The Essex Region Conservation Authority announced on Wednesday an indefinite flood watch for all of shoreline areas within Ontario’s Essex region, including Pelee Island. Read the full story by CBC Canada.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20200402-Essex-flooding
New research has suggested that water levels in the Northwoods lakes of Wisconsin and even the Great Lakes can predict the mercury level in fish. Read the full story by WXPR – Rhinelander, WI.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20200402-mercury
NCEI News Feed
http://www.ncei.noaa.gov/news/ncei-improves-analysis-sea-surface-temperatures
Great Lakes Echo
http://greatlakesecho.org/2020/04/02/remembering-the-ups-break-away-movement/
Great Lakes Now and Detroit PBS KIDS takes you along on a Virtual Field Trip.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2020/04/great-lakes-now-virtual-field-trip/
The HOW Coalition’s annual Great Lakes Conference attracts more than 300 people from across the region to discuss cross-cutting and cutting edge Great Lakes issues. This year’s conference will be held at the Pfister Hotel in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, October 7-8, 2020.
The Coalition is looking for engaging and compelling proposals for both field trips and presentations at this year’s conference.
Download the 2020 call for applications
Click here to access the 2020 Field Trip Application
Click here to access the 2020 Presentation/Workshop Application
Applications due May 30, 2020
We invite you to submit application to share your work with the Great Lakes Community. This year, the HOW Coalition is especially looking to expand our reach to include more stories from the intersection of social justice and the environment, and we encourage folks who can share stories from their communities to apply. If we can assist you in making these connections between environment and community or talking through a presentation idea, please don’t hesitate to reach out to Celia Haven at havenc@nwf.org or 734-887-7123.
A note about COVID-19: There is a lot of uncertainty right now about summer and fall events. As of right now, our conference is still slated to happen in person October 7-8, and so we are moving forward with conference planning and constantly monitoring the situation. We will rely on the guidance of public health professionals to determine our course of action and will let you know immediately if there are any changes in conference plans – whether that be a postponement, moving to a virtual conference, or cancellation. Of course, we understand that there are much bigger priorities in people’s lives right now. If thinking about Great Lakes issues (and maybe even our conference) provides some respite from the intense times we find ourselves in, then we hope you will consider participating in our conference and submitting a proposal.
1. Field Trips: Field Trips: Showcasing Milwaukee, the three rivers, and the surrounding community
The Coalition is seeking fun, educational, inspiring and creative proposals for field trips in and around Milwaukee, Wisconsin, to highlight community projects, social and environmental challenges, restoration success stories, and cultural landmarks.
2. Workshops: Six Great Lakes Issue Areas
Apply for either:
The Coalition is seeking innovative, creative, engaging and compelling proposals for presentations in the below categories. Preferred applications in all categories will include culturally and racially diverse voices and groups or individuals representing under-resourced communities to share important stores from around the region. Expanded issue area descriptions are included in the full Request for Proposals.
A) Great Lakes Policy Issues
B) Innovative Great Lakes Restoration Success Stories
C) Addressing Environmental Injustices
D) Grassroots Action that makes a Difference
E) Great Lakes Research and Emerging Issues
F) Skills, Training, and Organizational Development
See the request for applications document for full descriptions of each category, and instructions to apply
Are you curious about what field trips and presentations have been included in previous conferences? You can find the 2019 conference program book from Detroit, Michigan, here.
The post 15th Annual Great Lakes Restoration Conference Request for Workshops and Field trips Now Open appeared first on Healing Our Waters Coalition.
