Perch and other fish native to the Great Lakes have dwindled in part due to invasive species. UWM School of Freshwater Sciences’ Osvaldo Jhonatan Sepulveda Villet says the solution might be to farm these fish through genetically improved lines that breed fish that grow bigger faster. Read the full story WUWM – Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20220415-perch
Shipping season is underway on the Great Lakes, but some of the big lakers are bunched up in a group just off the Marquette coastline today, apparently waiting out some big winds whipping across Lake Superior. Read the full story by Mlive.com.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20220415-gale-winds
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:
Illinois:
On March 11, IDOC and the Illinois Department of Public Health released a joint press release announcing that Legionella bacteria had been detected in two prisons—Stateville Correctional Center and Joliet Treatment Center.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2022/04/drinking-water-news-roundup-epa-rocket-fuel-prison-water-contaminated/
Although flying cars aren't currently in the sky, they could be very soon. Michigan legislators have introduced bills that would establish an “Advanced Air Mobility Study Committee” to review current laws that affect the aeronautics industry.
The post Legislature eyes futuristic ‘highway in the sky’ first appeared on Great Lakes Echo.Great Lakes Echo
http://greatlakesecho.org/2022/04/15/legislature-eyes-futuristic-highway-in-the-sky/
Current Watches, Warnings and Advisories for Brown (WIC009) Wisconsin Issued by the National Weather Service
https://alerts.weather.gov/cap/wwacapget.php?x=WI1263EEA76728.SpecialWeatherStatement.1263EEA7E5B8WI.GRBSPSGRB.3b77a733acfe35fc01f412b80021d336
By Eva Ryan, University of Wisconsin-Madison
The Sea Grant Knauss Fellowship is a nationally competitive opportunity that sends graduate students interested in ocean, coastal and Great Lakes resources and policy to the historical hub that is Washington, D.C. There, these students are paired with a congressional member or committee or placed within a federal program in order to learn more about the policies surrounding our natural resources.
Next in the lineup of introductions of the 2022 Wisconsin Sea Grant Knauss fellows is Elizabeth McNamee.
While pursuing her master’s degree in soil science and agroecology at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, McNamee enrolled in environmental biophysics, a course taught by Chris Kucharik.
“It completely changed how I see the world,” said McNamee, “I fell in love with biophysics.” McNamee carried on to describe how she would notice things that before taking environmental biophysics, at which she would not have batted an eye.
“I learned why fog gathers after a cool night or why it’s so dry indoors in the winter. Minor things that altered my perspective and showed me how physics is everywhere,” she said.
Elizabeth McNamee, one of four Knauss Fellows from Wisconsin in 2022-23. Submitted photo.
Kucharik, in collaboration with previous research fellow Mallika Nocco (Nocco is now a cooperative extension specialist), developed a project that involves applied science and answering scientific questions useful to farmers. The project became a Ph.D. opportunity for McNamee at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, where she has studied agronomy.
The research that McNamee has conducted as part of her Ph.D. so far revolves around applied science, water conservation and agriculture, all of which contain information that could be used to directly inform water conservation policy and improve farmers’ environmental impacts.
McNamee discovered the Knauss Fellowship opportunity through a friend and colleague. “I’m really interested in the intersection of science and policy,” said McNamee, making the Knauss Fellowship a perfect fit for her.
Eager to cultivate her current knowledge as well as explore new concepts in the field of policy, McNamee is most excited to improve her scientific translation skills in order to cater to broader audiences, and gain insight into how scientists can further apply their expertise outside of academia.
“I’m hoping to gain exposure to how policy is created and how science can support it,” she said. “I’m excited to learn about something completely new. My position will be focused on coastal resilience.” She is serving her one-year fellowship in the National Centers for Coastal Ocean Science in the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
With a background in agronomy, McNamee certainly has unique perspectives to bring the fellowship. These perspectives coupled with her strong devotion to her studies are bound to make a splash in Washington, D.C.
McNamee, along with the other 73 fellows, began the Knauss Fellowship on Feb. 1.
