Project aims to restore western Lake Erie wetlands

A project restoring 2,500 acres into wetlands along western Lake Erie is a small but important step toward creating a new home for wildlife and cleaning water runoff from farm fields that feeds harmful algae, conservation organizations say.

Restoring the wetlands east of Toledo is one of several projects aimed at creating marshland along Lake Erie through the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative.

... It would take well over 100,000 acres of wetlands to fix the water quality problems facing Lake Erie. "But every little bit counts," he added.  Knights said that while wetlands certainly act as a natural filter, the biggest way to improve the water is working with farmers to reduce the amount of fertilizer that ends up in Lake Erie.

seattlepi.org

05 May 2013

J Seewer

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Lake Erie could be headed for a record-breaking algae bloom

Scientists at the International Joint Commission are sounding the alarm over a potentially “massive” blue-green algae crop in Lake Erie.

Although the algae is a vital part of the food chain in the Great Lakes, scientist Raj Bejankiwar says an excess can threaten other forms of marine life and adversely affect the hospitality industry.

“It’s not good for human health and it’s not good for tourism,” Bejankiwar said.

... Based on weather patterns and other data, Bejankiwar says Lake Erie can expect an algae bloom equal to or greater than the one that occurred in 2011.

“It will depend on what happens during the spring, but the loads between March 1 and April 15 are already the same or exceeding the same period in 2011,” he said. “That’s very discomforting, because 2011 was the worst algae bloom on record.”

Metro News
30 Apr 2013
L Simcoe

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Harmful Algae Blooms Plague Lake Erie Again

... Lake Erie suffered from toxic algae blooms in the 1970s, but with a major effort to reduce phosphorus loading, the blooms disappeared for nearly two decades. By the mid 1990s, conditions began to deteriorate again. When I sailed across the lake in late summer 2004, an algae bloom stretched from the Erie Islands to the western shore.


A recent forensic-like study of the 2011 bloom, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, gives new insight about possible causes of these extreme events.

The National Science Foundation awarded a five-year grant to a team of researchers to study the effects of climate-change induced extreme events on water quality and ecology in the Great Lakes system. “It was a coincidence that the project began in January 2011, and this perfect case study popped up out of nowhere,” a researcher at the Carnegie Institution for Science and principal investigator for the study, Anna M. Michalak explained to me.

Using a holistic approach, the team brought together high-tech tools and sophisticated statistical analysis to assess whether the record-setting algal bloom in Lake Erie was driven by an unfortunate combination of circumstances or is a sign of things to come. They concluded that trends in agricultural practices, increased intensity of precipitation, weak lake circulation, and quiescent conditions conspired to yield the massive bloom.

National Geographic 

24 Apr 2013

L Borre

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Huge algae blooms a worry on Lake Erie

The warming climate and modern farming practices are creating ideal conditions for gigantic algae formations on Lake Erie — like the record bloom in 2011 — to become the norm, says a new study. That would be potentially disastrous to the area’s multibillion-dollar tourist economy.


It was the largest algae bloom in Lake Erie’s recorded history: a scummy, toxic blob that oozed across nearly one-fifth of the lake’s surface during summer and fall 2011. It sucked oxygen from the water, clogged boat motors and washed ashore in rotting masses that turned beachgoers’ stomachs.
It was also likely an omen of things to come, experts said in a study released Monday.

...According to the report, which was compiled by more than two dozen scientists, the 2011 runaway bloom was fueled by phosphorus-laden fertilizers swept from corn and soybean fields during heavy rainstorms. Weak currents and calm winds prevented churning and flushing that could have cut its rampant growth.

The Seattle Times

06 Apr 2013

J Flesher

Location: Lake Erie

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Scientists seeks solutions to Lake Erie algae

Toxic algae blooms on Lake Erie may form more often unless farms and cities do a better job of controlling runoff of nutrients that feed them, a scientist said Tuesday as specialists developed proposals for confronting the threat.

About 40 experts met for two days in Windsor, Ontario, to compare research findings about the lake's struggles with algae and work on a report for government policymakers. The gathering was convened by the International Joint Commission, a U.S.-Canadian agency that advises both nations on issues affecting shared waterways.

Blue-green algae is native to Lake Erie, the shallowest of the Great Lakes and the smallest by volume. But the lake has been plagued by increasingly large masses of the substance over the past decade. An outbreak in 2011 spread across huge sections of the central and western basins.

The blooms produce toxins and suck oxygen from the water, creating "dead zones" where little if anything can live. Dogs have died after swimming in the lake and licking themselves, said Jeff Reutter, director of the Ohio Sea Grant College Program, who attended the Windsor session. Water contaminated with blue-green algae has been fatal to people in some places, though not in North America, he said.

Wall Street Journal - online.wsj.com

26 Feb 2013

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Spring Rain, Then Foul Algae in Ailing Lake Erie

Algae blooms, like this one in 2011, are threatening Lake Erie.
Brenda Culler/ODNR Coastal Management

... Lake Erie is sick. A thick and growing coat of toxic algae appears each summer, so vast that in 2011 it covered a sixth of its waters, contributing to an expanding dead zone on its bottom, reducing fish populations, fouling beaches and crippling a tourism industry that generates more than $10 billion in revenue annually.

The spring rains reliably predict how serious the summer algae bloom will be: the more frequent and heavy the downpours, the worse the outbreak. And this year the National Weather Service says there is a higher probability than elsewhere of above-normal spring rains along the lake’s west end, where the algae first appear. The private forecaster Accuweather predicts a wetter than usual March and April throughout the region.

... But while the sewage and pollutants are vastly reduced, the blooms have returned, bigger than ever.

New York Times

14 Mar 2013

M Wines

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Conference stresses different roles for keepers of lake’s health

When your name says “waterkeeper” and your area of interest is the 12th largest lake in the world, you need a pretty big tent to bring all of the parties with a vested interest together.

The Lake Erie Waterkeeper organization will do just that on March 21 when it opens its annual forum for an in-depth look at the persistent threat posed by invasive species, the impact of agricultural practices and algae blooms on the lake, and examinations of fluctuating water levels and climate change, how crucial the lake is to tourism, and the status of fish populations in the lake.

Those are all part of the complex web of factors that play a role in determining Lake Erie’s health report card and in laying out strategies for the future.

“We are trying to get more of a macro look at the lake,” said Sandy Bihn, executive director of the Lake Erie Waterkeeper organization, about the lineup of experts that will take the podium at the group’s annual conference next week.

Blade Outdoors
12 Mar 2013
M Markey

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