Healing Our Waters Coalition
https://healthylakes.org/15th-annual-great-lakes-restoration-conference-request-for-workshops-and-field-trips-now-open/
$4.5 million is on the way to help clean up contaminated sediment in Duluth’s St. Louis River. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency signed the agreement to help what’s known as an “Area of Concern” on Lake Superior. Read the full story by KBJR-TV – Duluth, MN.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20200401-aoc
In 1961, there were only 52 breeding pairs of bald eagles in Michigan, according to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Today, the Michigan Department of Natural Resources says that number has swelled to about 800 nesting pairs. Read the full story by the Battle Creek Enquirer.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20200401-eagles
A comprehensive study on Ontario’s Oshawa Creek, a tributary to Lake Ontario, places the value of the water body and its surrounding areas at approximately $400 million. Read the full story by The Oshawa Express.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20200401-oshawa
The shipping season on Lake Ontario and the St. Lawrence River is getting underway nearly two weeks later than industry stakeholders had hoped. The extra time was used by the International Lake Ontario-St. Lawrence River Board to reduce water levels in the system in order to mitigate the chance of flooding later this year. Read the full story by WRVO – Oswego, NY.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20200401-levels
Though Put-in-Bay’s annual tourist season really doesn’t get going until Memorial Day, this is usually a time for soft openings, recruiting employees, and getting warmed up for summer. However, with Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine’s stay-at-home order still in place to curb the spread of COVID-19, Put-in-Bay is emptier than it is during normal off-season days. Read the full story by the Toledo Blade.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20200401-islanders
Drinking water fountains and taps at public and private schools in Indiana will be required to be tested for lead contamination by 2023 under a new state law. Read the full story by The Associated Press.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20200401-lead
Arctic grayling, a fish known for its sail-like dorsal fin that died out in Michigan in the 1930s, could be making a comeback in Michigan. Read the full story by Great Lakes Echo.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20200401-grayling
As the cruise industry navigates the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, Great Lakes cruises have a slight advantage over their larger competitors, as their cruising seasons start much later in the summer. Read the full story by Great Lakes Now.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20200401-cruises
With Great Lakes shipping season kicking off last week, American and foreign freighters are expected to transport cargo throughout the more than 100 ports of call in the region, according to U.S. Customs and Border Protection and industry leaders. Read the full story by the Chicago Tribune.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20200401-shipping
Lakes Michigan and Huron rose past their combined long-term historical average in July 2014 and have remained above that baseline ever since. A new interactive map shows a decade of water height data to put context to water level changes. Read the full story by MLive.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20200401-fluctuations
Michigan EGLE said the ban is intended to prevent manure from flowing into waterways. Manure is a leading polluter of the Great Lakes, inland lakes and streams.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2020/04/ap-michigan-ban-manure-croplands-winter/
Great Lakes Echo
http://greatlakesecho.org/2020/04/01/comparing-actions-by-great-lakes-states-and-spreat-of-covid-19/
PRESS RELEASE
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Media Contact: Tiana Starks
tianastarks@ts2consulting.com
(248) 361-1617
Public Health Experts, Environment Justice Orgs. Gather to Urge Michigan Mayors To Turn Water On ASAP
Statewide #TurnWaterOn Collaborative Responds to Governor Gretchen’s Executive Order
Detroit, MI (April 1, 2020) – Michigan residents and public health experts are calling on Governor Gretchen Whitmer to work with her newly created Michigan Advisory Council for Environmental Justice (MAC EJ) to enforce the executive order she issued on March 28, 2020 to have water restored for all residences that were previously turned off. Michigan mayors and water service providers must ensure that residential water services are restored timely, transparently, and equitably. To remain in compliance with the order all residences’ must have water restored by April 12, 2020.
Detroit and Michigan have become national epicenters for the Coronavirus in the U.S. and the Governor and her administration must work quickly to restore life-saving resources, such as clean water. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, as of Monday afternoon, the state ranked fourth in the nation in the number of confirmed cases per capita with 6,498 cases and 183 deaths.
“We thank Governor Whitmer for her leadership through the Executive Order to turn water on to all homes,” said Nick Leonard, Executive Director of the Great Lakes Environmental Law Center. “We also thank Governor Whitmer for the $2 million in grant funding for utilities to restore life-saving residential water services. Now we ask the Governor to use her own MAC EJ to ensure water is turned on right away to those suffering and unable to wash their hands.”
The MAC EJ was created to address ongoing environmental justice issues and was set up to have people that are impacted daily at the table to advise on critical environmental issues, like drinking water. MAC EJ was strategically crafted to provide opportunities for those on the frontlines to weigh in on environmental protections, regulations, and policies in Michigan that will be fair and meaningful to all Michiganders, regardless of geography, race, color, origin, or income.
“Without water to wash hands and food entering homes, COVID-19 will continue to spread,” said Nadia Gaber, MD/PhD Candidate at the University of California San Francisco. “One only need to look at a map of COVID-19 cases in Michigan to understand how vital access to clean, safe water is to public health.”
