Almost fifty years after a Lake Huron storm washed away a portion of Old Lakeshore Road, Sarnia, Ontario, is taking action to re-establish ownership of the right-of-way for public use and reconnect to existing lakefront trails. Read the full story by The Sarnia Journal.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20220209-shoreline-
A large amount of plastic—the equivalent of about 3,400 plastic water bottles in volume—were found in Lake Ontario during a four-month period last year by a Toronto “Trash Team”. Read the full story by CTV News.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20220209-trash-team
Millions of federal dollars from the Infrastructure and Jobs Act are going towards shoring up and improving the infrastructure of the Port of Duluth-Superior. Read the full story by KQDS-TV – Duluth, MN.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20220209-infrastructure-funding-
Photos and videos captured from around Lake Michigan highlight a strange the frozen phenomenon of “ice volcanoes”. Read the full story by WOOD-TV – Grand Rapids, MI.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20220209-volcanoes
The Ontario city of Sault Ste. Marie has created a task force to analyze the potential opportunity, consult with the public and develop a competitive bid to host the federal agency. Read the full story by The Sault Star.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20220209-canada-water-agency
Starting on Feb. 9, the Marine Museum of the Great Lakes in Kingston, Ontario, will be open and conducting tours to share maritime heritage of the Great Lakes once again. Read the full story by the Global News.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20220209-museum-
As the U.S. EPA prepares to expand its Great Lakes Restoration Initiative with the $1 billion-dollar windfall from the infrastructure bill, Ojibwe Tribal executive Michael “Mic” Isham has a vision to bolster the program.
Isham wants an increased emphasis on protection of the Great Lakes with a priority for Lake Superior, which Isham says is the “cultural and historic center” of the Ojibwe tribes.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2022/02/federal-great-lakes-restoration-program-protection-flexibility/
In a small back room of an aquarium in a Michigan suburban mall lies a tank of endangered corals native to places more than a thousand miles away.
The post Suburban Michigan aquarium an ark for Florida corals first appeared on Great Lakes Echo.Great Lakes Echo
http://greatlakesecho.org/2022/02/09/suburban-michigan-aquarium-an-ark-for-florida-corals/
Contact:
Lindsey Bacigal, BacigalL@nwf.org, (734) 887-7113
Jordan Lubetkin, Lubetkin@nwf.org, (734) 904-1589
Coalition Urges Feds to Fully Fund Invasive Carp Defenses
ANN ARBOR, MICH. (February 8, 2022)—The Healing Our Waters-Great Lakes Coalition is urging U.S. representatives to fully fund controls to prevent invasive carp from entering the Great Lakes and causing environmental and economic harm. In a letter to the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure’s Subcommittee on Water Resources and Environment and the broader House delegation in the eight-state region, the Coalition and 54 members urged the House delegation to fully fund a new lock and dam in Illinois that would deploy state-of-the-art technology to keep the invasive fish from entering Lake Michigan and the other Great Lakes.
“Invasive carp pose a clear and present danger to the Great Lakes environment and economy,” said Laura Rubin, director of the Healing Our Waters-Great Lakes Coalition. “These invasive fish are not the problem or responsibility of only one state. Invasive carp are a national problem. As we have seen over the last decade, invasive carp have wreaked havoc up the Mississippi and Illinois Rivers—upending the ecosystem and harming people and local economies along the way. We need the federal government to address this national problem so that we don’t allow the unthinkable—allowing invasive carp to take hold in the Great Lakes.”
Currently the state of Illinois would be responsible for paying 20 percent of the cost of the Brandon Road Lock and Dam and its array of technology to keep invasive carp from getting through. The Coalition and its members argue that due to the national threat posed by the invasive fish and the pressing need to move forward without delay, the federal government should assume the costs of the entire project, which are expected to be upwards of $800 million.
The environmental groups are urging for the cost-share change in the 2022 Water Resources Development Act, a bi-annual funding bill that funds U.S. Army Corps of Engineers water infrastructure projects.
Since 2004, the Healing Our Waters-Great Lakes Coalition has been harnessing the collective power of more than 170 groups representing millions of people, whose common goal is to restore and protect the Great Lakes. Learn more at HealthyLakes.org or follow us on Twitter @HealthyLakes.
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The post Coalition Urges Feds to Fully Fund Invasive Carp Defenses appeared first on Healing Our Waters Coalition.
