A renewable energy company announced it will use the shores of Lake Erie in Harborcreek Township, Pennsylvania, as the spot to test how wave energy converters hold up to different marine conditions while also focusing on sustainability, energy efficiency and potential impacts on local ecosystems. Read the full story by WKBN-TV – Youngstown, OH.
U.S. Senators Debbie Stabenow, co-chair of the U.S. Senate Great Lakes Task Force, and Gary Peters applauded the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works passage of its bipartisan Great Lakes Restoration Initiative Act of 2024. The legislation would extend the program for another five years through 2031 and increase annual funding authorization from $475 million $500 million. Read the full story by the Oscoda Press.
The Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources (DNR) has announced that over six million fish had been restocked throughout the state’s inland waters and the Great Lakes in 2023. Over 1.3 million Chinook Salmon and 450,000 Brown Trout were stocked in Wisconsin’s Great Lakes. Read the full story by WFRV-TV – Green Bay, WI.
A former lightkeeper reminisced on her family’s stay at Trowbridge Light Station, off the northern shore of Lake Superior, from March to December while the lake was free of ice. Duties included everything from manual labour, to working with generators and radio equipment. Important work, as those activities helped to keep the waters safe for the booming shipping industry on the great lake. Read the full story by CBC News.
Beginning in the 1940s, businesses started using the Rouge River in southeast Michigan as a dumping ground for industrial pollution. Local activists formed the Friends of the Rouge in 1986. A coordinator of its flagship program, Rouge Rescue, recounted his involvement at the annual event where they organize volunteers across the watershed to remove trash from the river. Read the full story by Planet Detroit.
On May 3, Great Lakes surface waters were very close to beating the 2012 record for all-time warmest water. It can be expected that the lakes will be warmer than normal throughout the summer. Read the full story by MLive.
New York native Robert Gioia has been confirmed to the International Joint Commission (IJC), which was established by the Boundary Treaty of 1909 to prevent and resolve disputes over the U.S. and Canada’s shared waterways, including the Great Lakes and the St. Lawrence River. Read the full story by the Finger Lakes Daily News.
Parks Canada broke ground on Saturday on the new Lake Superior National Marine Conservation Area Administration and Visitors Centre. The center is being constructed on the Nipigon Marina and will allow visitors to learn about some of the things Parks Canada does to keep the big lake healthy. Read the full story by SN News Watch.
In 2019, the state of Illinois confirmed what advocates had long suspected, coal ash from the Waukegan Generating Station had leached into nearby groundwater right next to Lake Michigan. Plans were submitted to clean up the operation, but those plans are still on hold. Read the full story by Grist.
The Minnesota Governor’s Fishing Opener took place on Saturday and anglers were eagerly waiting to drop a line, hoping to reel in trout, bass, walleye and muskie. But the state’s unseasonably warm winter may have had an effect on fish hatch for some species. Read the full story by Minnesota Public Radio.
The White House has nominated Matt Kaplan to serve as the first federal co-chair of the Great Lakes Authority (GLA). The GLA was authorized by Congress in 2022 and will promote regional economic development. Read the full story by Marine Link.
The disappearance of wolves from a large island on Lake Superior means the timing is good for restoring its caribou herd. The Ministry of the Environment, Conservation and Parks says plans are underway to transport a dozen boreal caribou to Lake Superior’s Michipicoten Island. Read the full story by SN News Watch.