Michigan State University’s 1,100-acre livestock research farm is working toward a goal: prove the value of advanced cattle production practices to stem environmental damage while simultaneously enhancing farm financial statements. Read the full story by Michigan Public.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20240812-cattle-production
Each summer educators are invited to apply for the opportunity to work alongside Great Lakes scientists aboard a research vessel for a week. A teacher explains how this opportunity helped her take the problems that face Lake Erie back to her classroom. Read the full story by The Allegheny Front.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20240812-lake-erie-research-expedition
From lawmakers to environmentalists, about 70 people met in the Wisconsin Maritime Museum on Friday to celebrate successes and address current challenges facing Lake Michigan. Read the full story by WLUK-TV – Green Bay, WI.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20240812-lake-michigan-day-conference
Michigan Senator Gary Peters visited Sault Ste Marie, Michigan, Saturday where he visited the Soo Locks’ current construction and discussed the $450 million project budget currently under review. View the full story by WLUC-TV – Marquette, MI.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20240812-peterson-soo-locks-visit
The University of Toledo has been awarded $459,353 from the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences to study algal blooms and cyanobacteria. Read the full story by The Toledo Blade.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20240812-ut-grant
Cormorants, a fish-eating bird on Lake Ontario, continue to draw disdain from local fisherman who claim the bird’s populations reduce fishing opportunities. Read the full story by WWNY-TV – Watertown, NY.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20240812-cormorants
In an attempt at a solo swim across Lake Michigan, famed Great Lakes swimmer, Jim Dreyer, lost GPS navigation, fought wild hallucinations and spent a night essentially swimming in circles, causing the swim to end short. Read the full story by MLive.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20240812-dreyer
Two mayors of Wisconsin’s Bayfield County municipalities say that U.S. Rep. Tom Tiffany’s proposal to turn the Apostle Islands National Lakeshore into a national park would put an unmanageable strain on the area’s emergency services, housing stock and infrastructure. Read the full story by the Wisconsin Examiner.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20240812-apostle-islands-national-park-proposal
The Great Lakes Surf Festival welcomed surfers of all skill levels to explore the waters of the Great Lakes and embrace the region’s surfing community during the 6th annual event held at Pere Marquette Beach in Muskegon, Michigan. Read the full story by MLive.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20240812-surfing
The Government of Canada announced a plan to expand product-related regulations for per- and poly-flourinated substances (PFAS) by considering whether PFAS qualify for the Watch List under the Canadian Environmental Protection Act. Read the full story by Great Lakes Now.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20240809-pfas-regulations
The Marquette State Fish Hatchery has stocked 90 inland and Great Lakes sites with yearling lake trout, brook trout, and splake this year to keep fish populations sustainable for both anglers and ecosystems. Read the full story by WLUC – TV – Marquette, MI.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20240809-fish-stocking
Photographers have captured evidence of a persistent harmful algae bloom that’s plagued Muskegon Lake spilling into Lake Michigan. The bloom migration came two days after Muskegon County Health Department advised municipalities to post signage at access points around Muskegon Lake. Read the full story by MLive.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20240809-algal-bloom-spread
Whichever national park beach you visit, there is probably some amount of plastic mixed in with the sand between your toes. A new study found that Great Lakes beaches have some of the highest concentrations of microplastics. Read the full story by the National Parks Service.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20240809-microplastic-beaches
The Great Lakes Museum in Kingston is one of 27 organizations in Eastern Ontario receiving federal funding to help support and diversify tourism attractions, with $3.7 million being distributed in total. Read the full story by YGK News.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20240809-museum-funding
Alberta’s government recently launched a public awareness campaign to combat the spread of invasive zebra mussels and quagga mussels to the province which is currently free of zebra and quagga mussels. However, populations are on the rise in other parts of Canada including the Great Lakes. Read the full story by the Community Press.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20240809-invasive-species-campaign
Audubon Great Lakes and the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources are starting the Marsh Bird Habitat Restoration Project in Allouez Bay, Wisconsin. The project aims to restore the area’s natural habitat by reducing invasive cattails. Read the full story by the Superior Telegram.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20240809-restoration-project
Michigan Senator Gary Peters made a stop in Traverse City, Michigan, to see the progress of the FishPass Project. The project will replace the Union Street Dam and reconnect the Boardman River to Grand Traverse Bay to allow native fish passage. Read the full story by WPBN-TV – Traverse City, MI.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20240809-senator-visit-fishpass
