Great Lakes Echo (https://greatlakesecho.org/author/brian/page/2/)
Indigenous people in the United States and Canada are burdened with health problems linked to pollutants. But native foods, medicines, language, ceremonies and traditional farming, hunting and fishing are also jeopardized.
Some longtime contaminants – like DDT – are declining more quickly than ever in the Great Lakes.
But new ones – like flame retardants – are on the rise.
A soon-to-be-published study evaluates the fate of the Great Lakes chemical load.
When one thinks of iconic fish, Lake Ontario’s lake trout probably don’t come to mind.
But the white-bellied natives of these deep, cold transnational waters have a unique reputation — one considerably nobler than taking bait or adorning plates: They are a barometer for global pollutants.
Ten years ago, when an international mining company arrived near the shores of Lake Superior to burrow a mile under the Earth and pull metals out of ore, the Keweenaw Bay Indian Community had to stand for its rights and its water.
New research suggests that earlier, warmer spring temperatures that quickly heat Lake Ontario’s nearshore areas spur summer growth of smelly, slimy algae.
Most people do not get excited about little brown beetles — especially those that don’t bite, cause disease or have economic value. But a researcher that has dedicated his life to finding “orphan beetles” has discovered a previously unidentified beetle species endemic to two Wisconsin counties. The findings are in the March issue of The Coleopterists Bulletin. Darren Pollock, a professor at Eastern New Mexico University’s department of biology, examined dead beetles (three male and six female) that were housed at the University of Wisconsin Insect Research Collection and the Carnegie Museum of Natural History. As an expert on little brown beetles, or LBB’s as he calls them, he saw something right away.
Peregrine falcon populations crashed in the 1960s but now thrive throughout the region, thanks largely to urban reintroduction efforts and the DDT ban.
The fate of all Lake Ontario fish depends on alewives in one way or another. But officials must balance the health of non-native, but popular, sport fish and native species.
A mild winter left Lake Erie nearly ice-free. On the first day of spring last week, a NASA satellite snapped a picture of the southern Great Lakes region and showed sediment clouding up the shallow lake. The colors in the image are accurate. The tan colored-water swirling around the shoreline is sediment rushing in from streams and rivers. The warm winter brought more rainfall than snow, so there was increased runoff.
Warm March weather could spur earlier insect emergence on Great Lakes regional rivers and streams. Precipitation and melting snow also play a role, but the record breaking weather may trick fly anglers who like to “match the hatch.”