Wildlife changes found on Lake Huron island
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By Eric Freedman
In nature, a lot can change on a largely uninhabited Great Lakes island over the course of a century. And a lot can stay the same. That includes the disappearance and appearance of wildlife species. That’s what scientists discovered when they inventoried mammals and amphibians on Charity Island, a 252-acre speck near the mouth of Saginaw Bay in Lake Huron. It’s one of about 35,000 islands in the Great Lakes, most of them even smaller than Charity Island, according to a recent study.
Solutions
Michigan’s bottle return rates keep falling. Is it time for change?
By Emilio Perez Ibarguen
Michigan beer and pop buyers increasingly aren’t bothering to return their bottles and cans to get their deposit back, and in the process left more than $116 million on the table last year. Some beverage industry representatives are pointing to the decrease as a sign that the law has become irrelevant. Meanwhile, retailers and environmentalists alike are looking at what could be done to make returning empties more convenient — although they butt heads on how exactly to do so.
Water
Michigan’s fight against Lake Erie pollution didn’t work. What happens next?
Since the 1990s, algae blooms have become increasingly common each summer in western Lake Erie. The blooms are caused by an overabundance of nutrients, namely phosphorus, that spills into the lake off farms. Credit: National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration
By Emilio Perez Ibarguen
Michigan and its neighbors have missed a 2025 deadline to curb the farm pollution that feeds toxic algal blooms in western Lake Erie, despite 10 years of work and millions of dollars spent on the effort.
Now, state officials are revamping their strategy. But they’re not setting a new deadline for now.
Water
Great Lakes slightly colder than usual ahead of summer
By Emilio Perez Ibarguen
Now that Memorial Day is behind us, thoughts naturally turn to summer and the return of watersports on the Great Lakes, but Michiganders tempted to take a dip in those inviting waters now might be in for a chilly surprise. Slowed by a cold May, the Great Lakes are slightly cooler than usual for this time of year.