My fascination with water began during my childhood. Growing up under strict water conservation measures in Singapore eventually led to working on nutrient loading issues relating to the Illinois River, and finally to my doctoral research on water quality in Alaska.
I brought all this to the Knauss Fellowship placement week in Washington D.C., where I proudly represented the Illinois-Indiana Sea Grant. Placement week started out with a brief overview of the structure of the House and Senate, and the processes involved in creating and passing legislation.
Then came presentations from the 23 host offices, during which I and the other 11 legislative finalists were introduced to the personal offices of various members of Congress from across the country, and House and Senate committees that directly work on legislation concerning the nation’s oceans, atmosphere, and freshwater resources.
Over the next two and a half days, I interviewed with 20 different host offices. While admittedly they were grueling, the interviews were also very rewarding. Through them, I learned about key pieces of legislation that impact much of the freshwater and marine resources I had previously worked on. More importantly, the interviews also enabled me to get to meet some of the incredible people serving in Congress as well as their staff, whose work for the benefit of their constituents is truly remarkable. Getting placed in a congressional office could not have been a better end to placement week for me.
I am very excited to be a 2017 Knauss Fellow in the office of California U.S. Rep. Jared Huffman. I highly respect the path Rep. Huffman took before entering office, and the legislation he has sponsored and co-sponsored since then, especially in regard to natural resources. I look forward to directly assisting Rep. Huffman with his work on the House Committee on Natural Resources, with an emphasis on the Water, Power, and Oceans Subcommittee, which has oversight jurisdiction for NOAA fisheries and coastal issues. I also look forward to working with the committee staff, staff from other congressional offices, representatives from industry, non-profit groups, district field staff, and constituents living in California’s 2nd district.
Additionally, I will serve as the co-director of the bipartisan Congressional Wild Salmon Caucus. Given the grave issues California and the nation are currently facing in terms of water and coastal resources, I am confident that serving as a Knauss Fellow in this office over the next year will teach me a great deal.
Illinois-Indiana Sea Grant is a part of University of Illinois Extension and Purdue Extension.
This is a tough year to single out just a handful of stories that made an impact. Researchers, specialists, partners, stakeholders all played an important part in making 2016 the best collaborative, communicative, cooperative, and adventurous year to date! So here goes…
Crude oil brings the Great Lakes risks and benefits Crude oil moving in and around the Great Lakes isn’t about to slow down anytime soon. Margaret Schneemann is working with other Great Lakes Sea Grant programs, industry, and academia to study this issue in an effort to support optimal movement of crude oil throughout the Great Lakes with regards to public safety, the economy, and environmental protection of coastal resources.
Milwaukee celebrates the rebirth of Lincoln Park In the spring of 2016, Milwaukee residents living near the once-degraded Lincoln Park had cause to rejoice as part of a celebration of the park and river cleanup. This event, organized by Caitie Nigrelli who helped inform the community over the course of the cleanup, was attended by stakeholders, politicians, and members of the Friends of Lincoln Park.
Flood Vulnerability Assessment tool is online and ready to help
After three years in the making, the Flood Vulnerability Assessment for Critical Facilities went live online to assist critical facilities—like hospitals, fire and police departments, and utility providers—evaluate their preparedness for when the next big rain storm hits. Molly Woloszyn led the project.
Restoring Great Lakes reefs brings back spawning grounds This first-person account was contributed by Nick Kalejs, a Purdue University student working alongside Tomas Höök and Mitch Zischke. His compelling research of the spawning habits of walleye and whitefish in the threatened reefs in Saginaw Bay in Lake Huron drew lots of online attention.
Resilient Watersheds Initiative recognized at White House Water Summit
In March, IISG got some D.C. love from The White House Water Summit. The summit highlighted the Prairie Research Institute’s Resilient Watersheds Initiative at the University of Illinois in its announcement of new steps being taken across the country to address key water issues. IISG was one of the organizations involved in the initiative.
UpClose series closes out with Loyola researcher
In this 12th and final issue of UpClose, the award-winning Q&A series, once again, gives readers an insider’s view of emerging contaminants research. Readers learned over the course of the series about the complex, and sometimes tricky, process of conducting field studies on new contaminants, and the potential implications of research on industries and regulations.
#SummerSurvey2016 on the Lake Guardian “Something that is new, however, is how much of the work is accessible to us landlocked lovers of the Great Lakes,” Allison Neubauer wrote this summer. She was referring to all the access social media has given us at home to the research happening on the lake. Tweets, videos, photos provided by Allison and the researchers on the ship during the survey as well as the Shipboard Science program have enriched the experience for all of us.
