Many people are starting to lose hope that the gator of Lake Erie will ever be captured or seen again. Erie-Western Pennsylvania Port Authority officials said it has not confirmed any sightings of it, but expressed hope that it is safe if it is still out there. Read the full story by Erie Times-News.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20240830-alligator-sightings
Geneva Lake in Walworth County, Wisconsin, has long been known for its clear, deep water and scenic location. And now it has an unwelcome distinction: it is the first Wisconsin inland lake documented with quagga mussels, according to state and local officials. Read the full story by the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20240828-quagga-mussels
The Sloughs — or Ogaakagonike in Ojibwe — are a series of Wisconsin tributaries chock full of wetlands that are home to the only wild rice bed in Lake Superior. As threats like climate change and extractive industries encroach on Lake Superior, the power of place has never been more important for the Ojibwe. Read the full story by the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20240828-the-sloughs
Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers announced Monday that his administration is proposing to bring the state’s drinking water standards for PFAS in line with new federal regulations unveiled earlier this year. Read the full story by Wisconsin Public Radio.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20240828-pfas-standards
This month, a team of scientists confirmed there are more than 40 sinkholes on Lake Michigan’s lakebed in the Wisconsin Shipwreck Coast National Marine Sanctuary. The sinkholes are valuable natural laboratories that can help scientists learn more about Earth’s early history before there was oxygen. Read the full story by the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20240828-sinkholes
Although this year’s cruise season is winding down in Cleveland, Ohio, there are plenty of reasons for optimism in 2025. The Port of Cleveland has announced that Victory Cruise Lines is coming back to the Great Lakes after a year-long hiatus, with 30 planned ports of call on the North Coast in 2025. Read the full story by WKYC-TV – Cleveland, OH.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20240828-cleveland-cruises
Knox County, Ohio, farmers are among the more than 3,000 producers protecting Ohio’s water quality through the H2Ohio nutrient management program. Farmers will develop and implement a Voluntary Nutrient Management Plan that will reduce phosphorus runoff, a major contributor to algae blooms. Read the full story by the Knox Pages.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20240828-h2ohio
A $1.45 million federal project will help communities across Wisconsin, Minnesota and Michigan prepare for floods by building up resilience along the Lake Superior coast and reestablishing the land’s ability to store water and release it slowly. Read the full story by the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20240828-flooding-grants
Minnesota’s iconic Split Rock Lighthouse on Lake Superior has transformed itself over the last few years. New to the popular lighthouse is a walking tour and a new exhibit on the history of the Native American people who were there long before the 114-year-old tower. Read the full story by Minnesota Public Radio.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20240828-split-rock-lighthouse
The largest lake sturgeon in the history of Michigan’s annual state survey was captured last week. The monster fish was 75.2 inches long, or about 6-foot, 3 inches, which made it the largest sturgeon by length that the survey has ever recorded. Read the full story by MLive.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20240828-sturgeon
The placid water of Rondeau Bay in Chatham-Kent, Ontario, is at risk of being exposed to the punishing and turbulent waves of Lake Erie. The barrier beach that divides the bodies of water is being eaten away by erosion. Read the full story by the CBC.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20240826-beach-eroding
Two Michigan legislators have introduced bills that would limit sand mining and make it far more difficult to develop on critical sand dunes. The legislation is expected to be officially introduced in September. Read the full story by the Holland Sentinel.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20240826-sand-legislation
Opposition is growing over a proposal to redesignate the Apostle Islands National Lakeshore as Wisconsin’s first national park. Local governments and the Red Cliff Band of Lake Superior Chippewa have come out against the bill, raising concerns about the proposal’s effects on the environment, tribal treaty rights, housing, and infrastructure. Read the full story by the Superior Telegram.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20240826-apostle-islands
A cargo ship has run aground near Kahnawà:ke on Montreal’s South Shore after it experienced a mechanical failure. The unfortunate incident does not pose a threat to the environment and no injuries have been reported, but the ship is blocking cargo traffic. Read the full story by the CBC.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20240826-ship-stuck
Dozens of historic shipwrecks are submerged in Lake Michigan within the bounds of the Wisconsin Shipwreck Coast National Marine Sanctuary. Exploring them just got easier: this month, crews installed buoys and mooring lines near 19 of the most popular shipwrecks. Read the full story by Smithsonian Magazine.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20240826-shipwreck-buoys
Generators at dams built in the late 19th and early 20th centuries were shut down decades ago. Michigan has been removing more of those obsolete dams in recent years, but dam removal is no easy task. Read the full story by Michigan Public.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20240826-dam-removal
The impact of climate change on physical landscapes is the tip of an iceberg, and the psychological effects on individuals and communities are beginning to emerge. Stories from around the Great Lakes highlight the effects of climate change stress. Read the full story by Great Lakes Echo.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20240826-climate-stress
