The shoreline and islands of Lake Erie offer an idyllic setting for summer travelers searching for natural beauty, watersports, and other outdoor adventures. Read the full story by the Springfield News Sun.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20200904-lake-erie-nice
The level of Lake Superior remained stable at above normal levels during August, but will soon drop into during the fall and winter months. Experts say the threat of shoreline damage will persist. Read the full story by Duluth News Tribune.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20200904-superior-levels
After a successful, 35-year collaborative restoration effort, the Lower Menominee River has been removed from the list of Great Lakes Areas of Concern. The restoration effort has transformed the river from being highly contaminated to a sport fishing destination. Read the full story by Upper Michigan’s Source.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20200904-menominee
Generations of a family led by a strong patriarch clash over the future of a treasured Canadian vacation home. The local Ojibwe chief threatens to claim the land.
And a pristine but foreboding lake north of Lake Huron is an omnipresent part of the drama.
That’s the setting for The Best Part of Us, the debut novel by former international Great Lakes executive, Sally Cole-Misch.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2020/09/great-lakes-author-conflict-culture-novel/
Current Watches, Warnings and Advisories for Brown (WIC009) Wisconsin Issued by the National Weather Service
https://alerts.weather.gov/cap/wwacapget.php?x=WI125F63A8B8B0.SpecialWeatherStatement.125F63A91B20WI.GRBSPSGRB.3b77a733acfe35fc01f412b80021d336
Josh Otten reached down and pulled two turtles from the bow compartment of his kayak. One was the size of a dinner plate; the other was barely the size of a silver dollar pancake. Both were northern map turtles, the most common species of turtle in the Kalamazoo River watershed, according to Otten who played a key role in the rescue and rehabilitation of more than 2,000 turtles in 2010 following the Kalamazoo River oil spill.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2020/09/turtle-recovery-kalamazoo-river-enbridge-oil-spill/
Current Watches, Warnings and Advisories for Brown (WIC009) Wisconsin Issued by the National Weather Service
https://alerts.weather.gov/cap/wwacapget.php?x=WI125F63A81CD4.SpecialWeatherStatement.125F63A8CD00WI.GRBSPSGRB.3b77a733acfe35fc01f412b80021d336
The Pennsylvania House of Representatives unanimously adopted a resolution declaring Sept. 7, 2020 as Great Lakes-St. Lawrence Appreciation Day. Read the full story by WJET-TV – Erie, PA.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20200903-september-7
The bipartisan Senate and House Great Lakes Task Forces requested that tribal, commercial, charter, and recreational fisheries in the Great Lakes be made eligible for future emergency funding provided by Congress because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Read the full story by WNEM-TV- Bay City, MI.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20200903-fisheries-support
Researchers at the University of Toronto published a paper on Wednesday revealing that they’ve detected microfibres from blue jeans in aquatic environments ranging from the shallow suburban lakes near Toronto, across the Great Lakes and all the way up to the Arctic Archipelago. Read the full story by CTV News.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20200903-water-pollution
A $3.9 million dredging project to restore a natural protection to an important fish spawning site in Michigan was completed this summer. Read the full story by MLive.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20200903-buffalo-reef
The DuPage Forest Preserve District’s head-start program has helped raise and release young Blanding’s turtles for years. But Wednesday’s journey into an Illinois marsh featured the first cohort in the program’s 25 years that included captive-bred turtles from Brookfield Zoo. Read the full story by the Chicago Tribune.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20200903-blandings-turtles
In the latest edition of National Geographic, you’ll find a big spread dedicated to exploring how ice coverage has dramatically decreased on the Great Lakes over the past 40 years. The photos you’ll see, of not-so-solid lakes, and people navigating warmer Michigan winters, were taken by Detroit photojournalist Amy Sacka. Read and listen to the full story by Michigan Public Radio.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20200903-great-lakes
The Shaw Point Historic District, located on the southeastern edge of Sand Island in the Apostle Islands National Lakeshore off Wisconsin’s northern coastline, was added to the National Register of Historic Places in late-July. Read the full story by the Superior Telegram.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20200903-shaw-point
Perched on a spit of sand and rock across from Mackinac Island, the Round Island Lighthouse is one of the most photographed old beacons anywhere on the Great Lakes, but its future is in jeopardy due to the historically high water levels of Lake Michigan and Lake Huron. Read the full story by MLive.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20200903-round-island
A $1.4 million project is underway aiming to eradicate invasive plants and restore Port Clinton, Ohio’s scenic Lake Erie coast to a native coastal wetland habitat. Read the full story by the Port Clinton News Herald.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20200903-port-clinton
The Lake Erie – Niagara Monitoring Hub is testing the recreational water quality at three locations along Lake Erie’s North Shore for the second year in a row. Read the full story by CKTB – Ontario, CA.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20200903-erie-monitoring
Fish and Wildlife Service News
Fish and Wildlife Service News
http://www.fws.gov/news/ShowNews.cfm?ref=partnership-driven-efforts-lead-to-downlisting-of-the-american-burying-&_ID=36762
Keep up with energy-related developments in the Great Lakes area with Great Lakes Now’s biweekly headline roundup.