The post Meet the Knauss Fellows: Elizabeth McNamee first appeared on Wisconsin Sea Grant.News Releases | Wisconsin Sea Grant
News Releases | Wisconsin Sea Grant
https://www.seagrant.wisc.edu/news/meet-the-knauss-fellows-elizabeth-mcnamee/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=meet-the-knauss-fellows-elizabeth-mcnamee
Current Watches, Warnings and Advisories for Brown (WIC009) Wisconsin Issued by the National Weather Service
https://alerts.weather.gov/cap/wwacapget.php?x=WI1263EE9B0B7C.WindAdvisory.1263EEA73DC0WI.GRBNPWGRB.31b85542b4fabd1bb9537696917df979
By Tracy Samilton, Michigan Radio
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/2022/04/research-pfas-wastewater-treatment-plants/
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — Gov. Tom Wolf’s administration has asked the state’s highest court to let the centerpiece of his plan to fight climate change take effect and make Pennsylvania the first major fossil fuel state to adopt a carbon pricing policy.
The filing late Thursday in the state Supreme Court appealed a two-day old decision by the lower Commonwealth Court which, in a one-line unsigned order, barred the official publication of the Democratic governor’s regulation “pending further order.”
The regulation had been scheduled to be published on Saturday, making it official.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2022/04/ap-governor-appeals-court-order-carbon-emissions/
Editor’s Note: This is part two of a two-part story. Read the first part here.
Ed Matusik and his wife were in their new summer vacation trailer for just a month at Bay Point Resort and Marina in 2006 when they received an eviction letter: the investment group which recently purchased the site had plans for a new development in that section of the resort.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2022/04/trailer-parks-campgrounds-waterfront-developments/
By Marc Levy, Associated Press
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — Republican Bill McSwain pledges to be a pro-energy governor by “turning on the spigot of natural gas.” Another hopeful, Dave White, says he wants Pennsylvania “to be the energy capital of the world.” A third candidate, Lou Barletta, says having a glut of natural gas in the ground without a pipeline is “like being in college and having a keg of beer without a tap.”
In Pennsylvania, the No.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2022/04/ap-energy-promises-face-limits/
NCEI News Feed
http://www.ncei.noaa.gov/news/global-climate-202203
Current Watches, Warnings and Advisories for Brown (WIC009) Wisconsin Issued by the National Weather Service
https://alerts.weather.gov/cap/wwacapget.php?x=WI1263EE9A33DC.WindAdvisory.1263EEA73DC0WI.GRBNPWGRB.31b85542b4fabd1bb9537696917df979
Current Watches, Warnings and Advisories for Brown (WIC009) Wisconsin Issued by the National Weather Service
https://alerts.weather.gov/cap/wwacapget.php?x=WI1263EE993E28.WindAdvisory.1263EEA73DC0WI.GRBNPWGRB.31b85542b4fabd1bb9537696917df979
The lifeguard shortage is expected to continue this summer, leading many local recreation leaders to combat inadequate staffing with increased wages or other incentives.
The post Lifeguard staffing struggles to stay afloat in 2022 first appeared on Great Lakes Echo.Great Lakes Echo
http://greatlakesecho.org/2022/04/14/lifeguard-staffing-struggles-to-stay-afloat-in-2022/
Current Watches, Warnings and Advisories for Brown (WIC009) Wisconsin Issued by the National Weather Service
https://alerts.weather.gov/cap/wwacapget.php?x=WI1263EE9859A4.WindAdvisory.1263EEA73DC0WI.GRBNPWGRB.31b85542b4fabd1bb9537696917df979
Green Bay, WI
https://www.weather.gov/www.weather.gov/grb/04152018_Blizzard
Green Bay, WI
https://www.weather.gov/www.weather.gov/grb/041518_blizzard
PFAS, short for per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, are a group of widespread man-made chemicals that don’t break down in the environment or the human body and have been flagged as a major contaminant in sources of water across the country.
Keep up with PFAS-related developments in the Great Lakes area.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2022/04/pfas-news-roundup-pennsylvania-regulations-climate-change-defend/
Current Watches, Warnings and Advisories for Brown (WIC009) Wisconsin Issued by the National Weather Service
https://alerts.weather.gov/cap/wwacapget.php?x=WI1263EE8B9F70.WindAdvisory.1263EEA73DC0WI.GRBNPWGRB.31b85542b4fabd1bb9537696917df979
Broadcasting in our monthly PBS television program, The Catch is a Great Lakes Now series that brings you more news about the lakes you love. Go beyond the headlines with reporters from around the region who cover the lakes and drinking water issues. Find all the work HERE.
Mount Baldy is moving inland.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2022/04/the-catch-dune-moves-inland/
This article was republished here with permission from Great Lakes Echo.
