Two Northern Michigan lighthouses, Charlevoix South Pier Lighthouse on Lake Michigan and the Gull Rock Lighthouse on Lake Superior, will receive more than $100,000 in grants to support ongoing preservation efforts. Read the full story by WXYZ-TV – Detroit, MI.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20250402-lighthouse-preservation
The Sable Points Lighthouse Keepers Association has opportunities for volunteers to serve as day keepers at its historic lighthouses along Michigan’s Lake Michigan shoreline for the 2025 season. Read the full story by the Manistee News Advocate.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20250402-lighthouse-keepers
The thawing of Wisconsin’s lakes means it’s boating season again, and a popular activity on the water is wake boating. Some advocate for rules to reel in the adverse effects of wake boating, such as damage to shoreline and transporting invasive species. Read the full story by Wisconsin Public Radio.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20250402-wake-boats
Massena Village, New York, trustees tabled a resolution that would have voiced opposition to the New York Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) ending a 40-year walleye restocking program in the Oswegatchie River, a tributary to the St. Lawrence River. Read the full story by Northern News Now.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20250402-walleye-stocking
On June 9, 1909, a mechanical failure at Canada’s Soo Locks led to the sinking of two ships, halting Great Lakes commercial traffic. This disaster exposed infrastructure vulnerabilities, prompting modernization efforts and highlighting potential economic repercussions from similar incidents today. Read the full story by Thumbwind.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20250331-1909-soolocksdiaster
Canada’s Chamber of Marine Commerce is calling for changes to a proposed U.S. port fee plan, warning it could harm Canadian trade and supply chains. Read the full story by Brighton Today.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20250331-us-canadian-trade
Boaters in Ohio can kick off the season with an added layer of safety, as the Ohio Department of Natural Resources offers free vessel safety checks. These inspections ensure that boats have all legally required safety gear, including life jackets, fire extinguishers, and navigation lights, before they hit the water. Read the full story by Spectrum News.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20250331-odnr-boat-safety-inspections
A sewer overflow resulted in thousands of gallons of “material” to be released in Kalamazoo, Michigan, Sunday evening into the early Monday morning hours. Read the full story by WZZM-TV – Grand Rapids, MI.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20250331-kalamazoo-discharge-tenthousand-gallons
The Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources (DNR) is seeking data on the water quality of the state’s lakes, streams and rivers. Along with DNR data, submitted data will be used to assess the quality of the state’s water resources and pinpoint problem areas. Read the full story by the Tomahawk Leader.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20250331-waterquality-lakes-streams-datasought
The Friends of Wisconsin Shipwreck Coast National Marine Sanctuary have announced a new program aimed at sharing the history of the Great Lakes. The First Annual Wisconsin Shipwreck Coast International Film Festival will be held at the Franciscan Center for Music Education and Performance in Manitowoc, Wisconsin, on April 4. Read the full story by Seehafer News.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20250331-wisconsin-shipwreck-filmfestival-manitowoc
Great Lakes water levels fall below last year’s figures, with Lake Erie remaining near historical norms. This change follows a dry fall and increased winter evaporation. Read the full story by Planet Detroit.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20250331-lakeerie-waterlevels-dive
There is no escape from microplastics in today’s world, and increasingly there is no escape from reports of the harm they may be causing to our environment and, possibly, to us. Microplastics and their impacts are a growing field of study. Read the full story by the Watertown Daily Times.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20250331-microplastics-greatlakes-waterquality
Seven Indigenous Nations have withdrawn from discussions over an oil and gas liquids pipeline in Michigan, citing federal agencies’ failure to adequately engage with tribal governments during the process. The move is expected to trigger lawsuits the tribes hope will block the controversial Line 5 project. Read the full story by Grist.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20250331-indigenousnations-pipelinetalks-michigan
Lake Erie is called the Walleye Capital of the World. The 2025 fishing season is set to showcase why. According to the Ohio DNR, walleye from recent large hatches are reaching trophy size. Erie anglers who are used to catching a lot of fish, can now expect to catch a lot of big fish, too. Read the full story by the Fulton Sun.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20250331-driftwoodoutdoors-walleye-fishing-lakeerie
U.S. Senators Bernie Moreno (R-OH) and Gary Peters (D-MI) will co-chair the Senate Great Lakes Task Force for the 119th Congress. They will hold meetings to coordinate legislative initiatives, funding priorities, and oversight efforts to protect the Great Lakes. Read the full story by WTVG-TV – Toledo, OH.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20250328-task-force
Since taking office in January, President Donald Trump and his administration has repeatedly stoked tensions with Canada, once considered the United States’ closest ally. Along with trade and tariffs, this strife has also raised questions about how the region’s water resources will be managed. Read the full story by Grist.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20250328-us-canada-relations
Climate change is making it easier for Great Lakes water birds to get sick, according to a recent University of Illinois study. The study identified avian diseases in the Great Lakes, including botulism and avian influenza, that could be primed for outbreaks amid warming waters and shifting migration patterns. Read the full story by Great Lakes Echo.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20250328-sick-birds