In this edition: Michigan’s Bay County to lose millions in tax revenue with closure of coal plant; a COVID-19 study looking at energy crises cites rural areas and tribal nations in Michigan; and Ohio legislators begin the repeal process for controversial House Bill 6.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2020/09/great-lakes-energy-ohio-nuclear-michigan-coal-crisis/
Educators who participated in a recent six-week online workshop series about the Great Lakes and inland waters, “Trimming our Sails” were especially wowed by one presentation. “Plastic Debris Identification” was offered by Daniela Leon, an undergraduate student at the University of Wisconsin-Superior who is majoring in biology and minoring in chemistry.
Daniela Leon, submitted image.
Leon described a method to identify the common types of plastic, many of which make their way into lakes and break down into smaller pieces to form microplastic pollution. The method can be used in classrooms or at home and is especially geared toward high school students.
According to Ginny Carlton, Wisconsin Sea Grant’s education outreach specialist, one reason it’s important to know about the various types of plastics is because some float and others sink. “The differences in buoyancy means that a particular type of plastic will be found within a different vertical location of the water column. Where it is found influences the impacts it can have. For example, if it floats, then organisms that are surface feeders may be impacted,” Carlton said.
Identification of plastic types is also useful because it gives clues to the sources of the pollution – whether the plastic came from a fast-food container or from plumbing materials, for instance.
“Another reason . . . is that different chemical compounds can attach to different types of plastic,” said Carlton. These other chemicals basically attach to the plastic and ‘catch a ride’ through the water column or float across the water surface. The plastic acts like a magnet to gather up and concentrate various chemical compounds. Previous research has shown some of these chemicals are hazardous to human health.”
Leon’s activity uses simple materials like isopropyl alcohol, acetone, corn oil and plastic pellets. First come the tests to see how buoyant the plastic is. Students drop the plastic into water, then isopropyl alcohol, then the oil. Six types of plastic are commonly used in the plastic industry and each have different densities and abilities to float.
The next test is solubility or how long it takes the plastic to dissolve. That’s what the acetone is for. Students place the plastic into the acetone and record the length of time until it dissolves. As with the float test, the different types of plastic have varying solubility.
At the end of Leon’s presentation, the workshop teachers met in small groups. The high school teachers were enthused, saying they thought this exercise could be done by students even in virtual environments with supplies they have on hand at home.
Leon is mentored by professor Lorena Rios Mendoza at UWS. Mendoza was the main presenter for this part of the workshop and was also joined by another mentee, professor Tania Pelamotti. The workshop was organized by the Center for Great Lakes Literary (CGLL) and hosted by the Wisconsin and Minnesota Sea Grant programs.
The first four videos of the workshop series are now available on the CGLL YouTube page, including Leon’s session, which is contained in Workshop 4.
For more information about the toxicological effects of plastic, visit this webpage by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
Blog – Wisconsin Sea Grant
https://www.seagrant.wisc.edu/blog/plastic-identification-activity-wows-educators/
By Timberly Ferree, Indiana Environmental Reporter
Indiana University and Purdue University have each been awarded $1.6 million Environmental Protection Agency research grants to better understand the potential impacts of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances on water quality and availability in rural communities and agricultural operations across the United States.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2020/09/indiana-universities-pfas-impact-water-quality/
NCEI News Feed
http://www.ncei.noaa.gov/news//news/humans-ncei-ebenezer-nyadjro-phd
Federal, state and tribal officials are hailing the completion of a more than $1 billion cleanup of contaminated sediments in the Lower Fox River in Green Bay, Wisconsin. The cleanup, which removed 700,000 lbs of toxic sediments, is considered one of the largest and most expensive in the nation. Read the full story by Wisconsin Public Radio.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20200902-lower-fox
Environmental officials confirmed the presence of the invasive plant known as the European frogbit in four inland lakes in southeast Michigan. European frogbit forms dense mats on the surface of waters and can impede boat traffic and affect wildlife habitats. Read the full story by MLive.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20200902-frogbit
Environmental groups are claiming that recent dredging in Duluth Harbor and beach restoration along Lake Superior may be illegal because it violates a 40-year-old settlement that prohibits dredging from Duluth harbor. Read the full story by the Star Tribune.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20200902-duluth-dredging
A recent report from the EPA Office of Inspector General faulted a lack of training and internal controls at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Great Lakes regional office for the loss of records the agency was required to preserve. Read the full story by the Wisconsin State Journal.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20200901-wolf-protections
The Pays Plat First Nation community in Ontario is looking forward to receiving nearly $100 thousand in federal government funding through the Great Lakes Protection Initiative to continue its Protecting Gitchigumi project that focuses on improving water quality in Lake Superior. Read the full story the Aniskinabek News.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20200902-gitchigumi-project
The recent algal blooms in Torch Lake in Michigan have prompted residents and local environmental groups to investigate why the lake’s historically clear waters are turning brown. Read the full story by the Traverse City Record Eagle.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20200902-torch-lake
