the state’s riskiest privately-owned hydroelectric structures. Read the full story by MLive.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20251117-dam
The city of Lorain, Ohio has invested millions in cleanup and infrastructure to prepare the former steel industry site for mixed-use development to reshape its waterfront. Read the full story by WEWS-TV – Cleveland, OH.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20251117-steel-redevelopment
New rules from the Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy on when and how the largest animal farms dispose of manure and liquid wastes are being praised by environmentalists as a step toward improving state water quality — and blasted by farmers as more costly bureaucratic impositions that won’t better the environment. Read the full story by Detroit Free Press.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20251117-farm-waste
A Canadian dive team searching for the century-old wreck may have stumbled upon a far rarer prize: a pristine shipwreck that could date back 50 years earlier than expected, offering a rare window into a little-understood era of shipbuilding. Read the full story by CBC News.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20251117-shipwreck
Most passengers on Great Lakes cruises are from the U.S. and Canada; however, the number of French- and German-speaking tourists is climbing. Read the full story by MLive.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20251117-michigan-cruise-visitors
In Chicago, Illinois, 40 acres of lakefront property will be restored for a public park at the site of a toxic landfill that’s been operating along Lake Michigan for 40 years. Read the full story by WLS-TV – Chicago, IL.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20251114-newpark
The Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy says there’s not enough money to take care of Michigan’s dams — especially the ones that have put off maintenance for decades — and it’s putting people and property at risk. Read the full story by WDIV-TV – Detroit, MI.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20251114-dams
Many of this year’s funding cuts to the Great Lakes Fishery Commission’s Sea Lamprey Control Program have been reversed, and the program has secured full funding for 2026. But its future remains uncertain. Read the full story by WUWM – Milwaukee, WI.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20251114-lamprey
A northern Michigan tribe along with local environmental organizations have scored a major victory in a legal case in Elk Rapids against Burnette Foods, a nearby fruit processing operation, for allegedly polluting wetlands and Spencer Creek. Read the full story by Interlochen Public Radio.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20251114-elkrapids
Increased demand due to residential and industrial growth has strained the water system in North Dundas, Ontario. One long-term solution to this problem is to connect to the water system in South Dundas, which draws water from the St. Lawrence River. Read the full story by The Morrisburg Leader.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20251114-dundas
Menomonee Falls, Wisconsin, is studying a neighborhood to see how people deal with their leaves. Leaves naturally contain phosphorus and other nutrients, which are great for growing plants and your lawn, but bad for rivers, streams, and Lake Michigan. Read the full story by WTMJ-TV – Milwaukee, WI.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20251114-mulch
In Michigan, the Kalamazoo Water Reclamation Plant emits over a ton of noxious hydrogen sulfide gas annually. The city is pursuing its latest odor-busting project — a $135 million sludge dryer. Read the full story by WMUK – Kalamazoo, MI.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20251114-sludge
Lake Erie’s mythical monster, Bessie, was spotted Wednesday in the Cuyahoga River in Ohio. But this Bessie looked a bit different, thanks to the artistry of a plastic pollution awareness advocate. Read the full story by Ideastream Public Media.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20251114-bessie
Michigan lawmakers hope to unveil legislation in Washington this week that would dramatically increase funding to prevent invasive mussels from wiping out whitefish in the lower Great Lakes. Read the full story by Bridge Michigan.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20251112-invasive-mussels-funding
As data centers proliferate across the Great Lakes, driven by AI’s soaring demands, communities face a dual reality: economic growth and environmental challenges. Read the full story by Planet Detroit.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20251112-michigan-data-centers
Ontario plans to merge thirty-six conservation authorities to seven to improve efficiencies for the organizations that monitor water levels and erosion, manage recreation, and teach people about the environment. Read the full story by CBC News.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20251112-ontario-conservation-authorities