A fourth-grade boy recently made a startling beachside discovery along Lake Superior: bones. Erosion is eating away at the shoreline of Lake Superior and has begun to encroach on graves at Scandia Cemetery in Duluth, Minnesota. Read the full story by the Duluth News Tribune.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20240826-cemetery-eroding
This month, the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation added a brand-new feature to the official “HuntFishNY” app called the “TACKLE BOX.” This feature provides anglers with one stop for waterbody-specific information on fishing regulations, stocking, fishing/boating access sites and more. Read the full story by the Observer.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20240826-huntfishny-app
A new wetland restoration project has been completed at Little Portage Wildlife Area in Ottawa County near Port Clinton, Ohio. The Ohio Department of Natural Resources project is meant to improve water quality while benefiting surrounding communities and revitalizing the area’s ecosystem. Read the full story by the Port Clinton News Herald.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20240826-h2ohio-project-completed
Help is on its way for New York’s Finger Lakes to enhance water quality and combat harmful algae blooms. On Friday, New York Governor Kathy Hochul announced $42 million to protect and enhance water quality in the eastern Finger Lakes region. Read the full story by Finger Lakes Daily News.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20240826-finger-lakes-funding
The Inter-Tribal Council of Michigan announced Thursday it has released a smart phone app to guide people toward safe consumption of Great Lakes fish. The app provides personalized recommendations for eating fish from Lakes Huron, Michigan, Superior, from inland lakes in northern Michigan and northern Minnesota and store-bought fish. Read the full story by The Detroit News.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20240823-fish-app
The Great Lakes Research Center at Michigan Technological University and members of the Great Lakes Smart Ships Coalition will gather to deploy an autonomous surface vessel in hopes of finding the wreckage of a 1968 plane crash in Lake Superior. Read the full story by WWTV-TV – Cadillac, MI.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20240823-autonomous-vessel
Over the last week there have been numerous occasions when the Lake Michigan car ferry, S.S. Badger, has encountered boats that failed to give way. In some cases, the captain of the S.S. Badger was forced to take action to avoid a collision. In response, officials are imposing temporary fishing prohibitions. Read the full story by WWTV-TV – Cadillac, MI.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20240823-ferry-collision
Efforts by Pennsylvania Game Commission staff, and others, to bring an orange-legged, extirpated bird home to Erie County have “terned” out well. It is an uncommonly common milestone. Read the full story by Gettysburg Times.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20240823-tern-return
Five hundred young sturgeon reared from a facility opened by the Michigan Department of Natural Resources and Michigan State University were released last week at four locations in the Saginaw River system. Read the full story by Midland Daily News.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20240823-young-sturgeon
In 2023, Wisconsin Governor Tony Evers signed a law, which set aside $125 million to remediate per- and polyfluorinated substances (PFAS). However, Republicans in the state legislature now disagree to the terms, and it’s been over a year that these funds have been frozen. Read the full story by Great Lakes Now.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20240823-pfas-divide
At the Great Lakes Experience VIP Fishing Day two weeks ago, held at Chadwick Bay in Dunkirk, New York, several charter captains, in collaboration with the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation, showcased the record-breaking fishing season on Lake Erie this year. Read the full story by the Observer Today.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20240823-erie-fishing
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Detroit District, removed a spare set of miter gates, constructed for the Davis and Sabin Locks, from the St. Marys River this summer. The miter gates were hidden in the river for over 80 years and weighed about 350,000 pounds each. Read the full story by Big News Network.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20240823-amry-corps
The Great Lakes Fishery Commission has put together a team of researchers from Michigan State University and other universities to work on FishPass, a project that broke ground in May and will replace a local dam in Traverse City, Michigan. The goal is to let fish like walleye and lake sturgeon into the Boardman-Ottaway River while keeping out invasive species like sea lamprey. Read the full story by WOOD-TV – Grand Rapids, MI.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20240823-vampire-fish
A federal judge has sentenced an Ohio business owner to one year on probation and a $5,000 fine for illegally dumping a hazardous ammonia-containing substance into the Scioto River near Kenton. The crime killed more than 40,000 fish. Read the full story by Great Lakes Echo.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20240823-illegal-dumping
Michigan’s Department of Environment, Great Lakes and Energy has updated an online tool that maps which communities may be most susceptible to adverse effects from pollution. The tool was first released in 2022 and updated this month after seeking public comment. Read the full story by Great Lakes Echo.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20240821-environmental-justice-tool
As political programming continues at the Democratic National Convention, city and Indigenous leaders from across the U.S. and Canada met in the Windy City to discuss a different issue — the future of water use and environmental health in the Great Lakes basin. Read the full story by Courthouse News Service.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20240821-water-testing
