With continuing above-freezing temperatures across the region, Great Lakes ice coverage has dropped to less than 10% since reaching a high over more than 50% in February. Read the full story by the Sault Ste. Marie Evening News.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20250321-greatlakes-icecoverage
Dozens of people gathered at the Great Lakes Aquarium after hours on Thursday for the first event in a new series. Titled “Women in Science,” the panel series features local women with various scientific backgrounds. For the inaugural event, the focus was on studying diverse relationships with water in the Great Lakes region. Read the full story by WDIO-DT-TV – Duluth, MN.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20250321-greatlakesaquarium-women-in-science-series
In Oscoda Township, Michigan, an AuSable River paddleboat that’s offered scenic tours for decades has been rescued from the water eight days after it started sinking. Read the full story by MLive.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20250321-sunkenausable-queen
Chicago is exploring ways to manage the contamination of PFAS in the water supply through stricter regulations of PFAS manufacturers. Read the full story by Inside Climate News.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20250319-chicago-pfas
The GOP candidate for Ohio governor, Vivek Ramaswamy, recently pitched Lake Ohio as a new name for Lake Erie during a Toledo campaign event last week. Read the full story by the Cincinnati Enquirer.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20250319-lake-ohio
Industry and environmental advocates warn that the attacks on federal agencies and funding freezes will be “cataclysmic” to the Great Lakes region if not reversed, risking drinking water contamination, fish populations, and the well-being of all those that rely on the Great Lakes system. Read the full story by the Guardian.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20250319-great-lakes-cuts
Conservation experts are concerned about the protection of the endangered Great Lakes piping plovers in Michigan due to hiring struggles and spending limits at the National Park Service. Read the full story by MLive.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20250319-piping-plovers
Environmental Protection Agency Director Lee Zeldin issued guidance to limit federal protections for wetlands last week that environmental advocates say will lead to more pollution in the Great Lakes. Read the full story by Planet Detroit.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20250319-epa-wetlands
After the 2023-2024 ice season was the lowest on record with average ice cover at 4.3% across all five lakes, the 2024-2025 ice season has measured up to the near normal conditions predicted by the U.S. National Ice Center in December. Read the full story by Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20250319-great-lakes-ice
Newly appointed Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lee Zeldin is refocusing the agency with priorities that align with those of Michigan leadership that lead to the 2014 Flint water crisis. Read the full story by Detroit Free Press.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20250319-epa-flint
The 2025 Great Lakes shipping season begins Friday when the larger of two locks in Sault Sainte Marie, Mich. opens. Ships will soon be on the move to and from Lake Superior ports, including Duluth, Superior, Two Harbors and Silver Bay. Read the full story by Minnesota Public Radio.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20250319-duluth-shipping
As the shipping season winds down early to mid-January, the Great Lakes freighters require upgrades and repairs and have a variety of regional ports where they can conduct winter lay-up through a meticulous process to select the best port for the freighter’s needs. Read the full story by the Alpena News.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20250319-freighter-lay-up
The volunteer Cooperative Lakes Monitoring Program, lead by the Michigan Clean Water Corps and sponsored by the Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy, is hosting trainings for participants to learn about monitoring protocol and data collection that contribute to resource management over the past 50 years. Read the full story by Michigan Public.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20250319-michigan-water-monitoring
The Western Reserve was en route to Two Harbors, Minnesota, when it was lost during an August storm 132 years ago, leaving only one survivor. A team from the Great Lakes Shipwreck Historical Society announced this week that it had finally located the 300-foot ship this past summer. Read the full story by The Minnesota Star Tribune.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20250317-found-shipwreck
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service employees fired in February were responsible for managing invasive sea lamprey. Without their control efforts, sea lamprey populations threaten the Great Lakes fishery. Read the full story by The Cool Down.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20250317-lamprey-threat
Progress on the Brandon Road Lock and Dam is once again at a stalemate, and several local lawmakers are calling on state officials in Illinois to help end delays for the project. Read the full story by WOOD-TV – Grand Rapids, MI.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20250317-brandon-road-delay
The U.S. Department of Government Efficiency, run by billionaire Elon Musk, cut its latest round of employees at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), including technicians who work with Canadian scientists to monitor water quality and levels in the lakes. Read the full story by CBC.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20250317-job-cuts
The neighborhood of Yorkville in Kalamazoo County, Michigan, approved joining a national class-action lawsuit against four chemical producing corporations, including 3M and DuPont, seeking compensation for contaminating several towns’ public water systems with a group of chemicals known as PFAS. Read the full story by Shaw Local News Network.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20250317-forever-chemicals
