Great Lakes

  • David Ruck

The Great Lakes are the largest freshwater system on the Earth's surface, home to a fragile fishery, and delicate shoreline beaches and dunes. They are also central to northern Michigan tourism, economies and our way of life. 

Ways to Connect

Points North, Ep. 20: In transit

By • Jul 11, 2019
Credit: NASA Photo/Carla Thomas

This week on Points North, female pilots are underrepresented in the commercial aviation industry. That’s been true for a while, but a program in northern Michigan is making progress. Plus, the plight of fudge at local airports and a story from Michigan’s maritime past.

 


Points North, Ep. 19: High water

By • Jun 27, 2019
Dan Wanschura / Interlochen Public Radio

This week on Points North, the water is so high in Michigan this summer that shorelines are disappearing, docks are underwater and rivers are overflowing. Plus hear how high water is affecting public access to beaches and research on avian botulism. 

 


Public beach access affected by high water

By & • Jun 27, 2019
Dan Wanschura / Interlochen Public Radio

Michigan has complicated laws when it comes to private beaches and public access, and the rules for inland lakes are different from the Great Lakes.

High water levels complicate botulism monitoring, but means fewer bird deaths

By Kaye LaFond • Jun 27, 2019
A flooded beach near Lake Michigan.
Kaye LaFond / Interlochen Public Radio

The last major outbreak of avian botulism on Lake Michigan was in 2016, when hundreds of dead birds washed up on shore. The bacterial disease has affected waterfowl like loons and mergansers in the Great Lakes for decades, but high water levels on the lakes are good news for the birds for now.

High water levels increase risk of Electric Shock Drowning

By • Jun 18, 2019
The Michigan Department of Natural Resources and U.S. Coast Guard says current high water levels increase the risk of Electric Shock Drowning.
Dan Wanschura / Interlochen Public Radio

High water levels in the state have the Michigan Department of Natural Resources and U.S. Coast Guard concerned about Electric Shock Drowning.

Biologists try a new tactic to bring back endangered piping plovers

By • Jun 13, 2019
Taylor Wizner / Interlochen Public Radio

Half a century ago, hundreds of pairs of piping plovers lived in the Great Lakes. But by the 1980s, they were on the verge of extinction and only a dozen pairs remained.

Over time, wildlife biologists have helped increase the population. But it’s still well below a stable number and each year there’s a new threat.

 

Piping plovers are small, stout white-gray birds. In the spring, they can be found nesting on the shores of the Great Lakes. Once a fixture on the lakes, the birds are now on the federal Endangered Species List.

Stateside: Measuring a school’s success; Detroit Zoo’s pigeon war hero; disability and employment

By • Jun 12, 2019

 

Today on Stateside, we talk about rethinking how we measure whether a school is succeeding or failing. Plus, a conversation with Michigan Supreme Court Justice Richard Bernstein about how people with disabilities bring unique, important perspectives to the workplace.

Record number of drowning deaths in Great Lakes last year

By Bronte Cook • Jun 4, 2019
Creative Commons

According to the Great Lakes Surf Rescue Project, there were 118 drowning deaths in the Great Lakes last year; a record high for the past decade. This year follows a similar pattern, with 11 drowning deaths by the beginning of June. 

 

Dave Benjamin, executive director of the Great Lakes Surf Rescue Project, encourages swimmers to be aware of swimmer safety protocols. 

 

Points North, Ep. 14: Seniority on the road

By • May 23, 2019
Max Johnston / Interlochen Public Radio

This week on Points North, elderly drivers in Grand Traverse County get in car accidents at a higher rate than most other Michigan counties. We explore the challenges of giving up the keys.

 


New USGS data shows how much of Michigan is forested, urban and more

By Kaye LaFond • May 23, 2019
USGS

Every few years the U.S. Geological Survey and its partners release an updated version of what is known as the “National Land Cover Database.”

Gov. Whitmer considering a tunnel in the Straits

By • Apr 17, 2019
MARK BRUSH / MICHIGAN RADIO

Gov. Gretchen Whitmer said in an interview with the Detroit News that she is considering a tunnel for an oil pipeline in the Straits of Mackinac. A tunnel is one of several proposed alternatives to the Line 5 oil pipelines.

Advocacy group asks Coast Guard to show Line 5 anchor strike findings

By Taylor Wizner • Apr 3, 2019
Gregory Varnum

Cross Fisheries charged with illegal lake trout sales

By • Apr 3, 2019
MDNR

A popular fishery in northern Michigan was charged with illegally buying and selling lake trout. John Cross of Cross Fisheries in Charlevoix was sentenced to a year in prison and will pay a fine of more than $1 million.

Lake trout is heavily protected by state, tribal and federal agencies. A press release says Cross bought almost 50,000 pounds of the fish that was harvested by a trap net, but he reported that he got it via gillnet.

