Ports in the Great Lakes and around the world are critical to global trade but are vulnerable to disruption from climate-related events. The gale-force winds and storm surge that damaged port infrastructure in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, last January are an example of threats to come. Read the full story by The Economist.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20200911-ports-vulnerability
Local biologists in Ontario are perplexed by the upcoming cormorant hunt in the province and argue that there is no scientific evidence supporting the need to hunt the birds. Read the full story by Smiths Falls Record News.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20200911-cormorants
Alpena, Michigan, is no longer expecting cruise ships to visit until 2021. The pandemic has shut down cruising on the Great Lakes and delayed port infrastructure development projects in the area. Read the full story by the Alpena News.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20200911-alpena
Michigan residents living along the emptied reservoirs above the Edenville and Sanford dams that collapsed in May could be expected to pay annual assessment fees of up to $2,400 per year for dam and lake restoration for the next 40 years. Read the full story by the Detroit Free Press.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20200911-flood-restored
A self-described “Lakeshore Janitor” has turned a hobby of scouring the beaches and waters along Lake Michigan for lost treasures using a metal-detector into a lucrative side-hustle, and helps beachgoers recover items lost among the waves. Read the full story by WZZM-TV – Grand Rapids, MI.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20200911-rihanna
Ontario is beginning the process to designate the Ostrander Crown Land Block and the Point Petre Provincial Wildlife Area, along Lake Ontario’s shoreline, as a new conservation reserve. Read the full story by County Live.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20200911-ontario
Stretching for 11 miles through the Ottawa National Forest near Lake Superior, the Black River Scenic Byway provides access to five waterfalls in the Black River Harbor Recreation Area and opportunities for hikers. Read the full story by Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20200911-chasing-waterfalls
The teenagers and scientist announced they located fragments from the 2017 meteorite that crashed into Lake Michigan. Read the full story by Great Lakes Now.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20200911-meteor
After fishing trips to the Cleveland river turned up only trash, a Cleveland local started a non-profit organization of volunteers dedicated to fishing trash out of the river. Read the full story by WKYC – TV – Cleveland, OH.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20200911-cleveland-river-trash
NCEI News Feed
http://www.ncei.noaa.gov/news//news/making-drought-map
The teenagers and scientists searching for the 2017 meteorite in Lake Michigan found more than they had been looking for, representatives from the team reported yesterday.
In a live update on the Adler Planetarium’s YouTube channel, students and researchers shared two major finds from The Aquarius Project’s years-long attempt to find the meteorite: a sample that could be from that meteorite and a sample from a meteorite much, much older.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2020/09/aquarius-project-findings-update-meteorite-fragments-lake-michigan/
By Elena Bruess, Circle of Blue
At the shoreline, between lake and land, Melissa Wiatrolik reflects on those who were here before Michigan became Michigan. She had been raised in a community that honored the dead, that understood that their ancestors were always present. As a child, she had watched her own family clean the gravestones of those before her.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2020/09/michigan-rising-lake-levels-sacred-ground/
Cities across the country are investing in their water infrastructure systems with hopes of achieving triple bottom line benefits – for people, the environment, and economic return. In the face of a changing climate that brings more extreme wet weather, a combination of gray infrastructure (pipes and tunnels) and green stormwater infrastructure (plants and soil) is a recipe for resilience that many cities are trying to perfect.
Alliance for the Great Lakes, in partnership with the City of Detroit Department of Public Works, identified five cities that have had success implementing green and gray water infrastructure improvements in their cities, with a focus on the public rights-of-way (streets). Streets are ideal for green stormwater management practices because they are already designed to move water, and streets make up a vast majority – up to half – of impervious surfaces in cities.
Check out our case studies on green stormwater infrastructure in the right-of-way to learn more about how these five cities have created policies, programs, design guidelines, and more to help them achieve their triple bottom line goals.
The post Green Stormwater Infrastructure in the Right-of-Way: 5 Case Studies appeared first on Alliance for the Great Lakes.
