A crowd of 50 people were up bright and early Tuesday morning, prepared to stop heavy equipment from removing a part of Sauble Beach’s sand dunes, which are located alone Ontario’s Lake Huron shoreline. Read the full story by CTV News.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20201209-sauble-beach
After setting or tying multiple records for high water marks in 2019, Lake Superior in 2020 retreated somewhat from levels that have caused erosion and damaged shoreline infrastructure. Read the full story by Thunder Bay News Watch.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20201209-water-level
The state of Michigan has begun its emergency work to partially breach the Edenville Dam’s Tobacco River spillway following the catastrophic dam failure in May. Read the full story by MLive.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20201209-dam-repair
In Michigan, the Superior Watershed Partnership Land Conservancy will be protecting and restoring a 4–mile stretch of the Sturgeon River, after being awarded $2.1 Million from the Michigan Natural Resource Trust Fund Board. Read the full story by WBUP-TV- Marquette, MI.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20201209-sturgeon-river
Duluth is expecting an improved but slower than normal tourism economy in 2021 as the prospect of the pandemic’s gradual end gives more certainty visitors will eventually flock to the region at previous levels. Read the full story by the Duluth Star-Tribune.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20201209-duluth
After four years in the making, a set of maps has been created to show what lies underneath the water in the Milwaukee Harbor and what restoration efforts could help get the harbor removed from the U.S. Environmental Protection Administration’s list of heavily contaminated Areas of Concern. Read the full story by the Great Lakes Echo.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20201209-milwaukee-harbor
The U.S. House voted Tuesday to authorize construction of the long-studied waterway project that lawmakers hope will halt the progress of Asian carp toward the Great Lakes. Read the full story by The Detroit News.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20201209-carp
NCEI News Feed
http://www.ncei.noaa.gov/news/NOAA-FTP-Transition
NCEI News Feed
http://www.ncei.noaa.gov/news//news/NOAA-FTP-Transition
By Amy Diaz, Flint Beat, through the Institute for Nonprofit News network
Flint, MI– Lorraine Taylor remembers when she first started having to fit bottled water into her already tight $20 weekly grocery budget.
She remembered thinking about how blessed she was to have a car so she could drive to the grocery store.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2020/12/what-should-justice-look-like-for-flint-after-the-water-crisis-residents-weigh-in/
The watersheds that feed the Western Basin of Lake Erie are home to thousands of crop and livestock farms. Those farmers use underground systems to manage rainwater, including many located where a massive swamp once made up the Ohio landscape.
All those farms face challenges managing fertilizers and water in their fields with drainage systems.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2020/12/field-tiles-drainage-systems-pose-problems-lake-erie/
Flint has taken important steps toward resolving the lead contamination crisis that made the impoverished Michigan city a symbol of the drinking water problems that plague many U.S. communities, officials said Monday.
A total of $120 million in federal and state funding has helped Flint replace more than 9,700 lead service lines, which carry water from main pipes into homes, said Kurt Thiede, administrator of the U.S.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2020/12/ap-officials-flint-makes-progress-toward-ending-water-crisis/
NCEI News Feed
http://www.ncei.noaa.gov/news/humans-ncei-georgianna-zelenak
NCEI News Feed
http://www.ncei.noaa.gov/news//news/humans-ncei-georgianna-zelenak
After four years in the making, a set of maps has been created to show what lies underneath the water in the Milwaukee Harbor and what restoration efforts could help get the harbor removed from the U.S. Environmental Protection Administration’s list of heavily contaminated Areas of Concern.
The post New maps for the Milwaukee Harbor shows what lies beneath the surface first appeared on Great Lakes Echo.
Great Lakes Echo
http://greatlakesecho.org/2020/12/09/new-maps-for-the-milwaukee-harbor-shows-what-lies-beneath-the-surface/
By Brett Walton, Circle of Blue
The Great Lakes News Collaborative includes Bridge Michigan; Circle of Blue; Great Lakes Now at Detroit Public Television; and Michigan Radio, Michigan’s NPR News Leader; who work together to bring audiences news and information about the impact of climate change, pollution, and aging infrastructure on the Great Lakes and drinking water.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2020/12/biden-administration-water-policy-expert-roundtable/
As 2020 winds down, we asked staff members at Wisconsin Sea Grant what their favorite project was this year. Although work was a bit more challenging than usual due to our altered work circumstances, everyone managed to stay productive, and even find fulfillment.
