At least 88 waterspouts or funnels were spotted across the Great Lakes this week, setting a new world record, according to the International Centre for Waterspout Research. Read the full story by CTV News.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20200821-waterspout-record
The state of Michigan and other defendants have reached a $600 million settlement in the Flint water crisis lawsuit that will provide hundreds of millions in payments to city residents. Read the full story by CNN.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20200821-Flint-settlement
That’s the tongue-in-cheek message from U.S. Coast Guard, which found an inflatable shaped like the mythical creature floating in Lake Superior on Wednesday. Read the full story by MLive.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20200821-unicorn
Despite signs of a rebound this summer, cargo moving through the Port of Duluth-Superior is still down 30% compared to last year. Lost time can’t be made up on the Great Lakes, and we’re seeing that reflected in the port’s 2020 tonnage totals. Read the full story by the Star Tribune.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20200821-cargo-lag
Despite signs of a rebound this summer, cargo moving through the Port of Duluth-Superior is still down 30% compared to last year. Lost time can’t be made up on the Great Lakes, and we’re seeing that reflected in the port’s 2020 tonnage totals. Read the full story by the Star Tribune.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20200821-cargo-lag
A drone has been pulled from Lake Michigan following an aerial assault from a bald eagle. The drone was operated by the Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy. Read the full story by WZZM-TV – Grand Rapids, MI.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20200821-drone-eagle
Western Lake Erie’s 2020 summer algal bloom is growing along the Ohio shoreline and moving as far east as Sandusky and the Lake Erie islands. But the latest National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration bulletin shows its toxicity remains relatively low for now. Read the full story by The Toledo Blade.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20200821-algal-bloom
LANSING, Mich. (AP) — A $600 million deal between the state of Michigan and Flint residents who were harmed by lead-tainted water is a step toward making amends for a disaster that upended life in the poor, majority-Black city, Gov.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2020/08/ap-whitmer-flint-water-deal-600-million/
We welcome an exciting new project to the Little Chute neighborhood! The Village of Little Chute and City of Kaukauna broke ground and celebrated a new project to build a walking trail/bridge connecting the two communities this week. The trail is anchored right next to the lock at Heesaker Park in Little Chute. The trail is part of the Loop the Locks Trail project, winding through Appleton, Combined Locks, Kaukauna, Kimberly and Little Chute in about 15 miles of connected trails. Many of the trails run along the lock system.
At the event, Jean Rombak-Bartels, the secretary’s director for the Wisconsin DNR in Northeast Wisconsin, addressed the crowd. We are honored to have Jean serve as a member of the Fox River Navigtional System Authority board of directors.
The head of the trail will be named the David and Rita Nelson Family Heritage in honor of a $650,000 challenge grant from the David L. and Rita E. Nelson Family Fund within the Community Foundation for the Fox River Valley Region
If you visit the lock or are traveling the river, you’ll see the cranes and construction crews working on the trail.
Blog – Fox Locks
http://foxlocks.org/2020/08/20/construction-starts-on-pedestrian-trail-near-little-chute-lock/
Keep up with energy-related developments in the Great Lakes area with Great Lakes Now’s biweekly headline roundup.
In this edition: A new bill in Illinois could lead to closed coal plants being repurposed for solar power producing and storage; Minnesota agriculture startup exploring new ways to produce water and energy efficient fertilizer; Ohio lawmakers struggle over repeal of nuclear bailout bill as corruption scandal unfolds; and Wisconsin power utility Alliant Energy strikes deal to freeze electricity and natural gas rates for one year.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2020/08/great-lakes-energy-minnesota-ohio-bailout-wisconsin-utility/
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Gov. Tim Walz’s administration said Tuesday it will appeal the latest approvals by state utility regulators for Enbridge Energy’s plan to replace its old and corroding Line 3 crude oil pipeline across northern Minnesota.
