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The long-awaited reopening of Perry’s Victory and International Peace Memorial was celebrated on Saturday after it closed in 2017 for repairs. The 352-foot structure on South Bass Island in Lake Erie honors those who fought and died at the Battle of Lake Erie in the War of 1812. Read the full story by the Toledo Blade. View the full article

Lake Erie is a natural treasure, not to mention the engine for many livelihoods. It matters that Ohio admits the extent of the problem and acts aggressively to restore the lake to good health. Read the full story by the Beacon Journal. View the full article

Inmates from a county jail and volunteers helped fill sandbags along part of the Lake Erie shoreline in southeastern Michigan as waves burst through a damaged seawall on Friday, flooding neighborhoods. Read the full story by the Associated Press. View the full article

The public has only one chance to influence a consent decree proposed after U.S. Steel’s Midwest Plant spilled toxic chromium into a Lake Michigan tributary in Indiana in 2017. A public comment period on the proposed settlement between the government and steelmaker remains open until June 6.. Read the full story by NWI Times. View the full article

The seasonal wetlands are smallish, shallow ponds — known as vernal pools — and range from just a few inches to a foot deep in the late winter and spring, then dry up entirely during the summer. These temporary pools of water — and the native plants that grow in and around them — are vital to ecosystems. Read the full story by the Buffalo News. View the full article

The Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources and U.S. Army Corps of Engineers are planning to build a new summer home for endangered piping plovers that’s easy for the birds to find but out of reach of Lake Superior storms. Read the full story by the Duluth News Tribune. View the full article

As part of a larger effort to remediate industrial pollution in the Duluth harbor, he 610-foot Wiliiam A. Irvin, Duluth’s cargo ship museum, needs to be moved to reach sediment underneath. Read the full story by the Minnesota Star Tribune. View the full article

News Sheboygan, Wisc. – The Great Lakes Commission (GLC) released a new video at the 2018 Great Lakes Areas of Concern (AOC) Conference highlighting restoration work completed under the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative (GLRI) and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) – GLC Regional Habitat Restoration Partnership. The video, St. Marys River, Little Rapids: Post Restoration, sheds light on the Partnership’s collaborative approach to completing the Little Rapids Restoration Project and the resulting economic and environmental benefits passed to the community in Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan. Heather Braun, GLC’s coastal conservation and habitat restoration program manager, said this project is exactly what successful habitat restoration under the GLRI should look like. “The collaboration between the various groups – from state and federal agencies, to local and regional organizations – that’s what made this project so successful,” she said. “The GLRI has given us the capacity to get the right people involved in projects like this and really serve communities and the environment in the right way.” Julie Sims, Great Lakes regional coordinator for NOAA, said the Regional Partnership has been critical in delisting Areas of Concern throughout the Great Lakes region. “The partnership is tackling some of the most urgent priorities in the region so it’s obviously very important that we work as efficiently and effectively as possible to accomplish these goals,” Sims said. “The restoration that happened at the Little Rapids was so successful on so many levels, and though every restoration project comes with its own set of challenges, our success in the St. Marys should really inform and encourage the work that’s still to come.” For more information about the Partnership, contact Heather Braun or click here. ← Previous news release The Great Lakes Commission, led by chairman John Linc Stine, commissioner of the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency, is an interstate compact agency established under state and U.S. federal law and dedicated to promoting a strong economy, healthy environment and high quality of life for the Great Lakes-St. Lawrence region and its residents. The Commission consists of governors’ appointees, state legislators, and agency officials from its eight member states. Associate membership for Ontario and Québec was established through the signing of a “Declaration of Partnership.” The Commission maintains a formal Observer program involving U.S. and Canadian federal agencies, tribal authorities, binational agencies and other regional interests. The Commission offices are located in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Learn more at www.glc.org. Contact For questions or media inquiries, please contact Beth Wanamaker, [email protected]. Recent GLC News NOAA, Great Lakes Commission habitat restoration efforts showcased in new video at 2018 AOC Conference Great Lakes Commission urges Congress to fully fund the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative in FY 2019 Great Lakes Commission statement on passing of former Michigan Sen. Patty Birkholz Great Lakes Commission launches online portal for maritime jobs on the Great Lakes and St. Lawrence River Upcoming GLC Events Great Lakes Dredging Team Annual Meeting May 22 - May 23 2018 Great Lakes Commission Annual Meeting October 2 - October 3 View GLC Calendar > View the full article

