Eight rural communities in Michigan are getting help from the U.S. Department of Agriculture to fix water infrastructure problems like sewage contamination, aging pipes, and flooding. Read the full story by Michigan Public.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20241007-rural-water-infrastructure
A record amount of federal aid will soon flow to states to help fix, replace, or demolish their aging dams. Midwestern states are largely missing out on that historic pool of money when compared to other U.S. regions. Read the full story by Inside Climate News.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20241007-dam-aid
The Illinois governor along with state and local officials celebrated the completion of a $73 million project to preserve the rapidly eroding shoreline at the Illinois Beach State Park near Zion, Illinois. The investment preserves several miles of natural Lake Michigan shoreline. Read the full story by the Lake and McHenry County Scanner.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20241007-illinois-shoreline
A recent study found the total amount of money spent on fishing gear, transportation and food doesn’t truly reflect the worth of a fishing trip to Great Lakes anglers, with anglers willing to spend $100 more than the actual cost. Read the full story by Great Lakes Echo.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20241004-great-lakes-fishing
A new drone technology is set to make big waves in Pollution Probe’s mission to clean the Great Lakes of plastic waste and it’s starting in Ontario’s Lake Simcoe. Read the full story by Global News.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20241004-drones-to-clean-lake
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Mussel Watch program is collecting zebra and quagga mussels at sites across the Great Lakes to measure the concentration of harmful pollutants in their tissue. A report will serve to identify areas with high levels of harmful chemicals. Read the full story by Great Lakes Echo.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20241004-noaa-mussel-project
The Great Lakes Fishery Commission will be hosting a screening of the award-winning documentary The Fish Thief: A Great Lakes Mystery at 7 p.m. on Oct. 9 at Michigan’s Cheboygan Opera House. The Fish Thief tells the true story of the fight to save the Great Lakes fishery from one of the most destructive invasive species: the sea lamprey. Read the full story by the Cheboygan Daily Tribune.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20241004-documentary-screening
Dozens of juvenile lake sturgeon with transmitters implanted into them were released into Ohio’s Cuyahoga River on Wednesday. The release of the surgeon into the water is a pilot project for a larger goal of reintroducing the endangered fish into the waterway. Read the full story by WJW-TV – Cleveland, OH.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20241004-sturgeon
Lake Superior is known for its pristine waters, but a combination of nutrient additions from increasing human activity (including farming and development), warming temperatures and stormy conditions have resulted in more frequent blooms of potentially harmful algae. Read the full story by The Conversation.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20241004-lake-superior-agal-blooms
A total of 33 conservation and restoration projects throughout the Great Lakes basin will receive $13.8 million in grants from the Sustain Our Great Lakes partnership, with 11 going to Michigan. Read the full story by Second Wave Media.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20241004-sustain-our-great-lakes
State and local agencies, as well as federally recognized tribes and higher educational institutions, are encouraged to apply for new money the federal government is making available to support phosphorus-reduction outreach and technical assistance efforts in the western Lake Erie basin. Read the full story by The Toledo Blade.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20241004-federal-phosphorus-reduction-money
The H. Lee White Maritime Museum in Oswego, New York, will host “Shipwrecks of Lake Ontario – A Journey of Discovery” by Jim Kennard as part of their History Lecture Series on Sunday, October 20th at 1:30pm. Kennard will dive into some of the most important shipwrecks discovered in Lake Ontario by his team and shipwreck peers. Read the full story by Oswego County Today.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20241004-shipwrecks-of-lake-ontario
Every $1 in federal funding to clean up pollution and other environmental damage to the Great Lakes area yields more than $3 in economic activity, and restoration activities have bipartisan support. Passing the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative Act of 2024 will not only reverse the environmental harms of the past, but is also a critical investment in the future of Great Lakes communities. Read the full story by the Chicago Sun Times.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20241004-glri
The Great Lakes Observing System is leading a campaign to map every meter of the bottom of the Great Lakes. The effort will pinpoint hundreds of underwater shipwrecks, illuminate topographical features, and locate infrastructure. Read the full story by the Associated Press.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20241002-lakebed-maps
The Great Lakes Water Authority and U.S. Army Corps of Engineers announced Monday they will partner on a multi-year study to improve flood resiliency in southeast Michigan. Read the full story by The Detroit News.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20241002-michigan-floods
No matter the outcome of the 2024 U.S. presidential election, the country will have a vice president from the Great Lakes region. How have Vance and Walz advocated for the Great Lakes region thus far? Read the full story by the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20241002-great-lakes-veeps
