Offshore from Evanston, Illinois, Northwestern University set up a yellow turbidity curtain – which may be mistaken for an oil spill contamination boom – in Lake Michigan. The curtain will prevent silt and sediment from flowing out of a construction zone and protect the shoreline from erosion. Read the full story by Evanston Now.
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers awarded a $1.5 million contract to Michigan-based Ryba Marine Construction Co. to dredge the federal navigation channel in Barcelona Harbor on Lake Erie near Westfield, New York. Dredging will focus on the mouth of the harbor and address shoals currently impacting navigation. Read the full story by WRFA – Jamestown, NY.
The Little Traverse Bay Bands of Odawa Indians and the Tip of the Mitt Watershed Council are hosting the annual Nmé Celebration on Saturday in Wolverine, Michigan. The event will include a farewell to “Gimiwan,” the Watershed Discovery Center’s resident sturgeon, which will be released into the Sturgeon River along with hundreds of juvenile sturgeon. Read the full story by the Cheboygan Daily Tribune.
Erieau, Ontario, residents are worried erosion will erase Rondeau Bay’s so-called “barrier beach” because the pier at Erieau prevents sand from naturally moving east to build up the barrier. Residents are calling on upper levels of government for help because a quarter of the beach falls under the Canadian federal government’s domain. Read the full story by The Chatham Voice.
Lake Ontario from Cape Vincent to Pultneyville, New York, has been declared a National Marine Sanctuary. The federal designation by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration is the 16th so-called “underwater park” in the country and the first in New York waters. It protects more than 1,700 square miles of lakebed while still allowing for shipping, boating, fishing, and other recreational activities. Read the full story by WSLG – Gouverneur, NY.
At Kettle Moraine Springs Hatchery in Sheboygan County, Wisconsin, hundreds of thousands of salmon and trout are raised each year, playing a critical role in sustaining the fish population in Lake Michigan. The hatchery raises 340,000 steelhead for Lake Michigan, stocking 25 different tributaries to the lake. Read the full story by WISN-TV – Milwaukee, WI.
On Monday, Michigan Technological University launched the pioneering mission of an Autonomous Surface Vessel. Data supplied by its high-resolution sonar will aid in mapping the Great Lakes, assessing repair needs of underwater structures like harbors and bridges, and keeping shipping channels clear. It is also expected to locate multiple archaeological sites from the more than 200 never-found Lake Superior shipwrecks to remnants of civilizations that lived on the shores of a much smaller lake a thousand years ago. Read the full story by Second Wave Michigan.
City officials in Norton Shores, Michigan, have approved a contract to start work on a new path connecting two parks along the Lake Michigan shoreline. The Lake Harbor Trail will connect P.J. Hoffmaster State Park with Lake Harbor Park, using a new 8-foot-wide path. Read the full story by WOOD-TV – Grand Rapids, MI.
A $2 billion cleanup in Lake Superior to address pollution from historical copper mining is still in the works. Stamp sands are a waste byproduct from processing copper, and off the Keweenaw Peninsula, they cover 1,426 miles of shoreline and lake bottom, partially suffocating a natural reef. A plan to dredge all stamp sands from the bay and truck the material to a nearby landfill is still in its early stages. Read the full story by WCMU – Mount Pleasant, MI.
The Cheboygan Lock, which provides access between Lake Huron and Michigan’s Inland Waterway for recreational and commercial watercraft, will close for much of the fall and winter for restoration work and reopen in late spring 2025. Read the full story by the Detroit Free Press.
Every September, Michigan’s rivers and streams burst with life as tens of thousands of salmon make their annual migration from the Great Lakes. This natural event, rooted in decades of deliberate fishery management, provides a significant economic and ecological impact in the state. Read the full story by the Manistee News Advocate.
The Army Corps of Engineers is expected to deliver its flood mitigation results for the Huron River by the end of September. The results are based on four years of data collected by the group “Residents Working Against Huron River Flooding.” Read the full story by WHMI – Howell, MI.