Great Lakes Echo (https://greatlakesecho.org/author/clincolnhol/)
By Clara Lincolnhol Many Ontario farmers acknowledge the positive benefits of sustainable farming practices but don’t have the manpower to actually adopt them, according to a study published by the University of Waterloo.
By Clara Lincolnhol
Writer Tamara Dean left the city for a rural life in Wisconsin’s Driftless Area, a region known for dodging the glaciers that carved the landscape of the surrounding states and the Great Lakes 10,000 years ago.
By Clara Lincolnhol
Climate change is making it easier for Great Lakes water birds to get sick, according to a recent University of Illinois study. Data from the last 50 years shows an increase in avian disease as climate change worsens, said study co-author Nathan Alexander.
By Clara Lincolnhol
Ice fishing has returned to Lake Erie this year after several seasons of thin ice and open water. Business owners and anglers have noted an increase in activity, with some reporting higher turnout than in previous years. At the same time, changing ice conditions in recent years have raised questions about long-term trends on the Great Lakes.
By Clara Lincolnhol
Toledo, Ohio, has a rich Rust Belt history that influences its present-day culture. Local environmental groups and agencies are turning to public art to teach residents that the area’s natural history is just as important.
“Telling this story through something visual that beautifies a community is a great way to educate Toledo residents and reconnect them to nature in the place they call home, said Rob Krain,” executive director for the Black Swamp Conservancy.
By Clara Lincolnhol
Chris Compton, owner of a company called Goose Busters, has spent nearly 30 years addressing human-goose conflicts. Over the years, the goose population has continued to grow, especially in more populated areas, he said.
“We have them all over,” he said. “They’re building up in Lansing quite a bit. Ann Arbor’s a big area. Troy, Detroit, Rochester Hills and Auburn Hills too.”
That also means there’s a lot of goose poop. One adult goose can produce up to two pounds of feces a day. Too much waste could cause environmental problems, research shows.
By Clara Lincolnhol
Ohio took a beating from a record-breaking 73 tornadoes in 2024. Twisters and other severe weather events are becoming more common in the Midwest due to climate change, and seniors are more at risk. As the threat from major storms grows, roughly one in five older adults living in central Ohio say they feel unprepared or uncertain of their readiness for a severe weather event, according to a recent study conducted by The Ohio State University. The study surveyed more than 1,400 individuals aged 65 and older living in eight counties to gauge their preparedness for a severe weather event. Questions were based on storm-readiness recommendations from the Federal Emergency Management Agency.
Overall, 78% of participants said they felt prepared for severe weather, 13% said they did not and 9% felt unsure.
The study also asked individuals if severe weather caused them significant life disruptions, such as preventing them from getting to doctor’s appointments or from accessing medication or other vital supplies.
By Clara Lincolnhol
As the gales of November approach, social media users are channeling a famous Great Lakes shipwreck as tongue-in-cheek inspiration for a new fall aesthetic. It began with a video comedian Django Gold posted to TikTok in September. “Brat Summer is over. It’s time for Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald Fall,” Gold says in the short video, which has nearly 23,000 likes. Gordon Lightfoot’s song “The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald” plays in the background.
Michigan’s towering freshwater sand dunes make up a one-of-a-kind natural resource and the largest collection of freshwater dunes on the planet. But environmentalists say the state’s legal protections are vague and leave the beloved dunes—and homes nestled among them—vulnerable to shortsighted development. A pair of West Michigan lawmakers seek to solve these problems with planned legislation to protect the state’s most sensitive dunes. The bills apply to areas that the Legislature designated as “critical dunes” in 1989. “They found that certain dunes were a unique, irreplaceable and fragile resource that provides significant recreational, economic, scientific, geological, scenic, botanical, educational, agricultural and ecological benefits,” said Emily Smith, land and water conservation policy manager at the Michigan Environmental Council.
By Clara Lincolnhol
After a day out on the water, the total amount of money spent on fishing gear, transportation and food doesn’t truly reflect the worth of a fishing trip to Great Lakes anglers. Some people are willing to pay $100 more for a fishing trip than what it costs, according to a recent Appalachian State University study funded by the Great Lakes Fishery Commission. “This study raises awareness of the importance of managing the Great Lakes fishery,” said Rob Southwick, co-author of the study and president of Southwick Associates, an economics and market research company that specializes in outdoor recreation. The study is the first of its kind to find the surplus value — the measure of what a person is willing to pay for a good or service beyond its market cost — of recreational fishing trips in the Great Lakes region, Southwick said. The researchers asked more than 8,000 licensed anglers questions about their spending on fishing.