Our designer, Yael Gen’s favorite project is her work on our 2018-2020 Biennial Report.
She said, “In the past, we commissioned a photographer to create the images based on a theme. But because of the pandemic, that couldn’t happen. Communications Coordinator Moira Harrington came up with the idea of using signal flags, and after a few minutes of researching the flags, I could visualize the entire report in my head. All I had to do was get it down on ‘paper.’ After such a disorienting year, it was gratifying to see how much our program accomplished.”
The report is at the printers and is not posted online yet, but here’s a sneak preview of the cover and inside spread.
The post Sea Grant staff project faves, Yael Gen first appeared on Wisconsin Sea Grant.
Blog – Wisconsin Sea Grant
https://www.seagrant.wisc.edu/blog/sea-grant-staff-project-faves-yael-gen/
NCEI News Feed
http://www.ncei.noaa.gov/news/national-climate-202011
NCEI News Feed
http://www.ncei.noaa.gov/news//news/national-climate-202011
Groups are collaborating, for example, in the Algonquin to Adirondacks area, from Ontario through the state of New York, to protect forest and wetlands considered the best remaining potential for wildlife movement across the Great Lakes-St. Lawrence system. Read the full story by the Windsor Star.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20201208-st-lawrence-wildlife
The U.S. Coast Guard wants to retire its oldest cutter on the Great Lakes, the 57-year-old, Sault Ste. Marie-based buoy tender Buckthorn, but it may take several years. A new report from the nonpartisan Congressional Research Service says the Coast Guard is waiting for Congress to approve its proposal to replace up to 35 aging cutters, which average 56 years old. Read the full story by the Mining Journal.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20201208-coast-guard-ship
The Trump administration recently announced that it will remove the gray wolf from the endangered species list in the lower 48 states. The gray wolf population in those states, including Michigan, has reached more than 6,000 and has met recovery goals that make it unnecessary for protection, according to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Read the full story by The Mining Journal.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20201208-endangered-wolf-protection
Ducks Unlimited Canada celebrates an announcement by the Province of Ontario, which renews their longstanding conservation partnership. The Wetlands Conservation Partner Program will provide $6 million this year for wetland projects in the Lake Ontario and Lake Erie drainage basins. View the full story by Globe Newswire.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20201208-wetlands-ontario
Port Milwaukee is entering into a lease agreement with Pearl Seas Cruises to give the company priority docking rights for its cruise ships at Pier Wisconsin, the downtown dock immediately east of Discovery World museum. Read the full story by The Maritime Executive.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20201208-wisconsin-cruises
A researcher at Southern Illinois University Carbondale studying invasive grass carp has published their findings about a tiny bone in the ear of the grass carp that is exposing an important clue to controlling their numbers in the Great Lakes. Read the full story by The Southern.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20201208-grass-carp
Flathead catfish, gizzard shad, alewife and white perch are among the fish species that have shown up in a variety of our state’s waters, ones where they had not previously been. When they become established in waters where they did not previously exist it’s often at the expense of other species. Read the full story by Indiana Gazette.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20201208-indiana-invasive-species
Canadian Energy company Enbridge’s request for a permit to build a tunnel surrounding Line 5 oil pipeline in the Straits of Mackinac, was met with lots of scrutiny and criticism in an online public hearing as environmental groups argue it could have potentially detrimental effects on coastal wetlands. Read the full story by WJRT-TV-Detroit, MI.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20201208-line-5-enbridge
The City of Marquette has been awarded a grant from the Native American Heritage Fund for a project that will promote Native history in the area. Read the full story by WLUC-TV – Marquette, MI.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20201208-native-history-grant-trail
Ann Arbor, MI – The Invasive Mussel Collaborative (IMC) announced a remarkable decrease in quagga mussel density in the weeks following experimental treatments at a test site in Lake Michigan near Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore. The IMC’s work to reduce the invasive species also led to a significant reduction in nuisance Cladophora algae at the site.
Using a molluscicide consisting of dead cells from Pseudomonas fluorescens bacteria on a reef within Good Harbor Bay, project partners saw a 95% reduction in mussel density in the weeks following application. The project tested the application to an area important for fish spawning and identified changes in the underwater habitat. Lake Michigan is heavily infested with quagga mussels, which are fueling the growth of nuisance algae in the lake. They also serve as a food source for invasive round goby, which has displaced some native fish species and plays a role in avian botulism outbreaks.
