Echo

Great Lakes biologists brace for hydrilla, the next big invasive water weed

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By Jeff Gillies
jeffgillies@gmail.com
Great Lakes Echo
Oct. 1, 2009
Editors note: This story is part of a series relevant to the International Joint Commission’s Oct. 7 and 8 biennial meeting in Windsor. When Matt Preisser thought he saw a photo of a potential Great Lakes invasive species in a Michigan newspaper, he tracked it down and checked it out. “The plants in the photo were suspiciously similar to hydrilla,” said Preisser, who works for Michigan’s Aquatic Nuisance Control Program.

Echo

Something foul in standards for septic systems?

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(MN) Minneapolis Star Tribune – Carver County is skirting the same issue — a lack of adequate separation between drain field and groundwater — at a $2.5 million ballroom it bought at a park near Lake Waconia. The controversy has been roiling Carver for most of the year and heated up during the summer, when Workman insisted his that fellow commissioners do something about it. More

Echo

Sewage-sniffing dogs protect lakes, beaches

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(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

Echo

Obama Seeks National Oversight of Waters

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(NY) The New York Times – The Obama administration called Thursday for a comprehensive national system for regulating the use of federal waters along the nation’s marine and Great Lakes shores, now administered by a hodgepodge of federal, state or other agencies with often-conflicting goals. The recommendation, outlined in an interim report by a panel appointed in June by President Obama, said regulators should consider marine regions as a whole when issuing rules rather than, say, regulating fishing one species at a time. More

Echo

Farm runoff woes: Can voluntary programs alone keep dirt out of the water?

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By Jeff Gillies
jeffgillies@gmail.com
Great Lakes Echo
Sept. 17, 2009

The Great Lakes and the Chesapeake Bay both field noxious summer algae blooms fueled by dirt and nutrients from farm fields. The six northeastern states that drain into the Chesapeake Bay have a patchwork plan to curb it. It doesn’t work and never will, says a recent report by the Environmental Working Group, a non-profit lobbyist and research group. The report claims runoff prevention programs fail because they’re voluntary — farmers that don’t want to participate don’t have to.

Echo

Canadian Coast Guard Commissions New Research Vessel

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(ON) The Gov Monitor – Canadian Coast Guard’s newest science research vessel CCGS Kelso will be based at the Canadian Centre of Inland Waters, where it will support researchers from Fisheries and Oceans Canada and Environment Canada gathering information about the biological, chemical and physical properties of Canada’s Great Lakes. The vessel, classified as a Near Shore Fisheries Research Vessel, has been in service since June 2009, and will assume the duties of the soon-to-be-retired CCGS Shark. CCGS Kelso is named after the late Dr. John Kelso, a Canadian scientist for Fisheries and Oceans Canada, who dedicated his life to advancing freshwater science. More

Nearshore

Study may help manage muck in Saginaw Bay

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(MI) Bay City Times – A study by Michigan Technological University researchers aims to figure out how to best manage phosphorus inputs to Saginaw Bay. Phosphorus, a nutrient in everything from fertilizers to wastewater, helps fuel the growth of algae in the bay, which fouls shorelines when it dies and washes up on beaches. More

Echo

Waterlife – a Great Lakes Film Epic – Coming to Michigan Tech Sept. 9

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(MI) Michigan Tech News – The Great Lakes are many things: bodies of water, sources of life, a story and a poem. “Waterlife,” a film that follows the flow of the water in the Great Lakes from the Nipigon River to the Atlantic Ocean, captures the significance of the Great Lakes and the Great Lakes ecosystem in a compelling, feature-length documentary. Michigan Tech’s Center for Water and Society is sponsoring a free showing of the film at 7 pm Wednesday, Sept. 9, in the Dow Environmental Sciences and Engineering Building, Room 641. It has only been shown once before in Michigan, at the Traverse City Film Festival.

Echo

Going up and diving down: Exploring the Great Lakes with blimps and subs

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By Jeff Gillies, jeffgillies@gmail.com
Great Lakes Echo
Aug. 21, 2009

A marshmallow blimp and a yellow submarine are gearing up to explore the Great Lakes from above and below. The SkySentry Aerostat — an unmanned blimp designed for military use — wouldn’t be out of place advertising a used car clearance sale, Michael Scott writes in the Cleveland Plain Dealer. Instead, officials are testing the big white blimp’s ability to collect imagery of Lake Erie algae blooms that turn the lake’s shallow western waters green and suffocate fish. Check the Plain Dealer’s story for video and a slide show.