Healing Our Waters Coalition
https://healthylakes.org/coalition-urges-feds-to-fully-fund-invasive-carp-defenses/
By John Raby, Associated Press
CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP) — Nearly $725 million in federal funding is available this fiscal year to 22 states and the Navajo Nation for the reclamation of abandoned coal mines and cleanup of acid mine drainage, the U.S. Department of the Interior announced Monday.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2022/02/ap-biden-abandoned-coal-mines/
By Ed White, Associated Press
DETROIT (AP) — A judge awarded about $40 million Friday to the lead attorneys in a $626 million settlement for Flint residents and property owners whose water was contaminated with lead, but millions in additional legal fees will also be carved out as claimants get paid.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2022/02/ap-lawyers-flint-settlement/
NCEI News Feed
http://www.ncei.noaa.gov/news/national-climate-202201
Ever since she was a child, Sarah Brown has been interested in what makes people tick. She pursued that interest and intends to make good use of it in her new role as a J. Philip Keillor Wisconsin Coastal Management-Sea Grant Fellow for Lake Superior.
“My dad was a wildlife biologist for the state of Illinois,” Brown said. “When he came home from work and had any complaints, it was never about natural resources. It was always about people. So, I always had an interest in why people do what they do. That led to my interest in the social sciences.”
Sarah Brown, submitted photo.
Brown majored in psychology at Southern Illinois University Carbondale and then continued in a master’s program in human dimensions of natural resources at the University of Missouri. Her thesis was on motivations and perceptions held by Missouri landowners with conservation easements on their properties.
As graduation neared, she applied for a variety of jobs, but nothing seemed the right fit. She widened her search to include internships and fellowships because it seemed, “like a natural next step after grad school and into the workforce,” Brown said.
The one-year Keillor fellowship caught her eye for two reasons. “I felt like it gave me an opportunity to apply my social science skills to a natural resources issue by working with the CHAOS community of practice. Also, I’ve traveled many times with my family to northern Wisconsin and Duluth. That was a big attractor.”
CHAOS stands for the Coastal Hazards of Superior. It’s a group comprised of local community leaders, managers, researchers and communicators who focus on issues affecting the Wisconsin and Minnesota coastlines of Lake Superior. These issues include erosion, shoreline planning, nutrient runoff pollution, flooding and community resilience.
“Being the CHAOS coordinator is the most awesome job title you can have!” Brown said. “I’m hoping through this role I can fold in social science methodology to benefit the future progression of this community of practice, whether it’s finding out where it needs to go next or what it’s going to be next, or just figuring out what community members want. I also want experience working alongside a state agency and to improve my skills in meeting facilitation and project coordination.”
The state agency Brown will be working with is the Wisconsin Department of Administration’s Coastal Management Program along with Sea Grant, the Lake Superior National Estuarine Research Reserve (Reserve) and the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s Division of Extension. She is stationed in the Reserve’s office in Superior. You can email Brown at sarah.brown@wisconsin.gov.
The post Sarah Brown looks forward to coordinating CHAOS first appeared on Wisconsin Sea Grant.News Releases | Wisconsin Sea Grant
News Releases | Wisconsin Sea Grant
https://www.seagrant.wisc.edu/news/sarah-brown-looks-forward-to-coordinating-chaos/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=sarah-brown-looks-forward-to-coordinating-chaos
Michigan ranks eighth in the country for potato production and contributes about $1.2 billion annually to the state’s economy. Disease is a common concern among farmers, inspiring research partnerships.
The post Potato research helps grow Michigan crop first appeared on Great Lakes Echo.Great Lakes Echo
http://greatlakesecho.org/2022/02/08/potato-research-helps-grow-michigan-crop/
Contact:
Lindsey Bacigal, BacigalL@nwf.org, (734) 887-7113
Jordan Lubetkin, Lubetkin@nwf.org, (734) 904-1589
Coalition Supports Biden Administration Push for Stronger Clean Water Protections
February 7, 2022 (ANN ARBOR, MICH.)—The Healing Our Waters-Great Lakes Coalition supports the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers proposed rule to strengthen clean water protections essential to the health of communities and the Great Lakes. The agencies are proposing a rule that will determine the level of protections for several classifications of streams and wetlands.
The Coalition and 50 member organizations, in a comment letter submitted today, supported the rule-making, which will replace Trump administration guidance that weakened clean water protections and opened the door for rivers and wetlands to be polluted and destroyed. Read the letter on our website.