The IMC also announced the release of a video highlighting its work at Good Harbor Bay. In the months ahead, the IMC will monitor the long-term effects of the project and work to identify future priorities and opportunities to conduct similar work.
“The presence of zebra and quagga mussels has significantly impacted Good Harbor Bay and the entire Great Lakes basin,” said Dave Clapp of the Michigan Department of Natural Resources. “This project and related efforts show us that targeted mussel removal has the potential to help us restore these important coastal reefs.”
“The IMC is encouraged by the outcomes of this experimental project and sees an opportunity to conduct related studies in other locations around the Great Lakes,” said Erika Jensen, Interim Executive Director for the Great Lakes Commission, which provides coordination and neutral backbone support for the collaborative. “The IMC is proud to support work to develop and test effective control methods, and we look forward to the results of this project informing future efforts.”
The project leveraged ongoing work by the National Park Service, the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee and a team of citizen divers to manually remove quagga mussels and study impacts to nuisance algae, local fish, the underwater community and toxin-producing microbes at Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore.
“We’re concerned with understanding the cascading consequences of invasive mussels on these coastal ecosystems and food webs,” said Julie Christian, Head Biologist with Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore. “The National Park Service is pleased to support nearshore monitoring and research efforts at Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore.”
“Good Harbor Bay serves as a natural laboratory to monitor ongoing changes in the Lake Michigan ecosystem and test hypotheses about reef and native species restoration,” said Brenda Lafrancois, National Park Service Aquatic Ecologist for Department of Interior Regions 3, 4 and 5.
Harvey Bootsma, a lead researcher with the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee who conducted monitoring for the project and is studying the reef ecosystem, added, “Ongoing research in Good Harbor Bay over the last 15 years is teaching us a great deal about the complexities of a Lake Michigan ecosystem that is significantly impacted by non-native species. The information gathered from this work improves our understanding and efforts to manage and restore Great Lakes resources.”
“This project and other innovative approaches to invasive species control would not have been possible without funding from the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative, which has significantly accelerated efforts to protect the Great Lakes,” said Scott Morlock, USGS Regional Director. “USGS is pleased to be a founding member of the IMC and work with our federal, state and local partners on this project and future work to protect our water resources.”
The IMC was established in 2015 to share information, identify regional research and management priorities and advance scientifically sound technologies for invasive mussel control. Founding members include the Great Lakes Commission, the U.S. Geological Survey, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the Great Lakes Fishery Commission. The IMC is funded by the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative through an agreement with the U.S. Geological Survey. Learn more about the IMC and its work online.
The Great Lakes Commission, led by chair Sharon M. Jackson, Deputy General Counsel for Governor Eric J. Holcomb of Indiana, is an interstate compact agency established under the Great Lakes Basin Compact of 1955. The Commission is authorized by state and U.S. federal law and dedicated to promoting a strong economy, healthy environment and high quality of life for the Great Lakes-St. Lawrence Basin and its residents. The Commission consists of governors’ appointees, state legislators, industry and nonprofit leaders and agency officials from eight states and two provinces. Associate membership for Ontario and Québec was established through the signing of a “Declaration of Partnership.” The Commission maintains a formal Observer program involving U.S. and Canadian federal agencies, tribal authorities, binational agencies and other regional interests. The Commission office is in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Learn more at www.glc.org.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/news/ghr-120820
TRAVERSE CITY, Mich. (AP) — Building an oil pipeline tunnel beneath a channel linking two of the Great Lakes would risk environmental devastation, opponents said Monday, while supporters argued that rejecting the plan would further damage a Michigan economy already reeling from the coronavirus.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2020/12/ap-federal-officials-hear-arguments-enbridge-pipeline-tunnel/
Dec. 8, 2020
By Jennifer A. Smith
While it’s not news to avid anglers, many Wisconsinites may be unaware that the Badger State has over 13,000 miles of coldwater streams that support many world-class fisheries for brook trout and brown trout.
Coldwater streams are flowing waters with maximum summer temperatures under 72 degrees Fahrenheit. Trout living in these streams not only play an important role in ecosystems, but also represent significant economic value to the state. For example, according to research done by retired University of Wisconsin-La Crosse Professor Donna Anderson, trout fishing in Wisconsin’s Driftless region had an economic impact of $1.6 billion in 2015.
But these brook and brown trout face challenges. Two leading ones are climate change (and the resulting shifts in precipitation patterns and flood frequency) and high-capacity wells in the state, as those wells draw groundwater that might otherwise replenish streams.
