Michigan may be the Great Lakes state, but its neighbors to the east and west are leading efforts to turn water-based technology, academic research and tourism into jobs and revenue. Milwaukee and the province of Ontario are well ahead of Michigan’s efforts to capitalize on an $850 billion global freshwater economy, according to John Austin, […]
Michigan Water Report
Posted inQuality of Life
Fishing captains’ nerves rattled by Lake Michigan salmon catch
Chinook salmon have been the bread and butter of Lake Michigan’s sport fishing industry for nearly 50 years, but the popular fishery now faces many of the same threats that wiped out Lake Huron’s salmon fishery a decade ago. The similarities between Lake Michigan’s salmon fishery and the Lake Huron salmon fishery in 2003 — […]
Posted inQuality of Life
Water, water everywhere in Michigan – but is it enough?
Bernard and Phyllis Senske encountered many challenges over the years while operating a sheep farm in Kalkaska County, but water scarcity was not among them. That changed earlier this year. Shortly after a Canadian firm attempted to hydraulically fracture a deep shale natural gas well nearby, the water table on the Senskes’ property went down […]
Posted inQuality of Life
Up or down? Which way are Great Lakes water levels headed?
In January, when Lake Michigan’s chronically low water level reached its nadir, Leland Harbormaster Russell Dzuba faced the prospect of closing the popular harbor to keep commercial fishing vessels and pleasure boats from running aground in the shallow channel. Leland is one of dozens of Great Lakes harbors that have struggled for two decades with […]