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February 28, 2007
19 th-century Greek divers paved way for Lake Erie team
Bradley T. Lepper
Columbus Dispatch
In the April 2006 issue of the International Journal of Nautical Archaeology, Texas A &M University archaeologist Alexis Catsambis described a longforgotten report on the first underwater archaeological survey. In 1884, the Archaeological Society of Athens attempted a survey of the Straits of Salamis. more
Posted by Kenan at 11:45 AM
Ice on Straits risky
Mike Fornes
Cheboygan Daily News
Dark spots and open water are appearing at various places in the Straits of Mackinac, a sure sign that warmer temperatures are making ice usage an even riskier venture than normal, the U.S. Coast Guard warned Tuesday. more
Posted by Kenan at 11:43 AM
Lake Superior shipwreck remains a mystery
Associated Press
The shipwreck spotted Sunday by anglers walking across clear ice on Lake Superior remains a mystery.
Scuba diver Yan Saillard on Thursday explored the wreck, which sits in about 10 feet of water, 150 feet from the Duluth shore. more
Posted by Kenan at 11:42 AM
February 27, 2007
Great Lakes granddad
Rick Barrett
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
Six years before the RMS Titanic set sail on its doomed maiden voyage, a Great Lakes steamship was launched, and it's still in operation. Now called St. Marys Challenger, it is the oldest ship still in service on the Great Lakes. more
Posted by Kenan at 11:47 AM
Bill may increase commercial trout fishing on Lake Superior
Stephanie HemphillMinnesota Public Radio
Commercial fishermen along the North Shore of Lake Superior could be allowed to bring more lake trout to market. Commercial trout fishing has been essentially banned on Lake Superior since the 1960s. The legislature could address it this year. more
Posted by Kenan at 11:45 AM
Efforts to keep water in Bay
Jim Birchard
Bayshore Broadcasting Corporation
A warning to Provincial Politicians beef up the language of legislation designed to prevent Great Lakes water from being siphoned out of the Great Lakes Basin. Mary Muter of the Georgian Bay Association says under the proposed legislation, there is the potential for intra basin diversions without any specific requirements for return flow. more
Posted by Kenan at 11:44 AM
February 26, 2007
Frozen Lake Erie turns back another
Michael Scott
Cleveland Plain Dealer
If Lake Erie played in an ice hockey league, it's record would be 2-0-1 this weekend. After twice turning back the U.S. Coast Guard ice cutter Neah Bay -- sending it home empty-handed after long bouts both Friday and Saturday -- the stubbornly frozen lake played to a virtual tie with the Canadian Coast Guard's best boat Saturday afternoon. more
Posted by Kenan at 12:14 PM
Lowering lake levels affect harbor
Dan Schneider
Daily Mining Gazette
Dredging out the silt at the mouth of Ontonagon River on an annual basis is a matter of vital importance to the Village of Ontonagon. "We need to dredge because the town of Ontonagon will flood if we do not dredge," Terri Lukshaitis said. more
Posted by Kenan at 12:09 PM
Lake Superior gets warmer, research finds
Steve Kuchera
Forum Communications Company
Its beaches may never rival the Riviera, but by at least one measure Lake Superior is getting warmer. more
Posted by Kenan at 12:07 PM
February 23, 2007
Funds Intended for Dredging Are Being Diverted
David Patch
Toledo Blade
Maumee Bay and Maumee River channels leading to the Port of Toledo remain deep enough for ships to carry full loads, but conditions elsewhere in the Great Lakes system mean some ships calling here will have lightened loads, an industry representative told the Toledo-Lucas County Port Authority. more
Posted by Kenan at 01:05 PM
Congressman outlines Great Lakes agenda
BusinessNorth.com
Minnesota Congressman Jim Oberstar today outlined an ambitious agenda of upgrades and investments for Great Lakes ports and waterways. In a speech to the Great Lakes Port Advocacy Coalition in Duluth, Oberstar described how he will use his position as Chairman of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee to move that agenda forward. more
Posted by Kenan at 01:04 PM
State must ratify compact to protect our precious lakes
Editorial
Oakland Press
Michigan markets itself as the Great Lakes State. The lakes surround the state, carving out the unique mitten shape for the Lower Peninsula and offering yearround recreational opportunities, as well as an economic engine worth tens of millions of tourism dollars annually. more
Posted by Kenan at 09:40 AM
Officials: Lakes cleanup needs billions more
Jeff Alexander
Muskegon Chronicle
Tackling the myriad of environmental problems facing the Great Lakes should be a national priority on par with a multibillion-dollar effort to restore the Florida Everglades, a Republican West Michigan congressman said Tuesday. more
Posted by Kenan at 09:39 AM
February 22, 2007
Great Lakes Boating Federation Goes All Out for the Entire Marine Industry
A recent federal court decision involving invasive species stands to severely harm recreational boaters across our country. In effect, this decision would place each individual recreational watercraft under the same regulatory burden as a sewage treatment plant. This regulatory overkill is unwarranted and could be ruinous for boating.