Lake Michigan fisheries workshop brings anglers and researchers together Mitch Zischke and Jay Beugly put on the first of hopefully many recreational fishing workshops that brought together more than 40 researchers, managers, stakeholders, and anglers to Hammond Marina in Indiana to learn about food web research, updates on fisheries, and ongoing monitoring in southern Lake Michigan.
Bigger shrimp can mean bigger profits
The demand for farm-raised shrimp is high, but as Kwamena Quagrainie points out in his recent study, there’s more money to be made by letting the shellfish continue to grow. “The value you can set by growing them to a larger size far out ways the cost.”
The 2.6-mile section of the river, located near the Port of Monroe, Michigan’s only port on Lake Erie, was contaminated with PCBs and lead from nearby manufacturing. Multiple cleanups starting in 1997 have removed a total of 135,000 cubic yards of contaminated sediment.
The River Raisin was once home to American lotus beds and sturgeon populations. Pollution drove these species away, but the cleanup will restore the river and provide a healthy habitat for native fish, birds, and plants.
Dredging was then followed by a process known as capping that involves the installation of sand, clay, and stones over any residual contaminated sediment to create a barrier with the rest of the waterbody. This strategy is commonly used in combination with dredging.
“Contractors worked 24 hours a day, seven days a week over the last month or so to get the remedial cap installed,” Ben Wegleitner, IISG sediment remediation outreach specialist. “They wanted to get the top layer of armor stone in place before the next large freighter came into port.”
Wegleitner narrated the video above.
In the coming weeks, the equipment and the sediment processing area will go through a complete decontamination procedure before being removed from the site.
The area will continue to go through extensive monitoring before it’s officially delisted from the Areas of Concern list through a process that can take years.
“This site has been through a lot in the last 30 years,” Wegleitner said. “Without a doubt, this is a major milestone.”
Illinois-Indiana Sea Grant is a part of University of Illinois Extension and Purdue Extension.
This is Illinois is a series focusing on wildlife and waterways found in Illinois. The stories are created in conjunction with the Illinois Water Resources Center.
Voted as the state amphibian in 2005, the eastern tiger salamander is one of 20 species of salamanders found throughout Illinois. As the largest land dwelling salamander in North America, eastern tiger salamanders range in size from 6 to 13 inches. In the wild, salamanders have lived to be 16 years old. Not only are they the largest, but they also have the greatest range of all salamanders, spreading from southeastern Alaska, across the width of the United States and all the way down to the Mexican Plateau. Forests, grasslands, or mashes are common places to find them.
But you might have to look hard, because these salamanders hide beneath rocks and stumps, and burrows up to two feet deep. Sometimes referred to as a mole salamander, this nocturnal species spends the majority of its life in cool, dark places, preferring to dig its own burrows to escape warm temperatures. The best time to see salamanders out in the open is after a rain, at night, or during mating season.
The mating season for tiger salamanders begins in late winter or early spring when the ground begins to thaw. Thawing creates temporary ponds of water, where salamanders migrate to mate. One to two days after courtship, females lay up to 1,000 jelly-like eggs on twigs, leaves, or grass on the bottom of the pond. After hatching, the larvae stay in the pond until two to five months old. Once fully grown, eastern tiger salamanders begin to show the unique markings that earned them their name. The most common marking combination is a black background spotted by yellow or gold. Other possibilities are barred, which have vertical yellow stripes running down the body, as well as blotched, which have irregular markings all around their back.
Although their black and yellow markings act as a warning sign to potential predators, not all animals are scared away so easily. Owls, snakes, badgers, and bobcats are common predators of full-grown salamanders while aquatic insects, and snakes eat the larvae. To further aid in defense against threats, salamanders curl their bodies, close their eyes, and wave their tail high above their lowered head. A sticky, poisonous secretion is then released from their skin, often times flung by the salamander’s tail onto the predator’s face. If done effectively, the predator will retreat—at the minimum—with a burning sensation in its eyes and nose.
Skin plays an essential role in every tiger salamander’s survival. Not only does skin ward off predators by secreting poisons, it is also the site of respiration. To ensure that oxygen and carbon dioxide can be exchanged, mucus is secreted by glands to keep the skin moist. Glands also release chemicals that coordinate mating behavior. Because the skin is such an important organ for salamanders, it is very sensitive to environmental changes. Acid rain, for example, has been known to kill them. After repeated contact from the rain, the high acidity damages the outer skin tissue, making it impossible for the salamander to breathe.