“With many of our cities and towns living with unsafe drinking water, we need more – not less – protection for clean water,” said Laura Rubin, director of the Healing Our Waters-Great Lakes Coalition. “We support the Biden Administration’s action, and we encourage them to move quickly to develop and to put in place stronger protections for streams and wetlands that are essential to our drinking water, Great Lakes, public health, recreation, and quality of life.”
More than 117 million people in the United States depend on drinking water sources that are fed in part by streams and wetlands. In the Great Lakes states of Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin, more than 30 million people rely on drinking water fed by these waters.
“Preserving and protecting streams and wetlands is also essential to protect the health of communities that are facing the impacts of environmental degradation, pollution, and flooding,” states the letter. “Clean drinking water is a basic need, and we should be doing all we can to ensure that everyone has access to clean, safe, and affordable drinking water. Re-establishing strong clean water protections is essential to achieving the goals of swimmable, fishable, and drinkable waters.”
Since 2004, the Healing Our Waters-Great Lakes Coalition has been harnessing the collective power of more than 170 groups representing millions of people, whose common goal is to restore and protect the Great Lakes. Learn more at HealthyLakes.org or follow us on Twitter @HealthyLakes.
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The post Coalition Supports Biden Administration Push for Stronger Clean Water Protections appeared first on Healing Our Waters Coalition.
Healing Our Waters Coalition
https://healthylakes.org/coalition-supports-biden-administration-push-for-stronger-clean-water-protections/
Great Lakes ice extent reached 44.4% on February 5th, the highest extent this winter and very close to the maximum ice extent of the winter of 2020-21, which was 45.8%. Read the full story by WOOD-TV – Grand Rapids, MI.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20220207-ice-coverage
A series of earthquakes continue to shake Lake Erie just northeast of Cleveland, Ohio, generating dozens of reports by local residents. In the last 40 days, there have been 5 earthquakes of magnitude 1.6 to 2.5, all clustered just off-shore in the southeastern portion of the Great Lake. Read the full story by Weatherboy.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20220207-earthquakes
Concerns over ice coverage and a previous study by researchers from Ohio State University published several years ago could suggest Lake Erie yellow perch hatches are more robust after winters that produce longer and later periods of ice cover. Read the full story by The Columbus Dispatch.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20220207-yellow-perch
Michigan’s Selfridge Air National Guard Base is taking steps to reduce the levels of “forever chemicals” used in firefighting. Selfridge, has been found to be among at least six U.S. military sites in the Great Lakes region contaminated with high levels of toxic PFAS detected as high as 17,000 ppt last year. Read the full story by Macomb Daily.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20220207-pfas
Historic images from southeast Michigan’s River Raisin show the complications of ice jams and bridge design over 100-year frequency floods. Read the full story by The Monroe News.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20220207-ice-jams
In their latest forecast the Army Corps of Engineers hydrologists report that most of the Great Lakes will remain above their long-term average water levels in the coming months but won’t reach the record highs of recent years. Read the full story by The Detroit News.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20220207-water-levels
Interlake Maritime Services, through its new subsidiary, Soo Maritime Services, will now oversee operations of the tour boats Hiawatha, Bide-A-Wee and Holiday that have provided river and lock tours in the Upper Peninsula for more than six decades. Read the full story by MLive.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20220207-soo-locks
Lake sturgeon have called the Great Lakes home for 10,000 years but now is a threatened species in many parts. Efforts have been made in the past year that raise hope of a new beginning, but what caused its decline in the first place? Read the full story by Campus Times.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20220207-sturgeon
The Coast Guard reported personnel in a helicopter saw the group of around 18 people and several ATVs on an ice floe around 1 p.m. Sunday. The ice floe had separated from land near Catawba Island in Lake Erie, which is slightly southwest of Pelee Island. Read the full story by the Windsor Star.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20220207-ice-floe
After nesting in spring and early summer in the North America’s Great Plains, many canvasback ducks migrate in fall to overwintering grounds on Lake St. Clair, Detroit River and Lake Erie. Read the full story by Great Lakes Now.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20220207-ducks
The lower Detroit River is a unique urban refugium where the tapestry of life has been woven with elegance, where the music of life has been rehearsed to perfection for thousands of years, where nature’s colors are most vibrant and engaging, where time is measured in seasons, and where the canvasback race across the water takes center stage.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2022/02/great-lakes-moment-ducks-detroit-river/
The dead of winter is a lively time in the Great Lakes region.