Despite assurances that Great Lakes Restoration Initiative (GLRI) funding has not been targeted by the Trump administration, the fretting will continue as long as the administration targets the EPA for indiscriminate cost savings. Read the full story by Duluth News Tribune.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20250317-funding-cuts
Walleye’s reputation as a prized catch makes it a staple for Lenten fish fries, while Lake Erie’s thriving population continues to fuel both local fisheries and anglers. Read the full story by the Cleveland Magazine.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20250317-erie-walleye
U.S. President Donald Trump has repeatedly stated he’d like to annex Canada and dispose of at least one international boundary treaty. However, the Canada-U.S. border stretches for 8,891 kilometers, across four Great Lakes and it will take more than a pencil and eraser to redraw. Read the full story by the Windsor Star.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20250317-border-controversy
Pier Cove Park, a popular rock hunting beach about 7 miles west of Fennville, Michigan, on the Lake Michigan shoreline, will undergo renovations starting March 24th and is expected to reopen on Memorial Day. Read the full story by MLive.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20250317-beach-closing
The Shaganash Island Lighthouse played a pivotal role in the development the greater Lake Superior region and in 2014 a group of volunteers from the Canadian Lighthouses of Lake Superior (CLLS) embarked on a mission to restore it. Read the full story by Superior North News.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20250317-lighthouse-restoration
In the first round of layoffs in the Trump Administration’s effort to wither the federal workforce, more than 1,200 National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) staff members were lost due to firings, deferred resignations and retirements. Reports say that another 1,029 NOAA employees will be let go in a second round of layoffs, bringing the combined reduction to 20% of the agency’s workforce. Read the full story by the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20250314-federal-layoffs
A Sixth Circuit panel ruled Thursday that a 2023 decree negotiated by the U.S. government and a group of Indigenous Nations regarding fishing rights on the Great Lakes should be adopted, despite one tribe’s protest that the agreement violates its tribal rights. Read the full story by Courthouse News Service.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20250314-fishing-rights
The Poe Lock, and part of the Soo Locks, in Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan, will be opened early to all marine traffic by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers on March 21 at 8 a.m., marking the start of the 2025 Great Lakes shipping season. Read the full story by WPBN-TV – Traverse City, MI.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20250314-early-lock-opening
The mayor of Lorain, Ohio, joined 29 other U.S. and Canadian mayors from the Great Lakes and St. Lawrence Cities Initiative in Washington last week to advocate for maintaining trade relationships between the countries and to raise concerns about President Donald Trump’s sweeping tariffs that they fear could devastate the region’s economy. Read the full story by The Plain Dealer.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20250314-tariff-opposition
The Great Lakes Seaway Development Corporation, which manages the U.S. side of operations on the waterway, warned residents on the St. Lawrence River that ice-breaking operations will start around March 15 in preparation for the navigation season. Read the full story by The Cornwall Standard Freeholder.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20250314-ice-breaking
Bipartisan members of Congress from Great Lakes states are urging the state of Illinois to “promptly” end its delay of a $1.15 billion project to prevent invasive carp from infiltrating Lake Michigan. Read the full story by The Detroit News.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20250314-project-delays
The historic railcar ferry S.S. Badger will begin its 2025 season on May 16 after a dry dock for a propeller shaft bearing repair that is expected to reduce interruptions to the Lake Michigan sailing season. Read the full story by MLive.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20250314-ferry-repairs
A regional assessment study of the St. Lawrence River has now been authorized, after the Mohawk Council of Kahnawake submitted a request for a study in 2020 and Canada’s environment ministry approved the request in 2021. One of the goals of the coming study will be to analyze the extent to which decades of development along the river’s shores have impacted Kahnawa’kehró:non from exercising their rights. Read the full story by The Eastern Door.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20250314-st-lawrence-river-study
For decades, residents of Macomb County, Michigan, have endured the harmful environmental and health effects of combined sewer overflow discharges. The contamination of local waterways like Lake St. Clair and the Clinton River has put the safety and health of our communities at risk, causing problems ranging from skin infections to gastrointestinal diseases. Read the full story by The Oakland Press.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20250314-sewage-contamination
The Great Lakes Environmental Festival is returning to Manistee, Michigan, for a fourth time on March 22. This date is also World Water Day, and the festival will be focused on exploring the challenges of climate change and water-related issues. Read the full story by the News Advocate.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20250314-environmental-festival
