By Rachael Gleason
rachaelkaygleason@gmail.com
Great Lakes Echo
Oct. 6, 2009
Editors note: This is part of a series relevant to the International Joint commission’s biennial meeting in Windsor on Wednesday and Thursday.
More than 20,000 beaches closed last year when water samples tested positive for harmful bacteria.
But inconsistent sampling methods have Great Lakes officials questioning those results.
The International Joint Commission, a binational organization that advises the U.S. and Canada on Great Lakes issues, examined problems with beach testing methods and advisory systems in a report released last month.
It is among the issues to be discussed …

(OH) Cleveland Plain Dealer – An overarching imperative for Ohio and its citizens leaps out from a bizarre appellate court ruling denying the state’s attorney general the right to represent Ohioans and depriving those same 11 million citizens of centuries-old public trust rights to waterways: Ohio Attorney General Richard Cordray must work hard to overturn this ill-founded decision by the 11th Ohio District Court of Appeals in Lake County.

(IL) Chicago Tribune – Cook County officials are discussing an indefensible land deal that would permit the village of Hinsdale to clear forest preserve land for its own use.

By Alice Rossignol
rossign1@msu.edu
Great Lakes Echo
Oct. 5, 2009
Editors note: This is part of a series relevant to the International Joint commission’s biennial meeting in Windsor on Wednesday and Thursday.
An international commission that advises policymakers on Great Lakes environmental issues is questioning why the U.S. is making a fire retardant that Canada has banned.
The use of the substance is part of a report that will be discussed at the International Joint Commission’s biennial meeting in Windsor, Ontario on Wednesday. The commission is responsible for upholding the Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement between …

By Jordan Travis
Great Lakes Echo
Oct. 4, 2009
LANSING – The bobcat hunting and trapping season in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula will start three months later because of an apparent drop in the bobcat population.
The UP season will be shortened from four months and a week to two months. The start date for the trapping season, originally Oct. 25, is now Dec. 1, and the hunting season now begins on New Year’s Day.
The Department of Natural Resources opted to shorten the season rather than reduce the bag limit from two to one bobcat, …

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Editors note: This story is part of a series relevant to the International Joint Commissions biennial meeting next Wednesday and Thursday in Windsor.
Two approaches to keep ravenous carp and other invasive species out of Lake Michigan are gaining ground, but both could be years from completion.
Electrical barriers in the Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal are the only obstacles keeping silver carp and other aquatic invasive species from entering the lake. The carp could harm native Great Lakes fish that use similar resources. And silver carp can injure boaters when they …

By Jeff Gillies
jeffgillies@gmail.com
Great Lakes Echo
Oct. 1, 2009
Editors note: This story is part of a series relevant to the International Joint Commission’s Oct. 7 and 8 biennial meeting in Windsor.

When Matt Preisser thought he saw a photo of a potential Great Lakes invasive species in a Michigan newspaper, he tracked it down and checked it out.
“The plants in the photo were suspiciously similar to hydrilla,” said Preisser, who works for Michigan’s Aquatic Nuisance Control Program. “It was close enough that I didn’t want to pass it up and miss the chance …