Echo
Fishing Lake St. Clair

Fourth day of Christmas: Perch on ice

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Editor’s Note: It’s an Echo tradition to revisit one of our favorite holiday stories: Tim Campbell’s The Twelve Days of Aquatic Invasive Species Christmas. Campbell rewrote the lyrics of the holiday tune for the Wisconsin Sea Grant in 2011.  We’re publishing a new verse on each of the actual twelve days of Christmas.  

 

On the fourth day of Christmas, a freighter sent to me… Four perch on ice — Icing your catch is another way fishermen can help prevent the spread of invasive species.  Many invasive species aren’t readily visible to the naked eye, including zebra and quagga mussel veligers, spiny and fishhook waterfleas, and viral hemorrhagic septicemia (VHS).  Icing the day’s catch makes it so anglers won’t transport water and the organisms in it, while also improving table fare. That’s a win-win if I’ve ever heard one.

Echo

Third day of Christmas: Clean boat steps

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Editor’s Note: It’s an Echo tradition to revisit one of our favorite holiday stories: Tim Campbell’s The Twelve Days of Aquatic Invasive Species Christmas. Campbell rewrote the lyrics of the holiday tune for the Wisconsin Sea Grant in 2011.  We’re publishing a new verse on each of the actual twelve days of Christmas. On the third day of Christmas, a freighter sent to me… Three clean boat steps — Clean. Drain.

Echo

Second day of Christmas: Red swamp crayfish

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Editor’s Note: It’s an Echo tradition to revisit one of our favorite holiday stories: Tim Campbell’s The Twelve Days of Aquatic Invasive Species Christmas. Campbell rewrote the lyrics of the holiday tune for the Wisconsin Sea Grant in 2011.  We’re publishing a new verse on each of the actual twelve days of Christmas. On the second day of Christmas, a freighter sent to me… Two red swamp crayfish — Two is the number of documented red swamp crayfish populations in Wisconsin. Both populations were detected early and contained.

Echo

First day of Christmas: Carp barrier

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Editor’s Note: It’s an Echo tradition to revisit one of our favorite holiday stories: Tim Campbell’s The Twelve Days of Aquatic Invasive Species Christmas.  

Campbell rewrote the lyrics of the holiday tune for the Wisconsin Sea Grant in 2011.  We’re publishing a new verse on each of the actual twelve days of Christmas.  

 

On the first day of Christmas, a freighter sent to me.. A carp barrier in the city! — There is not only one electric barrier in Chicago, but three!

Echo

Campaign targets pollution in watershed

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It’s safe to say most of us take for granted that when we turn on our faucets, clean water comes out. But where does our drinking water come from? How clean is it? And how much responsibility do we, as individuals, have to ensure that our water stays clean?

Waste

Green Gridirons: Michigan State University

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A football stadium may have green grass but does it have green habits? Each week, Great Lakes Echo highlights a Big Ten football stadium’s attempts to do the most to impact the environment the least. All schools have information on the stadium’s diversion rate – the amount of waste recycled instead of put in a landfill. Stadium: Spartan Stadium

School: Michigan State University

Built: 1923

Capacity: 75,005

2012 diversion rate: 56.3 percent

Scouting report: Michigan State University has 80 recycling containers inside Spartan Stadium during games. Staff handpicks recyclables from the grounds outside stadium gates and on Sunday mornings from tailgating lots.

Waste

Big Ten’s Eco Efforts: University of Maryland

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In the spirit of our “Green Gridirons” series (but just in case college football wasn’t your thing), the “Big Ten’s Eco Efforts” series highlights creative off-the-field sustainability efforts. Students at the University of Maryland are so passionate about protecting their environment that they’re willing to pay for it. In fact, they volunteered to. In 2010 students created the University Sustainability Fund, a self-imposed $12 fee per student each year. The money is then distributed to environmental projects across campus.

Echo

Popular Master Gardener program prepping for upcoming anniversary year

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The ever popular and widespread Master Gardener Volunteer Program – which teaches people how to turn horticultural research into community projects – is approaching another year.

In Michigan, the program approaches its 35th anniversary looking to, among other things, rejuvenate Belle Isle and install a therapy garden in a Detroit-area shelter for abused women.

Water

Yellow jugs keep drugs from Great Lakes

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Reports continue to show increasing traces of pharmaceuticals in the Great Lakes. Until recently, it has been commonplace to simply throw away or flush unused and unwanted drugs. The Yellow Jugs Old Drugs program offers a solution to this issue.

Echo

Big Ten’s Eco Efforts: Indiana University

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In the spirit of our “Green Gridirons” series (but just in case college football wasn’t your thing), the “Big Ten’s Eco Efforts” series highlights creative off-the-field sustainability efforts. In the market for a karaoke machine or a piñata? What about a tie-dye lawn chair? The Hoosier to Hoosier sale may provide you with exactly what you’re looking for. It is a reuse program established in 2010 to prevent dorm furnishings from being taken to landfills during student move-out.