By Yue Jiang, Great Lakes Echo
Global warming will produce more frequent high rainfall events in the Upper Great Lakes, according to a University of Guelph expert.
Rather than average water levels falling as previously assumed, it’s possible that the average will increase because of more precipitation, which will constrict the beach area, said emeritus professor Robin Davidson-Arnott of the Department of Geography, Environment & Geomatics.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2022/04/global-warming-impact-great-lakes-beaches/
Sometimes called “the coral reefs of the northern forest,” vernal pools are bodies of water that hold the key to sustaining a multitude of plant and animal life, according to the Michigan Department of Natural Resources. They may at first appear as leaf-littered ponds, but a closer look reveals a magical array of species beneath the surface. Read the full story by the Iosco County News-Herald.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20220413-vernal-pools
In January, Michigan State University received a $1.9 million grant to look at toxicity in PFAS, and researcher professor Cheryl Murphy will lead the multi-institutional team of researchers conducting the study. Read the full story by Great Lakes Now.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20220413-pfas-study
As the Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement reaches its 50-year anniversary this week, much in terms of protections and improvements must still be tackled in the years ahead, according to a newly formed group of activists, the Citizens Environment Alliance. Read the full story by the Windsor Star.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20220413-great-lakes-agreement
Two popular West Michigan buoys are back on the water after spending the winter away. Boaters and swimmers can check the buoy before they head to the lake for conditions like wind speed, air temperature, water temperature, and more. Read the full story by WOOD-TV – South Haven, MI.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20220413-weather-buoys
A voluntary conservation program will be relaunched in the Western Lake Erie Basin, Lake Macatawa, and Saginaw Bay watersheds through a partnership among Michigan state and federal agriculture agencies and regional conservation districts. The effort is expected pull in $40 million in federal funds toward protecting land and water resources. Read the full story by MLive.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20220413-fund-water-quality
The movement of two native fish species called suckers are being studied in a northern Michigan river as part of a larger studies to see how fish move into, through and out of the Ottaway River, and the impacts they have on nutrient and energy dynamics. Read the full story by the Traverse City Record-Eagle.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20220413-sucker-study
The Great Lakes Boat Building School on the northwest corner of Lake Huron in Michigan’s eastern Upper Peninsula is expanding to meet the needs of Michigan’s marine industry. Read the full story by Great Lakes Echo.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20220413-marine-industry
The Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources cannot enforce one of its key environmental protection tools, known as the “spills law,” without first creating a definitive list of hazardous substances approved by lawmakers, a Waukesha County judge ruled Tuesday. Read the full story by the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20220413-state-cleanup
The International Lake Ontario-St. Lawrence River Board has confirmed that it will host two virtual public meetings in mid-April to review winter and early spring conditions and shared updated forecasts for the Lake Ontario and St. Lawrence River basin. Read the full story by WWLP-TV – Messena, NY.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20220413-public-meeting
If you find yourself fascinated by shipwrecks, it may surprise you to learn just how many shipwrecks you can find around Michigan and even in some that can be visited by paddle boat. Read the full story by WKFR – Kalamazoo, MI.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20220413-shipwrecks
Green Bay, WI
https://www.weather.gov/grb/April12_2022_Severe_Hail
Current Watches, Warnings and Advisories for Brown (WIC009) Wisconsin Issued by the National Weather Service
https://alerts.weather.gov/cap/wwacapget.php?x=WI1263EE8A7B40.SpecialWeatherStatement.1263EE8B0330WI.GRBSPSGRB.980473585a1fc18752d54f91d4221f8a
After a two-year hiatus, Great Lakes cruise ships are back, and the industry is trying to prepare itself. Cruise companies will start expeditions in May and end them in October.
The post Cruise ships return to the Great Lakes first appeared on Great Lakes Echo.Great Lakes Echo
http://greatlakesecho.org/2022/04/13/cruise-ships-return-to-the-great-lakes/
By Jonathan Oosting and Kelly House, Bridge Michigan
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/2022/04/michigan-infrastructure-problems/
PFAS research is still in the early stages, which means issues with PFAS crop up all the time to surprise researchers like Michigan State University professor Cheryl Murphy.
