Great Lakes Echo (https://greatlakesecho.org/author/keweir/page/32/)
(WI) Milwaukee Journal Sentinel – In a move that would sharply weaken the powers of the governor to manage natural resources, the Assembly voted Tuesday to return authority to appoint the secretary of the Department of Natural Resources to a seven-member citizens board. The Assembly voted 61-32 in favor of a bill that’s been pushed by conservationists and environmentalists since 1995. More
(IL) Chicago Tribune – They’re metallic green, can fit on a penny and are now a threat to the thousands of ash trees in the Village of La Grange. According to Ryan Gillingham, La Grange’s director of public works, multiple adult Emerald Ash Borers were found in one of the six traps the village has maintained for detecting the beetle. More
(MN) Minneapolis Star Tribune – The troubled basin of the Mississippi River is set to receive a $320 million boost from the Agriculture Department. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack was announcing Thursday that he is creating the Mississippi River Basin Healthy Watersheds Initiative, which will fund efforts in 12 states along the 2,350-mile long Mississippi River, Agriculture Department officials told The Associated Press. They would speak only on condition of anonymity ahead of Vilsack’s announcement. More
(IL) Chicago Tribune – Jonathan Boyer, a principal at Farr Associates, said that the house’s photovoltaic (PV) panels, in operation since March 25, have produced more than 9,000 kilowatt hours of energy. The expectation for the first 12 months was about 11,500 kiolowatt hours.
In other words, the PV panels have exceeded 80 percent of their expected annual energy production in roughly half a year. More
(MN) Minneapolis Star Tribune – Battered by falling prices for recycled commodities, one of the Twin Cities’ best-known recycling firms is asking the cities it serves to renegotiate recycling contracts to help the company survive. Officials with Eureka Recycling, one of the largest nonprofit recyclers in the country, say the business is not in immediate danger. Tim Brownell, Eureka’s co-president, said the changes are meant to prepare the company for the future. More
(MI) Kalamazoo Gazette – Allegan, Berrien, Cass, Kalamazoo, Kent, Ottawa, and Van Buren lead the state in total value of agriculture production – including sales of crops and livestock. Food and agricultural county profiles for each of Michigan’s 83 counties and nine agricultural regions released Tuesday in a report by the Michigan Department of Agriculture show the region’s importance to the state’s agriculture industry. More
(MI) Detroit Free Press – When Scott Raymond saw Sable, a German shepherd mix, on a video at an animal shelter in 2006, he knew the dog was right for the job he had in mind. Raymond’s plan was to train Sable to sniff out illegal sewer connections, which dump billions of gallons of bacteria-filled water into rivers, lakes and streams each year, shuttering beaches, contaminating fish and costing millions in cleanups and lost tourism and recreation. After a year of training and successful work in the Kawkawlin River in Bay County and in Genesee County, Sable, now top dog at Environmental Canine Services, has earned fame and praise for sniffing out contamination from leaky septic tanks and illicit sewer hookups. More
(NY) Treehugger – The sprawling campus of Michigan State University takes in 5,200 acres. There are trees that shade the landscape and a Red Cedar River that runs through it. Researchers have just found a 16,000- to 20,000-year-old sand dune on the campus, too, beneath a grove of pine trees. The dune, between buildings called Demonstration Hall and Munn Ice Arena, is one of the most southerly located that researchers have ever seen in Michigan. More
(OH) The Toledo Blade – Staying one step ahead of algae. That’s the goal of a $269,500 initiative the federal government launched this summer for Lake Erie’s western basin, the warmest and shallowest part of the Great Lakes.
Stretching approximately from Monroe to Sandusky, Lake Erie’s western basin also is the area hit hardest by farm and street runoff. More
(MI) Traverse City Record Eagle- There are a dozen variations — “shoot first and ask questions later,” “it’s easier to ask forgiveness than it is to get permission,” etc. We’ve heard them all. In some building and developer circles the intent is the same even if the wording is a little different; it could be “bulldoze now, get a permit if you have to.”That’s pretty much what happened in Elk Rapids about a decade ago. Developer Bill Clous started carving up a wetlands area to build a subdivision. He had permits from Antrim County and local officials but after environmentalists raised the roof, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers grudgingly agreed that the wetland in question was tied to nearby Lake Michigan, which meant Clous needed a federal permit.