The state Commerce Department faced a Wednesday deadline to ask the Minnesota Court of Appeals to take another look at the project.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2020/08/ap-walz-administration-minnesota-line-3/
Desperate measures to protect homes from erosion and high water could have lasting impacts on Great Lakes’ once-natural coastlines that have been hardened with rock and steel. Read the full story by MLive.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20200820-seawalls
According to the Great Lakes Surf Rescue Project, a nonprofit that tracks drownings, there have been over 900 drownings in the Great Lakes since 2010. In 2020, there have already been 60 drownings — 34 of which took place in Lake Michigan. Read the full story by the Detroit Free Press.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20200820-drownings
In 1959, L. David Mech arrived on the remote Isle Royale national park in Lake Superior to study the interaction between wolves and moose. Read the full story by Great Lakes Echo.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20200820-isle-royale
The chance of a La Niña developing this fall has been increased to 60 percent. When La Niña is strong enough and lasts into winter, the weather pattern can be altered to a more harsh-winter situation. Read and view the full story by MLive.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20200820-la-nina
The Brecksville Diversion Dam and historic Pinery Feeder Dam have been removed and the Cuyahoga River is now free-flowing in Brecksville for the first time in over 190 years, according to National Park Service (NPS) officials. Read the full story by Akron.com.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20200820-brecksville-dam
The Huron County Health Department announced the closure of Bird Creek Park and Wagener County Park beaches Aug. 19 due to high E. coli levels. Read the full story by the Huron Daily Tribune.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20200820-ecoli
On Wednesday, a hydraulic excavator operator transferred dredged sands from a barge into a slurry box on the bay side of Park Point near the Aerial Lift Bridge in Duluth as part of a project to rebuild some of the eroding shoreline. Read the full story by the Duluth News Tribute.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20200820-park-point
Seven athletes will combine to swim, paddleboard and kayak 50 kilometres from Amherstburg, Ontario to Leamington, Ontario Saturday to raise awareness and funds for Lake Erie’s health. Read and listen to the full story by the Windsor Star.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20200820-erie-fundraiser
Colin Boyd Shafer, a documentary photographer working for Environmental Defence, is highlighting the strong connections area residents have with the lake. Their stories that will be presented in a documentary this fall. Read the full story by Chatham This Week.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20200820-lake-erie
Bowling Green State University professor Dr. Timothy Davis was one of nine international researchers recently named to the Scientific Steering Committee for GlobalHAB, an international program that is jointly sponsored by the Scientific Committee on Oceanic Research and Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission of UNESCO. Read and view the full story by the Sentinel-Tribune.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20200820-algal-blooms
Litter in your neighborhood can find its way into the Great Lakes via storm drains on your street. And litter is gross wherever it falls! Help keep the Great Lakes – and your community – clean by picking up neighborhood litter with your household.
Hosting a neighborhood cleanup is just as easy as hosting an Adopt-a-Beach cleanup. Here are the steps:
Remember, neighborhood cleanups can start at your door. Register your neighborhood cleanup today!
The post How to Host a Neighborhood Cleanup appeared first on Alliance for the Great Lakes.
News – Alliance for the Great Lakes
News – Alliance for the Great Lakes
https://greatlakes.org/2020/08/how-to-host-a-neighborhood-cleanup/
Michigan will pay $600 million to compensate Flint residents whose health was damaged by lead-tainted drinking water after the city heeded state regulators’ advice not to treat it properly, an attorney involved in the negotiations told The Associated Press on Wednesday.
Details will be released later this week, according to the attorney, who requested anonymity because he was not authorized to speak about it ahead of an official announcement.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2020/08/ap-michigan-deal-flint-water-crisis/
Great Lakes Echo
http://greatlakesecho.org/2020/08/20/remembering-the-birth-of-isle-royales-wolf-moose-study/
Democrats and Republicans are hosting their nominating conventions this week and next. The Healing Our Waters-Great Lakes Coalition – while we do not endorse or oppose any candidate for office – are urging all candidates to adopt a strong Great Lakes platform.
Today, we kick off a series of articles on the Coalition’s five-plank clean water platform. We’ll be discussing the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative today, and over the next week, we’ll discuss the need for elected officials to boost clean water infrastructure funding, uphold clean water protections, fight invasive species, and confront toxic algal outbreaks.
Over the last 10 years, the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative (GLRI) has been a major driver behind the rejuvenation and recovery of the Great Lakes ecosystem from toxic pollution and other harmful human effects.