News – Alliance for the Great Lakes
News – Alliance for the Great Lakes
https://greatlakes.org/2020/09/green-stormwater-infrastructure-in-the-right-of-way-5-case-studies/
Enbridge said Wednesday it will fully resume operation of a Michigan Great Lakes oil pipeline after a partial shutdown this summer because of damage to a support structure. Read the full story by The Associated Press
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20200910-enbridge-pipeline
In Ohio, The Toledo Zoo’s popular lake sturgeon stocking event won’t happen this year, though a pause in the program – thanks to the international COVID-19 pandemic – won’t hurt the project. Read the full story by Great Lakes Now.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20200910-sturgeon
Indiana celebrated Lake Michigan and the rest of the Great Lakes during the second annual Great Lakes-St. Lawrence Appreciation Day this week. Read the full story by The Times of Northwest Indiana.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20200910-GL-appreciation-day
A new study has identified the most important coastal wetlands to focus on to preserve more than a dozen species of marsh birds on the Great Lakes. Read the full story by Wisconsin Public Radio.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20200910-marsh-conservation
A river that marks the border between Michigan and Wisconsin has been removed from a federal list of heavily polluted sites in Great Lakes waters, although it continues to have contamination issues with toxic fluorochemicals. Read the full story by MLive.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20200910-menominee-river
The Michigan Department of Natural Resources is asking residents to keep an eye out and take precautions against spreading European frogbit. Read the full story by the Port Huron Times Herald.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20200910-frogbit
The Minnesota Court of Appeals will take its own look at the actions of the state’s Pollution Control Agency, after a district court judge found that the state agency did not break permitting rules when it pressured the federal Environmental Protection Agency to delay issuing public comments on its proposed water discharge permit for PolyMet. Read the full story by The Timberjay.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20200910-Polymet-water
Land conservancies are often a critical partner in the Michigan Natural Resources Trust Fund process, pre-purchasing land that is later sold to municipalities or the state with trust fund money, arranging financing for the 25% matching funds required by the program, negotiating with landowners and performing ongoing stewardship. Read the full story by Second Wave Michigan.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20200910-land-conservancies
Work to fix erosion issues along the Iron Ore Heritage Trail is ongoing along US-41 in Marquette, Michigan. Read the full story by WLUC-TV – Marquette, MI.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20200910-ore-heritage+trail
New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced Wednesday that improvements at Lewiston Landing Park on Lake Ontario as part of Cuomo’s Resiliency and Economic Development Initiative have been completed. Read the full story by WGRZ-TV – Buffalo, NY.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20200910-lewiston-restoration
Gov. Gretchen Whitmer on Tuesday signed a budget bill that will fund a federal $300-a-week unemployment benefit, flood cleanup costs in the Midland area and Michigan’s contribution toward a project to keep Asian carp out of the Great Lakes. Read the full story by The Associated Press.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20200910-carp-project
Following the Midland dam failures in May, a special task force was set up to evaluate Michigan’s dam safety rules and regulations. The task force had its first meeting virtually on Tuesday.
Learn more about the task force in Michigan Radio’s report here.
Read more about Midland and dams on Great Lakes Now:
Dam Investment: How does Michigan stack up against Great Lakes peers?
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2020/09/michigan-dam-safety-task-force/
TRAVERSE CITY, Mich. (AP) — Enbridge said Wednesday it will fully resume operation of a Michigan Great Lakes oil pipeline after a partial shutdown this summer because of damage to a support structure.
Circuit Judge James Jamo signed an order allowing the Canadian company to restore the flow through one of its Line 5 pipes beneath the Straits of Mackinac, which connects Lake Huron and Lake Michigan.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2020/09/ap-judge-line-5-great-lakes-pipeline/
Wisconsin Beach Health - Brown County
Wisconsin Beach Health - Brown County
http://www.wibeaches.us/apex/f?p=181:27
The Toledo Zoo’s popular lake sturgeon stocking event won’t happen this year, though a pause in the program – thanks to the international COVID-19 pandemic – won’t hurt the project.
