Mayflies have begun to emerge in the western Lake Erie basin. Read the full story by WJBK – TV – Detroit, MI.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20230616-mayflies
Invasive, parasitic sea lampreys continue to hunt and kill Lake Superior fish above the levels biologists would like to see, especially after the COVID-19 pandemic caused parts of two summer seasons to be lost in the never-ending battle against the eel-like creatures. Read the full story by the Duluth News Tribune.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20230616-lampreys
Gray wolves are thriving at Isle Royale National Park five years after authorities began a last-ditch attempt to prevent the species from dying out on the Lake Superior island chain, scientists said Wednesday. Read the full story by the Associated Press.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20230616-wolves
The University of Minnesota – Duluth Natural Resources Research Institute has partnered with Lake Superior National Estuarine Research Reserve to take over 300 water samples from eight different locations in the St. Louis River estuary. Read the full story by WDIO – TV – Duluth, MN.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20230616-st-louis-river
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers have reported that the New Lock at the Soo project remains on schedule. Read the full story by The Sault News.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20230616-soo-locks
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers recently revoked the PolyMet Section 404 wetlands destruction permit, a necessary permit for the project to move forward. Read and listen to the full story by the Minnesota Reformer.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20230616-loon
More than a month after one of the world’s oldest common loons was injured and vanished from a wildlife refuge in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, the bird was spotted back in the refuge this week – and he might not be swimming alone. Read the full story by MLive.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20230616-loon
Seventy-three parcels of publicly owned shoreline along Lake Erie in Norfolk County, Ontario have been identified as being threatened by erosion. Read the full story by The Hamilton Spectator.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20230616-erosion
It was 2010 when federal funding in the U.S. to restore the Great Lakes, via the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative, began to flow to the tune of $475 million. Fast-forward to 2023 and a program focused on coastal wetland restoration has been renewed twice by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and has received a total of $30 million since 2010. Read the full story by Great Lakes Now.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20230614-coastal-wetland-program
One of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s research vessels, the Lake Guardian, departed Monday afternoon to start an annual mission to monitor and collect samples of trout, small organisms, and more in Lake Huron. Read the full story by The Alpena News.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20230614-lake-huron-research-survey
In conjunction with its upcoming exhibit “The Maritime History of Charlevoix,” the Charlevoix Historical Society will present the program “Documenting Shipwrecks of the Great Lakes” on Wednesday, June 28. Read the full story by the Petoskey News-Review.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20230614-shipwreck-program
Surprised onlookers got a glimpse of a deer swimming for hours in the Straights of Mackinaw. Read the full story by the Detroit Free Press.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20230614-swimming-deer
Legal experts and state officials say it’s business as usual for wetlands protection in Michigan following a U.S. Supreme Court decision which significantly narrows federal authority to regulate wetlands. Read the full story by MLive.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20230614-michigan-wetlands
U.S. District Judge James G. Carr recently approved a plan that is the result of cooperation between the U.S. EPA, State of Ohio, Lucas County Commissioners, and the Environmental Law & Policy Center. The Consent Decree outlines a timeline Ohio EPA must follow to create a Total Maximum Daily Loads that set maximum amounts of pollutants that may enter the water for Lake Erie. Read the full story by The Country Journal.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20230614-tmdl
Lake Erie is a great natural resource, but unlocking the lake’s potential, as well as making the shoreline accessible to everyone, has proven to be a significant problem in Northeast Ohio. There is not a simple solution, but Ohio’s Euclid community has at least cracked the code to the point where people have taken notice. Read the full story by WOIO-TV – Cleveland, OH.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20230614-lakefront-acess
