This month of The Catch features a look at shoreline shipwrecks in Michigan.
Author and editorial director of MichiganTrailMaps.com Jim DuFresne published a “Landlubbers Guide to Shoreline Shipwrecks,” and takes Great Lakes Now on a virtual tour of some of his favorites which include wrecks on the shores of Sleeping Bear Dunes and Isle Royale National Park.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2022/06/the-catch-shoreline-shipwrecks/
This article was republished here with permission from Great Lakes Echo.
By Kurt Williams, Great Lakes Echo
Editor’s note: This is the last in a series of stories about profound ecological changes that test our ability to manage the Great Lakes.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2022/06/history-future-human-impact-great-lakes-ecology/
By Mylène Ratelle, University of Waterloo, and Jessie Yakeleya, Sahtu Renewable Resources Board, The Conversation
is an independent and nonprofit source of news, analysis and commentary from academic experts.
In Indigenous communities that have lacked access to safe water for years, getting access to a safe water supply is crucial.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2022/06/northern-indigenous-communities-drinking-water/
One of the last known (and most famous) blue pike was landed by hook and line in 1962. In 1983, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service declared the blue pike extinct. Yet, nearly 40 years later, the population remains robust and healthy – in the hearts and minds of countless anglers.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2022/06/lake-erie-blue-pike-never-forgotten/
By Diana Kruzman, Grist
This story was originally published by Grist. You can subscribe to its weekly newsletter here.
Northeastern Minnesota’s Iron Range has been a major mining hub since the 1860s. Nestled among thick forests and many of the state’s famed “10,000 lakes,” open-pit mines there produce low-grade iron ore that’s shipped to steel mills around the country.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2022/06/minnesota-polymet-mine-renewable-energy-tribes/
One by one, netted fish arrived onto the boat: smallmouth bass, largemouth bass, common carp, gizzard shad, longnose gar.
They lay on their sides, briefly stunned by the electricity that was coursing from rods on the boat’s bow and then scooped on board the 21-foot vessel on a cloudy spring day on Lake Erie.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2022/06/african-scientists-great-lakes-international-exchange/
Great Lakes Moment is a monthly column written by Great Lakes Now Contributor John Hartig. Publishing the author’s views and assertions does not represent endorsement by Great Lakes Now or Detroit Public Television.
The practice of rewilding is frequently carried out in wilderness areas, but cities like Detroit are beginning to reintroduce native species of plants and animals to enhance biodiversity and reap all the benefits of making nature part of everyday urban life.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2022/06/great-lakes-moment-rewilding-metropolitan-detroit/
The North American Sea Glass Association held its 16th Annual Sea Glass Festival at Maumee Bay State Park Lodge on Lake Erie – the first time it wasn’t held at a saltwater venue.
“This is probably the crème de la crème of festivals,” said Beverly Vinch, of Washed Ashore Jewelry, based in Avon Lake, Ohio.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2022/06/great-lakes-sea-glass/
While growing up in California, Erica Gies became aware of the state’s water scarcity, which she told Great Lakes Now has led to a “low-key obsession about water for just about everyone in the state.”
California’s droughts have been a regular occurrence that put a spotlight on the importance of water for Gies, fostering a writing career on the topic that has spanned 15 years.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2022/05/water-always-wins-book/
When Monty and Rose – Chicago’s beloved piping plover pair – first successfully nested at Montrose Beach, a popular place on the city’s north side, people celebrated the potential return of a dying bird species and were charmed by the adorable tiny birds.
The Great Lakes piping plover population has been a U.S.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2022/05/monty-passes-rose-location-question/
In Traverse City, Michigan, Anishinaabe journalist Sierra Clark has been reporting about tribal fishermen throughout the Great Lakes region.
“The story I have been covering came out of talking to a few tribal fishermen in past stories that I had done, and it covers harassment regarding tribal fishing,” Clark said.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2022/05/the-catch-tribal-fishermen-great-lakes-region/
By Briana Rice, Michigan Radio
The Great Lakes News Collaborative includes Bridge Michigan; Circle of Blue; Great Lakes Now at Detroit Public Television; and Michigan Radio, Michigan’s NPR News Leader; who work together to bring audiences news and information about the impact of climate change, pollution, and aging infrastructure on the Great Lakes and drinking water.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2022/05/detroit-river-world-heritage-site/
By Kelly House, Bridge Michigan
The Great Lakes News Collaborative includes Bridge Michigan; Circle of Blue; Great Lakes Now at Detroit Public Television; and Michigan Radio, Michigan’s NPR News Leader; who work together to bring audiences news and information about the impact of climate change, pollution, and aging infrastructure on the Great Lakes and drinking water.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2022/05/michigan-state-parks-covid/
![The Catch: Interlochen Public Radio podcast finds ‘[Un]Natural Selection’ in nature](https://www.greatlakesnow.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/Unnatural-Selection-Logo-240x135.jpg){kind=logo}
Broadcasting in our monthly PBS television program, The Catch is a Great Lakes Now series that brings you more news about the lakes you love. Go beyond the headlines with reporters from around the region who cover the lakes and drinking water issues. Find all the work HERE.
