Lichens are hardy and unusual organisms.

And they might be the key to solving one of Wisconsin’s burgeoning wildlife issues – chronic wasting disease.

If you ever find yourself wishing you for a bird-eye view of the Michigan’s Upper Peninsula’s shoreline you are now in luck.
(And you and I have a lot in common)
The Superior Watershed Partnership and Land Trust just launched the Great Lakes Shoreviewer, which is an online database full of photos and maps of every inch of the peninsula’s coast.
The Shoreviewer was originally conceived as a tool for city and township officials, but will also be used to assist tourism campaigns, help paddlers plan kayaking and canoe trips, and give Great …

 
 
 
Photo Fridays have been hijacked by the leafers!  During the fall, we’ll be posting reader submitted pictures of brilliant autumn colors throughout the Great Lakes region.

Rhode Island has designated ocean waters for certain uses – and a coastal lawyer predicts such zoning is coming to a Great Lake near you.

But several Great Lakes officials disagree.

In 2008, the Michigan Natural Resources Commission prohibited hunters from baiting deer.

Some three years later northeast Michigan residents still blame a ban on deer baiting for harming the local economy.

Energy companies that want more Michigan wind farms have come up with a solution to placate neighboring property owners: sharing some of the cold hard cash they generate.

A year after state energy experts recommended developing offshore wind energy in the Great Lakes, lawmakers have not passed legislation needed to implement it.

This image was sent to me by a particularly imaginative and dorky friend, who said she saw a “seal looking up.”
Actually, it is an Oct. 10 NASA Earth Observatory satellite image of the remains of a massive wildfire that raged across northern Minnesota for nearly two months. The burned areas show as the charcoal outline.
Lightning ignited the blaze in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness on Aug. 18.  The fire is now 80 percent contained, according to the Duluth News Tribune.
But more than 90,000 acres burned.
I’m not seeing the seal …

Great Lakes beaches will have more strict, comprehensive monitoring and faster public warnings of contamination if two U.S. Senators have their way.

Smashing a bottle of champagne is part of this week’s  ceremony welcoming two new Great Lakes research vessels to the U.S. Geological Survey’s fleet.
The ships, the R/V Muskie and the R/V Kaho, replace older vessels on Lake Erie and Lake Ontario, continuing research on predator and prey fishes, and surveying the lakes for fishery and ecosystem health.
The boats are smaller than others in the fleet – they’re only 70.8 feet while others are more than 100 feet. That makes them better for testing near shore ecosystems.
A christening for the …