To protect recreational boaters across the country, as well as the nation's beleaguered boating industry, the Great Lakes Boating Federation will head to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, a federal appellant court, to fight along side the U.S. EPA to overturn this potentially disastrous decision. more
Posted by Kenan at 01:34 PM
Got a story about cruising the Great Lakes?
Bill McGraw
Detroit Free Press
Quietly, on Belle Isle, metro Detroit's maritime museum is getting a makeover. And museum officials are looking for help from the public. (And we're not talking about donations - for the moment, anyway.) more
Posted by Kenan at 12:25 PM
Climate change could alter life in and life of lakes
Jim Stevens
Sussex Sun
Those days of world competition iceboat racing disappeared long ago from Pewaukee. And now the ice that once hosted those races is vanishing, too. Ice seasons on area lakes are becoming shorter, a sign, experts say, of the effects of global warming. Ice seasons in Lake Country once averaged 129 days. The warming of the planet has led to an average ice season of 95 days in the last 20 years, according to records kept on Pewaukee Lake. more
Posted by Kenan at 12:22 PM
February 21, 2007
Possible new shipwreck found under Lake Superior ice
John Myers
Forum Communications Company
Ice anglers walking off the sand beach of Duluth’s Park Point have found what may be an uncharted wreckage of a Lake Superior vessel. more
Posted by Kenan at 02:13 PM
Breaking the ice on Lake Superior
Janna Goerdt
Duluth News-Tribune
The Fairbanks family of Duluth sprawled on the frozen surface of Lake Superior after a few hours of skating on Monday afternoon. Three kids, a dad, four hockey sticks. When asked whether he was nervous about taking his family out on the lake, Steve Fairbanks whipped out a long, metal spike attached to a lanyard. It was an ice pick, a tool people use to pull themselves out of open water. The unspoken answer: I think I’m prepared. more
Posted by Kenan at 02:08 PM
Minnesota Becomes First State to Approve Water Compact
Governor Tim Pawlenty today signed legislation making Minnesota the first State to formally ratify an interstate compact that will provide unprecedented protections for the Great Lakes-St. Lawrence River Basin. more
Posted by Kenan at 09:16 AM
February 20, 2007
Winter helps nurture nature
Wade Hemsworth
Hamilton Spectator
Sick of winter? Had your fill of extremely cold weather? Sore from shovelling all the snow we got this week? Look on the bright side. The true winter we have finally been experiencing is expected to give nature a strong start in the spring. more
Posted by Kenan at 01:37 PM
Agencies unite to end discharge of ballast in Lakes
Mike Fornes
Cheboygan Daily Tribune
Several federal agencies will combine to help clean up Great Lakes waterways through new laws against ships discharging ballast water. more
Posted by Kenan at 01:34 PM
February 19, 2007
Trout spawn mine battle
Michael Hawthorne
Chicago Tribune
Deep in the rugged hills of Michigan's Upper Peninsula, a meandering river harbors giant fish that once thrived throughout Lake Superior and its tributaries. The last spawning run of coaster brook trout along the south shore of the Great Lake has been protected for years. About the only thing interrupting the thick patch of wilderness surrounding their river is fresh wolf tracks in the snow. more
Posted by Kenan at 12:06 PM
Great Lakes projects take funding hit
Dave Golowenski
Columbus Dispatch
With federal tax dollars gobbled up at enormous rates elsewhere, programs close to home are going without. While some voices say Great Lakes initiatives are starving for lack of funds, President Bush’s proposed budget for 2007 will be cause for further belttightening if left as is by Congress. more
Posted by Kenan at 12:03 PM
February 16, 2007
Feb 24, 2007
Chicago Maritime Festival
A celebration of Chicago's Maritime Community at the Chicago History Museum (Clark Street and North Avenue).