Other environmental changes that cause problems for salamanders include habitat loss, degradation, and fragmentation. Altering the land by channelizing streams, draining wetlands, and clearing forests have added to the reduction of habitat. Even removing temporary ponds causes a reduction in the population by destroying a breeding site or by killing the larvae, depending on the time of year.
In Illinois specifically, the majority of species have a gilled, aquatic, or larval stage when high quality water sources are required. Ensuring that salamanders have access to high quality land and water, large enough to sustain a diverse population, is essential to the survival of this amphibian.
In turn, tiger salamanders eat slugs, worms, snails, and insects while their larvae eat small crustaceans, insect larvae, and tadpoles.
Illinois-Indiana Sea Grant is a part of University of Illinois Extension and Purdue Extension.
It’s easy to become focused on all the work that lies ahead, so we’re pausing, here at IISG, to appreciate some of the things we have to be thankful for:
Partners:
We couldn’t accomplish all that we have without all the incredible partners that help contribute to our program’s success.
Cleaner surroundings:
We love being able to help resilient communities regain the use of their land and waterways.
Rebounding wildlife:
We get giddy when we hear from communities telling us of sightings of birds or native fish in a once contaminated area.
Golden milestone:
Getting to celebrate a 50-year milestone of research, education, and outreach with 32 other incredible Sea Grants throughout the country.
Mystery:
The Great Lakes are full of secrets we have yet to decode which is why being a part of a team of innovative researchers makes the quest so thrilling.
Pollution prevention:
With the assistance of dozens of partners, agencies, and regular concerned individuals, we’re helping to reduce pharmaceuticals in our waterways.
Teachers:
We love collaborating with teachers in the classroom and touring with them on Lake Guardian every year.
Algorithms:
They do the hard work that otherwise would take months and would include more human errors. Algorithms help process all the data (and more data!) we recover from the Great Lakes and keep the researchers sane.
Water:
“With every drop of water you drink, every breath you take, you’re connected to the sea. No matter where on earth you live.”
— Sylvia Earle is an American marine biologist, explorer, author, and lecturer and has been a National Geographic explorer-in-residence since 1998. Earle was the first female chief scientist of the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and was named by Time Magazine as its first Hero for the Planet in 1998.
Illinois-Indiana Sea Grant is a part of University of Illinois Extension and Purdue Extension.
The first of hopefully many recreational fishing workshops brought together more than 40 researchers, managers, stakeholders, and anglers last week to Hammond Marina in Indiana to learn about food web research, updates on fisheries, and ongoing monitoring in southern Lake Michigan.
Mitchell Zischke, IISG research and extension fishery specialist, organized the event.
“I have presented research at similar workshops for Lake Huron hosted by Michigan Sea Grant. These workshops were well attended and a great opportunity for anglers, scientists, managers, and others to interact,” said Zischke. “I wanted to develop a similar program for southern Lake Michigan, particularly in light of recent ecosystem and fishery changes like the declining populations of alewife.”
Mitchell Zischke, IISG research and extension fishery specialist, pictured on the right, organized the event.
Topics included recent changes in the base of the food web, status and trends of prey fish, mass-marking of Chinook salmon and lake trout, long-term monitoring of yellow perch, and angler surveys and the recreational fishery focusing on the Illinois waters of Lake Michigan.
Howard Petroski, known as “Captain Ski,” ran Paradise Charters out of East Chicago for 25 years until it shut down about 14 years ago. Even though he now just fishes recreationally, he still follows what’s happening in Lake Michigan.
“What they’re showing with the decline of the perch was pretty obvious, but now it’s more obvious that they showed it on the charts,” Petroski said.
According to Zischke, this first workshop just scratched the surface on topics relevant to anglers in southern Lake Michigan.
“There were actually more people willing to present than I could fit in the workshop agenda. We hope that these workshops can become an annual event in both Indiana and Illinois, that way we can continue to provide anglers and other lake-users with up-to-date information on the Lake Michigan fishery and ecosystem as a whole. In fact, attendees at our recent workshop said that they can’t wait for the next one!”
Illinois-Indiana Sea Grant is a part of University of Illinois Extension and Purdue Extension.
This post, written by Kathryn Meyer and Todd Nettesheim, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, originally appeared on the International Joint Commission website.
Out on the Great Lakes, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Lake Guardian research vessel is not your typical ship.