But serious threats remain. The 2020 election unfolds amid persistent threats to the health and safety of our Great Lakes communities. While significant progress has been made, much more remains to be done.
To build upon the gains already made and ensure a healthy Great Lakes ecosystem for future generations, presidential contenders Joe Biden and Donald Trump must pledge to increase the authorization and funding for the GLRI to $475 million to boost our work of cleaning up toxic contamination, reducing polluted runoff, stopping invasive species, restoring wetlands and other habitats, and responding to emerging threats.
Since 2010, the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative has been providing results for communities in the Great Lakes states of Minnesota, Wisconsin, Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania and New York. Through innovative partnerships with local environmental organizations, state and federal governments, and citizen groups, the GLRI has made progress in cleaning up some of the most toxic hotspots around the region – sites with cancer-causing pollutants that closed beaches, led to fish consumption advisories, and prohibited the drinking of water.
Nearly two-fifths of the region’s most toxic hotspots have been cleaned up, sparking redevelopment and business opportunities on waterfronts and improving water quality for drinking water. Conservation practices on local farms have doubled, reducing harmful polluted runoff that feeds toxic algae. Habitat and wildlife restoration and connectivity continue to improve with over 5,250 miles of rivers cleared of dams and other barriers.
These projects are protecting drinking water, providing more recreational opportunities, and helping the health of communities. At a time when clean, safe drinking water is even more vital to health and safety, these GLRI funds make a difference. In Michigan, GLRI funds helped remove and replace a risky, dilapidated dam with a natural “rock ramp” – allowing fish access to Saginaw Bay for the first time in over a century. In Wisconsin, a streambank restoration reduced storm runoff, improving flood management and providing habitat for native species. In Pennsylvania, over 400 acres of wetland habitat were removed of invasive species and restored to a healthy habitat, greatly increasing opportunities for outdoor recreation.
These are just a few of the thousands of projects that the GLRI has enabled over the past ten years – and many more are waiting to start! The bottom line is that there is more work to do, and we cannot let federal restoration efforts falter. Cutting funding will only make projects harder and more expensive the longer we wait. If every person is to have a healthy community to live in, with safe drinking water and fish to eat, and equitable access to recreate on clean beaches, shorelines, and restored landscapes, we must increase our efforts and focus resources in these areas today. Moving forward, our work will only get harder as the climate changes and we discover new threats.
Candidates who support the Great Lakes must make an unequivocal pledge to fund the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative at no less than $475 million and provide a robust roadmap for continuing the progress we’ve made into the 2020s.
The post The Great Lakes Restoration Initiative: A 2020 Vision appeared first on Healing Our Waters Coalition.
Healing Our Waters Coalition
https://healthylakes.org/the-great-lakes-restoration-initiative-a-2020-vision/
Grand Traverse County, Michigan
CCO Meeting:
Tuesday, September 15 from 1-2:30pm EST
For information on attending this meeting please send your name and local address to Edgar.Patino@ogilvy.com and you will be provided with information on joining the meeting.
Open House:
To be scheduled
Charlevoix County, Michigan
Tuesday, September 15 from 3-4:30pm EST
For information on attending this meeting please send your name and local address to Edgar.Patino@ogilvy.com and you will be provided with information on joining the meeting.
