Great Lakes Echo (https://greatlakesecho.org/author/great-lakes-echo/)
By Emilio Perez Ibarguen
Legislation would let law students and lawyers represent the interests of abused animals in criminal prosecutions related to the animal’s welfare or custody. The idea is rooted in a massive 1995 animal abuse case in Ottawa County.
By Victoria Witke
Jacob Faist of Jackson County is among the state’s farmers worried about tar spot, an emerging disease in corn and silage fed to dairy cows. It can lower crop yield, reduce the nutritional value of the corn and reduce milk production. According to a study, Michigan and the Great Lakes region are particularly vulnerable. Researchers did the study in Branch, Ottawa, Ingham and Barry counties. Top producing counties include Lenawee and Ionia.
By Isabella Figueroa
The Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources has been granted $1 million from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, to better reach Spanish, Hmong and rural populations.
By Julia Belden
From November 2022 to February 2023, scientists – and a small army of undergraduate research assistants – braved frigid temperatures and deep snow to document winter lightning along the easternmost shores of Lake Ontario as part of a National Science Foundation-funded study.
By Shealyn Paulis
The future of farming might be more digital than you expect. Researchers say technology and artificial intelligence could be the answer to future agriculture resilience and sustainability.
By Ruth Thornton
A new study finds that large, continuous natural areas protect more plants and animals than many small patches, but small patches also provide valuable biodiversity benefits. The UP has more large areas than the Northern Lower Peninsula.
By Victoria Witke
When Roger LaBine was younger, he often drove his grandfather to the Ottawa National Forest to hunt porcupines for food and more, including birch bark-and quill baskets He’s a member of the Lac Vieux Desert Band of Lake Superior Chippewa Indians. A notable proportion of the population relies on public forests for food, and Michigan ranked third in a new study in the amount of wild meat hunted on public lands.
By Joshua Kim
Despite decades-long efforts to clean up toxic hot spots along Michigan’s Great Lakes shores, a recent study shows that the health of water birds in some areas continues to suffer.
Researchers examined ten years of data on fish-eating birds living near Saginaw Bay, the River Raisin, and Grand Traverse Bay.
By Emilio Perez Ibarguen
An Ottawa County legislator, who is also a dairy farmer, says the Environment, Great Lakes and Energy regulations of animal waste are too strict and harm businesses. The Michigan Environmental Council says strict rules are necessary, as does a Lenawee County farmer-activist who provides water testing training to rural communities.
By Finn Mills
here’s a proposal from a West Bloomfield senator to tighten state regulation of pet cemeteries, sparked in part by problems with a Howell pet cemetery that shut down in 2018, leaving pet owners to exhume the remains of their departeds.