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s largest research vessel, the 180-foot Lake Guardian, was docked at Hart Plaza in Detroit on Thursday for free public tours. The vessel was launched in 2010 to accelerate efforts to protect and restore the world’s largest system of fresh surface water. Read the full story by Detroit Free Press.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20240809-epa-research-vessel
No one wants unsightly pipelines snaking across the country, draining Lake Michigan to feed the citrus groves of the Central Valley in California. But that future is drawing closer by the day. Read the full story by The Salt Lake Tribune.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20240809-water-scarcity
Experts from Michigan State University are working on a groundbreaking way to deal with an invasive fish that is blighting Lake Michigan and connecting waterways: the FishPass. Read the full story by Yahoo!News.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20240809-lamprey-solution
The Great Lakes, a crucial ecosystem supporting 139 native fish species, face a significant ecological crisis, as the Great Lakes Fishery Commission notes an alarming decline in native fish populations over the past two centuries. Read the full story by the Manistee News Advocate.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20240807-native-fish-decline
When an oil spill leached into two Toronto creeks last summer, the cleanup did not go as planned. Despite the efforts to contain it, the spill reached Lake Ontario — a source of drinking water for nine million people. Read the full story by The Narwhal.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20240807-toronto-oil-spill-cleanup
Manoomin or wild rice was once very common in coastal marshes along the Detroit River and has always been sacred to Indigenous Nations. Today it is listed as a threatened species in Michigan and the Nottawaseppi Huron Band of the Potawatomi wants to restore this species in the Detroit River and to identify it as an indicator of ecosystem health. Read the full story by Great Lakes Now.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20240807-wild-rice-restoration
As of 4 p.m. Tuesday, an alleged alligator remains on the loose in or around the east Erie, Pennsylvania, shoreline. Authorities still have not seen a trace of the reptile but have been keeping watch. Read the full story by Erie-Times News.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20240807-gator-watch
Lake Erie’s harmful algal blooms have started sooner and had longer peak periods over the past decade compared to earlier years, newly released data shows. Warming temperatures linked to climate change are a cause, according to researchers, with interactions among species likely playing a role as well. Read the full story by Inside Climate News.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20240807-climate-change-hab
An investigation is underway after more than a thousand dead fish washed up along Tischer Creek in Duluth, Minnesota. Read the full story KBJR-TV – Duluth, MN.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20240807-fish-kill-duluth
Researchers at the Philadelphia Water Department Office of Watersheds are looking to utilize and restore native mussels to help filter contaminants in municipal wastewater. Read the full story by Great Lakes Now.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20240807-native-mussels
A rare Midwestern earthquake struck in Lake Michigan on Friday. The earthquake, which had a magnitude of 2.9, occurred 25 miles off the coast of Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin, according to the U.S. Geological Survey. Read the full story by The Detroit News.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20240807-earthquake
Jim Dreyer — who last year fell short of completing his freestyle across Lake Michigan for a second time — plans to try it again. Read the full story by the Detroit Free Press.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20240807-swim-lake-michigan
Some Wisconsinites fear that the expansion of a St. Croix County dairy farm will increase contamination of the county’s water. Under previous ownership, the farm racked up a litany of manure violations, including two major spills. Read the full story by Wisconsin Watch.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20240807-dairy-farm
A solitary bloody red shrimp was found in the Twin Ports Harbor, raising fears that the light-hating, zooplankton-eating invasive critters have found their way to Lake Superior. Read the full story by the Star Tribune.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20240805-bloodyredshrimp-lakesuperior-invasivespecies
In Lucas County, Ohio, advocates and local leaders brought people out to Lake Erie to see first-hand the lack of progress on the blue-green algae problems, which are still prevalent after 10 years. Read the full story by WTOL-TV – Toledo, OH.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20240805-lakeerie-health-toledowatercrisis
In a rare rebuke to the industrial farm sector, the Michigan Supreme Court this week ruled that state environmental regulators have full authority to require big livestock and poultry operations to improve their handling of billions of pounds of manure that contributes to serious contamination of state waters. Read the full story by Michigan Public.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20240805-michiganswaters-supremecourt
A contentious short-term housing rental ban is looming over one of Michigan’s most popular beach towns. Park Township, Michigan, home to Holland State Park beach, is still in litigation over enforcing a ban on short-term rentals. As it lingers in court, current rental owners are wary of the future of their investments. Read the full story by MLive.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20240805-lakemichigan-town-bans-rentals