The post February: The dead of winter first appeared on Great Lakes Echo.Great Lakes Echo
http://greatlakesecho.org/2022/02/07/february-the-dead-of-winter/
Current Watches, Warnings and Advisories for Brown (WIC009) Wisconsin Issued by the National Weather Service
https://alerts.weather.gov/cap/wwacapget.php?x=WI1263E2424098.SpecialWeatherStatement.1263E242F060WI.GRBSPSGRB.e1ae724017be2a10443f5b652ce3656c
Current Watches, Warnings and Advisories for Brown (WIC009) Wisconsin Issued by the National Weather Service
https://alerts.weather.gov/cap/wwacapget.php?x=WI1263E241BB64.SpecialWeatherStatement.1263E2425420WI.GRBSPSGRB.0c0f2b15bfcfca7baaaa2e9688cc90ad
Current Watches, Warnings and Advisories for Brown (WIC009) Wisconsin Issued by the National Weather Service
https://alerts.weather.gov/cap/wwacapget.php?x=WI1263E2416CE0.SpecialWeatherStatement.1263E2422D10WI.GRBSPSGRB.d1ebd3da799d9fa2a38f53eebf5ece73
http://foxlocks.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/2022-02-08-Executive-Committee-Agenda.pdf
Blog – Fox Locks
http://foxlocks.org/2022/02/06/executive-meeting-agenda-2022-02-08/
THIS WEEK: Public Comments Requested on Michigan’s Draft Healthy Climate Plan; Learn More about Freshwater Future Grant Opportunities on February 22; Check Out the Popular Science Article With Thoughts from Jill Ryan; Registration Deadline Extended: Ensuring Your Community Benefits from Recent Federal Investments
Michigan recently released a draft MI Healthy Climate Plan focused on reducing greenhouse gas emissions. Public input and feedback on the plan can be submitted verbally at two remaining listening sessions:
February 8, 2022 from 6:00 to 8:00 pm (Register here)
February 14, 2022 from 6:00 to 8:00 pm, Focus on Environmental Justice (Register here)
Written comments can be submitted until February 14, 2022 to EGLE-ClimateSolutions@Michigan.gov.
The MI Healthy Climate Plan is a step in the right direction, but Freshwater Future believes the plan should expedite renewable energy goals and do more to address climate injustices such as the flooding Detroiters experienced in the summer of 2021.
You’re invited to learn more about Freshwater Future’s Project Grants Program on Tuesday, February 22nd– noon (EST). To register online, please click HERE. To register by email or phone, please contact laurie@freshwaterfuture.org, (231)348-8200. Also, visit the map on our website to learn more about past grant funded projects.
More than 7.7 billion people on Earth depend on the 1 percent of accessible freshwater. This Popular Science article explores water scarcity and vulnerability of communities around the world. Jill Ryan, Freshwater Future Executive Director, shares that although the US has water, (20% of Earth’s surface freshwater is in the Great Lakes) rising costs leave access to that water in peril for many families.
Limited Space Still Available for All About Water Symposium on Thursday, Feb 17th
Freshwater Future and All About Water invite you to join experts, peer groups and municipal officials to learn about federal dollars that will be coming to states for water infrastructure projects, and how your municipality can benefit. This is a once in a lifetime opportunity to secure funding through State Revolving Funds that are provided by Congress to help replace lead lines, update water and wastewater treatment plants, utilize green infrastructure to prevent or reduce flooding and more. This online event takes place February 17th, 9:30 am – noon EST. Registration deadline has been extended until February 11. A limited number of spots are still available so REGISTER NOW!
