Great Lakes Echo (https://greatlakesecho.org/tag/echo/page/89/)
Great Lakes fall tourism may take a bit of a hit this year.
The summer’s drought has implications for how fast leaves fall.
The impact varies throughout the region and tourism officials say it is modest as many seasonal activities do not depend on leaf color.
Hundreds of U.S. Coast Guard fans on Facebook had the opportunity to ask Petty Officer 1st Class William Vaughn about what it’s like tending buoys on the Great Lakes. What is the strangest thing he found attached to a buoy? How does he deal with the smell? Does he still like seafood? Find out here.
Like corn and apples, Michigan’s soybeans have been hit hard by the drought and extreme hot weather.
“We are facing a 60 to 70 percent reduction of soybeans altogether compared to normal years,” said Tim Boring, research director of the Michigan Soybean Promotion Committee in Frankenmuth.
According to figures from the committee, Michigan ranks 12th among nation’s 31 soybean-producing states. Nearly 2 million acres are planted annually in Michigan.
A sustainable building for environmental studies just opened at the University of Waterloo in Waterloo, Ontario. The building is called Environment 3 because of additions built on top of two prior incarnations. It features a constructed wetland to cleanse wastewater, a system to track utility use and a “living wall” to filter volatile compounds from the air. It opened up Sept. 15 as a part of Doors Open, an annual heritage site and architectural tour in Canadian cities.
The dunes are much younger and move more quickly than previously thought.
That finding has implications for protecting them.
LANSING — A new Vulnerable Household Warmth Fund in the Department of Human Services is temporarily replacing a decade-old state program to help low-income residents heat their homes this winter. The fund will provide $58 million to help consumers pay their gas and electric bills. That’s less than $87 million available last year and $89 million in 2010 when the program was under the public service commission, according to its reports.
This map of the nation’s groundwater uses data from gravity-sensing satellites.
The unique characteristics of the Great Lakes region may throw it a bit off.
That makes it harder to explain – and even more fascinating.
Drug take-back programs may be technically illegal in Michigan.
Proposed legislation establishes guidelines that would help dispose of drugs that can contaminate water, threaten wildlife and are difficult to treat.
Earthworms help soil retain moisture.
And their tunnels helps the roots of cover crops penetrate more deeply into soil.
That kind of action reduces the amount of water running off the land and carrying the nutrients that can nourish explosive algae growth in the Great Lakes.