A recent lake sturgeon stocking effort took place in the Cattaraugus Creek by the New York Department of Environmental Conservation. Read the full story by Syracuse.com.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20251112-ny-sturgeon
Every year as summer ends, Indigenous Michiganders head out onto lakes and rivers to collect wild rice, a staple food with cultural significance to these communities. Read the full story by WKAR-TV – East Lansing, MI.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20251112-michigan-manoomin
As cold air rushes over the Great Lakes in late fall and early winter, the ingredients for powerful snowstorms fall into place. Lake Erie may be the smallest of the Great Lakes, but it packs the biggest winter punch. Read the full story by WTOL-TV – Toledo, OH.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20251112-snow
On October 1, the federal government shutdown began, halting many research projects tied to federal agencies, including those vital to the University of Michigan’s Great Lakes programs. The Cooperative Institute for Great Lakes Research works in partnership with NOAA’s Great Lakes Environmental Research Laboratory and depends on federal collaboration for critical work on water quality, algal blooms, and regional climate impacts. Read the full story by WEMU – Ypsilanti, MI.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20251112-annarbor-research
A type of algae called M. wollei appeared in Lake St. Clair in 2010. It’s vexing residents. Local, state, and federal agencies have a plan to control it. Read the full story by WDET – Detroit, MI.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20251112-stclair-algae-muck
Hidden in the Milwaukee Public Library’s Central Library is a little-known collection of artifacts related to ships that have traversed the Great Lakes for the past 400 years — including the legendary SS Edmund Fitzgerald. Read the full story by the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20251112-artifacts
50 years ago on Monday, one of the most “mysterious and controversial” of all shipwrecks on the Great Lakes took place 17 miles north-northwest of Whitefish Point, Michigan, taking the lives of 29 crew members. Read the full story by WZZM-TV – Grand Rapids, MI.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20251110-edmund-fitzgerald-50th-anniversary
A new era of electrical generation and power demand is taking shape across the eight states of the Great Lakes basin – and with it come potentially treacherous consequences for the region’s environment and its world-leading supply of clean, fresh water. Read the full story by Circle of Blue.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20251110-confrontation-energy-water-greatlakes
The tragic sinking of the Edmund Fitzgerald has had a lasting effect on family members of the crew and the Great Lakes shipping industry. Read the full story by Wisconsin Public Radio.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20251110-edmund-fitzgerald-lasting-effects-families
New research funded by Wisconsin Sea Grant shows Anishinaabe fire practices shaped today’s Great Lakes ecosystems. The region’s forests never existed and can’t continue to exist without people – or fire. Read the full story by Great Lakes Echo.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20251110-anishinaabe-fire-greatlakes-ecosystems-research
The Edmund Fitzgerald went down in Lake Superior 50 years ago on Nov. 10, 1975. Two journalists have their own stories to tell of the famed vessel. Read the full story by the Manistee News Advocate.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20251110-reporters-stories-edmund-fitzgerald-wreck
There are well over 6,000 shipwrecks between the five Great Lakes, the most well-known, of course, being the SS Edmund Fitzgerald. In recent years, especially around northeast Wisconsin, shipwreck discoveries have been on the rise. Read the full story by WLUK-TV – Green Bay, MI.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20251110-maritime-experts-shipwrecks-wisconsin
Research from Michigan State University (MSU) is protecting the Great Lakes from a dangerous threat looming specifically in and around Lake Erie. For roughly a decade, MSU scientists have been studying grass carp using acoustic telemetry, which incorporates sound to track populations of fish, where underwater acoustic receivers collect data on fish surgically tagged with acoustic transmitters. Read the full story by Morning Ag Clips.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20251110-msu-led-greatlakes-invasive-carp-research