Spiny water flea, Bithotrephes longimanus, are native to brackish Northern European and Asian waterbodies and were inadvertently introduced into the Great Lakes via shipping ballast. Due to their unusually large size for zooplankton, they disrupt the natural food chain and preventing them from invading new areas in the Great Lakes is key. Read the full story by Wisconsin Public Radio.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20230614-spiny-water-flea
As temperatures warm up, more dead fish may be seen washing up on shore – but these fish kills are common as lake temperatures start to increase. Read the full story by WPBN-TV – Traverse City, MI.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20230614-fish-kills
Keweenaw Boat Tours, located in Houghton, MI is expanding. It’s added a larger, second boat and a new tour that offers some spectacular scenery. It includes ancient lava flows, a lighthouse, and a waterfall that rushes over volcanic rock and into Lake Superior. Read the full story by MLive.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20230612-restoringshoreline-scenicboattour-upperpeninsula-michigan-keewanaw
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is inviting public comment through June 19 on plans to restore and strengthen the crumbling “shoreline protection system” at the Point Betsie Lighthouse on Lake Michigan in Benzie County, MI. The project, slated for construction in 2024, is designed to provide long-term protection for the 1858 Point Betsie Lighthouse and other historic structures on the site. Read the full story by the Traverse City Record-Eagle.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20230612-restoringshoreline-pointbestie-lighthouse
Our water sources are some of the most important resources we have in the world, so divers and volunteers came together in Kingston, ON to clean up Lake Ontario’s shoreline on Saturday. Read the full story by CTV News-TV – Toronto, ON.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20230612-garbage-lakeontario
Tours of one of Muskegon’s two Lake Michigan lighthouses will be offered this summer as the city works toward ownership of the historic structures. The South Pierhead Lighthouse, located near the U.S. Coast Guard station at Pere Marquette Park, is open for tours from 1-5 p.m. Fridays through Mondays. Read the full story by MLive.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20230612-lighthousetours-muskegon
At the Brandon Road Lock and Dam, south of Joliet, Illinois, below where the Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal and Des Plaines River meet, there is a choke point, a 110-foot wide channel and lock through which the Copi, otherwise called invasive carp, must pass to get to the Great Lakes. There, the Army Corps of Engineers is mustering about $1.2 billion taxpayer dollars to build a barrier that will, hypothetically, stop the carp from getting to the lakes. Read the full story by Undark Magazine.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20230612-race-to-build-fish-barricade
This is “Three Free” Weekend in Michigan. Residents and visitors can fish without a license, ride state-designated trails without an ORV license or trail permit, or get access to state parks and boat landings without a Recreation Passport. Read the full story by The Iron Mountain Daily News.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20230612-michigan-freefishingweekend-fathersday
On Saturday and Sunday of Father’s Day weekend Ohio residents may fish without a license, keeping in mind that size and creel limits never take a holiday. Before and after the weekend, residents age 16 and older who want to fish are required to purchase a license and be prepared to show it when requested. Read the full story by the Columbus Dispatch.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20230612-ohio-freefishingweekend-fathersday
A local couple wants to share the joy of boating with their new private cruise business. Ahh! Venture Cruise is offering private cruises from Lake Macatawa to Lake Michigan in the Holland area. Cal and Terrie Morrow, both licensed captains through the U.S. States Coast Guard, started the business as a way to enjoy the lake in retirement. Read the full story by the Holland Sentinel.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20230612-couplelaunchescruise-lakemacatawa-lakemichigan
Richmond Heights, OH has been named an inaugural recipient of the Richard M. Daley Water Equity Community Award from the Great Lakes and St. Lawrence Cities Initiative. The award is intended to provide support to disadvantaged communities who are working to remove lead lines and modernize their water infrastructure. Read the full story by The Plain Dealer.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/2023-0612-richmondheights-waterinfrastructure
Climate change needs to be solved at the local level. That was the key message of this year’s Great Lakes and St. Lawrence Cities Initiative annual meeting. The binational coalition, composed of over 200 municipal and regional U.S. and Canadian mayors and local officials, gathered in Chicago June 6-9 to talk climate action, with Illinois cities like Waukegan, Evanston and Zion joining in. Read the full story by The Daily Herald.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20230612-greatlakes-waukegan-zion-climatechange