Features: Concerts, seminars, workshops, exhibits and kids' activities.
www.chicagomaritimefestival.org
Posted by Kenan at 02:47 PM
Boyer could be headed for scrap yard
Justin R. Kalmes
Toledo Free Press
She was the "Queen of the Lakes" when she launched, but what was once the world's largest bulk freighter is destined for the scrap yard if she doesn't soon receive some needed support. more
Posted by Kenan at 11:59 AM
Scientists find quick test to detect deadly fish virus
Associated Press
A new test will help scientists quickly detect a fast-spreading aquatic virus that threatens the Great Lakes fishing industry, according to its developers at Cornell University. more
Posted by Kenan at 11:58 AM
Cross-lake ferry aims for year of profitability
Dave Alexander
Muskegon Chronicle
It may not be a "make-or-break" year, but Lake Express cross-lake ferry officials are approaching 2007 as a "make-a-profit" year. The Lake Express high-speed ferry service to Milwaukee began taking reservations this week and announced another increase in fares. It will begin its sailing season two weeks early this year, starting April 14. more
Posted by Kenan at 10:22 AM
Group warns of approaching fish disease
Bob Kelleher
Minnesota Public Radio
A deadly fish virus, responsible for wide spread fill kills in Lake Erie last summer, has now been identified in Lake Huron. Experts say the disease will almost certainly hit Lake Superior. Some Minnesota conservationists are calling for new rules requiring ships to treat ballast water so exotic species like the virus will be killed rather than spread through the Great Lakes. more
Posted by Kenan at 10:20 AM
February 15, 2007
U.S. bill seeks $9 million to halt Asian carp
Dan Egan
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
Great Lakes advocates hope that federal funding soon will flow into Illinois to complete a permanent Asian carp barrier on the Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal, but nobody should expect it to be turned on anytime soon. more
Posted by Kenan at 11:36 AM
A whopper of a fish tale
Eric Litke
Sheboygan Press
Darren Horness blinked when the shadowy outline first slid beneath him in the darkness. It was 6:50 a.m., the temperature about 9 degrees, and Horness was just settling in for a second day of sturgeon spearing on Lake Winnebago when the 102-pound, 72-inch sturgeon shattered his early-morning haze. more
Posted by Kenan at 09:30 AM
Capt. Billy's tugboat keeps our water running
Tom McNamee
Chicago Sun-Times
By Friday morning, Billy Schmidt has been living on his tugboat for eight days straight, breaking ice on Lake Michigan. It's 4 below zero, which is only half the problem. more
Posted by Kenan at 09:27 AM
February 14, 2007
Study: Access, view of lake prime concerns
Christopher Diem
Mining Journal
Marquette residents put a top priority on preserving public access and views of the waterfront, according to a study done by the Environmental Protection Agency and a Washington, D.C., consulting firm. more
Posted by Kenan at 12:05 PM
Threats to Great Lakes outpace White House funding priorities
Detroit Free Press
President George W. Bush's budget acknowledges a few pressing Great Lakes priorities -- including the crucial carp barrier being built outside Chicago -- but fails to see the total picture of this region's most crucial natural resource. more
Posted by Kenan at 12:04 PM
Bush budget slakes National Parks
George Weeks
Escanaba Daily Press
As a presidential champion of conservation and Outdoor America, George W. Bush is no Teddy Roosevelt, whose legacy includes Yosemite and other crown jewels of a national park system that now includes more than 84 million acres and four sites in Michigan. more
Posted by Kenan at 12:01 PM
February 13, 2007
New York buried under lake-effect snowdrifts
William Kates
Associated Press
The snow just won't stop. Intense lake-effect snow squalls that buried communities along eastern Lake Ontario for nine straight days diminished Sunday -- then started up again early today. more
Posted by Kenan at 11:46 AM
Spread of deadly fish virus feared
Chris Jackett
Capital News Service
Michigan fisheries and hatcheries may see new problems in the spring because of a fish disease traveling through the Great Lakes. Viral hemorrhagic septicemia (VHS) causes fish to bleed to death internally. It was recently discovered in lakes St. Clair and Huron and is the latest in a series of epidemics that have faced the Great Lakes. more
Posted by Kenan at 11:43 AM
Minnesota could be the first state to adopt the Great Lakes Compact
Minnesota Public Radio
Minnesota could be the first state to adopt a new agreement to keep Great Lakes water in the Great Lakes. The Great Lakes Compact is intended to head off attempts to remove water for use elsewhere. That's something proponents worry could be all too common with the onset of global warming. more
Posted by Kenan at 09:20 AM
February 12, 2007