Open House:
To be scheduled
Great Lakes Coastal Flood Study
Great Lakes Coastal Flood Study
https://www.greatlakescoast.org/2020/08/19/lake-michigan-community-consultation-officers-meeting-and-open-house-for-grand-traverse-county-and-charlevoix-county-michigan/
Lake Erie fish trawls give fisheries biologists a pretty accurate picture of the strength of the most recent walleye hatch, and from that, a look at the prospects for the future of walleye fishing on Erie. Read the full story by the Toledo Blade.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20200819-lake-erie-walleye
A long-awaited dredging project has begun at Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore in northern Michigan with the goal of restoring visitor ferry service to North Manitou Island next year. Read the full story by MLive.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20200819-dredging
Recent policy changes by Ontario threaten the protection of natural areas in the Lake Simcoe watershed as aggregate extraction will soon be permitted in the habitats of endangered species and other natural features. Read the full story by Orillia Matters.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20200819-lake-simcoe
Despite all the investments, Chicago and communities on the North Shore are once again scrambling to cope with the effects of an overflowing Lake Michigan. Read the full story by The Chicago Tribune.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20200819-higher-lake-michigan
A doctoral student at the University of Minnesota, Wolfson is leading a multi-year study to fit about 40 trumpeter swans across the state with GPS tracking collars this summer to learn more about their movements, mortality risks and habitat use. Read the full story by the Brainerd Dispatch.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20200819-trumpeter-swans
The Tuscarawas River has become Ohio’s 15th state water trail, a designation that will help encourage recreational use of the waterway by residents of the Buckeye State. Read the full story by Coshocton Tribune.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20200819-water-trail
Reconstruction work on Duluth’s Lakewalk features new designs like large rocks strategically placed along the shore to break up wave energy from Lake Superior. Read the full story by KQDS-TV – Duluth, MN.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20200819-duluth-lakewalk
Cleveland Water is warning some residents on the city’s west side they may see water with a slight yellow color coming out of their taps. Read the full story by WOIO-TV – Cleveland, OH.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20200819-discolored-water
A greenish-blue ooze coming from the ground in Troy, Michigan, has residents complaining of a foul odor and worrying it might be toxic. Read the full story by WJBK-TV – Troy, MI.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20200819-bubbling-ooze
The state of Michigan recently unveiled a new interactive map providing information on shipwrecks in Michigan Great Lakes waters. Read the full story by the Manistee News Advocate.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20200819-shipwrecks
DETROIT (AP) — Michigan regulators have rejected a suburban Detroit county’s plan to convert state waters into an open-air sewage treatment lagoon.
The Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy said Friday it had denied Macomb County’s application to place the structure at the end of the Chapaton Retention Treatment Basin.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2020/08/ap-michigan-macomb-county-sewage-treatment-lagoon-plan/
By Jimmy Thomson, 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.
This is the first part of Carbon Cache, an ongoing series about nature-based climate solutions.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2020/08/climate-change-carbon-canada-natural-landscapes/
Who’s your crosstown rival when you go to the only school on an island?
You’ve got to fly on a plane or ride on a ferry to find one!
For four Great Lakes island schools’ basketball programs, the competition traditions are fierce yet friendly and play out at the annual island basketball tournament, held last year on Mackinac Island.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2020/08/island-rebounds/
Learn more about a little-known Chicago shipwreck that took more lives than the Titanic. Check-in on the Kalamazoo River’s wildlife 10 years after the Line 6B pipeline spilled over a million gallons of oil there, and find out if COVID-19 means no basketball tournament in 2020 for four Great Lakes island schools.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2020/08/recoveries-episode-1017/
By Kari Lydersen, Energy News Network, through the Institute for Nonprofit News network
Illinoisans voiced their fears about coal ash silently contaminating their drinking water, or coal ash impoundments failing and deluging rivers with toxic sludge, during public hearings this week.
It was the latest step in a years-long debate in Illinois, which has the nation’s second-highest number of contaminated coal ash sites, according to a 2011 study.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2020/08/illinois-coal-ash-rules-state-proposal/
As the 2020 election fast approaches, the importance of civic participation in the election process is more important than ever. Great Lakes individuals must vote in order to make our voices heard and ensure that our elected officials are held accountable.
Below, please find state-by-state resources that will help your members vote this election cycle. Please note that the Healing Our Waters – Great Lakes Coalition is a non-partisan group that does not endorse or support parties or candidates for office. All resources below are curated from publicly-facing state websites.
Illinois:
Indiana:
Minnesota:
Michigan:
New York:
Ohio:
Pennsylvania:
Wisconsin:
The post 2020 Civic Engagement Guide appeared first on Healing Our Waters Coalition.
Healing Our Waters Coalition
https://healthylakes.org/2020-civic-engagement-guide/
A series of online videos for fisheries managers who need to sample for invasive carp species like bighead and silver carp is now available. This unique resource—a collection of 17 videos that can be watched on YouTube—grew out of a workshop that took place in spring 2019 at Lake Barkley State Resort Park in Kentucky.
The partners behind the workshop and the resulting video series are the Mississippi River Basin Panel on Aquatic Nuisance Species (MRBP), Wisconsin Sea Grant, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the U.S. Geological Survey, and the Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources. The videos can be found on Wisconsin Sea Grant’s YouTube channel.
