As a National Historic Landmark, the SS Milwaukee functions as a travel through time for visitors who climb abroad to hear her maritime history. For the first time since she returned to Muskegon in 1998, the ship is offering haunted tours taking place Fridays and Saturdays in October. Read the full story by MLive.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20240909-steamship-tours
Cleveland Metroparks in Ohio, along with partners, recently unveiled plans to open a state-of-the-art community sailing center, aimed at increasing lakefront access for residents and breaking down barriers to the sport. Read the full story by Spectrum News.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20240906-clevelandmetroparks-sailingcenter-2026
The Adopt-a-Beach program, an initiative to keep litter and waste out of the Great Lakes, has passed a milestone. Volunteers with Adopt-a-Beach have removed more than 10 million pieces of litter from Great Lakes beaches and shorelines since 2003. Read the full story by WSGW – Saginaw, MI.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20240906-litter-removed-greatlakes
After nearly a decade of waiting, Oswego County, New York, is celebrating the designation of the Lake Ontario National Marine Sanctuary and inviting the public to join in the festivities. Read the full story by Oswego County News Now.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20240906-noaa-lake-ontario-sanctuary-designation
Michigan environmental advocates are hailing a “groundbreaking” settlement to a civil rights complaint filed with state regulators over the expansion of a hazardous waste facility in Detroit. The settlement requires EGLE to deny a license to a hazardous waste facility, including the renewal of a license, if it will have an “unlawful impact on human health and the environment.” Read the full story by Great Lakes Now.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20240906-michigan-civilrights-settlement
Fertilizer made from city sewage has been spread on millions of acres of farmland for decades in states across the country, including Michigan. Scientists say this fertilizer can contain high levels of PFAS, and the national scale of farmland contamination by these chemicals is only now starting to become apparent. Read the full story by The New York Times.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20240906-foreverchemicals
An ultra swimmer nicknamed The Shark was back on shore Wednesday, having given up on yet another quest to cross Lake Michigan after 40 hours in the water. Read the full story by The Associated Press.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20240906-ulraswimmer-lakemichigan
The remains of the 131-year-old Minnehaha shipwreck are easy to spot as they peek out of the sand along the Lake Michigan shoreline in Manistee County, Michigan. The Minnehaha ran aground and was broken apart by waves in October 1893. Read the full story by MLive.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20240906-shipwrecks-lakemichigan-beach
Hydrilla, a rapidly growing invasive plant that’s prohibited in Ontario, has been discovered for the first time in Canada in the Hillman Marsh Conservation Area in Leamington, Ontario. Read the full story by CBC News.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20240906-invasiveplant-canada
Ludington State Park is known for its seven miles of sandy Lake Michigan beachfront, an iconic lighthouse, and a one-mile stretch of the Big Sable River, popular for fishing, paddling and tubing. It’s one of Michigan’s most popular state parks, and it’s now getting $3.2 million in upgrades. Read the full story by MLive.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20240906-ludingtonstatepark-upgrades
In Detroit, Michigan, Wayne County Commissioners issued a resolution calling for an end to shipping irradiated waste into the county. A statement from the chair calls for “a common-sense solution that protects residents and the nation’s largest fresh water supply.” Read the full story by the Detroit Free Press.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20240906-radioactivewaste-waynecounty
Drownings in Michigan this summer have once again put a spotlight on water safety in a state with the nation’s longest freshwater coastline and an abundance of inland lakes. As of Thursday, the Great Lakes Surf Rescue Project has tracked 77 Great Lakes drownings in 2024 compared to 85 Great Lakes drownings from last year. Read the full story by The Detroit Free Press.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20240904-water-safety
Residents and advocacy groups are asking the federal government for a hearing to try to stop the Palisades nuclear plant in Southwest Michigan on Lake Michigan, officially shut down in 2022, from reopening. No closed nuclear plant has ever reopened. Read the full story by Michigan Public.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20240904-nuclear-petition
The search and recovery team that found a crash victim and airplane lost 17 years ago in Lake Huron said it’s hoping to help even more people find their lost loved ones. Great Lakes Search and Recovery, a nonprofit that searches for people lost in the water, tries to bring closure to families. Read the full story by CBS News.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20240904-search-and-recovery