Corps will study harbor dredging
Jason Miller
The Michigan City News-Dispatch
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers hopes it can convince President George W. Bush that shallow-water, recreational ports are a valuable commidity so he'll place money for dredging such ports back into his annual budget. more
Posted by Kenan at 12:28 PM
A screech of gulls has local birders all aflutter
Brittany McCandless
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
The early birder catches the gull. David Wilton woke up early yesterday to go bird watching where Pittsburgh's three rivers meet. Before he knew it, he was watching a species of gull probably never before seen in Allegheny County. more
Posted by Kenan at 12:27 PM
Maumee River to get $5M in aid
Tom Henry
Toledo Blade
A Chicago-based foundation is expected to announce today that it will fund $5 million worth of environmental projects along the 130-mile Maumee River and portions of three tributaries. more
Posted by Kenan at 12:23 PM
Saws big part of sturgeon season
Steve Wideman
Appleton Post-Crescent
The buzz of chain saws cut through the frigid air across Lake Winnebago and its upriver sisters Thursday. It's the sound of the annual sturgeon spearing season. more
Posted by Kenan at 10:02 AM
February 09, 2007
Great Lakes region has untapped potential
John Schmid
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
The states of the industrial Midwest can tilt the 2008 presidential race to their advantage if they unite for the first time behind what a Brookings Institution author calls a common political agenda and near-identical industrial heritage. more
Posted by Kenan at 12:43 PM
Ice formations are eye-popping but dangerous
Susan K. Treutler
Muskegon Chronicle
It is a spectacular sight. And it's as dangerous as it can be. Lake Michigan is covered with fantastic patterns of snow and heaving ice nearly as far as the eye can see. "I watch it," said Barb Spring, who has a perfect view from her Grand Haven home. more
Posted by Kenan at 12:41 PM
House subcommittee gives green light to water quality bills
Duluth News-Tribune
The U.S. House Subcommittee on Water Resources and Environment on Wednesday approved three bills aimed at boosting water quality. more
Posted by Kenan at 12:39 PM
February 08, 2007
Corps forced to dredge up funds
Changing water levels in Lake Michigan could hurt the tourism-dependent communities that line western Michigan's small harbors this summer because the federal budget places a priority on dredging commercial harbors and not recreational marinas. more
Posted by Kenan at 11:48 AM
Bush budget shorts Great Lakes
President Bush's 2008 spending plan would help defend the Great Lakes from the dreaded Asian carp but shortchanges a broader effort to restore the battered ecosystem, environmental groups said Wednesday. more
Posted by Kenan at 11:47 AM
Surf's Up! On Lake Erie?
If the local visitors bureau wants to pump up tourism here, they ought to try a new campaign: "Surf Cleveland." Surfing isn't just hot in Cleveland -- it's the city's newest winter sport! more
Posted by Kenan at 11:45 AM
Rollin' on the river
Bill Paige
Northwest Indiana Times
The Little Calumet River is only "little" by name. This waterway stretches in the east from the Porter-LaPorte county line some 53 miles west to Blue Island, where it flows into the Cal-Sag Channel with a connection to Lake Michigan through Burns Ditch. more
Posted by Kenan at 08:15 AM
Wisconsin DNR head favors ballast water bill
The chief of the Department of Natural Resources says there oughta be a law, a new state law, to control ballast water in ocean-going ships. more
Posted by Kenan at 08:14 AM
Harbor dredging funds fall short
Shandra Martinez
Grand Rapids Press
Nearly $90 million is set aside to maintain the 135 commercial and recreational harbors in the Great Lakes region, according to officials with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. The dilemma: Between $120 million and $160 million is needed to keep up the harbors. more
Posted by Kenan at 08:13 AM
February 06, 2007
Budget supports Upper Peninsula conservation deal
The Associated Press
An initiative designed to shield more than 271,000 acres of Upper Peninsula forest land from development would get $2 million in federal funding under President Bush's proposed budget. more
Posted by Kenan at 01:20 PM
Data shows warming eventually will shrink Great Lakes
Jeff Alexander
Muskegon Chronicle
Global warming could lower water levels in Lake Michigan and Lake Huron by 5 feet over the next century, according to new data generated for a United Nations study of climate change. more
Posted by Kenan at 11:14 AM
Water levels hovering near record lows
Dan Schneider
Daily Mining Gazette
Lake Superior water levels are approaching record lows. Superior’s average lake level for January was 600.1 feet above sea level according to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. That’s only about four inches higher than the record-low January of 1926, when lake levels averaged 599.8 feet above sea level. more
