Great Lakes Echo (https://greatlakesecho.org/author/brian/page/10/)
Wetland specialists in Michigan are getting schooled in an obscure and unlikely area — gold prospecting.
With prices reaching all time highs – approaching $1,900 this summer – Michigan has seen a boost in ambitious hobbyists searching for gold.
Officials expect a great year for fall colors, so …
While the trees-are-a-changin’ throughout the Great Lakes region, we’d like you to snap a picture, or send one from a previous fall, and we’ll feature it on our weekly Photo Friday post.
Photo Fridays have been hijacked by the leafers! We kicked things off but during this fall we’ll be posting reader submitted pictures of brilliant autumn colors throughout the Great Lakes region. To submit an image to Great Lakes Echo Photo Friday, send photo, caption and your name to greatlakesecho@gmail.com.
Researchers have discovered a new strain of tick-borne bacteria in two Great Lakes states – Minnesota and Wisconsin.
For years there were sightings. Then in 2008, came the tracks. In 2009, came a photo. Now, there’s a video — a cougar roaming Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. (Video: Michigan Department of Natural Resources.
Most pregnant women tested positive for chemicals linked to birth defects in a recent study by the Minnesota Department of Health.
Geographic popularity contests have been kind to the Lake Michigan shoreline this summer: The Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore has been named a top 10 urban escape by National Geographic. The distinction comes on the heels of another sandy hotspot, the Sleeping Bear Dunes in northwestern Michigan, named by Good Morning America as the most beautiful place in the country. The Indiana Dunes Lakeshore was lauded as an escape from nearby Gary, Ind., and Chicago because of its 15 miles of lakeshore, biodiversity, and dunes that offer panoramic views of the lake. The “Top 10 Urban Escapes” list is part of National Geographic’s, “Ten Best of Everything — National Parks,” book. Nearby communities are banking on their unique shoreline with a recent redevelopment plan dubbed Gateway to the Indiana Dunes. The collaboration of dune towns is designed to spur development complementary to the natural resources and beauty. They have something to build on as 2010 was a record year for the dunes with 2.2 million visitors – an all-time high
So if you’re tired of staring at buildings and breathing city air, northwest Indiana wants you.
Warning: Do not read if you’re a young girl who recently received a response to your message in a bottle. A recent feel good story in The Times Record in Maine reports that a 6-year-old girl and her father sent a message in a plastic bottle down the Kennebec River in Bath, Maine, two years ago. The girl, Libbi Wallace, recently received a response letter, post-marked from Cleveland, from an anonymous kayaker who paddled upon the bottle. The responder — who signed the letter only as “Surprised in Cleveland” — said he or she found the bottle while kayaking in Lake Erie. Hmmmm … A Times Record reporter browsed an atlas with the river-littering pair, and the father offered a possible route: St. Lawrence River to Lake Ontario to Lake Erie. While I didn’t go into journalism to make children cry, I have to point out a couple problems with pop’s reasoning:
First, the Kennebec River flows south through Maine emptying into the Atlantic Ocean, not north to the St.
The fight for clean air in industrial cities has been taken to vehicle exhaust and billowing factories. Now it’s gone to the dogs. Or, more accurately, to their poop.
It sounds like a child’s dream and a parent’s nightmare: a trip to a zoo where you can bring home one of the cuddly reptiles. That’s the plan for the Great Lakes Zoological Society’s World of Discovery Conservation and Rescue Center set to open in September in Ann Arbor, Mich. The center will have exhibits, education programs for kids and a store for all of your reptile husbandry needs. It’s not alone in giving exotic species a home in the Great Lakes region. The Wilds in southeastern Ohio has been a 10,000-acre sanctuary for endangered animals since 1991. The new indoor zoo will be full of reptiles, amphibians, fish and birds, many rescued. While some will stick around the center for exhibits, others will be available for adoption.