Officials expect a great year for fall colors, so …

While the trees-are-a-changin’ throughout the Great Lakes region, we’d like you to snap a picture, or send one from a previous fall, and we’ll feature it on our weekly Photo Friday post.

Photo Fridays have been hijacked by the leafers!  We kicked things off  but during this fall we’ll be posting reader submitted pictures of brilliant autumn colors throughout the Great Lakes region.
To submit an image to Great Lakes Echo Photo Friday, send photo, caption and your name to greatlakesecho@gmail.com.

Canadian and U.S. officials are working to update the Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement.

But the region’s environmental groups are frustrated by the lack of transparency.

This year, Adopt-a-Beach will reach beyond the shore and into the web with a new online system that tracks litter and overall health of beaches.
The system, monitored by the Alliance for the Great Lakes, allows volunteers to enter data on litter, beach conditions, water quality and recreation use for Great Lakes beaches. Data is collected during Adopt-a-Beach cleanup events, one of which is taking place on Saturday in Illinois, Indiana, Michigan and Wisconsin.
The information is stored in a searchable database, allowing you to find and download the information from past …

Researchers have discovered a new strain of tick-borne bacteria in two Great Lakes states – Minnesota and Wisconsin.

For years there were sightings.
Then in 2008, came the tracks.
In 2009, came a photo.
Now, there’s a video – a cougar roaming Michigan’s Upper Peninsula.

 (Video: Michigan Department of Natural Resources.  Owners of trail camera did not want to be identified)
A trail camera on private property in northwestern Upper Peninsula captured the cougar on Sept. 8.  The Michigan Department of Natural Resources visited the property in Ontonagon County earlier this week and verified the camera’s location.
The cougar had an ear tag and a radio collar.  Only western states tag and collar cougars …

With a bit of help, farmers can now improve their land and reduce farm runoff into Lake Huron, one ton of soil a time.

More than a dozen devices broadcasting crucial water data from rivers across Michigan could soon be switched off as a result of projected state and federal budget cuts.

Most pregnant women tested positive for chemicals linked to birth defects in a recent study by the Minnesota Department of Health.

A dense carpet of zebra mussels covering rocks, boats and pretty much everything else has become normal in the Great Lakes. The mussels seem like they won’t take no for an answer, but now they might have to.
BioBullets, a product invented by two University of Cambridge professors, is undergoing testing in London, England for its ability to kill zebra mussels without harming humans or other creatures. The “bullets” are tiny pellets made of salt-based toxins covered with fat, and kill any zebra mussels that ingest them.
David Aldridge, one of the …