Habitat Conservation
Education program builds links between schools, watershed, and community
Since 2008, Great Lakes United has been working with colleges in Quebec to integrate environmental education in curricula.
State of the Lakes? Not that Great
After decades of monitoring the Great Lakes ecosystem, the Canadian and U.S governments still have only limited knowledge of the status of human and wildlife health in the Great Lakes and do not know whether that status is improving or getting worse.
Connecting the Great Lakes to their Headwaters
When we talk about the problems facing the Great Lakes basin, we often do it by talking about what the lakes themselves will face. Absent from these discussions are the headwaters where the story of the Great Lakes begin.
Superior mining onslaught
Around the globe, metallic sulfide and uranium mines have laid waste to watersheds. Today, potential mining sites literally surround Lake Superior. These projects threaten some of the most pristine areas of the Great Lakes region, and risk irreversible harm to one of the most magnificent lakes in the world.
Return of the Detroit River’s Charismatic Megafauna
Over 35 years of pollution prevention and control undertaken in response to the Canada-U.S. Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement, U.S. Clean Water Act, Canada Water Act, U.S. Endangered Species Act, and more have resulted in a return of charismatic megafauna.
Green stormwater management gaining ground
For fifty years, stormwater engineers have considered rain a nuisance. It is something best evacuated quickly from roads and sidewalks and diverted into concrete gutters and underground pipes.
Lake Superior harbour to be mined for Michigan highways
A large block of former Algoma Central Railway lands on Lake Superior’s Michipicoten Harbour, near Wawa, Ontario, was sold to Superior Aggregates Company, a U.S. corporation. The company intends to strip the site of soil, vegetation, and timber, and then drill, blast and crush the coastal rock to within 65 metres of the shoreline. The privately-held block of land is nestled within 160 miles of Lake Superior shoreline protected by a national park, three provincial parks and two conservation reserves. The resulting aggregate is destined for shipment by freighter to Michigan for use in highway construction.
A Great Lakes year
This has been a remarkable year for Great Lakes protection. As 2008 comes to a close, we reflect on some of the achievements citizens and organizations across the region deserve to celebrate.
The dramatic decline of the American eel
The American eel, a species native to the Great Lakes, is on the verge of collapse throughout much of its habitat. This collapse has occurred alarmingly fast and is especially strong at the far reaches of the eel’s range, which includes the Great Lakes. American eels are at or near the lowest recorded levels of abundance and scientists fear that the spawning stock has declined so dramatically that recovery at the edges of its range may not be possible.
© 2008 Great Lakes News. 
