A tribal leader and conservationists urged Wisconsin state officials to reject plans to relocate part of the aging Enbridge Line 5 pipeline in northern Wisconsin, warning that the threat of a catastrophic spill would still exist along the new route. Read the full story by The Associated Press.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20240816-pipeline-route
The presence of an invasive plant known as water soldier was confirmed in Ontario’s Lake Simcoe for the first time. If left unchecked, water soldier has the potential to invade lakes and rivers throughout Ontario and the Great Lakes basin. Read the full story by Barrie Advance.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20240816-water-soldier-found
The County Commissioners Association of Ohio’s Joint Water Quality Task Force agreed that cleaning up the western Lake Erie watershed is falling short, but two questions have been left unanswered: How to tackle the problem and who is going to foot the bill. Read the full story by The Blade.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20240816-erie-commissioners
The Mackinac Island Ferry Co. will stop making trips from Mackinaw City and St. Ignace, Michigan, to the island effective Monday, leaving Shepler’s Ferry as the only operating ferry service for the rest of the season. Read the full story by Bridge Michigan.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20240816-mackinac-ferry-repairs
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, with interactions among species likely playing a role as well. Read the full story by Cleveland Scene.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20240816-erie-bloom-shift
After tens of millions of dollars in public funding and decades of work by many, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is moving to remove from its list of Areas of Concern Lake Ontario’s Rochester embayment, which lies between Towns of Webster and Parma, New York. Read the full story by The Democrat and Chronicle.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20240816-rochester-aoc
Multicolored, foul-smelling algae in the Lake Ontario waterfront of Hamilton, Ontario, has spurred complaints from boaters and residents, with the city testing for toxic blue-green algae and installing warning signs. Rather than clean it up, city staff are focused on tracking toxic algae locations and alerting the public. Read the full story by The Hamilton Spectator.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20240816-hamilton-algae
Alpena, Michigan, gateway to the Thunder Bay National Marine Sanctuary, offers a fascinating window into the maritime history of the Great Lakes. But beyond its well-known status as a shipwreck haven, Thunder Bay holds many lesser-known stories and facts that deepen its allure. Read the full story by The Sun Times News.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20240816-thunder-bay
Inland Seas Education Association operates two tall ships, with the bulk of its cruises involving school groups, hosting as many as 200 classrooms a year. The Association has been designated as a Certified Autism Center, providing accessible and inclusive educational experiences for all visitors. Read the full story by WPBN-TV – Traverse City, MI.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20240816-inland-seas
The City Council in Yorkville, Illinois, approved applying for an Environmental Protection Agency loan to fund the Lake Michigan water project, joining the DuPage Water Commission, which sources water from Chicago. City officials say Lake Michigan water could be flowing to Yorkville by April of 2028. Read the full story by WSPY – Plano, IL.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20240816-yorkville-water
The Great Lakes Microbial Water Quality Assessment, sponsored by the International Joint Commission, found that decades-old testing methods that measure microbial and chemical threats in Great Lakes waters are inadequate and advances in newer methods are critically needed. Read the full story by Circle of Blue.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20240814-pollutant-testing-study
Multiple officials in Macomb County, Michigan, are calling on the Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy to hold off on renewing Oakland County’s groundwater discharge permit until the county commits to addressing sewage discharges into the Red Run Drain, which flows for 130 miles through both counties. Read the full story by the Michigan Advance.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20240814-permit-dispute
A sizable fish kill of freshwater drum, also known as sheepshead, has happened on portions of Lake Erie near Erie, Pennsylvania. It appeared that some of the distressed fish were doing a side stroke and were unable to right themselves due to issues with their swim bladders which can be caused by changes in water pressure associated with recent weather pattern. Read the full story by Erie Times-News.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20240814-fish-kill
New York Governor Kathy Hochul signed an agreement allowing the Thousand Islands Land Trust to acquire nearly 1,000 acres in Jefferson County through a mix of conservation easements and land purchases to filter potential pollutants from entering the St. Lawrence River and Lake Ontario. Read the full story by WWNY-TV – Carthage, NY.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20240814-land-acquisition
The National Park Service is moving forward with a $32 million project to relocate the docks at both North and South Manitou Islands in Lake Michigan. The agency is seeking permits to relocate the structures after years of access problems caused by sediment shoaling, which has fueled conflict between the park and a ferry operator based in Leland, Michigan, which has canceled service to North Manitou this year. Read the full story by MLive.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20240814-dock-relocation
The Michigan Department of Natural Resources (DNR) reports good fall fishing due to successful spring and summer fish stocking. The DNR stocked a total of 9,118,112 fish that weighed nearly 321 tons and consisted of 10 different species and one hybrid. Read the full story by the News Advocate.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20240814-fish-stocking
On July 28, a fisherman caught a 10.4 pound Atlantic salmon in Lake Erie that is believed to have been stocked hundreds of miles away in Lake Huron. Then on August 4, people believe they saw an alligator swimming off the shore of Erie, Pennsylvania. These sightings have prompted residents to wonder what else has been hiding in Lake Erie. Read the full story by Erie Times-News.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20240814-alligator-sighting
Ottawa County Parks is guiding tours through Michigan dunes at Rosy Mound, a classic Great Lakes dune system including high wooded dunes, foredunes, beach and a dune blowout. Participants can join the Dune Discovery Hike on Tuesday, August 20 to unearth secrets of how these dunes formed and the unique plant species that can only be found here. Read the full story by MLive.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20240814-dune-tour
A popular Lake Michigan beach in Muskegon, Michigan, is safe for now. Public Health – Muskegon County warned earlier this week that it found toxins from an algal bloom in Muskegon Lake spilling into Lake Michigan, but four tests at a local beach on Friday were at non-detect levels. Read the full story by Michigan Public.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20240812-muskegon-lake
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
