Echo

Cougar verified in Wisconsin

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Another cougar was photographed by a trail camera earlier this month in the Great Lakes region – this time in Juneau County, Wisc. Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources biologists confirmed the presence of four cougars over the last three years, and seven trail cameras have documented cougar activity in the state according to a press release from the Department. Biologists believe most of these cougars are from South Dakota, making their way through Wisconsin to find territory and mates. Who knows, maybe they’ll end up in the Upper Peninsula.  

Echo

High speed trip from Duluth to Lake Ontario’s outlet

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Here’s a way to get from the western end of Lake Superior to the eastern end of Lake Ontario in a scant 14 minutes. This Great Lakes Tour created by the Great Lakes Environmental Research Laboratory is more than a video. The tour makes 20 stops while rattling off Great Lakes factoids about size, ecosystems and environmental threats.  You’ll go scuba diving, see a ship leaving the Soo Locks, a sinkhole and more. Pause the tour and you can click and drag the image to peek at any place in the world. Push the play button to get back to the Great Lakes.

Echo

Can lichens cure sick deer?

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Lichens are hardy and unusual organisms.

And they might be the key to solving one of Wisconsin’s burgeoning wildlife issues — chronic wasting disease.

Ships added to fleet of research vessels

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Smashing a bottle of champagne is part of this week’s  ceremony welcoming two new Great Lakes research vessels to the U.S. Geological Survey’s fleet. The ships, the R/V Muskie and the R/V Kaho, replace older vessels on Lake Erie and Lake Ontario, continuing research on predator and prey fishes, and surveying the lakes for fishery and ecosystem health. The boats are smaller than others in the fleet — they’re only 70.8 feet while others are more than 100 feet. That makes them better for testing near shore ecosystems.

A christening for the ships is Wednesday at the Sandusky Yacht Club in Sandusky, Ohio. A  public open house follows from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m.

Echo

An adventure a day keeps the doctor away

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A dose of exercise and fresh air is just what the doctor ordered. Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore is partnering with Porter Health Systems in Indiana to prescribe walks, bike rides, kayak trips and other activities to patients through the Park Prescription Program. By getting out to the park, patients will get some exercise and stress relief, while hopefully boosting visitation. Not every prescription is the same. Before they write a prescription, Porter doctors will find the right trails and activities based on the patient’s needs and abilities.

Echo

Sporting swine listed as an invasive species

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The Michigan Department of Natural Resources recently listed the sporting swine as an invasive species, stepping up the state’s fight against swine gone wild. By April 2012, sporting and breeding facilities won’t be allowed to have sporting swine because they can get loose and become feral. Feral swine have a track record for damaging property, eating domestic and wild animals, out-competing native animals for food and spreading diseases like Foot-and-Mouth disease to wildlife, livestock and humans.  

 

The department encourages sporting facilities to offer hunts to get rid of their sporting swine population. To help control swine that have already gone wild,  Michigan allows hunters with any kind of license to hunt swine on public and private land.

Echo

Mobile Decontamination Machine tears into zebra mussels

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A high-pressure stream of 140-degree water is enough to cook a zebra mussel, not to mention blast it to bits. With the Mobile Decontamination Machine at its side, the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources is flexing its arm in the zebra mussel battle. Instead of relying on chemicals, bacteria or toxins covered in fat to manage the invasive species, the department is adopting a physical attack. Hot water is pumped through boats’ bilge lines to kill and flush out the mussels, which often live in bilge water and the underside of the boats. When boats travel from lake to lake, they can deposit the mussels and spread the invasion.

Echo

Pharmaceutical compounds contaminate the Great Lakes

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Pain medicine, birth control, anti-depressants and other pharmaceuticals make their way into the Great Lakes through municipal water systems and stormwater runoff.

That threatens human health, harms wildlife and contaminates drinking water, according to a recent report.

Groups feel left out of Agreement talks

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Environmental groups are continuing to complain that they’re kept out of the loop on updating the Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement. That’s a commitment of U.S. and Canadian governments to protect the Great Lakes. In September, 41 citizens’ groups submitted a list of concerns to agreement negotiators asking for a bold, urgent plan with more timelines and specific goals. I bet they’d also like to read the agreement before it’s signed. For more on the issue, check out what Echo commentator Gary Wilson has to say.

Echo

NASA shows Siberian lake painted with fog

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NASA recently posted a satellite image of the world’s greatest lake painted with fog. The fog’s perfect outline of Lake Baikal in Siberia is a phenomenon known as evaporation fog. It happens when surface water evaporates into cold air and forms a cloud. Lake Baikal isn’t the only great lake with fog events. The North American Great Lakes often experience lake effect, when warm, moist air blows off the lake and mixes with the cooler air over land to create fog and stratocumulus clouds.