The Shedd Aquarium, in partnership with Illinois-Indiana Sea Grant and Purdue University, has been tracking fish movements to understand how fish use large urban rivers. Read the full story by Great Lakes Now.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20241002-chicago-river-fish
In an innovative project propelled by the Great Lakes Protection Fund, water nonprofit Freshwater is teaming up with several land trusts on a regional approach to improving water quality around the Great Lakes. A primary goal is to restore select croplands to perennial vegetation, which reduces runoff and erosion while trapping carbon in the soil. Read the full story by Midland Daily News.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20241002-water-quality-partnership
Lake Michigan’s surface temperature has been above average nearly every day this year so far. As heat trapping-greenhouse gasses continue to accumulate in the atmosphere, the Great Lakes region is projected to grow warmer and wetter in the years and decades to come. Read the full story by Michigan Advance.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20241002-lake-temps
Western Lake Erie’s summer 2024 algal bloom appears to remain strong going into October, though it’s unclear for the time being if it’s started to recede as extensive cloud cover has blocked satellite imagery. Read the full story by The Blade.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20241002-erie-bloom
The number of properties located in flood zones is expected to increase significantly in Greater Montreal, corresponding to 15,508 buildings worth $9.9 billion. The updated flood zones consider the uncertainty linked to climate change, which is expected to increase the frequency of floods in the coming years. Read the full story by the CBC.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20241002-montreal-flood-risk
Two years ago, scientists discovered dozens of massive sinkholes about 14 miles off the coast of Sheboygan, Wisconsin, and about 450 feet below the surface. In August, scientists finally got up-close pictures of the sinkholes. Read the full story by CBS News.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20241002-sinkhole-photos
In 2023, Manoomin (wild rice) became Michigan’s official native grain. Found growing in shallow inland lakes and slow-moving streams across the state, the Gun Lake Tribe works every year to plant, harvest, and teach classes about Manoomin in the Kalamazoo River system. Read the full story by WXMI-TV – Grand Rapids, MI.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20241002-wild-rice
The Wisconsin DNR got the go ahead from the Natural Resources Board for the next steps in setting new PFAS standards for public drinking water. Read the full story by WXPR – Rhinelander, WI.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20240930-wisconsin-drinkingwater-pfas
Michigan’s fall fishing season for splake — a hybrid cross between lake and brook trout — is approaching. And the state’s environmental officials are asking anglers for help as they track the fish. Read the full story by the Manistee News Advocate.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20240930-michigan-dnr-marked-splakes
The U.S. Department of Energy said on Monday that it had finalized a $1.52 billion loan guarantee to help a company restart the Palisades nuclear plant, which is located on the shore of Lake Michigan in Michigan. Read the full story by The New York Times.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20240930-michigan-nuclearplant
Michigan State University students along with volunteers recently gathered at Sterling State Park in Monroe, Michigan, to remove plastic pollution from Lake Erie. The plastic collected will be used in a student eco-art workshop. Read the full story by The Monroe News.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20240930-lakeerie-msu-pollution-art
In September, the Grand Rapids Public Museum and its partners returned to the Grand River for their annual lake sturgeon survey, looking to see if the waterway can sustain a population, decades after the prehistoric fish nearly went extinct. Read the full story by WXMI-TV – Grand Rapids, MI.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20240930-lakesturgeon-grandriver
The Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission announced Friday it will be stocking 116,500 trout in 118 stream sections and lakes from October through mid-December. Read the full story by the Erie Times-News.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20240930-lakes-trout
In Illinois, the Oswego Village Board will consider resolutions authorizing the execution of agreements to formally join the DuPage Water Commission as part of the process to switch Oswego to Lake Michigan water. Read the full story by the Aurora Beacon-News.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20240930-oswego-lakemichigan-water
The Sea Lamprey Control Program is doing its part to decrease the population of sea lamprey, an invasive species that once jeopardized the Great Lakes fishing economy. Read the full story by Northern News Now.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20240930-sealamprey-control
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency finalized ballast water standards on Tuesday that would require new vessels in the Great Lakes to install treatment systems to prevent the spread of invasive species, but the standards will not apply to existing ships. Read the full story by Wisconsin Public Radio.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20240927-ballast-water
At the click of a button on his office computer, the Windsor Harbor Master can see any moving vessel on the Detroit River and parts of Lake St. Clair. For the last 12 years, the Windsor Port Authority has been quietly using radar technology to ensure large commercial vessels are aware of smaller fishing boats in the area. Read the full story by the CBC.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20240927-radar-tracking
