Skip to content
  • logo
  • logo
  • Home
  • Solutions
  • Agriculture
  • Water
  • Cities & Suburbs
  • Nearshore
  • Recreation
  • Wildlife
  • Energy
  • Waste
  • About
  • Contact

Great Lakes Echo - Environmental news of the Great Lakes region

Great Lakes Echo (https://greatlakesecho.org/author/courtney-bourgoin/)

  • Home
  • Solutions
  • Agriculture
  • Water
  • Cities & Suburbs
  • Nearshore
  • Recreation
  • Wildlife
  • Energy
  • Waste
  • About
  • Contact
Subscribe

Courtney Bourgoin

Nearshore
Heart-Shaped Cave Opening

Lake Michigan shows some love

By Courtney Bourgoin | February 13, 2016

Lake Michigan cave reveals Valentine’s Day image.

Echo

Flint water, Detroit air casualties of environmental justice

By Courtney Bourgoin | January 23, 2016

State environmental justice plan finalized in 2010 was never implemented.

Water

Echo’s Wilson on Flint’s water

By Courtney Bourgoin | January 12, 2016

Great Lakes Echo commentator Gary Wilson says the Environmental Protection Agency should have done more to mitigate Flint’s drinking water crisis.

Palisade's Nuclear Plant in Covert, MI.
Waste

Maps show proposed nuclear waste travels in Great Lakes region

By Courtney Bourgoin | December 7, 2015

Anti-nuclear groups mapped the potential travels of nuclear waste in the Great Lakes region if a waste site were approved in Nevada.

Energy

Michigan frack report explores options

By Courtney Bourgoin | November 18, 2015

The University of Michigan illuminates the unknowns of fracking in Michigan.

About Great Lakes Echo

Environmental news of the Great Lakes region from the Knight Center for Environmental Journalism at Michigan State University.

  • Solar projects bring larger economic gains to smaller communities, study shows

    By Isabella Figueroa Nogueira A recent study examines how solar projects could be planned in ways that benefit rural communities without significantly increasing electricity costs.

  • Miller in the woods
    Invasive species expert teaches volunteers to overcome ‘plant blindness’

    By Anna Ironside Caroline Miller is a botanical technologist at Michigan State University’s W.J. Beal Botanical Garden, as well as a master’s student. Her work has made her a driving force behind restoration projects on campus and beyond. From invasive species removal days to a growing movement to replace traditional turf lawns with native landscapes, Miller doesn’t quit.

  • Headshot of Ethan Theuerkauf
    Growth in shoreline armoring is reshaping Michigan’s Lake Michigan coast

    By Kyrmyzy Turebayeva A new study documents a fivefold increase in shoreline armoring along Lake Michigan’s Eastern coast.

  • How seeds from the past are saving a unique flower of the Great Lakes

    By Kyrmyzy Turebayeva More than 30 years ago, a group of scientists planted just 4,200 seeds of the rare Pitcher’s thistle in the sandy dunes of the Great Lakes. At the time, no one knew if the new populations would survive. Today, three decades later, the restored populations are thriving and spreading.

  • Henderson holding a swan
    From otters to butterflies: How Minnesota became a pioneer in nongame wildlife conservation

    By Kyrmyzy Turebayeva In the late 1970s, when most wildlife conservation programs in the United States focused almost exclusively on game species, a quiet but historic shift began in Minnesota. It was here that one of the nation’s first state programs dedicated to protecting so-called nongame wildlife emerged from butterflies and bats to bald eagles and river otters. That story is now told in detail by Carrol Henderson in his new book, “A National Legacy: Fifty Years of Nongame Wildlife Conservation in Minnesota."

  • Michigan’s water infrastructure sees improvements, work still needs to be done

    By Clara Lincolnhol The U.S. would need to invest nearly $3.4 trillion over the next 20 years to fix and update drinking water, wastewater and stormwater infrastructure, says researchers from The Value of Water Campaign. Much of that infrastructure was built 40 to 50 years ago and shows its age. Michigan’s is no exception. The American Society of Civil Engineers gave the state a D+ for its drinking water infrastructure, a D in storm water management and a C for its wastewater infrastructure. Funding is a major problem. Proposed data centers would put more stress on the infrastructure.

  • Mussels in a green net.
    Endangered spectaclecase mussels reintroduced into the Chippewa River

    By Ada Tussing To combat the population loss of spectaclecase mussels, researchers with both the Minnesota and the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources released over 177 mussels into the Chippewa River in Northwest Wisconsin.

  • Michigan allocates $77 million to clean thousands of contaminated sites

    By Clara Lincolnhol Michigan is pouring $77 million into clean-up of contaminated abandoned real estate such as former factories. The director of the Department of Environment, Great Lakes and Energy says the goal is to make the cleaned-up sites safe for housing, commercial developments and other uses.

  • Winter makes curved roads dangerous; researchers seek solutions

    By Eric Freedman Flashing light on warning signs near curves can slow drivers and reduce the odds of a crash during winter weather conditions, says a new study by Michigan State University engineers.

  • The cover of “Dead Moose on Isle Royale: Off Trail with the Citizen Scientists of the Wolf-Moose Project." The cover is moose antlers on the ground.
    Great Lakes books for your holiday gift list 

    By Eric Freedman   Looking for a holiday gift for a reader who loves the Great Lakes? Here are five prospects to consider – and what our reporters learned from interviewing their authors this year.

  • Great Lakes Echo

Contact Us

Email: GreatLakesEcho@gmail.com
Phone: 517-432-1415

Search This Site

Browse Archives

© Copyright 2026, Great Lakes Echo

Built with the Largo WordPress Theme from the Institute for Nonprofit News.

Back to top ↑