“While mayors of some Michigan cities put into place a moratorium on water shut offs and called for the restoration of residential water services over the last month; said Jill Ryan, Freshwater Future Executive Director, “turning on water to residents’ homes has been slow and the process unclear. Meanwhile, community members continue to suffer without access to clean, safe water in their homes.”
“I did not create the phrase DO NO HARM, but I took an oath upon graduating medical school to uphold it forever more. From a public health standpoint, depriving people of water is both deplorable and dangerous under the best of circumstances. In the face of this COVID19 pandemic it rises to the level of a criminal act. Not only does it put the affected person or family in grave danger, it also enables the contagion to spread like a wildfire endangering everyone in the community and country, like gasoline on a forest fire. Only when all of us fully comprehend our interrelatedness and interdependence, and act accordingly, will we have a bright future for all people – one wherein human compassion, decency, dignity, health and safety prevail,” said Wendy Sternberg, MD, Physician and Medical Strategist, Public Health Institute Ad Hoc Team and Founder and Executive Director, Genesis at the Crossroads.
###
Social Media
Hashtags:
#TurnWaterOn
#KeepWaterOn
#MakeWaterAffordable
#CleanWaterSavesLives
Sample Tweets:
@GovWhitmer Thank you for ordering the water back on across Michigan, due to the urgency, please utilize the MACEJ to assist with transparency and reporting. #TurnWaterOn #KeepWaterOn #MakeWaterAffordable #CleanWaterSavesLives
{Your City’s Twitter Handle} #TurnWaterOn now so my neighbors can wash their hands and save lives. @GovWhitmer use the #MACEJ to ensure accountability and transparency, as #CleanWaterSavesLives. #KeepWaterOn #MakeWaterAffordable
Michigan water systems, both rural and urban, please ensure residents have water. Ensure people have water across Michigan. Please donate to local efforts at https://bit.ly/3bHoc3l #TurnWaterOn #KeepWaterOn #MakeWaterAffordable #CleanWaterSavesLives
The faster water service is restored, the more lives can be saved! Thank you@GovWhitmer. #TurnWaterOn #KeepWaterOn #MakeWaterAffordable #CleanWaterSavesLives
{Your City’s Twitter Handle} The faster water service is restored, the more lives can be saved! @GovWhitmer use the MACEJ to track progress. #TurnWaterOn #KeepWaterOn #MakeWaterAffordable #CleanWaterSavesLives
Thank you @GovWhitmer for ordering water service restored. Municipalities, please move fast to save lives. Donate to local efforts at www.XXXX #TurnWaterOn #KeepWaterOn #MakeWaterAffordable #CleanWaterSavesLives
#TurnWaterOn quickly to save lives. @GovWhitmer, please use the MAC EJ to push for speedy response of municipalities. #KeepWaterOn #MakeWaterAffordable #CleanWaterSavesLives
#CleanWaterSavesLives donate to provide water until all water services are restored, https://bit.ly/3bHoc3l #TurnWaterOn #KeepWaterOn #MakeWaterAffordable
Blog – Freshwater Future
https://freshwaterfuture.org/policy-memo/news-alert-public-health-experts-environment-justice-orgs-gather-to-urge-michigan-mayors-to-turn-water-on-asap/
Cruise season is expected to continue as normal for the Great Lakes region, even as ports and cruise lines grapple with how to protect passengers and crew.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2020/04/coronavirus-covid-19-cruises-continue/
Great Lakes Echo
http://greatlakesecho.org/2020/04/01/fish-tale-chances-of-arctic-grayling-return-to-michigan-very-good/
Waukesha this month is bidding the first large construction contracts for its new Lake Michigan drinking water system. Read the full story by Milwaukee Business Journal.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20200331-waukesha-water
At the request of Bay Mills tribal leaders, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is studying how to protect the shoreline near the historic graveyard under a tribal partnership program that waives the cost of federal project analysis and design work. Read the full story by MLive.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20200331-tribal-erosion
Under a binational agreement reached last week, Ohio, Michigan and Ontario are entitled to catch and harvest 10.2 million walleye — an increase of 20 percent over last year’s 8.5 million fish. Read the full story by Cleveland Plain Dealer.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20200331-erie-walleye
New York State’s coal-burning era will end Tuesday, when Somerset Operating Co. officially retires its power plant on the shore of Lake Ontario in Niagara County. Read the full story by The Buffalo News.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20200331-newyork-coal