Here to better understand these challenges—and ultimately help natural resource managers make decisions related to trout populations—is Bryan Maitland, a new Wisconsin Water Science-Policy Fellow whose position is jointly supported by the University of Wisconsin Water Resources Institute (WRI) and the Bureau of Fisheries Management at the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources.
Maitland, who recently completed his doctorate in ecology at the University of Wyoming in Laramie, began his fellowship Sept. 1. He also holds a master’s degree in conservation biology from the University of Alberta in Canada. The fellowship is a one-year commitment with a possibility for a second year.
During this time, he’ll focus on building computer models that illuminate how long-term changes in hydrology across the state are affecting trout populations. “The flip side of this,” he said, “is the conservation and management side, translating it into some type of decision support tool that decision-makers can use to inform policy in the state.”
As Maitland elaborated, climate change has brought shifting precipitation patterns that have altered Wisconsin’s hydrology. Increased precipitation–and particularly the frequency of intense precipitation events–has triggered floods in rivers and streams statewide. Depending on their timing and severity, these floods can threaten the emergence of trout fry or the survival of juvenile trout.
For example, a big winter flood can “scour out these little trout eggs that are growing under the stream in the substrate” that time of year, said Maitland. As a result, that year class of fish could be wiped out since eggs will not hatch in the spring. “That age-zero year class is really important for long-term trout population dynamics, because if you don’t have a good age-zero cohort, you can have very depressed populations in the stream for multiple years after that,” he noted.
At the same time, some high-capacity wells have the potential to deplete groundwater levels, thereby reducing input into nearby streams.
“The reason we have 13,000 miles of streams is because we have really good groundwater here in Wisconsin and good input into streams, which helps keep these streams colder in the summer and a little warmer in winter,” said Maitland, creating a favorable environment for brook and brown trout.
Maitland’s modeling work will pull together these two large-scale factors, and their interplay, to see how trout populations have been influenced over the past 26 years. Fish data collected from 1994 to 2020 are being used to inform the computer models to investigate how stream flow, precipitation and water temperature drive trout population numbers. Looking to the future, Maitland and collaborators will examine how increases or decreases in stream flow are likely to affect trout populations, with an eye to guiding a management framework for things like high-capacity well permits.
While economic considerations like the value of Wisconsin’s recreational trout fishery are outside the scope of his work, this effort could set the stage for other researchers to pursue this topic.
Maitland is an angler himself, which explains part of the appeal of this topic for him. Yet another draw is the chance to work with an array of other fellows and with permanent staff at the Wisconsin DNR. His collaborators at the DNR include former WRI fellow Alex Latzka, now a fisheries systems biologist there, and Lori Tate, section chief at the Fisheries Management Bureau and a member of Wisconsin Sea Grant’s Advisory Board. His efforts will intersect with that of other current fellows like Carolyn Voter and Dana Lapides.
“I think science and policy are team sports,” said Maitland. “To join such a big group of researchers and managers working on these big-picture issues in Wisconsin is very exciting.”
The post WRI Fellow looks at what’s ahead for brook and brown trout amid Wisconsin’s changing hydrology first appeared on WRI.