It has the usual pilot house, cabin rooms, and galley, but this 180-foot research vessel has a few extra special features. Those include three onboard laboratories; a Rosette water sampler for measuring conductivity, temperature and depth; and multiple devices for sediment collection. These additions allow researchers to analyze water, sediment, and biological data while the Lake Guardian travels across the Great Lakes.
Also special is the collaborative group of scientists, from the U.S. EPA’s Great Lakes National Program Office (GLNPO) and other government agencies and universities, working onboard to collect and analyze samples to monitor the health of the Great Lakes. The overarching goal of the science performed onboard is to understand the chemical, physical, and biological changes in the lakes to help inform fishery and water quality managers.
The Lake Guardian is a floating laboratory essential to many Great Lakes long-term monitoring programs, with about 25 years of data collected since its first voyage on the lakes in 1991. Starting out on Lake Michigan, the ship samples the lakes twice a year as part of the routine spring and summer surveys. The ship weaves across each lake to reach specified sampling stations. Onboard, scientists and crew work around the clock to ensure that each station is sampled as the ship passes by Great Lakes icons including the Mackinac Bridge, Welland Canal, Soo Locks, and Isle Royale.
Other parts of the Great Lakes are sampled by the EPA’s research vessel Mudpuppy II, a 33-foot shallow vessel designed for studies to determine the nature and extent of contaminated sediment in Great Lakes nearshore areas.
In August, EPA scientists from GLNPO collaborated with scientists from Buffalo State, Cornell University, University of Chicago, and University of Minnesota-Duluth to complete the Lake Guardian’s 2016 Summer Survey.
The survey consists of 97 stations where scientists collect water, phytoplankton, zooplankton, benthos (invertebrates that live on the bottom of the lakes), and sediment samples. Each station starts with the Rosette sampler plunging into the water to retrieve water samples at different depths on the starboard side, while on the aft deck plankton nets are cast into the water.
On some stations, a ponar sampler also is dropped to the bottom of the lake to scoop up sediment and collect benthos. Once the samples are back onboard, they are either immediately analyzed in one of the ship’s labs or preserved for analysis on land. The water samples help to track nutrient concentrations among other water chemistry parameters. The biological samples help us track changes and better understand the lower food web in the lakes.
The month of sample collection and analysis, knowledge-sharing and comradery onboard the Lake Guardian highlights the shared commitment to protect the health of the Great Lakes.
For example, GLNPO began monitoring nutrient concentrations in Lake Erie in 1983 to assess the effectiveness of phosphorus load reduction programs initiated by the 1983 phosphorus load supplement to the Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement (GLWQA). Data showed that the lake responded to the phosphorus load reductions and in-lake total phosphorus concentrations approached targets in the late 1980s. Our data also documented the re-eutrophication of Lake Erie that began in the early 1990s.
When the ship is not completing one of the long-term annual spring and summer surveys, the vessel supports additional monitoring efforts across the lakes. These include monitoring dissolved oxygen levels in Lake Erie and supporting collaborative science as part of the Cooperative Science and Monitoring Initiative (CSMI) – a binational program established under the GLWQA. The US EPA and Environment and Climate Change Canada work with a broad array of partners to implement CSMI in fulfillment of GLWQA requirements.
This year, CSMI was focused in Lake Superior, where more than 200 water samples, 150 plankton nets, and 600 ponar grabs were performed across the lake to assess the long-term status of the lower food web. Each year, the Lake Guardian also serves as a floating classroom for educators throughout the Great Lakes thanks to programs run by the Center for Great Lakes Literacy.
Interested in learning more about the R/V Lake Guardian? Check out the EPA Great Lakes website. You can also check out information from one of our partners, Illinois-Indiana Sea Grant, and the Lake Guardian Twitter page to stay up-to-date and see if she’s coming to a port near you.
Editor’s Note: There are 78 science vessels active in the Great Lakes, each more than 25 feet long, and smaller boats which assist conservation officers, scientists, educators and resource managers (See this interactive map). Over the years, these operators have formed the Great Lakes Association of Science Ships (GLASS), with 68 American and Canadian participating organizations networking and providing information about these vessels at www.CanAmGlass.org.
Illinois-Indiana Sea Grant is a part of University of Illinois Extension and Purdue Extension.
The sun has set—literally, see above video—on another season for our Two Yellow Buoys anchored in Lake Michigan. Rest assured, they will be well-cared-for and back in action in the spring of 2017.
