What Will Round Gobies Do to Great Lakes Streams?

The invasive round goby are making their way from the Great Lakes into some Wisconsin streams. The University of Wisconsin Sea Grant takes a look at which streams the fish will invade, how they’ll affect stream ecosystems and what you can do to stop their spread.
(Featured image: USGS Great Lakes Science Center)

Ardella Lee sells her chow chow relish – made from an old family recipe – at the Flint Farmer’s Market in Flint, Mich. Watch the video below to hear her talk about the chemical-free relish and how she remains spry at 84 years old.

This video was filmed and edited by Alyssa Firth
(Feature photo: sarrazak6881 via Flickr)

Kayakers, rafters, hunters, anglers and birders rejoice – the Michigan Department of Natural Resources has purchased 2,354 acres of Upper Peninsula beauty and is granting you access.
The land, located near the border of Michigan and Wisconsin, was purchased from the Wisconsin Electric Power Company for $2,534,400 with money from the Michigan Natural Resources Trust Fund and DNR Land Exchange Facilitation Fund. It’s divided into two parcels – Piers Gorge and Quiver Falls.
There are almost 10 miles of access to the Menominee River within the parcels. Quiver Falls is adjacent to …

If you want to save your health, money, people’s lives and the planet, the answer is simple – ride a bike for short jaunts.
Researchers at the University of Wisconsin-Madison studied 11 metro areas in the Midwest to see what would happen if people stopped using their cars for short trips (five-miles round trip or less).
The results should really be in the next Huffy ad (is Huffy is still around?):

Replacing half of the short car trips with bicycle rides during the warmest six months of the year would save approximately $3.8 …

In the 1970s, most Michigan vineyards were making grapes for juices. But in the past 40 years, the industry has made room for a more mature product – wine grapes.
The state’s wine industry has grown by 500 percent since 1973, increased in acreage and number of wineries, attracts 800,000 visitors every year and contributes $300 million to the economy, according to Michigan State University.
Michigan’s environment is good for vinifera varieties, like chardonnay and reisling; hybrid varieties, or vinifera grapes crossed with native North American ones; and native varieties like concord …

Two former-Echo-reporters-turned-river-nerds were featured last week on the Greening of the Great Lakes radio show talking about their new website, Michigan River News.
Jeff Brooks Gillies and Andy McGlashen launched Michigan River News this summer because, well, they love Michigan and its rivers. They report original news stories and also collect river stories from across the state.
But that’s not the whole story.
On their website, the founders note that rivers “sustain and enrich human life … provide food and drinking water …  irrigate crops and generate electric power.”
And they’re right – rivers …

Indiana’s most polluted rivers and lakes suffer from toxins, pathogens and too much algae.
Add public shame to that list.
The Environmental Law and Policy Center calls out Indiana’s dirtiest rivers and lakes on their new website, INourwater. The site highlights four areas with polluted water and two areas where conservation efforts fostered cleaner water.
The Environmental Law & Policy Center is an environmental legal advocacy organization based in Chicago.
Individual stories put a human spin on water issues; highlighting the economic and personal benefits of clean water, and the hardships stemming from polluted …

Michigan residents are paying less for yearly passes to state parks but the program has generated more funds than in prior years.

Michigan Recreation Passports, available at the Secretary of State for the past year, now allow almost 2 million vehicles access to all Michigan state parks.

This time-lapse video by NASA’s Earth Observatory was made from a series of photographs to make a cool flight simulation over the Great Lakes.
See if you can spot the big cities, aurora borealis and lightning bolts (and if you get stuck, look here at a labeled NASA photograph).

Michigan was recognized with another first place recently with the 2011 National Recreation and Park Association gold medal for top state park system in the nation.
This honor comes after Lake Michigan’s Sleeping Bear Dunes was named the most beautiful place in America in August.
The association considers long-range planning, resource management and addressing the needs of park visitors to make its decision. The other four finalist states are North Carolina, Florida and Missouri.
Programs like the Recreation Passport, an optional $10 fee for Michigan drivers that renew their licenses that gives them …