Land
Michigan leads nation in tree-planting contest
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Michigan leads the country by a landslide in juice company Odwalla’s Plant a Tree campaign. This is the third year of the program that asks people to vote for a state. With each vote, Odwalla donates $1 to plant a tree in one of that state’s parks. For the past two years, Michigan has come out first. While Michigan only represents 14 percent of the land in the Great Lakes region, it has a whopping 60 percent of votes, with 13,036 as of Wednesday.
Echo
New vessels to advance Great Lakes research
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Two new research vessels built in Cleveland will aid U.S. Geological Survey researchers who study fish in Lakes Erie and Ontario.
Wildlife
Volunteers fight plant invaders, sturgeon poachers
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Environmental agencies and organizations are enlisting the public’s help to protect native species and get rid of invasive ones.
Echo
Farmers, filming and Flint: Seed to sale
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Brian Johns is a farmer and an educator at his own Happy Family Farm.
He teaches students to grow vegetables using traditional and cutting-edge technologies such as hydroponics and aquaponics.
They learn “seed to sale” – from growing to entrepreneurship. (Video)
Echo
Superior, Huron, Ontario left off favorite waterway poll
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Do you have a favorite waterway? Photograph it, submit the picture, and then vote for it as the best waterway in America. Three of 18 candidates provided by Environment America, a federation of state based citizen funded environmental advocacy organization, are Great Lakes- related. The poll includes Lake Michigan, Lake Erie and the Great lakes as a whole. “People from Chicago would identify with Lake Michigan more than the others, while those from Ohio would identify with Lake Erie,” said Piper Crowell, clean water advocate at Environment America, “ A Texan would identify with the Great Lakes as a whole.”
True.
Wildlife
Invasive species: Scourge to some, revenue to others
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It’s not often that an invasive species is welcomed into its host community. But some northern Michigan beekeepers want to keep spotted knapweed around because honey bees collect nectar from it.
Nearshore
Dr. Beach to announce top 10 Great Lakes beaches
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Stephen Leatherman, a.k.a. “Dr. Beach,” this year will begin compiling a list of the top 10 Great Lakes beaches. Letterman has rated national beaches since 1991, but this is the first year that our freshwater beaches will be in the spotlight. Beach managers and representatives nominated roughly 30 beaches. Miami-based Leatherman used the Internet to research the beaches. The rating system is down to a science — Leatherman has 50 criteria to determine the best beaches.
Echo
Michigan bill seeks to lift lid on homemade food vendors
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Entrepreneurs who sell homemade food products may soon be allowed to increase the amount of money they earn without undergoing health inspections and licensing.
Echo
Bill would restrict septic waste disposal bans, cut costs
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The upkeep to keep septic tanks from failing and polluting water is expensive, especially with the growing restrictions on how to dump their contents.