Great Lakes Echo (https://greatlakesecho.org/tag/great-lakes/page/10/)
Dam removal in the Great Lakes region exposes nutrient-rich bottomlands.
That creates prime real estate for invasive plants.
Restoration solutions include poisoning the invaders with pesticides and spreading native plant seeds to revegetate the bottomlands.
Great Lakes advocates should focus less on federal funding and more on state issues, such as mining threats, groundwater conservation and risky oil shipments.
The Great Lakes’ record-low water levels are rightly receiving all of the attention now, but evidence is growing that Michigan’s fragile groundwater resources are quietly becoming a concern for the future. Robert Glennon, professor of law and public policy at the University of Arizona and author of “Unquenchable: America’s Water Crisis and What to do About It,” knows Michigan well and shares his insights. Echo has reported on the consequences of drought on Great Lakes groundwater – which can also be seen on this map – and the challenge of measuring its effects. The need for better groundwater conservation continues to be a widely overlooked issue facing the Basin.
Residents of Great Lakes cities are increasingly victims of urban flooding.
Getting a handle on the problem is difficult as property owners often don’t want to talk about sewage spilling into their homes.
Sewage and algae get a lot of the attention along the near shore ecosystem of the Great Lakes.
But nuclear power and waste policies are gaining renewed attention in the region.
They should. The consequences of getting them wrong demand an international spotlight.
It was first found in the St Lawrence Seaway and then Lake Erie. Now it has been identified on Lake St. Clair. The species forms thick mats and can cause skin, oral and gastrointestinal problems.
A program for fixing sewers is at risk because of the federal budget crisis. It comes as climate change is expected to bring more heavy rains that cause sewers to overflow. Advocates say the program helps struggling cities, the environment, the economy.
Indigenous people in the United States and Canada are burdened with health problems linked to pollutants. But native foods, medicines, language, ceremonies and traditional farming, hunting and fishing are also jeopardized.
A U.S. Coast Guardsman stationed in Buffalo wrote a children’s book about his adventures on the Straits of Mackinacas seen through the eyes of an adopted dog, Onyx. Petty Officer 1st Class Tyler Benson began writing the book from his original home in St. Ignace, Mich. because his three daughters would often ask why he would be gone for days, according to this story from WGRZ news in Buffalo. His family now lives in Buffalo where the book has been published.
Nearshore health is a reflection of positive land use.
The Dust Bowl poses important questions and National Parks provide important answers for the Great Lakes region.