Most reefs are associated with tropical waters and colorful fish, not the Great Lakes, but Saginaw Bay was once the home of many rock reefs. Created by glacial activity, the reefs provided a habitat for the bay’s fish. Over time, reef habitat was lost, buried by sediment due to logging, manufacturing and agricultural activity in the area. Now, efforts are underway to restore this lost habitat. Read the full story by WNEM-TV – Bay City, MI.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20251110-reef-restoration-saginawbay
To commemorate the 50th anniversary of the SS Edmund Fitzgerald going down during a violent Lake Superior storm in November of 1975, dozens of swimmers braved those same waters to finish the journey the ship and her crew never could. Read the full story by WLUK-TV – Green Bay, WI.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20251110-fondulac-lakesuperior-edmund-fitzgerald-memorial-swim
The city of Manistee, Michigan, will spend an estimated $105,502 to investigate PFAS migration originating from the city’s former landfill site on Adamczak Road. Read the full story by the Huron Daily Tribune.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20251110-pfas-testing-manistee
The sinking of the Edmund Fitzgerald remains a pivotal moment in maritime history, prompting significant safety advancements in Great Lakes shipping over the past 50 years. In the wake of the Fitzgerald disaster, the U.S. Coast Guard implemented stricter training requirements, including the use of life-saving devices and immersion suits to protect against hypothermia. Read the full story by WPBN – Traverse City, MI.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20251107-fitzgerald-safety-legacy
According to the Michigan Department of Natural Resources, European frog-bit, an invasive aquatic plant, has been confirmed in two locations near Lake Michigan: in the lower Grand River, immediately upstream of Grand Haven, in Ottawa County, and in Pentwater Lake in Oceana County. Read the full story by WDIV – Detroit, MI.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20251107-invasive-plant
In Illinois, the city of Evanston’s Climate Action and Resilience Plan Implementation Task Force signed off on the current draft of a Lakefront Protection Ordinance to set a unified policy to regulate development and protect natural habitats and shoreline along Lake Michigan. Read the full story by the Evanston RoundTable.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20251107-lakefront-protection
Edmund Fitzgerald was a businessman in Wisconsin and the president of Northwestern Mutual in Milwaukee, which owned the ship. His roots in the Great Lakes ran deep, with several relatives working in the maritime trade. Read the full story by WOOD-TV – Grand Rapids, MI.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20251107-edmund-fitzgerald
The Michigan Natural Resources Commission voted Thursday to expand the areas where people can spearfish lake trout, northern pike and walleye. Starting in April 2026, anglers will be allowed to spearfish for the three gamefish in parts of Lake Erie and Lake Superior and expanded portions of Lake Michigan. Read the full story by Bridge Michigan.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20251107-spearfishing-access
New industrial plants in St. Thomas, Ontario, will need a $400-million upgrade to the water system serving the area, and property owners in London and Elgin might be on the hook to pay for the upgrade. Read the full story by The London Free Press.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20251107-water-upgrade
The S.O.N.S. (Save Our Native Species) of Lake Erie Fishing Club received around 1,500 brown trout from the Linesville Fish Hatchery in Crawford County, Pennsylvania. The fish are only a few inches in size, and will be cared for at the hatchery until they’re ready to be released into Presque Isle Bay. Read the full story by WJET – Erie, PA.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20251107-trout-hatchery
The Ohio Lake Erie Commission is now accepting applications for grants of up to $50,000, which are available to local governments, research institutions and nonprofit groups for projects that will improve water quality, restore habitats, and strengthen the long-term sustainability of Lake Erie. Read the full story by The Plain Dealer.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20251107-sustainability-grants
The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation says 1,000 young lake sturgeon were released into Cattaraugus Creek this week as part of a long-term plan to reestablish the fish in one of its former spawning grounds along Lake Erie. Read the full story by Fingerlakes1.com.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20251107-sturgeon-release
A new documentary, “Gales of November: Diving the Edmund Fitzgerald,” premiered Wednesday night, drawing on archival footage from an expedition in the mid-1990s to revisit the wreckage. Read the full story by Minnesota Public Radio.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20251107-fitzgerald-documentary