Plans to broaden knowledge about the vulnerability of specific shoreline areas to erosion are struggling to get off the ground as the $12 million Great Lakes Coastal Resiliency Study was not included in the Army Corps 2020 work plan or the Trump Administration’s 2021 budget. Read the full story by MLive.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20200331-coastal-study
Daily life during the COVID-19 pandemic is challenging for all but especially for those without access to water for basic consumption and essential health needs. Read the full story by Great Lakes Now.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20200331-water-resources
As the winter snow melts, the road salt and other chemicals used to treat icy roads are slowly making its way into lakes, rivers, and streams. The Minnesota Department of Transportation is teaming up with the University of Minnesota Duluth’s Natural Resources Research Institute to test the environmental effects of an alternative to road salt. Read the full story by WJMN – TV – Marquette, MI.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20200331-road-salt
Since the World Health Organization declared the dangerous virus a global pandemic on March 11, industries worldwide, including Great Lakes shipping, have worked to mitigate the spread of the disease and keep people safe Read the full story by Great Lakes Now.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20200331-shipping
Flushable wipes do not disintegrate like toilet paper in water, which is causing a massive problem for sewer systems in the Great Lakes region and the world. Fatbergs happen when water-insoluble materials (e.g. flushable wipes, paper towels) get flushed down the drain. Read the full story by Great Lakes Now.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20200331-sewersystem-wipes
Preliminary numbers show March is going to be another record-setter for some Great Lakes water levels; Lakes Michigan-Huron, Lake Erie and a Great Lakes connecting lake, Lake St. Clair, will all have new official March water levels. Read the full story by MLive.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20200331-water-level
INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — Drinking water fountains and taps at public and private schools in Indiana will be required to be tested for lead contamination by 2023 under a new state law.
The law requires schools’ drinking water equipment to be tested by Jan. 1, 2023, and take action if results show lead at higher than 15 parts per billion.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2020/03/ap-new-law-indiana-schools-test-lead-contamination/
Many magical and mythical tales surround the Great Lakes. From monsters that lurk in the depth and haunting ghost stories, to urban legends and unscientific claims, the tall tales surrounding the Great Lakes are almost bigger than the lakes themselves! Here are five of our favorite Great Lakes myths. Have your own? Email us at alliance@greatlakes.org or share it with us on social media!
Sure, you’ve heard of the Bermuda triangle, but did you know that Lake Michigan has its own triangle? The triangle spans from Ludington to Benton Harbor, Michigan and to Manitowoc, Wisconsin and is responsible for missing ships, sailors, and UFO sightings? Read more about it.
This myth and urban legend crops up from time to time as fishermen spin tales of hauling up bull sharks– and even Great Whites– from the freshwater depths of the Great Lakes. In fact, a prominent news story of a shark in Lake Ontario turned out to be a hoax from Discovery’s Shark Week. While bull sharks have been known to ascend the Mississippi, our friends at the Shedd Aquarium debunk this myth thanks to a series of locks and dams, as well as an electric barrier.
Loch Ness has Nessie, Lake Erie has Bessie. This lake monster made headlines back in 1793 and has been making a splash more frequently in the last three decades (average lifespan of lake monsters is unknown). From time to time, she makes waves by trying to tip and sink boats. Bessie is described as a serpent or a sturgeon with arms, Bessie clocks in between 20 to 50 feet in length, depending on who you ask.
We learned in school that the Great Lakes were formed by a glacier’s immense weight bearing down on the earth’s crust. But the story doesn’t end there. In fact, the Great Lakes are bouncing back, due to a phenomenon called isostatic rebound. Without the pressure from the glacier, each year, the northern shoreline is imperceptibly rising. Read more about the science in this great Detroit Free Press article.
More than 6,000 shipwrecks litter the bottom of the Great Lakes, but an even spookier phenomenon are the ghost ships that haunt the surface. In 2016, a videographer captured a tall pirate ship cruising Lake Superior. Are these floating mirages filled with the spirits of sailors lost at sea, UFOs or simply a water spout? We’ll let you decide.