Turns out what used to be natural selection is becoming a bit unnatural.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2022/04/the-catch-unnatural-selection/
Editor’s Note: This is part two of a two-part story. Read the first part here.
Ed Matusik and his wife were in their new summer vacation trailer for just a month at Bay Point Resort and Marina in 2006 when they received an eviction letter: the investment group which recently purchased the site had plans for a new development in that section of the resort.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2022/04/trailer-parks-campgrounds-waterfront-developments/
Broadcasting in our monthly PBS television program, The Catch is a Great Lakes Now series that brings you more news about the lakes you love. Go beyond the headlines with reporters from around the region who cover the lakes and drinking water issues. Find all the work HERE.
Mount Baldy is moving inland.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2022/04/the-catch-dune-moves-inland/
This article, first posted here, was republished with permission from Wisconsin Watch.
By Mario Koran, Wisconsin Watch
This story is part of a collaborative series, “At the Crossroads,” from the Institute for Nonprofit News, Indian Country Today, Wisconsin Watch and eight other news partners, examining the state of the economy in Indian Country.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2022/04/pandemic-shock-pushes-wisconsin-tribes-to-diversify-economy/
Great Lakes Moment is a monthly column written by Great Lakes Now Contributor John Hartig. Publishing the author’s views and assertions does not represent endorsement by Great Lakes Now or Detroit Public Television.
The Great Lakes represent one-fifth the standing freshwater on the Earth’s surface, provide ecosystem services or benefits to approximately 34 million people living in the basin, and serve as the foundation for the $5 trillion regional economy that would be one of the largest in the world if it stood alone as a country.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2022/04/great-lakes-moment-historic-great-lakes-agreement-anniversary/
Geo Rutherford is an artist and an educator based in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. But what a lot of people might recognize her from the most is the social media application TikTok, where Rutherford runs an account making pretty popular videos all about the Great Lakes.
Though originally from Colorado, Rutherford went to school at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee and stuck around in Milwaukee after graduation.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2022/04/great-lakes-ice-popular-tiktok/
Geo Rutherford is an artist and an educator based in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. But what a lot of people might recognize her from the most is the social media application TikTok, where Rutherford runs an account making pretty popular videos all about the Great Lakes.
Though originally from Colorado, Rutherford went to school at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee and stuck around in Milwaukee after graduation.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2022/04/great-lakes-ice-popular-tiktok/
Sunny weather, bikinis and board shorts, the salt spray of the ocean – surfing tends to conjure a very specific image in most people’s minds, and it’s on the ocean coasts, not the freshwater ones in the Midwest.
But to a small community around the Great Lakes region, surfing looks very different – featuring more full-body coverage and ice-cold weather.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2022/03/surfing-great-lakes-where-to-start/
Love staring at a map and discovering something interesting? Then “Mapping the Great Lakes” is for you. It’s a monthly Great Lakes Now feature created by Alex B. Hill, a self-described “data nerd and anthropologist” who combines cartography, data, and analytics with storytelling and human experience.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2022/03/mapping-great-lakes-lighthouses/
By Audrey Henderson, Energy News Network
This story was first published on the Energy News Network and was republished here with permission.
For many city kids, flowers have cut stems and vegetables are packed in styrofoam and plastic on shelves in the grocery store.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2022/03/chicago-educator-empowers-students-climate-connections-communities/
By Kimberly M. S. Cartier, Eos
This story originally appeared in Eos and is republished here as part of Covering Climate Now, a global journalism collaboration strengthening coverage of the climate story.
Residents of New Orleans are no strangers to floods and the losses that follow.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2022/03/black-neighborhoods-future-flood-burden/
The largest known muskie is 67 pounds 8 ounces. Or it’s 69 pounds 11 ounces. Or it’s 70 pounds 10 ounces. Depending on the type of record, whom you ask or what organization you trust, it could be any of those answers.
After Great Lakes Now published a column on muskies that referenced record sizes, it kicked off a dispute among readers on what record was the most accurate, so Great Lakes Now decided to do a deeper dive.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2022/03/who-caught-worlds-largest-muskie/
In Lake Huron’s Les Cheneaux Islands, a school is preserving the craft of building wooden boats.
