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Strategic plan targets invasive species
The Superior Daily Telegram (11/17)
Douglas County’s Land Conservation Committee is forwarding a plan to the county board that takes aim at invasive species.
Mich. Clean Marina Program: Public-private partners work together to improve water quality
Grand Rapids Environmental News Examiner (11/9)
Partners from the public and private sector in Michigan are working together in a voluntary program to improve the quality of the Great Lakes.
Researchers seek funding for wind test site in Lake Michigan
Grand Rapids Environmental News Examiner (11/7)
In a recent article in The Muskegon Chronicle, it was reported that researchers at Grand Valley State University’s Michigan Alternative and Renewable Energy Center (MAREC) cited a lack of year-around data (on wind platform testing) needed by prospective development companies.
COMMENTARY: Senate needs to pass clean energy act to help Michigan
The Grand Rapids Press (10/26)
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid was absolutely correct with his recent proclamation about the current condition of the Great Lakes State: "The State of Michigan," Reid declared from the Senate Floor, with a copy Time Magazine in his hand, "is in trouble."
First Nation women 'walk the environmental talk'
WeNews (10/23)
Tomorrow's global day of climate activism aims for media and political attention. First Nation women have another way. Since 2003, they've walked the shoreline of a Great Lake or major river, meditating on the needs of an unborn generation.
City making big push for water school
The Business Journal (10/23)
The push is on to convince the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee that the best location for its new School of Freshwater Sciences is near the university’s existing Great Lakes Water Institute on East Greenfield Avenue.
What's going on in your neighborhood this month? Meet other people and learn together at recreational and educational events! Our new dynamic calendar is updated daily with current educational events.
2 | The Zebra Mussel
Zebra mussels are a stark example of the explosive growth potential of non-native species. Zebra mussels were first discovered in the Great Lakes in the 1960s. Just one year after introduction, their population was estimated at densities of 35,000 per square yard (30,000 per square meter). Many scientists now consider the ecosystem changes caused by zebra mussels to be more significant than the changes caused by nutrient and toxic loadings combined.
See also: GLIN Zebra Mussels in the Great Lakes Region
Zebra mussels (Dreissena polymorpha) are small, fingernail-sized mussels native to the Caspian Sea region of Asia. They are believed to have been transported to the Great Lakes via ballast water from a transoceanic vessel. The ballast water, taken on in a freshwater European port was subsequently discharged into Lake St. Clair, near Detroit, where the mussel was discovered in 1988. Since that time, they have spread rapidly to all of the Great Lakes and waterways in many states, as well as Ontario and Quebec.
Detailed Map: The Great Lakes-St. Lawrence River system
See also: Maps illustrating zebra mussel range in North America, 1988-Current
Zebra mussels have had extensive economic impacts. According to a 1995 Ohio Sea Grant study, large water users on the Great Lakes spend an annual average of $350,000 to $400,000 per user just to clear zebra mussels from their intake pipes. The mussels are also affecting the tourism industry, as their sharp-shell remnants clutter beaches and are encrusting historically significant shipwrecks throughout the Great Lakes. Quagga mussels, a near relative of the infamous zebra mussel, are able to survive in deeper waters and different sediment types, effectively expanding the infestation to new areas of the lakes.
Graphics: Zebra mussels (with black stripes) attached to freshwater snails, courtesy Univ. of Michigan, Center for Great Lakes and Aquatic Sciences; Zebra mussels cover a car pulled from the bottom of the Great Lakes, courtesy R. Griffith/Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources.