In New York, following public concern over whether the poor air quality from the Canadian wildfires will impact drinking water, the Monroe County Water Authority says the wildfire smoke will have no impact on the quality of water coming from the tap. Chris Lamanna, director of production and transmission, explained that there has been no detectable increase in particulate matter in the raw water quality coming in from Lake Ontario or treated water going out to customers. Read the full story by WHEC-TV – Rochester, NY.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20230609-air-quality-impacts
Invasive, parasitic sea lampreys continue to hunt and kill Lake Superior fish above the levels biologists would like to see, especially after the COVID-19 pandemic caused parts of two summer seasons to be lost in the never-ending battle against the eel-like creatures. Lake Superior now has an estimated 108,000 lampreys, a three-year rolling average, far above the goal of 48,000 lampreys set by the Great Lakes Fishery Commission. Read the full story by Duluth News Tribune.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20230609-lamprey-increases
Buffalo Niagara Waterkeeper has launched the trash-trapping, in-water cleanup technology Seabin for a second season at Buffalo Harbor State Park, New York. This is the second season for the installation of this innovative trashing/trapping device at the water’s edge of Buffalo Harbor State Park – a new tool for Buffalo Niagara Waterkeeper’s efforts to prevent garbage from polluting our region’s waterways. Read the full story by Niagara Frontier Publications.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20230609-cleanup-technology
The city of Highland Park, Michigan, and the Great Lakes Water Authority have agreed to put a long-running court case on pause, giving the two sides more time to work out how the city will pay a $24 million court judgment after not paying disputed water and sewer bills for years. The city says it can’t afford to pay, and has requested a state financial review and expedited bankruptcy proceeding. Read the full story by Michigan Radio.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20230609-water-bill-payment
Crews continue work restoring a floodplain that will also serve as a living laboratory for students along the Blanchard River in Findlay, OH. Local middle school students even helped contribute to the design of the seven-acre project site through the Great Lakes Sediment and Nutrient Reduction Program (GLSNRP), which is headed by the Great Lakes Commission. Read the full story by WTVG-TV – Toledo, OH.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20230609-floodplain-restoration
The Superior Watershed Partnership and Land Conservancy (SWP) staff deployed three climate monitoring and maritime safety buoys near the shorelines of Marquette, Munising and Grand Marais, Michigan, on Saturday, June 3. Each of the three monitoring buoys collect important navigation and climate planning data including wave height, wind speed, water temperature and more. Read the full story by WLUC-TV – Marquette, MI.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20230609-buoys-deployed
Representatives from the Ohio Department of Natural Resources, the Medina County Park District and Litchfield Township cut a ribbon to celebrate Litchfield Wetlands Nature Preserve officially being open on Tuesday. It is 150 acres in total, and 80 of the acres are wetlands that are designed to treat surface runoff and reduce the amount of sediment and nutrients that flows into Lake Erie. Read the full story by The Medina County Gazette.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20230609-nature-preserve-opening
Research collecting data on lake trout movement using acoustic telemetry tags in underway in Lake Ontario. The research team is using specialized tags that communicate with acoustic receivers stationed on the lake bottom and will provide information about the migration patterns and habitats used by adult lake trout. More than 350 lake trout will be tagged in 2023; the tags’ battery life allows the fish to be tracked over the next 10 years. Read the full story by Niagara Frontier Publications.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20230609-trout-research
The 30th Door County Spring Lighthouse Festival is being held this weekend in Door County, Wisconsin. This fundraising weekend includes air, land, boat and adventure tours that provide access to all 11 of the treasured lighthouses of Door County and three to the south. Many of the tour excursions are part of the Lighthouse Festival weekends only, providing visitors with exclusive access to structures that are not typically open to the public. Read the full story by Door County Pulse.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20230609-lighthouse-festival