Opened in 2005, the Great Lakes Boat Building School is located in Cedarville, Michigan, a small town tucked in the scenic bays and natural harbors of the area. A few dozen students a year learn how to build wooden boats.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2022/03/great-lakes-boat-building-school-grant-funding/
This summer, a Great Lakes watchtower will celebrate its 200th birthday as any centenarian should: with cake and ice cream.
The Marblehead Lighthouse sits on Lake Erie’s temperamental shore in Ohio, about 20 miles away from Sandusky. It’s the oldest continually operating lighthouse on the Great Lakes, thanks to the state of Ohio, which, according to the Marblehead Lighthouse Historical Society, took over the maintenance in the 1990s.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2022/03/lighthouse-restoration/
By Susan Montoya Bryan, Associated Press
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — National Park Service Director Chuck Sams said Tuesday he and other officials are committed to boosting the role Native American tribes can play in managing public lands around the U.S.
He told members of a congressional committee during a virtual hearing that part of the effort includes integrating Indigenous knowledge into management plans and recognizing that federal lands once belonged to the tribes.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2022/03/ap-us-boost-cooperation-tribes-land-management/
DEER PARK, Mich. (AP) — A ship carrying a load of coal when it sank in a storm in 1891 has been discovered in Lake Superior off Michigan’s Upper Peninsula.
The Atlanta is well-preserved in the extremely cold lake, the Great Lakes Shipwreck Historical Society said Thursday.
The shipwreck group posted photos and video with the name of the ship clearly visible at a depth of more than 600 feet (183 meters), roughly 35 miles (56 kilometers) off Deer Park, Michigan.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2022/03/ap-shipwreck-discovered-lake-superior/
For Maude Barlow, the importance of hope was instilled by her parents as a child while having her morning oatmeal. It grew into a “lifelong mantra” that took her through the travails of 40 years of social justice and environmental activism in Canada and on the international stage.
Now, Barlow chronicles that hopeful trek in her 20th book, Still Hopeful: Lessons From A Lifetime Of Activism.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2022/02/maude-barlow-activism-book-still-hopeful/
Some fish don’t seem to mind a diver’s bubbles or humans fumbling around underwater. Others bolt at my first exhalation. Some fish are super approachable while others remain wary and aloof regardless of how I try to entice them.
And some species, like the tiny logperch, don’t seem to give a fig what I do.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2022/02/speak-for-fish-logperch-rebounding/
PORTER, Ind. (AP) — The National Park Service has approved an entrance fee for Indiana Dunes National Park beginning on March 31 to help fund parking and transportation improvements, visitor services and a bike trail.
The fees vary depending on the method used to enter the national park.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2022/02/ap-indiana-dunes-national-park-entry-fee/
Go right to the list of lighthouses here.
For Patrick McKinstry, his love of lighthouses began when he was 4 or 5 years old.
He was on a family trip at the Old Mackinac Point Lighthouse in Mackinaw City, Michigan, and asking his mother what it was and if he could go in.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2022/01/visit-a-lighthouse/
For Professor Nancy Langston, our intransigence in protecting struggling species like caribou and others is a puzzle. These species exist in our memories and culture, and we’ve invested in protecting them, so why do their populations continue to crash?
That’s the question at the core of Langston’s latest book, “Climate Ghosts: Migratory Species in the Anthropocene”.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2022/01/climate-ghosts-author/
The Great Lakes region wasn’t always the freshwater realm we know today: rewind to a couple centuries ago and it was actually covered in tropical seawater. That’s why many of the fossils found in the area today are portions of coral reefs and ancient sea creatures.
“When you think of Michigan or Illinois, you imagine cold and snow, but it wasn’t always that way.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2021/11/fossil-great-lakes-coral-remnants/
“The legend lives on…”
Nov. 10 has been an unassailable part of Great Lakes culture and history since 1975 when the SS Edmund Fitzgerald sank in Lake Superior with its entire crew of 29 and was immortalized in the famous song by Gordon Lightfoot.
The ship went down in Lake Superior, near Whitefish Point, but it’s a piece of history that connects people all around the region who care about the lakes and their history or have experienced their own loss.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2021/11/edmund-fitzgerald-shipwreck-memorial-service-2021/
At the 2020 Cleveland Boat Show, just before the pandemic struck, big changes were already afoot in the industry.
“I brought a huge lawn into the Cleveland Boat Show in 2020 so that people could stand around and play cornhole and relax, people could sit around a picnic table and drink beer and kids could run around,” said Michelle Burke, president of the Lake Erie Marine Trades Association.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2021/09/summer-boat-shows-change/
Ron Meyer and Jerry Gunderson had already spent decades collecting different items when they learned about the trilobites turning up in a quarry just outside Milwaukee in 1984. The two men, friends since childhood, took a trip to the active quarry site and spoke with the foreman about any fossils that might have been found.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2021/09/fleshy-quarry-fossils-wisconsin-watery-past/
Beyond the obvious proximity to the five Great Lakes, what makes a region? The Midwest has its own stereotypes – the Rust Belt has become a popular term for northern post-industrial cities – but perhaps the draw of the Earth’s bounty of freshwater is more meaningful?
