Michigan Environment Watch

Allergy season is approaching and could be more intense than previous years. Bridge Michigan spoke to an allergist who said climate change could play a role in how common seasonal allergies are becoming.

Another geomagnetic storm is expected to make the light show visible across much of the northern U.S. late at night. Your odds improve if you are far from city lights, there is no cloud cover and luck is with you.

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.

Lawmakers revive years-long debate over who has authority over siting new sand and gravel mines: municipalities or the state?

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.

Advocates say the city has blown through a court-ordered May 1 deadline to figure out which Flint residents are still dealing with potholed yards and sidewalks, after work crews excavated lead service lines and left a mess behind.

Democratic lawmakers want to end Michigan’s “shameful” reign as the only state without a statewide code to prevent leaky systems from fouling lakes, rivers and groundwater. Past efforts failed, but bill sponsors say the state’s surplus changes the conversation.

Warmer weather ushers in the start of tick season. Not all ticks carry disease but some can transmit bacteria that causes Lyme disease or triggers Alpha-gal Syndrome (AGS), which can lead to a red meat allergy.

Thanks to the Clean Water Act, the Rouge is no longer a dumping ground for industrial waste. But its gains are fragile and incomplete, with contaminants still soiling the river bottom and the fish that returned to its waters.

Opponents of solar development on Michigan’s farmland want to ban 'utility-scale; arrays on land zoned for farming. But the proposal is on hold, for now, amid confusion about what 'utility-scale' means.

The Michigan Department of Natural Resources has rejected a proposal to double the footprint of the Camp Grayling military training base, instead making 52,000 acres available for potential short-term military use.

Three more Michigan state parks will receive all-terrain wheelchairs this summer to make parks more accessible.

Among the species that newly receive threatened status are the Eastern whip-poor-will, evening grosbeak, golden-winged warbler, Northern goshawk, spruce grouse and upland sandpiper.

Many Michiganders likely were frustrated by the sudden return to frigid temperatures last week and the nearly 50-degree temperature shift could be a problem for some of this year’s fruit crop. But farmers say they are generally thankful for cooler temps.

The northern lights put on a show in Michigan and across much of the mainland U.S. late Sunday and early Monday, with rare reports of sitings as far south as North Caroline and even Arkansas. Here’s how to spot them in Michigan.

Perchloroethylene cleans suits and silks like no other, but it also contaminates soil and groundwater. Some lawmakers want to ban the chemical, but dry cleaners fear another hit to their struggling industry.

Michiganders are now keeping 21 percent of their waste out of landfills. The state aims to boost that to 45 percent, but disagreement lingers about how to get there.

State officials wondered whether moving opening day from a fixed calendar date to the weekend would bring more interest to a waning sport. Turns out, Michiganders are deeply attached to the Nov. 15 tradition.

Democrats’ sweeping climate change package, to be unveiled Thursday, is among a host of proposals to boost green energy and cut back on fossil fuels.