The Ghost Ships Festival of Milwaukee is known for its maritime history exhibits and presentations.

This year, a woman credited with one of the Great Lakes’ most recent finds told her tale in the search for missing vessels, called “ghost ships.”

By Alice Rossignol and Rachael Gleason
Editor’s note: Great Lakes SmackDown! Terrestrial Terror is an ongoing Great Lakes Echo series.
Last week the Terrestrial Terror victors took to the ring for a second round SmackDown!
The mute swan faced the emerald ash borer  in a rumble that ended in a landslide victory for The Green Menace.
Eighty-five percent of pollsters rooted for the green-plated insect over the large and hostile waterfowl. As for the bracketeers, 57 percent chose the six-legged borer for the win followed by the mute swan with 20 percent. The rest of …

By Alice Rossignol and Rachael Gleason
Editor’s note: Great Lakes SmackDown! Terrestrial Terror is an ongoing Great Lakes Echo series.
The Extreme Defoliator and Shakespeare’s Darling took flight last week in Round 2 for an invasive air battle.
In the polls the competition was close. Fifty-three percent of readers chose the gypsy moth and 47 percent chose the European starling.
In the brackets, 44 percent of bracketeers chose the the gypsy moth compared to the starling that sat in second place with 35 percent. Other bracketeers chose invasives that failed to pass Round 1.
But here at Echo …

With more than 335 state-sponsored vanpools and escalating gas prices, the Michigan Transportation Department predicts that van commuting will gain popularity.

Echo commentator Gary Wilson’s take on Wisconsin environmental rollbacks picked up some attention from Changing Gears: Remaking the Manufacturing Belt. That’s a project using journalism and public engagement to look at the future of the industrial Midwest.
It turns out that Gary’s got a pretty good radio voice. Hear him elaborate on his Echo column.

By Alice Rossignol and Rachael Gleason
Editors note: Great Lakes SmackDown! Terrestrial Terror is an ongoing Great Lakes Echo series.
Teamwork helped the Chinese and Japanese Mystery Snails and the beech scale defeat Round 1 terrors. So what will happen when the odds are evened in the next round?
How did the giant stinky snail tag team fair against the Bark Butcher and his trusty fungal side-sick?
It was a tough call, but the beech scale wins. Three-fourths of the pollsters put their money on the bug and fungus duo. But it didn’t do well …

This Chicago resident envisions fish and plants as central to an accelerator for urban food production.

He hopes his recycled meatpacking factory grows food and supports urban farming pioneers.

By Alice Rossignol and Rachael Gleason
Editors note: Great Lakes SmackDown! Terrestrial Terror is an ongoing Great Lakes Echo series.
In Round 2, The Beast crushed Colonel Mustard into the ground in the brackets and the polls.
Seventy-one percent of pollsters chose the feral swine over the garlic mustard. In the brackets, 47 percent of bracketeers picked the feral swine and 21 percent chose the garlic mustard. The rest of the bracket picks went to fighters that have already dropped out of the running.
The garlic mustard definitely has some strong points in its favor. …

Winners of an urban water data World Water Day challenge designed a mashup that compares water supply and use. Generate your own water footprint or print labels to show how much water is embodied in products.

By Alice Rossignol and Rachael Gleason
Editor’s note: Great Lakes SmackDown! Terrestrial Terror is an ongoing Great Lakes Echo series.

With the help of a fungal sidekick, The Bark Butcher was able to come from behind and beat out The Knapster, a favored snack of the honeybee. Another duo, the Mystery Snail Tag Team, sidelined a much smaller opponent: The Spiral of Doom.
Now the two pairs double-team each other. Can the Beech Scale suck the sap out of the Mystery Snails, …