Posted by Kenan at 11:12 AM
State approves more wells for bottler
Jeff Alexander
Muskegon Chronicle
The Michigan Department of Environmental Quality Friday approved Nestle Waters' plan to pump 70 million gallons of spring water annually from a site near two trout streams in Osceola County. more
Posted by Kenan at 09:14 AM
February 05, 2007
Lake Superior Environmental Stewardship Awards Program Seeks Nominees
Do you know of someone whose efforts to protect or restore the Lake Superior basin’s natural environment are truly superior? If so, help make others in the basin aware of their contributions by nominating them for this binational awards program! more
Posted by Kenan at 05:13 PM
Trout rebound on Lake Superior
Jim Lee
Gannett Wisconsin Newspapers
The lake trout population in the Apostle Island area of Lake Superior is near its highest level in more than 40 years, according to the state Department of Natural Resources. more
Posted by Kenan at 12:58 PM
Smaller harbors hoping to dredge up funds
Shandra Martinez
The Grand Rapids Press
They don't complain. They just sail away. Every summer, some two dozen boaters get hung up on a sandbar in Saugatuck's harbor and spend between $150 to $300 to have their vessels, usually sailboats, rescued by R.J. Peterson. more
Posted by Kenan at 12:55 PM
Great Lakes climate change coming
Delen Goldberg
Post-Standard
Global warming is real, leading climate scientists said Friday, and rising temperatures are expected to have dramatic consequences for the Great Lakes. more
Posted by Kenan at 12:52 PM
February 02, 2007
Minnesota may be on verge of "energy revolution"
Tom Scheck
Minnesota Public Radio
Minnesota is poised to have the strongest renewable energy standard in the country. A committee in the Minnesota Senate unanimously approved a bill that would require utility companies to get at least a quarter of their energy from renewable sources after a wide variety of interests reached an agreement on the bill late Thursday. The bill has the backing of DFLers in both the House and Senate and Gov. Pawlenty. more
Posted by Kenan at 12:24 PM
River work doesn't end in winter
Shelley Terry
Ashtabula Star Beacon
Brrrr! The $50 million environmental cleanup in the Ashtabula River is pretty cold work these days. Winter weather stopped the dredging, but workers continue to take mud and water samples from the bottom of the river. more
Posted by Kenan at 12:20 PM
Climate Panel Issues Urgent Warning to Curb Gases
Elisabeth Rosenthal and Andrew C. Revkin
New York Times
The world is already committed to centuries of warming, shifting weather patterns and rising seas from the atmospheric buildup of gases that trap heat, but the warming can be substantially blunted by prompt action, an international network of climate experts said today. more
Posted by Kenan at 09:46 AM
February 01, 2007
Fish-killing virus nears
Dan Egan
Journal Sentinel
A nasty fish-killing virus recently discovered in the eastern Great Lakes is now poised to spill into Lake Michigan. more
Posted by Kenan at 04:35 PM
A tale of two projects
Hoyt Lakes, Minn., is a small Iron Range town that Bob Dylan might have passed through during his days in Hibbing. On its city Web site, Hoyt Lakes proclaims it is "so accommodating, you may want to stay." It might seem odd, then, to say that surrounding this town there is a battle brewing. But Hoyt Lakes is the new ground zero of the continuing argument between jobs and the environment that has been fought since the dawn of environmentalism. more
Posted by Kenan at 12:11 PM
Online 'wiki' seeks info from anyone on our lake
Jeff Alexander
Muskegon Chronicle
Michigan State University today unveiled a Wikipedia-style Great Lakes online encyclopedia that allows anyone to enter and edit information about regional environmental issues. more
Posted by Kenan at 12:10 PM
Strictly Sail Chicago Opens Its Doors
Strictly Sail Chicago, the largest indoor sailboat show in the country, will be held February 1 – 4, 2007 at Navy Pier. More than 20,000 sailing enthusiasts are expected to attend the four-day event to see the latest sailboats and sailing accessories on the market. Launched in 1996, Strictly Sail Chicago has become an annual tradition for thousands of regional sailors that meet to discuss the upcoming season and check out the latest sailboats, gear and accessories. more
Posted by Kenan at 09:20 AM
U.S. Sailors Win at Rolex Miami OCR
It was a tooth-and-nail day as sailors competing in the finals of US SAILING's 2007 Rolex Miami OCR fought it out on Biscayne Bay for medals in 11 Olympic classes. The sun shone brilliantly and the winds blew 8-10 knots, providing a perfect wrap-up for the competition, which hosted more sailors -- 855 from 49 countries -- than it ever has in its 18 annual runnings. more
Posted by Kenan at 09:09 AM