The Great Lakes Microbial Water Quality Assessment project, sponsored by the International Joint Commission, released a report stating that decades-old water testing methods are inadequate and advances in newer methods are critically needed. Read the full story by Bridge Michigan.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20240821-water-testing
A new company, the Great Lakes Tinned Fish Company is the first in the Midwest to source exclusively from the Great Lakes region and they plan to debut their product this fall. Read the full story by WXMI – Grand Rapids, MI.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20240821-tinned-fish
As climate change causes more wildfires in western North America, it can mess up train routes causing goods like potash, a fertilizer used by farmers globally, to be shipped through the Great Lakes St. Lawrence Seaway. Read the full story by the Interlochen Public Radio.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20240821-potash-shipping
Democrats looking for an advantage in Michigan’s critical U.S. Senate race are trying to revive the bitter battle over oil and gas drilling in the Great Lakes. Read the full story by E&E News.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20240821-senate-race
The number of cruise stops in Cleveland is set to double next year with the return of Victory Cruise Lines to the Great Lakes. The small cruise line’s two ships will relaunch in 2025 after a dormant 2024. Read the full story by The Plain Dealer.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20240821-cruise-stops-double
The Great Lakes Fisheries Commission is funding 12 different projects totaling $900K to improve aquatic habitat and facilitate conservation efforts in the Memphremagog watershed in Vermont. Read the full story by WCAX – Burlington, VT.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20240821-conservation-funding
The air over the Great Lakes is usually cooler than over land on a hot summer day due to cooler water temperatures and wind blowing from lake to land causes a cooling effect. Read the full story by the MLive.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20240821-cool-air
Zebra mussels are non-native to the Great Lakes region and while only the size of a fingernail, they can cause irreversible environmental and economic damage. Read the full story by the Cleveland Magazine.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20240821-zebra-mussel
In September, federal contractors will begin a pilot cleanup project in Torch Lake near Houghton, Michigan, where 400 deteriorating metal drums of mining waste have littered the Upper Peninsula lakebed for decades. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency wants to figure out the best method for removing the drums, as well as other debris and contaminated sediment which are helping drive fish consumption advisories for species like bass, pike, and walleye. Read the full story by MLive.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20240819-cleanup-study
The Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals denied Enbridge Energy’s request to rehear its June decision to remand the Nessel v. Enbridge case, which denied Enbridge’s Line 5 project to continue, back to a Michigan state court. Read the full story by WLUC-TV – Marquette, MI.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20240819-pipeline-litigation
Nagamo, the only piping plover chick that survived from a full clutch of eggs spawned at Montrose Beach in Illinois, was seen flying away from the area on Wednesday, according to volunteers with the Chicago Piping Plovers organization. But the chick returned Saturday, along with another young plover — a cousin from Waukegan. Read the full story by the Chicago Sun-Times.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20240819-plover-return
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said the main harmful algal bloom in western Lake Erie has expanded from the Toledo area to reach Huron, Ohio. The cyanobacteria bloom has an approximate area of 560 square miles, which is an increase in area since the last update on August 12. Read the full story by the Sandusky Register.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20240819-habs-expansion
The MI Healthy Climate Plan calls for Michigan to become carbon neutral by 2050. The Wolverine Power Collective’s plan to meet that goal involves the “Lake Michigan Connector” — a “superhighway” of electric cable across the lake that would allow power generated in the upper Midwest to be used in Michigan. Read the full story by WOOD-TV – Grand Rapids, MI.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20240819-power-production
The Port of Monroe recently received $1.5 million from the Michigan Maritime Grant Program for a new roll on/roll off extension that will facilitate the cross-border movement of large oversized transports from Canada. The port, Michigan’s only port on Lake Erie, is one of five facilities that received funding from the grant program. Read the full story by The Monroe News.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20240819-port-funding
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Buffalo District has secured $760,000 for designing new erosion defenses at Old Fort Niagara in New York State. Considerable erosion along the Lake Ontario shoreline has jeopardized the wall surrounding Old Fort Niagara, threatening landmarks like the French Castle and North Redoubt at the state historic site. Read the full story by the Niagara Gazette.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20240819-erosion-prevention
The City of Oshawa, Ontario, announced it has teamed up with the Central Lake Ontario Conservation Authority to repurpose old holiday trees as material to stabilize stream banks, control erosion, collect sediment, and improve overall stream habitat and water quality at the Enniskillen Conservation Area. Read the full story by the Durham Post.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20240819-stream-restoration
This summer has been one of almost instant gratification for salmon anglers booking charter trips on the eastern basin of Lake Ontario. In the coming weeks the salmon action will increase as they move close to shore and begin staging for their spawning runs up the tributaries. Read the full story by the Republican Herald.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20240819-salmon-fishing