Duane Chapman of the U.S. Geological Survey discusses an ichthyoplankton net and its use for silver, bighead, grass and black carp sampling. (Photo: Bonnie Willison)
The April 17-18, 2019 workshop on invasive carp species featured experts from around the country, who presented to about 65 attendees.
The MRBP funded the event, and Wisconsin Sea Grant Video Producer Bonnie Willison filmed on location in Kentucky to create the training videos, working in cooperation with Sea Grant Aquatic Invasive Species Outreach Specialist Tim Campbell. Campbell also serves as the Wisconsin representative on the MRBP.
Said Campbell, “This workshop was a one-of-a-kind interagency effort to train people in the methods needed to sample for bighead and silver carp.” Those methods can be different from standard ones familiar to most U.S. fisheries professionals. For example, different gear may be needed, and the video series covers different types of gear and how to use it, among other topics.
“I’m so glad that workshop organizers had the forethought to capture this event so this knowledge could be preserved and shared with more people,” added Campbell.
The effort as a whole is aimed at more effective management of these invasive species in the waters of the Mississippi River basin, a vast watershed covering about 40% of the continental U.S. The methods demonstrated at the workshop can be used for a combination of monitoring (to know where the fish are) and control (to remove the unwanted species).
Emily Pherigo of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service discusses the paupier boat and gives an overview of the equipment. (Photo: Bonnie Willison)
Bighead and silver carp are problematic because they eat a lot, grow rapidly and become quite large, with silver carp exceeding 60 lbs. and bighead carp exceeding 100 lbs. If left unchecked, they become abundant and make recreational uses of lakes and rivers difficult due to their sheer numbers. They also pose a significant threat to the Great Lakes, where they are not yet established.
The training videos may be viewed on YouTube.
Questions may be directed to Campbell at 608-263-3259 or tim.campbell@wisc.edu.
News Releases – Wisconsin Sea Grant
News Releases – Wisconsin Sea Grant
https://www.seagrant.wisc.edu/news/training-videos-for-fisheries-managers-cover-techniques-for-sampling-invasive-carp-species/
The University of Maryland Center for Environmental Sciences scored both the Western Lake Erie basin and the Western Lake Erie watershed in a report card for the year 2018. The basin scored 58%, a C+, based on indicators in water quality, fish and algal blooms. Read the full story by Farm and Dairy.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20200818-erie-report
A draft report suggests Norfolk County, ON should adopt a piecemeal response to a changing climate. Through hundreds of specific modifications, the report says Norfolk can fortify itself against a future which climate models suggest will be warmer, wetter and punctuated with more frequent events that include drought and extremes of heat and cold. Read the full story by Simcoe Reformer.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20200818-norfolk-ontario-climate
A free app and website, Swim Guide, was developed as a part of the Swim Drink Fish initiative by Lake Ontario Waterkeeper to help people find healthy beaches, and includes E. coli and water quality results for Kingston swimming locations. Read to the full story by Kingstonist News.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20200818-swim-guide-water-quality
More than 140 businesses in shoreline communities have received a portion of $17 million from New York State’s Lake Ontario Resiliency Program; the grants were awarded to businesses affected in the eight-county area that surrounds Lake Ontario and the St. Lawrence River. Read and view the full story by Niagara Gazette.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20200818-ontario-business-grants
Michigan regulators have rejected a plan to convert a drainage canal in suburban Detroit to a sewage overflow treatment basin on Lake St. Clair, citing residual chlorine in the treated sewage that would have made a wetland unworkable. Read the full story by MLive.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20200818-michigan-sewer-plan
Bay Mills Indian Community has developed a draft watershed management plan for Michigan’s Waishkey River which is now in a review period; over five years, partners created a watershed management plan to reduce pollutants including pathogens, nutrients, pesticides, sediment and heavy metals. Read the full story by The Sault News.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20200818-waishkey-river-plan
The St. Mary’s River Drive Boardwalk in Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario will be under repair and remediation as a construction firm was awarded a $741,795 contract. Read the full story by SooToday.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20200818-sault-construction-funding
