Great Lakes Echo (https://greatlakesecho.org/author/guest-contributor/page/81/)
A new year brings new opportunities for recreation and commercial interests along the Great Lakes. It also means seven gubernatorial elections in states that border the lakes, and growing concern over climate change.
Steel and concrete would be the classic choices for building a large new laboratory planned at Michigan State University. But experts in the university’s forestry department are asking, “Why not wood?”
An experiment allowing Michigan drivers for the first time to legally drive on a highway shoulder could lead to similar efforts across the state.
As America confronts the opioid crisis, environmental scientists are warning about a related problem.
Nearly 30,000 people buy a Michigan fur harvester license each year. Some are trappers. The others are hunters of furbearing species. But only about half of the people who buy a license actually participate because of the time commitment involved, state officials say.
No matter the phrase, all state slogans seek to attract tourists.
Over the past two winters, the Great Lakes have had a below-average ice cover. And that’s expected to continue this year.
Winter is going to the dogs in Michigan–and that’s not a bad thing.
Michigan’s ballast water regulations are deterring oceangoing vessels from entering Michigan ports to pick up exports.
The cost of the sport, warm winters and the lasting impacts of the Great Recession have all left their mark on Michigan’s snowmobiling industry.