Aside from the cultural influence of the lakes, the Great Lakes region is a combination of environmental science, politics and economy.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2021/09/map-region-definitions-great-lakes/
One evening in the late 1800s, a lighthouse keeper named John Herman was drinking, as he usually did, when he decided to play a prank on his assistant. Herman locked the assistant in the lantern room and left him there.
When the assistant managed to get out of the room, he found himself all alone in the lighthouse.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2021/09/rising-waters-great-lakes-lighthouses-climate-change/
ROGERS CITY, Mich. (AP) — A memorial Mass has been held in northern Michigan for the last remaining survivor of a Lake Michigan shipwreck that killed 33 people in 1958.
Frank Mays was one of two people who survived the sinking of the Carl D. Bradley, a freighter that was on its way to Rogers City, Michigan, to pick up a load of stone before the shipping season ended.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2021/08/ap-service-last-survivor-lake-michigan-shipwreck/
Scientists have a new idea for how Earth got its oxygen: It’s because the planet slowed down and days got longer.
A study published Monday proposes and puts to the test the theory that longer, continuous daylight kick-started weird bacteria into producing lots of oxygen, making most of life as we know it possible.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2021/08/ap-theory-earth-days-oxygen-growth/
Great Lakes Moment is a monthly column written by Great Lakes Now Contributor John Hartig. Publishing the author’s views and assertions does not represent endorsement by Great Lakes Now or Detroit Public Television.
Sugar Island sits like a gemstone on a jeweled necklace of islands surrounding the southern end of Grosse Ile – the largest island in the Detroit River.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2021/08/sugar-island-history-habitat-restoration/
What do you get when you mix mayonnaise, a vaudeville star, two swanky hotels and a fisherman’s wife?
If you guessed Thousand Island dressing and an age-old mystery, you’d be correct.
Today, Thousand Island dressing is bottled and sold in grocery stores nationwide. You may even find a simplified version of the dressing (mayonnaise, ketchup or tomato puree, and pickle relish) at your favorite burger spot, masquerading as their “special” or “secret” sauce.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2021/07/thousand-island-dressing-uncertain-origins/
When the Milwaukee River Lake Sturgeon Reintroduction Project began 16 years ago, success wasn’t immediately apparent.
Having a solid scientific foundation for the project wasn’t the problem: sturgeon were raised in the Milwaukee River so they would return there to spawn when the time came. The problem was that lake sturgeon don’t return to a river to spawn for around 15 years.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2021/07/ways-see-touch-appreciate-sturgeon-great-lakes-region/
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration announced the beginning of a public comment period on its draft environmental impact statement and management plan for the proposed marine sanctuary in eastern Lake Ontario, the next step toward official designation.
“Any possible new sanctuary is a big deal for NOAA, the surrounding community and the nation,” said Nicole LeBoeuf, acting director of NOAA’s National Ocean Service.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2021/07/public-comment-lake-ontario-marine-sanctuary-proposal/
A pair of piping plovers appeared on a busy Chicago beach two years ago, and filmmaker Bob Dolgan recorded the human effort to protect the birds’ nest.
The result: a documentary film. Dolgan shared some of his footage with Great Lakes Now, which can be seen in this segment:
GLN’s Nick Austin spoke with Dolgan about his work chronicling “Monty and Rose,” the plover pair that’s inspired so much conservation of habitat in Chicago.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2021/07/birds-film-bob-dolgan-chicago-piping-plovers/
MADISON, Wis. (AP) — Federal officials have designated a huge swath of Wisconsin’s Lake Michigan coastline as a National Marine Sanctuary to protect historic shipwrecks in the area, Gov. Tony Evers’ office announced Tuesday.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration will publish regulations designating 962 square miles from Kewaunee County south to Ozaukee County as a sanctuary, Evers’ office said.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2021/06/ap-noaa-wisconsin-coastline-national-marine-sanctuary-designated/
This article, first posted here, was republished with permission from Wisconsin Watch.
By Jim Malewitz, Wisconsin Watch
Archeologists have unearthed human remains of Native Americans who lived up to 2,500 years ago during excavations of the Sheboygan County site along Lake Michigan where Kohler Co.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2021/06/ancient-human-remains-kohler-golf-course-wisconsin/
I Speak for the Fish is a new monthly column written by Great Lakes Now Contributor Kathy Johnson, coming out the third Monday of each month. Publishing the author’s views and assertions does not represent endorsement by Great Lakes Now or Detroit Public Television.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2021/05/i-speak-for-the-fish/