For the fourth straight year, the Erie-Western Pennsylvania Port Authority will not offer its water taxi service that shuttles people across Presque Isle Bay because it was unable to find an operator for the service. The water taxi service started in 2000 as a way for tourists and residents to travel between the city and Presque Isle State Park. Read the full story by Erie Times-News.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20230609-erie-water-taxi
There are plenty of lakes and rivers to explore across Pennsylvania as bass season begins this week. Smallmouth and largemouth bass are plentiful across the 86,000 miles of rivers and lakes in Pennsylvania, and anglers know these predator fish are fun to catch. Read the full story by the Erie Times-News.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20230607-bass-pennslyvania
The official start of summer is just two short weeks away. As more Michiganders travel across the state and take to the water, it’s important to remember the basics of water safety — especially when it comes to the Great Lakes. Read the full story by the Livingston Daily.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20230607-summer-staysafe-greatlakes
In Muskegon, Michigan, the arrival of the Pearl Mist cruise ship at Heritage Landing Tuesday morning will mark the beginning of a historic cruising season in West Michigan. Read the full story by WZZM-TV – Grand Rapids, MI.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20230607-record-cruiseseason-muskegon
Michigan is full of waterslides, but only one place has launch slides. New for 2023, these fast, steep slides, located on a beach in Lake Orion, will send you flying into the water. Read the full story by MLive.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20230607-mi-launchwaterslides-northernmi
Some of the most panoramic views in all of Northern Michigan can be found at the peaks of its ski hills. Or, in Boyne City, Michigan, at a former downhill ski area that has now become a recreation gem for its community. Read the full story by MLive.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20230607-northernmi-climb
The state of Michigan is warning residents about summer kills as the weather has been more extreme than usual this time of year. Fish kills can happen naturally, and with scorching weather, a summer kill is likely to occur sooner. Read the full story by WDIV-TV – Detroit, MI.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20230607-egle-warning-fishkills
High levels of E. Coli have shut down beach access at Belle Isle in Detroit, Michigan, the second day in a row the bacteria has limited recreation at the popular location. Access to Belle Isle remains, but any visitors will be asked to avoid going in the water to avoid risking any contamination. Read the full story by WJBK-TV – Detroit, MI.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20230607-belleisle-beachaccess-closed-ecoli
Ohio’s Lake Erie fishermen and an invasion of walleye anglers from all over the region have seen a big surge in the walleye fishing this week, thanks to the warm weather. The walleye are biting in many areas right now, making it an excellent time to enjoy the Walleye Capital of the World. Read the full story by The Beacon.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20230607-warmtemps-walleye-lakeerie
Public health monitoring of water quality has returned, along with the warm weather, at seven Lake Huron beaches in Lambton County, Ontario. Read the full story by The Sarnia Observer.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20230607-lambtonhealth-waterquality-testing
Over the last eight years, Stand Up for Great Lakes has been on a mission to paddleboard across each of the five Great Lakes. Their efforts raise money to educate about and preserve our fresh water. Read the full story by 9/10 News.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20230607-standup-greatlakes-lastjourney
With the environment warming because of climate change, researchers are noticing some drastic fluctuations. This year, Lake Erie had little to no ice coverage which has effects on other lake processes like water levels, fish hatches, and algal blooms. Read the full story by Spectrum News 1.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20230605-erie-ice
NOAA has been working to update the Environmental Response Management Application digital data map for Lake Erie. It’s a tool that helps emergency responders and environmental resource managers in dealing with incidents that may adversely impact the environment. Read the full story by WJET-TV – Erie, PA.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20230605-erie-map
The Army Corps of Engineers is now on the cusp of construction on modification of the Brandon Road Lock in Illinois. The project is now projected to cost $1.1 billion, but the main sticking point is that it requires Illinois to sign an agreement as the non-federal sponsor that the state has so far refused to sign Read the full story by Great Lakes Now.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20230605-carp-agreement