After more than a year, the cause of a Lake Michigan diesel spill in Manistee, Michigan, has yet to be shared with the public. Read the full story by the Manistee News Advocate.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20240805-manitowoc-dieselspill
The attempted cheating during a Cleveland-based competition in September 2022 drew worldwide attention. The two Lake Erie walleye anglers lost their nearly $100,000 boat, were fined and lost fishing rights for three years. Read the full story by The Columbus Dispatch.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20240805-fishingscandal-lakeerie
Though there are many ways to enjoy Michigan’s waterways – swimming, fishing, paddling, boating and more – the Michigan Department of Natural Resources wants to ensure that your priority is safety in and around the water. Read the full story by Radio Results Network.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20240805-michigandnr-watersafety-hotweather
Whitefish numbers are declining in northern Michigan, and some scientists believe the heart of the problem lies with the invasive quagga and zebra mussels that have invaded our waters. Read the full story by WPBN-TV – Traverse City, MI.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20240805-declining-whitefish-northernmichigan
In Chicago, a volunteer group has been busy pulling discarded Divvy bikes from Lake Michigan, citing fears over the dangers these battery-powered bikes can pose to the water. Divvy is a bicycle sharing system in the Chicago metropolitan area. Read the full story by NBC Chicago.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20240805-divvybikes-dumped-lakemichigan
Bills to name the stonefly Michigan’s state insect are now before committees in both the state House and Senate, thanks to the work of 5th grade students and teachers from Grand Rapids, Michigan. If you see a stonefly, the water nearby is clean. Read the full story by the Detroit Free Press.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20240805-stonefly-michigansinsect
Ten years ago, Toledo shut down its water system because a toxic algae bloom had formed around its water intake structure in Lake Erie. Safeguards are now in place that will prevent a system shutdown from happening again, but a large reduction in cyanobacterial blooms has yet to be achieved. Read the full story by Michigan Public.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20240802-toxic-algae-blooms
The Glen Lake Association is on a three-year mission to remove invasive koi from the crystal-clear lake next to Sleeping Bear Dunes National Seashore. Read the full story by Bridge Michigan.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20240802-giant-koi
Midwestern states are spending millions every year to prevent invasive carp from entering rivers and lakes. Barriers might slow them down but stopping them completely may be impossible. Officials and researchers think, however, that the creation of consumer markets for silver carp could work to manage their numbers. Read the full story by Michigan Advance.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20240802-invasive-carp
Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg visited the Port of Milwaukee to highlight federal funding — more than $9 million from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law — that helped upgrade its agricultural export facilities. Read the full story by the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20240802-port-investments
The Great Lakes are full of zebra mussels, one estimate puts their population in the Great Lakes alone at 750 trillion. While projects are underway to try and reduce their numbers, their steady expansion to the Western U.S has many concerned. Read the full story by the Detroit Free Press.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20240802-zebra-mussels
Carnivorous plants, a picturesque pebble beach and outcrops of a rare type of volcanic lava rock highlight Minnesota’s newest nature preserve. The Icelandite Coastal Fen Scientific and Natural Area is about 10 miles northeast of Grand Marais on the foggy northern shore of Lake Superior. Read the full story by the Star Tribune.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20240802-rare-wetland
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and the Commerce Department has awarded a nearly $1.85 million grant to St. Louis County, Minnesota, to help address climate change impacts on the coast of Lake Superior. Read the full story by WDIO-TV – Duluth, MN.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20240802-shoreline-grant
The last coal-fired passenger steamship in the U.S., the SS Badger, is attempting to become more green while maintaining its steam-powered charm as it travels across Lake Michigan between Manitowoc, Wisconsin, and Ludington, Michigan. Read the full story by Wisconsin Public Radio.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20240802-badger-alternative-fuel
A fuel tank exploded in Lake Huron after a military fighter jet dropped them during an emergency over Michigan on Wednesday. Read the full story by WJBX-TV – Detroit, MI.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20240802-fuel-tank
U.S. Senators Gary Peters (MI) and Debbie Stabenow (MI) say they have secured the $450 million in federal funding included in the Fiscal Year 2025 Energy and Water Development and Related Agencies Appropriations Act for the Soo Locks construction project. Read the full story by the SooLeader.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20240802-soo-locks-funding