The spending bill in the Republican-led U.S. House reduces the funding available for Army Corps of Engineers construction projects next year by roughly 44% ― a change that could have consequences for the $3 billion project to build a new Great Lakes freighter shipping lock in Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan. Read the full story by The Detroit News.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20250312-corps-cuts
With parts of the U.S. facing chronic drought, President Trump has reportedly threatened to tear up joint agreements between the U.S. and Canada regulating the Great Lakes. Read the full story by the Financial Post.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20250312-trump-freshwater
The Michigan House Oversight Committee recently reviewed a report on the state’s water withdrawal monitoring program that highlighted data discrepancies, data security concerns, failure to track withdrawal assessments and water use, and a lack of policies for responding to public complaints. Read the full story by Michigan Advance.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20250312-michigan-water
After yearslong litigation with community groups, staunch opposition from residents, and recent resistance from the state environmental agency, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers announced Tuesday it was dropping a plan to expand a toxic waste dump along Chicago’s Lake Michigan shoreline. Read the full story by the Chicago Tribune.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20250312-chicago-dump
New research suggests that the Great Lakes started forming hundreds of millions of years ago, long before the glaciers melted and receded northward. Read the full story by Bridge Michigan.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20250312-lake-origins
Ice on the Great Lakes is steadily retreating under warm spring temperatures. Great Lakes ice coverage stands at 17.3%, with Lake Erie at 32.9% coverage. Read the full story by the Detroit Free Press.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20250312-ice-retreat
A new exhibit at the Wisconsin Maritime Museum showcases the history of commercial fishing in Lake Michigan and highlights challenges faced by the industry. Read the full story by the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20250312-fishing-exhibit
Trips across Lake Michigan on the SS Badger ferry will begin in mid-May. Before that, the ferry will travel to Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin, for repairs. Read the full story by WLUK-TV – Green Bay, WI.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20250312-badger-repairs
Bird watchers along Lake Huron photographed an orange-colored snowy owl, which has been nicknamed Rusty and Creamsicle. But there is no consensus about what caused its unusual tint. Read the full story by The New York Times.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20250312-orange-owl
Explorers have discovered the sunken wreckage of the Western Reserve, one of the first steel cargo ships to ply the Great Lakes and which sank in a gale on Lake Superior in August 1892. Read the full story by The Associated Press.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20250312-superior-shipwreck
Great Lakes water levels have dropped down to their lowest point in the last decade. The levels are expected to rise during the spring thaw, but low water levels can cause shipping vessels to run aground, limit recreational access and increase erosion. Read the full story by WCMU – Mount Pleasant, MI.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20250310-greatlakes-waterlevels
The Great Lakes Shipwreck Historical Society (GLSHS) has discovered the final resting spot for the Western Reserve, 132 years after the ship sank in Lake Superior. Read the full story by WXYZ-TV – Detroit, MI.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20250310-shipwreckage-lakesuperior
It’s a daily routine that has been going for more than 1,525 consecutive days, or about four years, at Toronto’s Woodbine Beach. A Toronto local started taking a plunge into Lake Ontario as a way to stay mentally and physically healthy during the pandemic, and it just stuck. Read the full story by the Toronto Star.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20250310-torontowoman-coldplunge
Turn your eyes anywhere at the Port of Oswego in New York and you’ll see aluminum. The metal, in the form of ingots of various shapes and sizes, comes into the Lake Ontario port mostly on ships and railcars from Canada. Some of it gets stored in a big warehouse, but most of it is stacked outside in row after row. Read the full story by The Post-Standard.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20250310-trumptariff-canadianaluminum
The Lake Michigan Sector of the U.S. Coast Guard Cutter announced Friday that the southern waters of the bay of Green Bay will reopen to commercial vessel traffic at 8 a.m. Monday and the Coast Guard Cutter Mackinaw is scheduled to begin icebreaking operations in the bay that week. Read the full story by the Green Bay Press-Gazette.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20250310-greenbay-commercialshipping-icebreaking
The Ohio Department of Natural Resource’s Division of Wildlife is making sure local fishing spots are bubbling with activity as they kick off their trout stocking program this March. Starting Wednesday, March 12, a whopping 85,000 rainbow trout will be released into the wild – well, the semi-wild of 90 carefully selected fishing locations across the state. Read the full story by Spectrum News 1.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20250310-rainbowtrout-spring
The price of Wisconsin fishing licenses could go up by $10 if proposed increases in Governor Tony Evers’ 2025-2027 state budget are passed by the state Legislature. The budget proposal, unveiled February 18, includes a proposed increase from $20 to $30 for a resident annual fishing license. Read the full story by the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20250310-wisconsin-fishing-license-fees