A Michigan House representative recently introduced a bill that could add a lot of regulations to fishing in Saginaw Bay. This could potentially be a massive obstacle for state licensed commercial fishers in the area. Read the full story by the Huron Daily Tribune.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20250328-saginaw-bay-fisheries
While they support bolstering the U.S. shipbuilding industry, officials warned millions of dollars in fees each time a Chinese-built ship stops at a U.S. port would threaten Great Lakes shipping. Read the full story by the Duluth News Tribune.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20250328-chinese-ships
U.S. and Canadian officials are monitoring a crude oil spill that was detected Thursday in the Canadian side of the St. Clair River near the Suncor Sarnia Refinery in Sarnia, Ontario. No impacts to drinking water were reported for Ontario or Michigan residents, although water intake valves were temporarily closed on the Michigan side. Read the full story by CBS News Detroit.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20250328-oil-spill
After reports have surfaced of dead birds on the shores of Lake Michigan, the city of South Haven, Michigan, is urging residents to leave the carcasses alone and report die-offs of six carcasses or more. Read the full story by MLive.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20250328-dead-birds
Wisconsin seems to be a consequence-free place to ditch a boat. Since Oct. 13, the owner of a local salvage company has been the only person who has shown any initiative in removing an abandoned boat, Deep Thought, from the Lake Michigan shoreline in Milwaukee. Read the full story by the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20250328-abandoned-boat
The Soo Locks are open and ships are moving through all of the Great Lakes, bringing out “boat nerds” for spring ship watching. There are several ways for freighter enthusiasts to track them online. Read the full story by MLive.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20250328-boat-nerds
On March 14, Ohio gubernatorial candidate Vivek Ramaswamy said that perhaps Lake Erie should be changed to Lake Ohio. When looking at history, changing the names of the Great Lakes is not completely unheard of, but is a bit more complicated in today’s world. Read the full story by Great Lakes Now.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20250328-lake-ohio
The Great Lakes’ sea lamprey control program has the OK to rehire three dozen federal employees it needs to combat the invasive fish species. That’s after staffing cuts and hiring freezes from the Trump administration last month threatened the work, which the Great Lakes Fishery Commission said would have led to more than $200 million in lost fishing potential. Read the full story by Michigan Public.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20250326-lamprey-control-rehires
Due to a Wisconsin state law barring privately owned water systems from receiving loan forgiveness, the Superior Water Light & Power Company can’t access the federal loan forgiveness included in the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act that helps financially strapped communities upgrade water systems. Many state lawmakers and city officials want Superior residents to benefit from the federal money, but they’re at odds over how to make that happen. Read the full story by Wisconsin Public Radio.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20250326-funding-access
After being notified that the Line 5 tunnel project will likely be fast-tracked for federal approval, Great Lakes tribes are withdrawing as cooperating agencies in the federal environmental review process. In a letter, tribal leaders explained that the process has lacked meaningful dialogue with Indigenous Nations and other cooperating agencies, as well as undermined the federal government’s responsibility to protect tribal treaty rights. Read the full story by the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20250326-tribal-review
The executive director of FLOW (For Love of Water), a law and policy center in Traverse City, Michigan, says the partnership between Canada and the United States regarding the Great Lakes has worked well, with critical Great Lakes programs, partnerships, and binational agreements that support the lakes in many ways. Read the full story by Bridge Michigan.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20250326-binational-relationship
The Michigan Department of Natural Resources will once again hire several people to monitor the critically endangered Great Lakes piping plover at four state parks. Those jobs are typically federally funded by the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative; however, due to cuts to federal programming, funding has only been released to cover two of the five planned hires. Read the full story by WOOD-TV – Grand Rapids, MI.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20250326-piping-plover-staffing
Rising temperatures and changing environmental conditions in the Great Lakes are contributing to harmful algal blooms (HABs), and new research suggests that the nearshore regions of Lake Superior could indicate climate change’s effects on the region’s ecosystem. HABs are often associated with warm, nutrient-rich lakes, but recently have been showing up in cold, low-nutrient lakes such as Lake Superior. Read the full story by Bridge Michigan.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20250326-climate-impacts
Farmers in 10 northwest Ohio counties in the Western Lake Erie Basin are now eligible to enroll or re-enroll in H2Ohio’s agriculture incentive program that uses proven, science-based, best management practices to help improve water quality throughout the state. Read the full story by Spectrum News 1.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20250326-incentive-program
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers predicts that water levels for the Great Lakes will continue a seasonal drop until April; all of the Great Lakes this winter are below the 2023-2024 levels due to winter conditions. But now that spring-like weather is starting to show, most of the Great Lakes are predicted to have rising water levels. Read the full story by the Erie Times-News.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20250326-water-levels