News Release – WRI
https://www.wri.wisc.edu/news/wri-fellow-looks-at-whats-ahead-for-brook-and-brown-trout/
The Great Lakes Conservation Coalition is criticizing the U.S. EPA’s ballast water rule proposal which would exempt cargo ships that only travel in the Great Lakes from having to treat their ballast water to stop the spread of aquatic invasive species. Read the full story by Michigan Radio.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20201207-epa-proposal
Applications to Michigan’s Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy for shoreline protection permits tripled this year compared to 2019. Read the full story by Michigan Radio.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20201207-lakefront-protections
The mayor of Waukegan, Illinois, is chairing the recently formed Mayors Water Equity Commission of the binational Great Lakes and St. Lawrence Cities Initiative, exploring ways to make fresh water more accessible and less costly. Read the full story by The Lake County News-Sun.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20201207-waukegan-water-quality
Lake Superior water levels continued to drop in November, but more slowly than usual, as the big lake continues with higher-than-normal water levels. Read the full story by the Duluth News Tribune.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20201207-superior-water-level
A new 214-acre “quiet” recreation area on Lake Michigan and featuring a large inland lake near Muskegon, Michigan, could be open to the public next year. Read the full story by MLive.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20201207-muskegon-park
The Great Lakes Surf Rescue Project, a water safety nonprofit, is rolling out an online learning program to give water safety presentations to schools throughout the Great Lakes region. Read the full story by the Northwest Indiana TImes.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20201207-water-safety
A project supported by the Stratford Perth Community Foundation in Ontario is helping landowners in the region shore up their properties to provide environmental benefits, add bank stability, and improve the quality of water that ultimately ends up in Lake Huron. Read the full story by The Beacon Herald.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20201207-restoration-project
The Saugeen Ojibway Nation has now been joined by more partners in an effort to stop the Town of South Bruce Peninsula, Ontario, from cutting back the dunes at Sauble Beach on Lake Huron and installing a concrete-block retaining wall. Read the full story by The Owen Sound Sun Times.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20201207-sauble-beach
A Minnesota regulatory panel on Friday denied a request from two tribes to prevent Enbridge Energy from moving forward with its contentious Line 3 crude oil pipeline replacement, which broke ground this week after receiving its final state permit. Read the full story by the Associated Press.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20201207-line-3
The government of Ontario estimates that “hundreds of thousands” of the province’s lakes, islands, beaches, bays and other geographic features still don’t have an official name, and anyone can make a name submission to the Ontario Geographic Names Board. Read the full story by CBC.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20201207-ontario-lakes
LASALLE TOWNSHIP, Mich. (AP) — A fire Friday destroyed an enormous building loaded with hundreds of boats stored for the winter in southeastern Michigan, sending smoke for miles along Lake Erie.
Neighbors and boat owners rushed to get as close as possible to Toledo Beach Marina. Aerial video showed clouds of black smoke and a building overwhelmed by flames.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2020/12/ap-hundreds-boats-likely-destroyed-michigan-marina-fire/
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — A Minnesota regulatory panel on Friday denied a request from two tribes to prevent Enbridge Energy from moving forward with its contentious Line 3 crude oil pipeline replacement, which broke ground this week after receiving its final state permit.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2020/12/ap-minnesota-regulators-deny-request-to-delay-line-3-pipeline/
By Eric Freedman Looking for a holiday gift with the spirit of the Great Lakes region? If so, here are books (in alphabetical order by title) that Great Lakes Echo has written about this year, including interviews with their authors. Eating with the Seasons, Great Lakes Region by Dereck Nicholas This cookbook combines recipes, language […]
The post Great Gifts for Great Lakes enthusiasts first appeared on Great Lakes Echo.
Great Lakes Echo
http://greatlakesecho.org/2020/12/07/great-gifts/
From lead pipes to PFAS, drinking water contamination is a major issue plaguing cities and towns all around the Great Lakes. Cleaning up contaminants and providing safe water to everyone is an ongoing public health struggle.
Keep up with drinking water-related developments in the Great Lakes area.
Click on the headline to read the full story:
Indiana:
Just 150 miles from Lake Michigan, utility planners are worried about finding enough water to supply a growing Indianapolis because of climate change.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2020/12/drinking-water-climate-change-lead-first-nations-waukesha-pipeline/
Great Lakes Moment is a monthly column written by Great Lakes Now Contributor John Hartig. Publishing the author’s views and assertions does not represent endorsement by Great Lakes Now or Detroit Public Television.
For over two decades, when you drove by the former McLouth Steel Plant in Trenton, you could not help but slow down and stare.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2020/12/new-vision-waterfront-former-mclouth-steel-site-trenton/
Michigan’s outdoor recreation is expected to get a boost of nearly $37.8 million in 2021, and Muskegon County is the biggest winner of funds with a single grant for $5 million. Read the full story by MLive.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20201204-michigan-recreation-grant
The Lower Menominee River remediation project, located in Michigan’s western Upper Peninsula, has been officially delisted as an Area of Concern under the Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement. However, there is work still to be done. Read the full story by WLUC-TV – Negaunee, MI.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20201204-michigan-river-remediation
St. Clair County, Michigan, has secured funding to acquire a 10-acre parcel along the North Channel of the St. Clair River with help from Six Rivers Land Conservancy. Read the full story by The Voice.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20201204-michigan-land-conservation
The Harvest Spirit is anchored in Canadian waters after having run aground in the Detroit River near Grosse Ile, Michigan, on Dec. 3. Up to 18 vessels had anchored and were awaiting passage during the incident. Read the full story by The Detroit News.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20201204-freighter-shipping