“In a nutshell, our partners out of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in Alpena, Michigan, and Genoa, Wisconsin, are the ones who collect the eggs,” explained Kent Bekker, director of conservation at the zoo.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2020/09/sturgeon-stocking-covid-19-release-program/
By Kelly House, Bridge, through the Institute for Nonprofit News network
Enbridge Energy had already won the blessing from Michigan’s Republican Legislature to build a tunnel beneath the Straits of Mackinac to keep oil flowing through Line 5, and survived a legal challenge that sought to unravel that plan.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2020/09/enbridge-line-5-permit-michigan-critics/
NCEI News Feed
http://www.ncei.noaa.gov/news//news/national-climate-202008
As the COVID-19 pandemic marches on, the Soo Locks has seen a decrease in vessel traffic this year. According to the Lake Carriers’ Association, shipments of iron ore on the Great Lakes totaled 3.5 million tons in July, a decrease of 46.5% compared to a year ago. Read the full story by The Sault News.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20200909-soo-locks
A special task force set up to study Michigan’s dam safety rules and regulations met virtually for the first time Tuesday. Read the full story by Michigan Radio.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20200909-dam-safety
For the second time in two years the Chicago-based Environmental Law & Policy Center appears to have forced the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency’s hand in seeking solutions to Lake Erie’s ongoing nutrients pollution problem. Read the full story by Great Lakes Now.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20200909-TMDL
Forecasters predicted waves of about of 4 to 7 feet in height and strong currents would cause potentially life-threatening conditions at Lake Michigan beaches in Indiana. Read the full story by the Northwest Indiana Times.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20200909-hazards
With U.S. Senate support and the president’s signature, the secretary of the Navy would be able to consider maintenance and repair work at shipyards other than those in Navy vessels’ homeports — including ports around the Great Lakes. Read the full story by the Duluth News-Tribune.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20200909-ports
A bloom of Microcystis cyanobacteria continues in the western basin of Lake Erie. Recent satellite imagery indicates the bloom is present along the the Ohio coast to Catawba Island. Along the Michigan coast the bloom extends to Point Mouillee State Game Area. Read the full story by The Beacon.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20200909-bloom-forecast
A U.S. Coast Guard official told environmental groups Friday that damage discovered to Line 5 earlier this year likely was caused by Enbridge-contracted vessels conducting work in the area to prepare for the construction of a utility tunnel. Read the full story by the Detroit News.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20200909-enbridge
The EPA announced a $5 million investment to research the best methods for making sure the ships that navigate the Great Lakes aren’t spreading invasive species through their ballast water. Read the full story by WDIO-TV – Superior, WI.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20200909-ballast-water
A multimillion-dollar rehabilitation project now underway along the American bottom of the Detroit River is just a small example of the potentially huge benefits the Great Lakes region could enjoy through post-pandemic investments. Read the full story by the Windsor Star.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20200909-opportunities
Current Watches, Warnings and Advisories for Brown (WIC009) Wisconsin Issued by the National Weather Service
https://alerts.weather.gov/cap/wwacapget.php?x=WI125F6403EB2C.LakeshoreFloodAdvisory.125F641152D0WI.GRBCFWGRB.3df9c80c9794879fbb8a9c1c12b8d382
Current Watches, Warnings and Advisories for Brown (WIC009) Wisconsin Issued by the National Weather Service
https://alerts.weather.gov/cap/wwacapget.php?x=WI125F6403A090.LakeshoreFloodAdvisory.125F641152D0WI.GRBCFWGRB.3df9c80c9794879fbb8a9c1c12b8d382
Three years after a meteorite crashed into Lake Michigan, the Adler Planetarium is giving a live virtual update on the search to find it.
