Water

Wisconsin officials ask the public to report algal blooms in Lake Superior

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By Anna Barnes

The Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources is banking on public oversight of the largest Great Lake to help gauge the threat of increasingly common algal blooms.

Blue-green algae, also known as cyanobacteria, can produce toxins that pose a danger to public health, said Kait Reinl, research coordinator at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Lake Superior National Estuarine Reserve in Superior, Wisconsin. Symptoms from exposure include stomach cramps, diarrhea, vomiting, headache, muscle weakness, fever and difficulty breathing, according to the Wisconsin DNR. Pets and children are particularly at risk. “The reason we specifically call out children and pets is because they’re pretty indiscriminate about the water that they’re inhaling or swallowing, and that’s really where the biggest risk lies,” Reinl said. As of Sept.

Solutions

How to be a responsible watchdog

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What do you do when an employee comes forward, exposing their company for wrongdoing? 

Environmental journalists discussed how to handle that situation at a recent Society of Environmental Journalist Conference in Philadelphia.

Art

An underappreciated lake that’s great

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Sitting at 26 miles long and 24 miles wide with nearly one-third of the sport fishing catch annually in the Great Lakes region, Lake St. Clair should be a household name. 

Author Daniel Harrison would tell you it’s his hidden jewel.