But if you can’t wait until next year to get your buoy fix, check #2YBHiatus on Twitter where there will be lots of data, discovery, and discussion!
1. The buoys are too delicate to withstand the Lake Michigan winter.
The main reason to take the buoys out is that the lake ices over in the winter and the delicate instruments that take measurements also need to be cleaned and maintained to be sure we can keep transmitting the best data possible.
2. It is much easier to retrieve the buoys at the end of the year than to put them out in the springtime. You usually need one person to captain the boat and 4-5 people to help pull up the ballast weights and stop the buoy from bouncing against the boat. Although this year, the buoys were giving our scientists a little trouble. Don’t worry, though. Everyone is safe and sound on dry land!
3. The buoys are usually stored at the Purdue University West Lafayette campus in the civil engineering building.
Sometimes they are stored at LimnoTech’s headquarters, in Ann Arbor, Michigan. The buoys tend to move around during the winter, especially if they need upgrades. So keep your eye out for buoys on trailers when you’re travelling down I-65 or I-94.
4. Every year scientists have to remove thousands of quagga mussels attached to the buoys.
Quagga mussel veligers—a mollusk larval stage—floating around Lake Michigan are always looking for hard structures to attach to. Though some of the surfaces on the buoys are smooth enough to stop the quaggas from attaching, they always manage to find their way into nooks and crannies. We carefully inspect the buoys before leaving the lakeside and remove anything we see, either manually or with help from a hose.
5. The buoys receive thorough maintenance.
The main hulls get washed off and all of the sensors are removed and cleaned. Depending on the sensor, this may mean an acid wash or just a good wipe down. One year, we had to replace a solar panel that had completely fallen off, so we’re always double-checking that everything is where it’s meant to be.
6. The buoys stop generating data, but all that’s been collected is ready and available online.
The IISG buoy data pages—dashboards and graphs—are not active when the buoys are not in the water. Historic data can always be found via the National Data Buoy Center (Michigan City 45170 , Wilmette 45174 ).
People who want to use the data should pay attention to notes like “Data have not been quality-checked.” Information marked with that tag may contain weird, fluke readings—like 100-foot waves! We try to do a quality check for the whole year of data within a few months of retrieving the buoy. People are also always welcome to email us to ask questions about the data.
Illinois-Indiana Sea Grant is a part of University of Illinois Extension and Purdue Extension.
After three years in the making, the Flood Vulnerability Assessment for Critical Facilities is now available online to assist critical facilities—like hospitals, fire and police departments, and utility providers—evaluate their preparedness for when the next big rain storm hits.
At the heart of the tool is a series of questions that will help communities in the Midwest determine a facility’s risk based on factors like its proximity to a flood plain, past flooding issues, stormwater drainage structures, and the location of backup generators, servers, and other critical systems.
Facilities are also able to use the tool to evaluate current emergency communication plans for heavy rainfall and determine whether improvements are necessary. After completing the assessment, users receive a report with specific recommendations for steps they can take to reduce the facility’s vulnerability to riverine and/or urban flooding and useful resources and recommendations to make those steps forward a bit easier.
While recalling a 9-inch rainfall that flooded the plant pump house in 2008, the facility manager of a leading wastewater treatment facility in Cook County said, “That assessment report probably would have been helpful prior to the storm—it’s very thorough.” The manager completed the assessment as part of the original project.
The tool was built in response to questions raised after Hurricane Sandy shut down several facilities on the East Coast in 2012.
“When we started talking with Chicago partners not long after Hurricane Sandy, they were concerned about the state of critical facilities in and around Chicago—how prepared are they for potential flooding,” said Molly Woloszyn, IISG climate specialist who led the assessment.
“This was really the main motivation behind the project: to provide a tool that critical facility managers could use to assess their own risk for flooding and recommendations for steps they could take to reduce their risk. The facilities receive this information in a comprehensive report after they complete the online assessment.”
The assessment is part of a larger project that investigated precipitation trends in Cook County since 1989 and incorporated projections for future rainfall. The study found that large storms—specifically 5–8-inch rain events—happened more frequently at Chicago O’Hare Airport between 2002 and 2013 than in the previous 36 years.
IISG is hiring an experienced communication coordinator to oversee communication and lead efforts to develop and maintain programs and products that promote science-based knowledge and highlight IISG’s research, outreach and education efforts. Learn more at the #linkinbio.
and ready to help
IISG “Hooks” IAGLR Leadership
Bigger shrimp can mean bigger profits
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