The Lake Michigan yellow perch population remains very low, and angler catches are far below historical averages. The drops are linked to the arrival of zebra and quagga mussels in the 1990s. Read the full story by the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20240904-perch-population
Visitors to Lake Erie beaches have been puzzled by a flood of dead fish – particularly sheepshead, also known as freshwater drum – with thousands washing ashore in areas near Port Bruce and Port Stanley, Ontario. Experts suggest the die-offs were due to upwelling in hypoxic areas of the lake. Read the full story by the London Free Press.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20240904-dead-fish
A Chicago water commissioner hopes to put to rest the belief that Great Lakes water, now, or at any point in the future, will be used to solve the water woes of the western United States. Read the full story by the Chicago Tribune.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20240904-water-opinion
Several journalists recently gathered at the Ohio Sea Grant/Ohio State University Stone Laboratory research facility for an annual overview of a multitude of issues affecting the world’s 11th largest freshwater lake. Read the full story by The Blade.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20240904-erie-issues
If you’ve walked along the Milwaukee lakefront in the past few weeks, you might have suddenly found yourself amid a swarm of dragonflies. The insects are making their yearly migration south, which includes a several-week stretch passing through Milwaukee. Read the full story by the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20240904-dragonfly-swarms
Four piping Plover fledglings graduated out of captivity and made it onto a northern Michigan beach this summer, joining a record-breaking nesting season across the Great Lakes. A total of 124 wild chicks fledged, or grew wings large enough to fly. Read the full story by MLive.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20240904-plovers-fledged
The Great Lakes Way is an interconnected set of greenways and water trails stretching from Port Huron, Michigan to Toledo, Ohio on western Lake Erie. Its purpose is to help reconnect people with continentally significant natural resources, promote outdoor recreation with its many benefits, and foster a stewardship ethic. Read the full story by Great Lakes Now.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20240904-great-lakes-way
This week, blue-green algae blooms were spotted in the waters of Lake Superior in St. Louis Bay and Little Sand Bay in the Apostle Islands National Lakeshore. Those sightings followed a bloom spotted last week off Barker’s Island in Superior, Wisconsin. While common in inland rivers and ponds, the algae are fairly new to Lake Superior. Read the full story by Wisconsin Public Radio.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20240830-lake-superior-habs
Great Lakes winters are trending warmer and the storm systems are wetter, according to research from the University of Michigan. Read the full story by WMUK – Kalamazoo, MI.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20240830-winter-trends
A Presque Isle County steel fabricator has won a $5.85 million contract to build the R/V Steelhead II, a new fisheries research boat, for the Michigan Department of Natural Resources. The 66-foot, steel-hulled vessel will replace the S/V Steelhead, a 56-year-old survey vessel used to gather Great Lakes fishery management data. Read the full story by MLive.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20240830-research-vessel
More than 154,000 comments have been submitted on the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ environmental assessment of Enbridge’s proposed 41-mile reroute of its Line 5 around the Bad River Band of Lake Superior Chippewa’s land. Interested parties have until Aug. 30 to submit comments. Read the full story by the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20240830-line5-public-comments
In Ontario, toxic blue-green algae that closed public access to the water along Beach Boulevard this week is the first such discovery along Hamilton’s stretch of Lake Ontario in at least a decade, if not longer. Read the full story by The Hamilton Spectator.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20240830-rare-algae
The volunteer lead Great Lakes piping plover monitor at Chicago’s Montrose Beach was recognized by the Illinois Department of Natural Resources as one of 11 outstanding volunteers of the year. Read the full story by WTTW – Chicago, IL.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20240830-plover-volunteer
The Ohio Department of Health reported on Thursday that multiple Lake Erie beaches in northeast Ohio were put under a bacteria contamination advisory. Read the full story by WJW-TV – Cleveland, OH.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20240830-beach-advisories
Approximately 72 hectares of land formerly occupied by a coal-fired power plant in Mississauga will soon be home to the longest Canadian pier in the Great Lakes. The pier will jut 600 meters into Lake Ontario and is part of the Lakeview Village, which is currently being built along its shores. Read the full story by CTV News.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20240830-longest-pier
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