Recent moves at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency have environmental advocates on alert, as proposed agency layoffs and promises of deregulation raise questions about the impact on the Great Lakes region. Read the full story by Wisconsin Public Radio.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20250326-deregulation-impacts
A new Michigan Department of Natural Resources (DNR) research vessel, the 66-foot R/V Steelhead II, is currently being built in northern Michigan. The vessel will come equipped with a lab, netting, and solar panels, letting the DNR research the health of the Great Lakes without going ashore. Read the full story by WPBN-TV – Traverse City, MI.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20250326-research-vessel
An environmental initiative in Thunder Bay, Ontario, is helping keep garbage out of local waterways, with nearly 1,500 pieces of litter diverted from storm drains in the past year via the installation of LittaTraps in storm drains across the city. Read the full story by CBC News.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20250324-littatraps
Millions of fish along the shore of Lake Huron have died since January after they were attracted to warm water produced by the Bruce Power nuclear plant and became trapped in the station’s intake channels, an Ontario First Nation says. Read the full story by the Toronto Star.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20250324-fish-nuclear
The Great Lakes region has long stood as a model of cross-border collaboration working together on a multitude of invasive species and water issues, but the Trump administration’s combative stand on binational relations and deep cuts to Great Lakes initiatives have put environmental progress at risk. Read the full story by the Globe and Mail.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20250324-tariffs
U.S. Representative, Nick Langworthy, has reintroduced the Lakes Before Turbines Act, which would prohibit developers from utilizing tax credits for construction of wind farms on any of the Great Lakes. Read the full story by the Post-Journal.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20250324-wind-turbine-bill
Anglers of the Au Sable, a nonprofit environmental organization in northern Lower Michigan, has sued the U.S. Air Force and National Guard in U.S. District Court, alleging that plans to expand low-altitude flight training in the eastern Lower Peninsula will harm prized waterways, natural areas and the quality of life in the region. Read the full story by Detroit Free Press.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20250324-anglers-lawsuit
With trout season only two weeks away, Pennsylvania is bustling with stocking efforts, releasing over 3 million fish into hundreds of streams and lakes across the state. Read the full story by WTAE—Pittsburgh, PA.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20250324-trout-stocking
The Michigan Department of Natural Resources (DNR) is about to begin the walleye egg collection on the Muskegon River in Newaygo County, with plans to collect nearly 26 million eggs to send to hatcheries around the state. Read the full story by WPBN-TV – Traverse City, MI.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20250324-muskegon-walleye
Michigan’s Mackinac Bridge is among the 68 bridges across 19 states that the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) recommended be assessed to determine “the risk of collapse from a vessel collision.” This comes as part of the ongoing investigation into last year’s Francis Scott Key Bridge collapse in Baltimore. Read the full story by WDIV-TV – Detroit, MI.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20250324-mackinac-bridge
The Michigan Wild Rice Initiative, comprising tribes indigenous to the Great Lakes region, state officials and academic experts, has crafted a stewardship plan that aims to preserve wild rice for future generations. Read the full story by BridgeDetroit.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20250324-wild-rice
As federal funding continues to be slashed in many areas around the country, experts are concerned that the piping plover population will be in danger without the proper care. Read the full story by WLHT – Grand Rapids, MI.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20250324-piping-plover
In Chicago, a new notification system is being proposed at boat launch sites that would alert people to sewer overflow events, warning people to avoid contact with the water. Read the full story by WTTW – Chicago, IL.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20250321-chicago-river
A tropical lake in Central Africa might not seem like the first place you would look to gain insights into North America’s Great Lakes. But that’s just what researchers from Bowling Green State University in Ohio have been doing for the past three years. Read the full story by Great Lakes Now.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20250321-lake-victoria
Arriving a day early to drop anchor and capture this year’s “first ship” award at the Soo Locks in Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan, is actually two vessels in one: the Clyde S. Vanenkevort/Erie Trader, an articulated tug/barge combo. Read the full story by MLive.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20250321-soolocks-freighters-first-of-season
U.S. Sen. Tammy Baldwin and a group of six other Democratic senators representing Great Lakes states sent a letter this week to NOAA Vice Admiral Nancy Hann pressing for more information about how staff cuts at the agency will affect programs on the lakes. Read the full story by the Wisconsin Examiner.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20250321-baldwin-greatlakessenators-noaacuts-letter
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has proposed eliminating its scientific and research arm and up to 75% of its staff, leaving the future of the agency’s Duluth freshwater laboratory and its more than 100 employees uncertain. Read the full story by the Duluth News Tribune.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20250321-duluth-epa-lab-fundingcuts
Southwestern Ontario’s commercial fishing industry is feeling the pressure of looming U.S. tariffs expected on April 2 on all Canadian goods. That includes fish caught and processed in Ontario, a vast majority of which comes from Lake Erie and is exported south of the border. Read the full story by CBC.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20250321-tariffs-ontariofisheries