Join at 1 p.m. ET/noon CT on Thursday, Sept. 10. Watch here:
In February 2017, a meteorite lit up the night sky before crashing into Lake Michigan off the Wisconsin shoreline.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2020/09/planetarium-update-lake-michigan-meteorite/
By Enrique Saenz, Indiana Environmental Reporter
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s regional office in the Midwest is refuting the findings of an internal investigation that found that a lack of record-keeping controls and standard operating procedures could be preventing it from fulfilling federal record-keeping responsibilities.
The EPA’s Office of Inspector General found that Region 5, which oversees EPA activities in Indiana and five other states, could not verify whether employees were using the agency’s official record-keeping system, preserving records for litigation holds and agency use, or knew how to report and investigate a suspected loss of records.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2020/09/epa-region-5-internal-watchdog-report-record-keeping/
By Mari Mitchell, Wisconsin Clean Marina Program
South Shore Yacht Club of Milwaukee has been recertified as a Wisconsin Clean Marina. The yacht club has upheld the best-management practices set by the Wisconsin Clean Marina Program since it was first certified in 2014.
South Shore Yacht Club. Image credit: Mari Mitchell
“Members of South Shore Yacht Club recognize and are fully committed to responsible stewardship of the lakeshore frontage entrusted to us by Milwaukee County,” said Bill Smitz, general manager, South Shore Yacht Club. “Our members are actively engaged in every aspect of maintaining and managing our club’s facilities consistent with our environmental policies and the spirit of the Wisconsin Clean Marina Program. We proudly display our Clean Marina certification at the entrance to our grounds.”
South Shore Yacht Club recently received a grant from the Southeastern Wisconsin Watersheds Trust, which allowed the marina to install a sump system that is used to collect and treat the water from boat washing during haul out in the fall. In addition, South Shore Yacht Club was granted a stormwater permit by the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources.
“These initiatives have enhanced our efforts to continually improve the quality of stormwater entering Lake Michigan,” said Smitz.
Marinas, related industries and services contribute more than $2.7 billion to Wisconsin’s economy. Through the Wisconsin Clean Marina Program, marinas will prevent pollution and protect fish, wildlife and public health. They know that clean water is important to boaters and Wisconsin’s coastal communities.
The Wisconsin Clean Marina Program was launched in 2010, and 20 Wisconsin marinas have since taken steps to voluntarily adopt practices to become certified.
The Wisconsin Clean Marina Program is administered by the University of Wisconsin Sea Grant Program in partnership with the Wisconsin Marine Association, Wisconsin Coastal Management Program, Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources and Fund for Lake Michigan.
For more information:
Theresa Qualls, Wisconsin Clean Marina Program, (920) 465-5031, quallst@uwgb.edu
News Releases – Wisconsin Sea Grant
News Releases – Wisconsin Sea Grant
https://www.seagrant.wisc.edu/news/south-shore-yacht-club-recertified-as-a-wisconsin-clean-marina/
For the second time in two years Chicago-based Environmental Law & Policy Center appears to have forced the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency’s hand in seeking solutions to Lake Erie’s ongoing nutrients pollution problem.
In U.S Northern District of Ohio Court hearings on July 17 and July 30, ELPC attorneys sought a summary judgement requiring the U.S.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2020/09/total-maximum-daily-load-court-case-ohio-epa-nutrients-lake-erie/
Current Watches, Warnings and Advisories for Brown (WIC009) Wisconsin Issued by the National Weather Service
https://alerts.weather.gov/cap/wwacapget.php?x=WI125F6402B3D8.LakeshoreFloodAdvisory.125F641152D0WI.GRBCFWGRB.3df9c80c9794879fbb8a9c1c12b8d382
Great Lakes Echo
http://greatlakesecho.org/2020/09/09/covid-19-pandemic-revealed-underlying-energy-justice-crises-study-finds/
Current Watches, Warnings and Advisories for Brown (WIC009) Wisconsin Issued by the National Weather Service
https://alerts.weather.gov/cap/wwacapget.php?x=WI125F64018904.LakeshoreFloodAdvisory.125F641152D0WI.GRBCFWGRB.3df9c80c9794879fbb8a9c1c12b8d382
Current Watches, Warnings and Advisories for Brown (WIC009) Wisconsin Issued by the National Weather Service
https://alerts.weather.gov/cap/wwacapget.php?x=WI125F63F5006C.LakeshoreFloodAdvisory.125F641152D0WI.GRBCFWGRB.3df9c80c9794879fbb8a9c1c12b8d382
Flooding along the east side of Green Bay in March 2019. Image credit: WBAY-TV.
