Echo

Great Lakes watchers anxious to fill EPA post that’s key to restoration initiative

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By Allison Bush, bushalli@msu.edu
Great Lakes Echo
Aug. 14, 2009

Great Lakes officials are anxious for the Obama Administration to appoint the region’s top Environmental Protection Agency administrator. “The appointment is always important, but for (the Great Lakes states), right now it’s absolutely critical,” said Andy Buchsbaum, executive director of the National Wildlife Federation’s Great Lakes region. “For the first time in history, we could get millions and millions of dollars from Congress, and the administrator is important to making sure the money is spent well.”

The Chicago-based Region 5 administrator is responsible for the Great Lakes program under the Clean Water Act. Region 5 includes Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Ohio and Wisconsin.

Echo

Phytofilters: Turning brownfields green

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By Sarah Coefield, coefield@msu.edu
Great Lakes Echo
Aug. 13, 2009

Some Great Lakes brownfields will turn green if Congress passes a $475 million restoration package. Literally. The U.S. Forest Service seeks $2 million of the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative to transform  unusable industrial lots into parks and trailways – and clean up some contaminants in the process. While the forest service has  long restored natural vegetation and has an urban forestry division, this will be its first foray into phytoremediation, said Steven Davis, a watershed specialist with the forest service’s Northeastern Area State and Private Forestry division.

Recreation

Top Great Lakes trips

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View Great Lakes Adventures in a larger map
Outside Magazine has picked its top seven Great Lakes adventures:

Trout fish Michigan’s Jordan River
Dive for shipwrecks in Ontario’s Thunder Bay
Hike, climb and kayak Minnesota’s north shore
Bike in Wisconsin’s Kettle Moraine State Forest
Sail Lake Huron’s Georgian Bay
Canoe in Ontario’s Algonquin Provincial Park
Kayak Canada’s Pukaskwa National Park

Do you agree? Know of a Great Lakes trip that should make the list? And what about cool outdoor trips around lakes Erie and Ontario? Weigh in with a comment below.

Echo

Insect pest invades region; popcorn, cattle feed at risk

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By Allison Bush, bushalli@msu.edu
Great Lakes Echo
Aug. 12, 2009

Insects about an inch long are starting to eat their way through the Midwest’s corn and beans. The western bean cutworm, native to the central high plains and western corn belt, was found in Pennsylvania for the first time this year.  In 2006 it first appeared in Michigan, Ohio and Indiana. “We thought it might be here, but we didn’t expect to find the distribution we already found – it’s surprising how widespread it already is,” said John Tooker, assistant professor of entomology at Pennsylvania State University. In 2008, the cutworm was trapped in Wayne County, Ohio, about 90 miles from Pennsylvania.

Echo

Column: Tell me what sucks about the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative

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By David Poulson
poulsondavid@gmail.com
Great Lakes Echo
Aug. 7, 2009

I attended a Great Lakes public hearing this week that really wasn’t. The event at Michigan State University was one of the EPA-sponsored meetings held to solicit feedback for the Obama Administration’s proposed $475 million investment in environmental restoration. And while the meeting was open to the public, not much of the public was represented. Instead, this was mostly a Great Lakes love-in.

Echo

VIDEO: Sewage plant uses natural systems

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By Mary Hansen
mehansen4@gmail.com
Great Lakes Echo
Aug. 6, 2009

Muskegon County’s Wastewater Treatment Plant in Michigan was established more than 35 years ago because of an overburdened system that polluted waterways. Sandy soil filters and treats wastewater.  The system encompasses 11,000 acres and a natural bird sanctuary – one of the largest inland nesting areas for seagulls. The operation produces hydropower and is considering windpower.

Echo

Advocates for cleaning Michigan toxic hotspots plot strategy for securing Great Lakes Restoration Initiative dollars

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By Allison Bush, bushalli@msu.edu
Great Lakes Echo
Aug. 5, 2009

Federal agencies and Michigan residents looking to clean up Great Lakes toxic hotspots planned Tuesday how to obtain a piece of the Obama Administration’s proposed $475 million environmental protection initiative. The meeting was held at Michigan State University in East Lansing, Mich. Michigan has 14 of the Great Lakes’ 43 Areas of Concern, or AOCs, designated by the U.S and Canada as impaired or unable to support aquatic life. Only one U.S. site, located in New York, has been cleaned to where it could be formally delisted. “Some people feel that’s not a lot of progress over the past 20 years,” said Matt Doss, policy director for the Great Lakes Commission, who moderated the meeting.