The Wisconsin Groundwater Coordinating Council is calling for action by the Wisconsin state legislature to address hazardous chemicals known as PFAS found in a growing number of drinking water supplies. Their report recommends establishing enforcement standards for PFAS in groundwater. Read the full story by the Wisconsin State Journal.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20200902-wi-groundwater
The Michigan House voted Tuesday to send an additional $9 million in state funding to the Midland and Detroit areas for flooding relief efforts. The bill also includes $8 million in funding for putting up a barrier at Brandon Road Lock in Illinois to stop Asian carp from entering the Great Lakes. Read the full story by MLive.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20200902-mi-house
Michigan environmental officials announced that it will order the owner of failed Edenville and Sanford dams to make temporary repairs to avoid a repeat of the May flooding. The state also announced further examinations of dam integrity across the state. Read the full story by Michigan Radio.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20200902-sanford-dam
Scientists in Ontario are calling on the minister of natural resources and forestry to provide a scientific explanation for a scheduled province-wide hunt on double-crested cormorants. The scientists argue that the hunt fails to meet the principles of North American wildlife conservation. Read the full story by CBC News.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20200902-cormorant
LANSING, Mich. (AP) — Michigan lawmakers on Tuesday began approving a budget bill that would authorize the federal government’s supplemental $300-a-week unemployment benefit during the coronavirus pandemic and provide $6 million in state funding for costs related to devastating flooding in the Midland area.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2020/09/ap-michigan-house-jobless-benefits-flood-costs/
Great Lakes Echo
http://greatlakesecho.org/2020/09/02/judges-declaw-indiana-zoo-for-illegally-declawing-big-cat-cubs-abusing-animals/
The Trump administration plans to lift endangered species protections for gray wolves across most of the nation by the end of the year, despite contention from the Humane Society of the United States and other wildlife protection groups that argue wolves are still vulnerable. Read the full story by The Associated Press.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20200901-wolf-protections
The Trump administration on Monday relaxed strict Obama-era standards for how coal-fired power plants dispose of wastewater laced with dangerous pollutants like lead, selenium and arsenic, a move environmental groups said would leave rivers and streams vulnerable to toxic contamination. Read the full story by The New York Times.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20200901-epa-rule-coal-waste
Alongside the illnesses, deaths and closures caused by COVID-19, the threat of climate change still hangs over communities across the Great Lakes region and around the world. Read the full story by Great Lakes Now.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20200901-climate-justice
Drenching rains, wet winters, warmer air and water, less ice cover and more runoff have formed a meteorological cocktail that has contributed to unprecedented Great Lakes water levels, flood-producing storms and the degradation of the shoreline, scientists say. Read the full story by the Chicago Tribune.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20200901-lake-ontario-shoreline
The agency that regulates outflows from Lake Ontario has announced plans to increase those flows slightly after the Labor Day weekend, following through on a decision made in May to let water levels drop in September in Lake St. Lawrence, just upstream of the Moses-Saunders Dam between Massena and Cornwall, Ontario. Read the full story by The Buffalo News.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20200901-lake-ontario-outflow-levels
The wetland ecosystem of Braddock Bay in Monroe County, New York, is a prime example of how climate change and fluctuating Lake Ontario water levels have altered the shoreline habitat. Read the full story by the Chicago Tribune.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20200901-climate-change-lake-ontario
The Shaw Point Historic District on Sand Island in Lake Superior has been added to the National Register of Historic Places. The historic district on Wisconsin’s Apostle Islands National Lakeshore holds a unique collection of three neighboring properties at Sand Island’s southeastern edge. Read the full story by the Ashland Daily Press.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20200901-historic-lake-superior
Throughout the past few years, millions of dollars in grant funding have been utilized in Greenville, Michigan, to properly map, identify and locate deficiencies within the city’s wastewater system. Read the full story by The Daily News.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20200901-michigan-sewer-line
Booming exports of grain are driving the Great Lakes shipping industry’s rebound, with shipments of Canadian grain up 13 percent from last year. The demand for grain helps offset downturns among many other products, like coal, steel and iron ore, which have brought the overall amount of cargo shipped on the Great Lakes St. Lawrence Seaway down eight percent year-to-date. Read the full story by The Stony Plain Reporter.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20200901-shipping-grain
BILLINGS, Mont. (AP) — The Trump administration on Monday finalized its weakening of an Obama-era rule aimed at reducing polluted wastewater from coal-burning power plants that has contaminated streams, lakes and underground aquifers
The change will allow utilities to use cheaper technologies and take longer to comply with pollution reduction guidelines that are less stringent than what the agency originally adopted in 2015.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2020/09/ap-trump-administration-coal-plant-pollution-rollback/
By Judith Lavoie, The Narwhal
This story originally appeared in The Narwhal and is republished here as part of Covering Climate Now, a global journalism collaboration strengthening coverage of the climate story.