The post Great Lakes Myths appeared first on Alliance for the Great Lakes.
News – Alliance for the Great Lakes
News – Alliance for the Great Lakes
https://greatlakes.org/2020/03/great-lakes-myths/
NCEI News Feed
http://www.ncei.noaa.gov/news/march-2020-regional-climate-impacts-and-outlooks
Green Bay, WI
https://www.weather.gov/grb/SmallCraftChange
Great Lakes Echo
http://greatlakesecho.org/2020/03/31/in-springtime-beware-of-cottony-woolen-fluff-on-hemlock-trees/
In this lesson, help kids understand what not to flush down the toilet and do a fun at-home science experiment at the same time.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2020/03/url-great-lakes-remote-learning-fatberg-experiment/
DETROIT (AP) — The advice is simple and universal: Washing your hands with soap and water is one of the most effective ways to stop the spread of the coronavirus. But for millions of people across the country, that’s not simple at all: They lack running water in their houses due to service shutoffs prompted by overdue bills.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2020/03/ap-michigan-water-shutoffs-coronavirus-outbreak/
All over the United States, mayors and other officials fed up with residents who ignore social distancing guidelines have been shutting down parks, beaches, marinas and other public areas.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2020/03/ap-covid-19-closure-parks-trails-chicago/
Some Great Lakes cities and states are ahead of the game when it comes to ending water shutoffs during the COVID-19 crisis. Others aren’t.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2020/03/water-shutoffs-milwaukee-chicago-detroit-cleveland-buffalo-duluth/
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2020/03/what-questions-do-you-have-talking-to-your-kids-about-the-great-lakes/
Gov. Gretchen Whitmer of Michigan took strong steps today to ensure at-risk households have access to clean water for hand washing and sanitation through an executive order requiring the reconnection of service to residences that have had water service shut off. Read the full story by WILX-TV – Lansing, MI.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20200330-water-reconnections
The Northeast Ohio Regional Sewer District (NEORSD) posted a public advisory at Edgewater Beach in Cleveland Sunday after raw sewage spilled into Lake Erie due to heavy overnight storms. Read the full story by Cleveland Plain Dealer.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20200330-raw-sewage
Leaders of several communities along Indiana’s Lake Michigan shoreline are calling on Gov. Eric Holcomb to declare a state of emergency and help with funding to fight erosion as near-record high water levels continue sweeping away beaches important to tourism. Read the full story by Associated Press.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20200330-indiana-erosion+
With coronavirus upending the nation’s economy this spring, towns along Michigan’s shore say they’ve still got more to lose when the crisis ends. Any look toward recovery this summer comes with the threat that record-setting water levels are likely to continue, bringing more erosion and more damage. Read the full story by MLive.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20200330-surviving-high-water
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ weekly report released Friday showed Lake Michigan has risen 1 inch over the past week and is now 5 inches above the March record set in 1986. Read the full story by WOOD-TV – Detroit, MI.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20200330-michigan-water-rising
April 1 is opening day of trout season and staff at the Randolph (NY) Fish Hatchery plan to finish earlier than usual this year because, due to the COVID-19 outbreak, the New York DEC has given them a directive to empty the hatchery as soon as possible. Read the full story by Olean Times Herald.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20200330-trout-stocking
Ohio wildlife officials are keeping a close eye on fishermen, with Gov. Mike DeWine’s stay-at-home mandate allowing them to go fishing if they avoid other anglers and maintain strict social distancing. Read the full story by Cleveland Plain Dealer.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20200330-lake-erie-fishing
Resorts in Cook County, Minnesota are holding “virtual vacations” on their website and social media feeds. They’ll be streaming footage of Lake Superior and other popular tourist spots like Two Harbors, Canal Park and some state parks. Read the full story by KARE-TV – Two Harbors, MN.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20200330-virtual-vacation
While schools and non-essential businesses are all closed to some extent by various governors’ orders due to COVID-19, the outdoors is still open and early spring fishing is a great way to get out of the house and grab some fun, fresh air and of course some fish. Read the full story by Great Lakes Now.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20200330-fishing
