Great Lakes

On what promises to be a sunny and warm-ish holiday weekend, waters on the Great Lakes will look inviting. They aren’t. Temperatures will mostly hover in the 40s, well below the 70 degree threshold for comfort.

The attorney general on Wednesday filed a brief in Wisconsin federal court supporting a Native American tribe’s effort to shut down the Line 5 pipeline over fears of a rupture into a river that runs through tribal land.

Heavy winter storms resulted in eroded trails and fallen trees at Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore and Tahquamenon Falls State Park. Park rangers are now working long hours to finish the repairs for the summer season.

The Edenville and Sanford dams once blocked invasive lampreys from entering upstream rivers. But the 2020 dam failures provided an opening, and lamprey now threaten native fish. Regulators say they have a plan.

Mapping currents allows scientists to understand the path pollution takes and maximize the efficiency of boats and vessels.

Great Lakes whitefish are in decline, in part because dams block their passage to rivers where they once spawned. Tribal scientists are looking to save a fish of economic and cultural importance.

The state’s affordable housing, beautiful lakes and reproductive rights are some of the selling points Michigan may use in a new ad campaign hoping to convince young professionals to put down roots in the state.

Balloon debris kills birds and befouls lakes. Are $800 fines the answer?

The heaviest thing that he has found is a full-sized safe in the Rouge River in Delray, taking seven people with magnets and hooks to pull it out.

Joe Biden is making his first presidential visit to Canada this week. He can be silent no longer as Canada supports the efforts of Enbridge Energy to keep its aging oil and gas pipeline flowing through the Straits of Mackinac.

The constructed reefs are likely to be adequate for fish to breed and reproduce indefinitely.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has released a new estimate for the Brandon Road invasive carp barrier system. It's smaller, but costs more.

A new phase of restoration along polluted areas stretching from Midland to Saginaw to Bay City and beyond is up for public scrutiny.

A Michigan agency will convert the Chippewa ferry to electric power. The 61-year-old diesel engines will be replaced with electric motors.

Commercial game farms have long raised and released domestic ducks for hunters to target. Research shows those ducks are breeding with wild mallards, weakening their genes and possibly threatening their survival.

A new report suggests Michigan and Ohio will fail to reduce nutrient runoff by 40 percent as agreed upon.

On President Biden’s order, another unidentified flying object over Lake Huron was shot down on Sunday, making it the fourth one this month. The object was flying at an altitude that could potentially cause a threat to commercial airlines.

Michiganders voted for clean renewable energy and Great Lakes protections, in spite of dark money attacking pro-environment candidates. But even with Democrats in power, we must fight to meet the state’s climate change ambitions.

Rivers and lakes are becoming saltier while law and practice limit effective responses.

Bridge Michigan environment reporter Kelly House moderated a Zoom discussion with four experts about the priorities for water policy in the 2023 Michigan Legislature.