Blog – Freshwater Future
https://freshwaterfuture.org/uncategorized/freshwater-future-weekly-february-4-2022/
Hundreds of millions of dollars have been spent on sewage treatment and sewer system improvements, habitat restoration, among other things. But the results have been generally disappointing, especially when it comes to fish recovery. Read the full story by the Hamilton Spectator.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20220204-hamilton-harbor
A Michigan’s city’s winter festival has been postponed because of too much winter. Due to the inclement weather, St. Joseph has postponed its 2022 Ice Fest until Feb. 25-27. The annual festival had been scheduled for this weekend. Read the full story by MLive.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20220204-winter-fest
The Minnesota Public Facilities Authority awarded just over $180 million in the second half of 2021 to 26 Minnesota cities to improve water service and protect waterways. This funding resulting in a total of $193 million invested in Minnesota’s water ways during those six months. Read the full story by Red Lake Nation News.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20220204-facilities
Many of nearly 300 people who attended a 10-hour-long virtual public hearing spoke out against a $450 million plan to reroute an oil and gas pipeline across northern Wisconsin. Read the full story by the Star Tribune.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20220204-pipeline
Northern Michigan University is working with the state to bring the Arctic grayling back to Michigan with research focused on finding the best in-stream incubators for the native fish. Read the full story by MLive.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20220204-grayling
A big increase in cruise ships docking at Port Milwaukee is bringing around $6 million in improvements to help accommodate that traffic. And a major piece of that funding will be a $3.5 million grant to help expand maritime infrastructure for larger cruise ships. Read the full story by the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20220204-cruise
Lafarge and the City of Alpena, Michigan will receive $3.7 million as one of 25 grantees of the U.S. Department of Transportation’s port infrastructure development grants, awarded at the end of 2021. The investments in the Alpena port, and others across the nation, will strengthen supply chains and speed up delivery of goods to residents. Read the full story by Great Lakes Now.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20220204-lafarge-port
An animation from the Great Lakes Environmental Research Laboratory (GLERL) shows the growing ice coverage from Dec. 3 when there was almost no ice to Jan. 31 when the five lakes were 40% frozen over. Read the full story by MLive.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20220204-ice-coverage
In order to learn more about what happens under the ice, crews from more than a dozen U.S. and Canadian universities and government agencies will make their way onto frozen sections of lakes Erie, Huron, Michigan, Ontario and Superior during the week of Feb. 14. Read the full story by the Associated Press.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20220204-winter
The Sea Grant field office on the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay campus has an opening for a First Nation’s graduate assistant at the masters or Ph.D. level, in collaboration with the First Nations Studies Program and Cofrin Center for Biodiversity to develop a place-based research or professional project focused on First Nation connection to the Green Bay watershed. Project activities could include, but are not limited to, archival research, archeology, oral tradition and application of Indigenous knowledge systems.
The individual will also work with the three supervising partners on outreach and educational activities.
The candidate must be enrolled or eligible for enrollment at UW-Green Bay in either the M.S. Environmental Science and Policy Graduate Program or the Ed.D. First Nations Education Doctoral Program for the fall 2022 semester.
This opportunity is open until filled. Full details are available here.
The post First Nations position opening in Green Bay field office first appeared on Wisconsin Sea Grant.News Releases | Wisconsin Sea Grant
News Releases | Wisconsin Sea Grant
https://www.seagrant.wisc.edu/news/first-nations-position-opening-in-green-bay-field-office/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=first-nations-position-opening-in-green-bay-field-office
By John Flesher, Associated Press
TRAVERSE CITY, Mich. (AP) — What’s happening in the Great Lakes during those long, frigid months when they’re often covered partially or completely with ice? A casual observer — and even experts — might be inclined to say, “Not much.”
Lake scientists have long considered winter a season when aquatic activity slows.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2022/02/ap-scientists-data-warming-great-lakes/
Great Lakes Echo · Decommissioned Nuclear Plants in the Great Lakes Region By Cameryn Cass Editor’s note: This is part of a package of two articles and a podcast about nuclear power in Michigan. As Michigan and other states gradually move away from coal and other brown energy sources, there’s growing interest in carbon-free alternatives, […]
The post Nuclear power concerns outlast decommissioning first appeared on Great Lakes Echo.Great Lakes Echo
http://greatlakesecho.org/2022/02/04/nuclear-power-concerns-outlast-decommissioning/
By Julie Riddle, The Alpena News
This article is part of a collaboration between The Alpena News and Great Lakes Now at Detroit Public Television to bring audiences stories about the Great Lakes, especially Lake Huron and its watershed.
ALPENA – An Alpena company will snag a piece of more than $241 million in grants awarded to upgrade U.S.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2022/02/grant-aid-lafarge-port-upgrades/
By John Flesher, Associated Press
Beef produced at a small Michigan farm was found to contain toxic “forever chemicals” after the cattle were fed crops grown with fertilizer made from contaminated wastewater biosolids, state officials said Friday.
A consumption advisory issued by state agencies stopped short of a recall, noting there are no government standards for the substances in beef.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2022/02/ap-forever-chemicals-michigan-beef/
