A Ballast Approach: In its new funding bill passed this week, the U.S. Senate included a measure that would require the EPA to set rules about how salties (ocean vessels) treat ballast water before entering the Great Lakes system, reports Lee Bergquist of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. “Under the measure,” Lee writes, “the EPA would regulate ballast water and the Coast Guard would enforce the rules. The bill keeps many clean water protections while making it more difficult for states to enact protections that go beyond the federal measure.” The maritime industry has backed federal regulations to avoid a piecemeal, state-by-state approach that would make it difficult to comply as a ship proceeded up the Great Lakes. In the past decades, oceangoing vessels with lingering ballast water from around the world have introduced devastating invasive species into the Great Lakes system, including the zebra and quagga mussels that have accentuated outbreaks of algae and cost millions in cleanup for water-access pipes and other underwater damages. In Duluth, about 10 percent of the vessel traffic transits the full St. Lawrence Seaway while as much as 30 percent of the traffic at Thunder Bay are salties.
Stand-Up Folk: The stand-up paddleboarders who traversed Lake Superior this summer presented a $15,000 check to the Great Lakes Shipwreck Historical Society during the annual memorial ceremony Nov. 10 commemorating the sinking of the Edmund Fitzgerald. The money was raised by Stand Up for the Great Lakes during their adventure this summer. The log they presented was picked up from the middle of the Lake during their crossing. The paddleboarders had it carved and painted. Documentary videomaker Corey Adkins will soon be releasing a video of the Lake Superior adventure. He also has other Lake Superior connected work, including an interview with author Loren Graham about why he bought the Old North Lighthouse on Grand Island across from Munising, Michigan.
New Island Wolf Dies: A gray wolf recently relocated from Minnesota to Isle Royale National Park has died of unknown causes, Associated Press environmental writer John Flesher reports Wednesday in The Mining Journal. The 5-year-old male wolf was one of four wolves captured on the Grand Portage Reservation, fitted with tracking collars (in photo) and transported to Isle Royale as part of an effort to restore the island’s wolf population. A team of Isle Royale staff and partners from Grand Portage Band of Lake Superior Chippewa traveled to the island and found the carcass with no obvious cause of death, such as signs of being killed by another wolf, according to a news release from the park. The wolf is being taken to the U.S. Geological Services wildlife health lab in Madison for necropsy, and results are expected in December. It’s the second wolf fatality since officials started a multiyear program to bring 20 to 30 wolves to the park. The first was a female wolf who died on the mainland shortly after being captured. Rolf Peterson, a Michigan Technological University biologist who studies wolves and moose in the park, told John that he hadn’t seen the male’s carcass, but says hunger or stress were among possible factors. He says other wolves are likely to die as the project continues.
Meanwhile, in other news about gray wolves in the region, the U.S. House of Representatives today passed 196-180 a bill authored by Wisconsin Rep. Sean Duffy and co-sponsored by Minnesota Rep. Collin Peterson (plus two Washington state representatives) to remove legal protections for gray wolves in the lower 48 states, reports Matthew Daly of The Associated Press. There has been an on-going court battle over whether wolf management should be returned to the states, including hunting seasons.
Good On You, Lake Superior: Of all five Great Lakes, Lake Superior “is in the best ecological condition,” Chris Korleski, director of the EPA’s Great Lakes National Program Office, was quoted this week by Jack Nissen of GreatLakesNow, Detroit Public TV. Liz LaPlante, also of the EPA, called Lake Superior “a huge good news story” during the 2018 State of Lake Superior Conference at Michigan Tech in October, talking about the abundance of native species, rebounding of certain ecological systems since the 1950s and reduction of legacy pollutants like mercury and dioxin. Lake Superior received the only “good” rating from the EPA; the other Great Lakes rated “fair.” No extremely large cities around the Big Lake, a small overall shoreside population (about 650,000) and no large farming operations causing high-nutrient runoff give Lake Superior a better position than the other lakes. Meanwhile, WTIP in Grand Marais, Minnesota, this week launched a series by Joe Friedrichs that will examine climate change effects on the Lake’s fishery.
!oH, oH, oH: It’s “Ho, Ho, Ho!” backwards for the Lighthouse Digest cover titled “Oops” gracing the current issue. Maine artist Virginia Souza portrays a cliff-hanger at Split Rock Lighthouse with Santa noodling a few lost packages as Rudolph competes to become a winter navigational aid on the tower building. For 21 years, the Digest has featured a special cover by Virginia with a different lighthouse from around the country each year.
Saved: In early November 1913, a winter storm did the most damage ever on the Great Lakes and has become known as the White Hurricane. While some 250 people were believed perished during the storm, Tanda Gmiter of MLive tells the story of the L.C. Waldo crew, stuck on this ship frozen in place for 90 hours on Lake Superior. “It's the story of a shipwrecked crew who refused to die,” writes Tanda, “and the stubborn determination of men from two U.S. Life-Saving stations in the Upper Peninsula who overcame nearly impossible odds to save them.” The crew kept warm by igniting a fire in the captain’s bathtub. The life-savers made several attempts to reach them in a 34-foot rescue boat. After one failed attempt they had to return to Eagle Harbor, where they had to be chipped off their seats. Eventually though, they reached the crew and rescued all 22 crewmen, plus a female passenger and one dog. Author Wendy Webb featured the full story of the storm on the lake in a 2004 story for Lake Superior Magazine. Since that story ran, the Henry B. Smith, lost for 100 years after the 1913 storm, was rediscovered and became the focus of our book The Last Laker by Fred Stonehouse (elected mayor of Marquette just this week by the City Council).
Ending on a Friendly Note: Just one last story from this week about a friendly life-saver of a different sort at the border. Lake Superior Magazine co-publisher Beth Bily and editor Konnie LeMay journeyed through challenging whiteout conditions Tuesday across Michigan’s Upper Peninsula for the Northern Ontario Tourism Summit in Sault Ste. Marie. Arriving later than they’d hoped to cross the International Bridge and then stopping at Canadian customs, the two cheerfully turned over their new passports. “It’s a new one,” Konnie quipped. “Can you stamp it?” “We don’t usually stamp U.S. passports,” the custom officer said, to Kon’s disappointment. After looking over the passports for another minute more, he added, “I’ll stamp your passport if you give me something.” Curious, but confident, Konnie said, “Sure! What do you need?” “Signatures. Neither of you have signed your passports.” He kept his word, and they kept up their end of the bargain. It was a friendly way to enter Canada and head to the equally friendly folk at the tourism conference, where the great food kept coming at the Quattro Hotel & Conference Center (like this life preserver cookie/shortcake combo reminding all the hospitality industry folk about the successful Lifejacket aWEARness Campaign by Gougeon Insurance Brokers of Sudbury).
Photo & graphic credits: Lake Superior Magazine; Stand Up for the Great Lakes; Molly Cooper/NPS; Virginia Souza/Lighthouse Digest; Great Lakes Historical Society; Konnie LeMay.