In March 2019, a massive snowmelt combined with heavy rain over frozen ground disrupted lives and flooded homes along the East River near and in Green Bay. A total of 50 homes were condemned.
A new partnership that includes Wisconsin Sea Grant seeks to address conditions that caused the flooding and work with communities within the East River Watershed to increase their resiliency to such events. Other project partners include NEW Water (the brand of the Green Bay Metropolitan Sewerage District) and The Nature Conservancy. The communities include Brown County, Calumet County, Manitowoc County, the cities of Green Bay and De Pere, the villages of Allouez and Bellevue, and the towns of Ledgeview, Rockland, Wrightstown and Holland.
Julia Noordyk, Wisconsin Sea Grant’s water quality and coastal communities outreach specialist, explained that although this formalized partnership is new, the project partners often work individually with these communities.
“One thing that’s unique is that we want to work within the watershed and not just within municipality boundaries or county borders,” Noordyk said. “Working beyond their borders is very challenging for local governments. So the partnership between NEW Water, The Nature Conservancy and Sea Grant is really to help provide that coordinating capacity and bring together those communities that are being affected by flooding and water quality issues to help them learn how to move forward.”
The year-and-a-half-long project, which was recently funded for $50,000 by the Wisconsin Coastal Management Program and $123,000 by the Fund for Lake Michigan is comprised of four parts. The first is an East River Flood Study. Noordyk explained that this will involve development of a hydrologic computer model to understand current and future flood risk for the watershed. Sea Grant’s Coastal Engineer Adam Bechle will take the lead on that. He will work with Chin Wu, professor in the department of civil and environmental engineering at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, to develop the hydrologic model.
Noordyk said the East River is a major tributary to the Fox River, which flows into the bay of Green Bay. Besides the flooding risk, the East River provides the highest load of sediment and unwanted nutrients to the bay, which contributes to poor water quality and clarity, and toxic blue-green algae blooms.
Flooding in Fond du Lac in March 2019. Image credit: Fond du Lac Police Department.
“The upper parts of the watershed are dominated by agriculture. In the lower parts, it’s more urban and developed suburban areas,” Noordyk said. The clay soils and compacted land in the upper watershed contribute a lot of agricultural pollution and excess water runoff. Once this water reaches the paved surfaces in the urban areas that were developed over floodplains and have outdated and aging stormwater infrastructure, it can cause flooding issues. Warmer winters are compounding the problem, with more frequent and intense rainstorms resulting from a changing climate in the region.
The project’s second part involves formation of an East River Watershed Resilience Community of Practice. This will be facilitated by an East River Resiliency Fellow who has been hired by The Nature Conservancy with Noordyk’s guidance. Through regular meetings, the coordinator will help build knowledge and relationships among local officials and staff, practitioners, scientists, NGOs and outreach specialists in the watershed.
The third part is development of a community-based watershed resilience framework. Noordyk and the resilience coordinator will work with the communities to draft the vision, goals and near-term actions for building community capacity and flooding resilience.
David Hart, Wisconsin Sea Grant’s assistant director for extension, will lead the final part of the project, which involves working with the UW-Madison Cartography Lab to create interactive maps to communicate the flood study’s findings and recommendations to the communities and partners involved.
News Releases – Wisconsin Sea Grant
News Releases – Wisconsin Sea Grant
https://www.seagrant.wisc.edu/news/east-river-watershed-study-to-address-flooding-and-pollution/