Fisheries Biologist Mark Ebener says what Cross did is more common than you would think

President Trump proposes budget cut to Great Lakes projects

By • Mar 11, 2019
The Great Lakes Restoration Initiative

As part of his budget proposal announced Monday, President Trump wants to slash funding for the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative by 90 percent. 

FLOW files amicus brief in Lake Michigan diversion suit

By Kaye LaFond • Mar 8, 2019
A computer that says "Foxconn"
Christopher Bulle/FLICKR - HTTP://J.MP/1SPGCL0

The Michigan-based water law non-profit “For Love of Water,” or "FLOW," filed an amicus brief this week in support of a lawsuit against the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources.

Stateside: ASL translation technology; Ingham County's first public defender; Sen. Peters on PFAS

By • Mar 8, 2019

Today on Stateside, Governor Whitmer announced a plan earlier this week to introduce a 45 cent gas tax by October 2020. Are there enough road workers to put all that funding to use? Plus, Ingham County is building a public defender office from the ground up. We talk about the challenges of developing a brand new governmental department. 

Points North, Ep. 2: Chasing whitefish

By • Feb 28, 2019
Jacques LeBlanc, a commercial fisherman from the Bay Mills Indian Community, pulls a gill net out of the ice on eastern Lake Superior.
Kaye LaFond

This week on Points North, a decline in lake whitefish is pushing tribal commercial fishermen to the northern edge of their treaty waters. Plus, we look at test results for PFAS contamination in Michigan’s public water and meet a funk band from Boyne City.


Cornered by invasives, tribal fishermen chase whitefish to ‘crowded’ Lake Superior

By Kaye LaFond • Feb 28, 2019
A man in coveralls bends over a hole in ice and pulls out a net.
Kaye LaFond / Interlochen Public Radio


A decline in lake whitefish is pushing some tribal commercial fishermen out of Lakes Michigan and Huron. They’re spending more time in Lake Superior, the only place they say they can still make a living. This has fishermen and scientists worried about whether whitefish populations there can withstand the extra pressure.

U.S Supreme Court won't touch Great Lakes beach access case

By Jacob Wheeler • Feb 20, 2019
Morgan Springer

The public has the right to walk the Great Lakes shoreline even along privately owned beaches. The U.S. Supreme Court reaffirmed that right on Tuesday when it declined to hear a case from Indiana.

Bill would protect Great Lakes funds from border wall

By • Feb 12, 2019
Wikimedia Commons

Amidst congressional negotiations on border security, lawmakers are trying to protect Great Lakes infrastructure projects that could be caught up in the debate.

Group raises questions about Enbridge's insurance on Line 5

By Kaye LaFond • Feb 8, 2019

A new report says the State of Michigan did not thoroughly review Enbridge’s ability to cover costs in the case of a spill from its twin Line 5 oil pipelines before it signed an agreement with the company. The pipelines run underneath the Straits of Mackinac.

State lowers perch fishing limit

By • Feb 7, 2019
Wikimedia Commons

Anglers across Michigan won’t be able to catch as many perch. Right now they can get 50 per day but this spring it will be 25.

Randy Claramunt with the Michigan Department of Natural Resources says perch populations have been declining for decades.

"There’s a lot of pressure on them in specific areas," Claramunt says. "So this … recognizes the value that yellow perch are to anglers in Michigan."

Claramunt says anglers pushed for the change because it may increase perch numbers. The new limit takes effect on April 1.

This You Should Know: Grand Traverse Bay

By T.J. Harrison • Dec 22, 2018
T.J. Harrison

Oligotrophic. It’s a word that describes the oxygen-rich, nutrient-poor environment of Grand Traverse Bay. Nutrients are the enemy of a healthy bay, says former Grand Traverse Baykeeper John Nelson. And he says everyone has a role to play in maintaining the cold, clean water.

 

 


Democrat resigns from pipeline tunnel authority

By • Dec 17, 2018
MARK BRUSH / MICHIGAN RADIO

Geno Allessandrini of the Michigan Laborers District Council was appointed to the Mackinac Straits Corridor Authority on Wednesday, but resigned a day later for personal reasons.

The authority will oversee the construction and operation of a tunnel for a new oil pipeline in the straits.

 

Ari Adler, a spokesman for Governor Snyder, says the governor didn’t ask for the resignation.

 

"He did resign of his own free will, and he said that he was stepping aside for personal reasons," says Adler.

 

Cormorant hunt proposed in Ontario

By • Dec 3, 2018
Sam Corden

Ontario wants to allow hunters to shoot double-crested cormorants. The idea is welcomed by sport anglers who think the fish-eating birds are destructive in the Great Lakes. The proposal from the Ministry of Natural Resources also claims the birds are a threat to commercial fishing.

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