PFAS, per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, are known as Forever Chemicals because of their reluctance to break down in humans. They can be in the food chain, drinking water and are found in common items in everyday commercial use like water-repellent clothing, dental floss and non-stick cookware.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2022/04/pfas-solution-widespread-sources/
At the northwest corner of Lake Huron, in Michigan’s eastern Upper Peninsula, is an 80 square-mile town of 240 people, one phone booth - and one boat building school. That school is growing explosively, bringing the entire community along with it. Experts estimate that a planned expansion of the Great Lakes Boat Building School could bring an additional $2.5 million to residents of Cedarville.
The post Cedarville: The little town that upholds Michigan’s marine industry first appeared on Great Lakes Echo.Great Lakes Echo
http://greatlakesecho.org/2022/04/12/cedarville-the-little-town-that-upholds-michigans-marine-industry/
In-person events are back as people slowly reintroduce themselves to dining in, large gatherings and a return to the office.
But even as indoors becomes less taboo, let’s not forget the great outdoors, which served us well over the past two years. And what better time to show your gratitude to the parks than Earth Day.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2022/04/earth-day-2022/
Broadcasting in our monthly PBS television program, The Catch is a Great Lakes Now series that brings you more news about the lakes you love. Go beyond the headlines with reporters from around the region who cover the lakes and drinking water issues. Find all the work HERE.
Benton Harbor’s water problems aren’t new.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2022/04/the-catch-benton-harbor-lead-pipes/
Canada is back at the binational table with funding in the 2022 federal budget to protect the Great Lakes fishery. It’s the first time in 40 years the federal government has fully funded the binational treaty organization Great Lakes Fishery Commission. Read the full story by Welland Tribune.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20220411-glfc-funding
Lake Huron Coastal Centre Stewardship Technician Alyssa Bourassa says 83.3 per cent of the twenty-four lake water samples that were collected from Lake Huron at the beginning and the end of last year’s Coast Watcher season, contained micro-plastics. And when the samples were tested in 2018, 95.7 per cent of the samples contained micro-plastics. Read the full story by CKNX-TV – Windsor, ON.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20220411-plastic-pollution
The debate over the expansion of a toxic waste landfill in Niagara County, which is going on 20 years, could soon come to a close. The first in a series of hearings on the matter will take place Monday, April 11. Since 2003, local groups fought to stop CWM Chemical Services and Waste Management from expanding their toxic waste landfills in the town of Porter, NY. Read the full story by Spectrum News.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20220411-pollution
High and dry for easy viewing this summer will be one of Michigan’s newest exposed wrecks, the Jennie and Annie. The 137-foot schooner, built in 1863, was rounding Sleeping Bear Point in November 1872 when gale-force winds pushed it into the shallows and reefs of Lake Michigan’s notorious Manitou Passage. Read the full story by The Detroit News.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20220411-shipwrecks
The City of Defiance, Defiance College and Sen. Sherrod Brown have worked together to secure funding to form the Ohio Tri-River Research Alliance in Defiance, OH. The alliance will receive $500,000 in government funding to research systemic problems associated with the Upper Maumee River Watershed which is the primary source of drinking water for the City of Defiance. Read the full story by The Crescent-News.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20220411-river-habs
West Grand Traverse Bay officially hasn’t frozen over this winter, and long-term trends show that’s becoming the norm. In recent decades, those freeze-overs are happening less frequently; averages from 1980 on show it happened about 40 percent of the time, compared to nearly 80 percent of winters in the preceding decades. Read the full story by The Record-Eagle.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20220411-ice-coverage
Roughly 11 thousand Chinook salmon fingerlings were released into a special net pen Friday in the Kenosha Harbor as part of a new effort to increase salmon returns during spawning seasons. View the full video by Kenosha News.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20220411-fish-salmon
Great Lakes ice extent is down to 7.8%. The flow of water out of Lake Superior is below the average rate, and the flow into St. Clair River is above the average rate showing more water leaving the lakes suggesting a decrease in lake levels for Lake Huron and Michigan. Lake Erie and Ontario are both above the April average water levels. Read the full story by WOOD-TV – Grand Rapids, MI.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20220411-water-levels
After a two-year hiatus, Great Lakes cruise ships are back, and the industry is trying to prepare itself. Read the full story by The Capital News Service.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20220411-cruise-ships
A shoreline protection program is currently underway in the West River near Buckhorn Island State Park near Grand Island, NY for the New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation. Read the full story by Niagara Frontier Publications.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20220411-restoration