The Great Lakes Water Authority, which provides drinking water and wastewater services to most of southeast Michigan, is making changes to how it treats drinking water ahead of some new, more stringent rules limiting lead and copper levels in water. Read the full story by Michigan Public.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20240927-pipe-corrosion-control
Microplastics pollution has caught the attention of Great Lakes scientists and policymakers. Wayne State University researchers are studying a river for clues. Read the full story by The Detroit News.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20240927-river-microplastics
Last month, invasive Quagga mussels were first discovered in Lake Geneva in Walworth County, Wisconsin, threatening the ecological balance of Wisconsin’s inland lakes and motivating new conservation efforts. Read the full story by The Daily Cardinal.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20240927-geneva-quaggas
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers will install special equipment in the Michigan’s Upper Peninsula to study the impact of waves on piers and break walls. In October, an Integrated Radar Monitoring System will be installed at Manistique Harbor to collect fall wave data over several months. Read the full story by MLive.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20240927-wave-monitoring
Wisconsin maritime historians recently discovered a 130-year-old shipwreck, the John Evenson steam tug, in Lake Michigan near Algoma, Wisconsin. The tug was lost in June 1895 while assisting another ship as it was entering the Sturgeon Bay Ship Canal. Read the full story by WWMT-TV – Kalamazoo, MI.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20240927-shipwreck-lake-michigan
The mayor of the city of Muskegon, Michigan, assured residents Tuesday night they can “breathe a little sigh of relief” that their drinking water is safe, following high levels of PFAS found in Muskegon Lake earlier this year. Read the full story by MLive.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20240927-pfas-muskegon
On Tuesday, community members helped release nearly 1,800 young lake sturgeon into the St. Louis River near Brookston, Minnesota. The Fond du Lac Band of Lake Superior Chippewa invited the community to help with the stocking event as part of a continuing effort to reestablish the species where it once occurred naturally. Read the full story by the Pine Journal.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20240927-sturgeon-release
A piping plover raised at a captive-rearing facility at the University of Michigan Biological Station in Pellston, Michigan, and released near Chicago has successfully made its way south for the winter, arriving in Wilmington, North Carolina. Read the full story by the Wilmington Star-News.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20240927-plover-migration
A new webcam has been added to a shipwreck museum in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. This live video feed boasts views of the Whitefish Point Light Station, sunrises over Lake Superior, freighters, incoming storms, and even the Northern Lights. Read the full story by MLive.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20240925-lighthouse-webcam
Fisheries and Oceans Canada has a new plan to protect an endangered minnow found along the route of Ontario’s proposed Highway 413. But the federal plan falls short offering new protections for the fish. Read the full story by The Narwhal.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20240925-endangered-fish
In September of 1967, anglers poured out onto Lake Michigan in search of a new fish: salmon from the Pacific Ocean. Many people abandoned common sense in their pursuit of the fish, and some lost their lives. Read the full story by Interlochen Public Radio.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20240925-salmon-fishing
In Wisconsin’s Ashland and Bayfield counties, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service will be applying lampricides to the Bad River with the goal of killing sea lamprey larvae burrowed in the stream bottom. Read the full story by Northern News Now.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20240925-lamprey-treatment
The most ambitious proposal for a marina along the Lake Erie shoreline in Hamburg, New York, includes two marinas on either side of Hoover Beach, creates small islands to protect the shore and moves Route 5 to the west. Read the full story by The Buffalo News.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20240925-marina-development
A group of Michigan State students created a play with input from experts in conservation and environmental communication. The project is part of a larger trend that blends conservation and the arts to get communities thinking about their natural areas. Read the full story by Great Lakes Echo.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20240925-theater-project
Portage Lake Garden Club members and friends cleaned up the beach at Captain John Langland Park in Onekama, Michigan, on Saturday as part of the Alliance for the Great Lake’s Adopt-a-Beach-Day. Read the full story by the Herald Review.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20240925-trash-removal
High concentrations of toxic PFAS chemicals were found in surface water foam this summer on Muskegon Lake in west Michigan. Although there are known legacy sources of PFAS in the Muskegon Lake watershed, experts say the recent increase in shoreline foaming is new and unexplained. Read the full story by MLive.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20240925-pfas-lake-foam
Jackson, Michigan, is among many communities to receive sizable state grants in a push to rehabilitate Michigan’s water infrastructure, officials said. Read the full story by MLive.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20240925-water-main-grant