New global industry standards for dealing with mine waste are not enforceable, fail to set measurable standards and will not protect communities, workers or the environment from disasters such as the 2014 Mount Polley spill or the deadly 2019 Brumadinho dam failure in Brazil, says an international group of scientists, community organizations and non-profits.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2020/09/new-global-standards-mine-waste-dam-failures-critics/
Topics include aquatic invasive species, eating local fish and Green Bay’s ecosystem
Wisconsin Sea Grant’s “Lake Talks” series of free, public events will return this fall—in cyberspace. Four virtual events in the series will take place on Thursdays at 7 p.m. between Sept. 10 and Nov. 12.
The series was launched earlier in 2020 with an in-person event in Green Bay in early March. However, remaining spring events were canceled due to public health concerns surrounding the coronavirus. Now, because of ongoing health concerns and university policy, the series will move to a virtual format this fall. Wisconsin Sea Grant is headquartered at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
The Lake Talks cover topics of special interest to residents in communities along or near the Lake Michigan shoreline—though anyone is welcome to attend.
Fall speakers and topics are:
Sept. 10: Molly Bodde of Kenosha, Wisconsin Sea Grant aquatic invasive species outreach specialist for southeast Wisconsin, will present “But It’s So Pretty: Combating Purple Loosestrife with Look-a-likes.”
Sept. 24: Chris Litzau of Racine, Great Lakes Community Conservation Corps director.
Oct. 22: University of Wisconsin-Green Bay graduate students Cadie Olson and Brandon Falish will speak about “Green Bay: A Saga of Life, Destruction and Restoration.”
Nov. 12: Titus Seilheimer of Manitowoc, Wisconsin Sea Grant fisheries specialist, will offer “How to Eat Wisconsin Fish.” Seilheimer will talk about his favorite fish, the benefits of eating Wisconsin fish—both wild-caught and farmed—and how you can incorporate local fish into upcoming holiday celebrations.
Zoom will be used as the online event platform. Each event will last one hour and include time for Q&A after the presentation.
While web links and other technical details for the sessions are still being finalized, those interested can get more information when it is announced by following Wisconsin Sea Grant on social media (at the handle @UWiscSeaGrant on both Facebook and Twitter), or by going to the Wisconsin Sea Grant website at seagrant.wisc.edu (search for “Lake Talks”).
Questions about the series may be directed to Wisconsin Sea Grant science communicator Jennifer Smith at smith@aqua.wisc.edu.
News Releases – Wisconsin Sea Grant
News Releases – Wisconsin Sea Grant
https://www.seagrant.wisc.edu/news/wisconsin-sea-grant-to-host-virtual-lake-talks-this-fall/
Alongside the illnesses, deaths and closures caused by COVID-19, the threat of climate change still hangs over communities across the Great Lakes region and around the world. And the people and organizations fighting against climate change and for environmental justice have found themselves caught between these two threats to public health.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2020/08/intersecting-crises-climate-change-justice-covid-19/
A major agronomic debate about the Nutrient Management Practice Standard, regulations limiting runoff from livestock farms or more commonly known as Code 590, is happening in now Columbus, with potentially large ramifications for western Lake Erie. Read the full story by The Toledo Blade.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20200831-manure
Unlike fish, native mussels take years to establish in a previously polluted stream, and since so many mussel species are in a precarious position, Ohio has strict laws to protect them. Read the full story by the Toledo Blade.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20200831-ohio-mussels
In a report card generated by the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science, the Western Lake Erie basin scored a 58%, or a C+. The overall report card is a holistic summation of all factors for the Western Lake Erie Basin and watershed. Read the full story by The Daily Telegram.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20200831-erie-graded