Scientists predict a substantial harmful algal bloom in Lake Erie this year but said it’s too early to predict how bad it will be. The official forecast for the size of this year’s HAB will be issued on July 12, said Christina Dierkes, a spokeswoman for Stone Laboratory on Gibraltar Island, near Put-in-Bay. Read the full story by the Sandusky Register. View the full article

The Great Lakes account for close to 20 percent of the world’s freshwater, and they face threats like climate change, invasive species, and waste overflow. That’s why four friends are kayaking the Lake Superior shoreline to raise awareness for water conservation. Read the full story by WLUC-TV – Marquette, MI. View the full article

The proximity of the proposed concentrated animal feeding operation (CAFO) to an E. coli-troubled creek that flows into Lake Michigan caused a stir among Oceana County, MI residents who believe the operation could damage the environment, specifically the water quality of the creek. Read the full story by MLive. View the full article

In Lake Michigan, there is once-in-a generation salmon fishing going on. Read the full story by the Michigan City News-Dispatch. View the full article

The small fish, which traditionally school up and head into streams and rivers to spawn each spring, may be changing their habits according to one Michigan DNR fisheries expert. Read the full story by the Soo Evening News. View the full article

15-year-old Maya Farrell of Ottawa hopes to cross Lake Ontario – an 88-kilometer swim – in July with an estimated time of between 40-45 hours. Read the full story by CVT News. View the full article

Due to heavy rain in the area over the past week, some sewage was discharged directly into the Root River or Lake Michigan via storm sewer pipes this week, the city’s water and wastewater general manager reported on Thursday. Read the full story by the Journal Times. View the full article

Toronto Mayor John Tory says the Toronto Islands are in great shape for visitors as the May 18-21 Victoria Day long weekend begins. Read the full story by Global News. View the full article

The Sable Points Lighthouse Keepers Association is in the process of restoring 14 portholes that adorn Ludington, Michigan’s 57-foot North Breakwater Light on Lake Michigan. Read the full story by MLive. View the full article

Two ships delayed at the Port of Toledo by a labor dispute left the dock Wednesday after the U.S. Coast Guard approved a plan to use tugboats to pull the ships into open water, rather than relying on harbor pilots whose refusal to cross a Longshoremen picket line had led to the bottleneck. Read the full story by the Toledo Blade. View the full article

After communities along Lake Ontario were pummeled by waves and flood waters in 2017, New York State promised financial relief. Millions of dollars were offered to towns and villages to help clean up, but so far, only a fraction of that money has been reimbursed to those communities. Read the full story by WIVB-TV – Newfane, NY. View the full article

Poopy geese, not human sewage, were often behind high E. coli readings along the Detroit River, researchers at the Great Lakes Institute for Environmental Research said Wednesday. Read the full story by the Windsor Star. View the full article

It took 10 years and over $7 million to create Lake Vista Park in Oak Creek, but the City of Oak Creek, Wisconsin, has gradually transformed the lakefront property where a chemical plant previously operated into a 98-acre park overlooking Lake Michigan. Read the full story by WUWM – Milwaukee, WI. View the full article

The company that operates twin oil pipelines in the Straits of Mackinac says one of the lines suspected of being struck by a tugboat anchor was dented more than three-fourths of an inch. Read the full story by The Associated Press. View the full article

Some gorgeous images of sunrises, colorful sunsets and big-water scenes have been flowing out from the U.S. Coast Guard crews plying the Great Lakes this spring. Read the full story by MLive. View the full article

Many Michiganders have asked: what if the Enbridge Line 5 pipeline spilled oil into the Straits of Mackinac? This question prompted a recent study of the potential economic impacts of an oil spill, commissioned by For Love Of Water (FLOW), a Traverse City-based organization. Read the full story by the Lansing State Journal. View the full article

The Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources has spent the past few years collecting data and numbers of native mussels in the state as part of the three-year survey. Read the full story by the Door County Pulse. View the full article