From Science Daily: 

Tiny crustaceans called copepods rule the world, at least when it comes to oceans and estuaries. The most numerous multi-cellular organisms in the seas, copepods are an important link between phytoplankton and fish in marine food webs.

To understand and predict how copepods respond to environmental change, scientists need to know not only how many new copepods are born, but how many are dying, say biological oceanographers David Elliott of the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science and the Virginia Institute of Marine Science (VIMS), and Kam Tang of VIMS.

Elliott and Tang realized there was only one way to discover the answer: find the copepods’ carcasses. Read more.

From the Bloomington Pantagraph:

A proposal pending in the state legislature may make it easier for police departments to pay for a prescription drug disposal program that began in Pontiac.

The Prescription Pill and Drug Disposal program, or P2D2, was launched about four years ago by students at Pontiac Township High School and their teacher, Paul Ritter. The program has spread to other communities and states.

Students were concerned that prescription drugs disposed of improperly, usually down household drains, were polluting groundwater.

High school students in Antioch heard about the program and brought the idea to state Rep. JoAnn Osmond, who is sponsoring a measure that will allow for the safe disposal of prescription drugs at local police departments. Read more.

IISG has worked closely with P2D2 to support medicine take back programs and develop curriculum collections–for example, the Medicine Chest–for high school teachers and students. Many of the activities in this collection help students learn how to raise awareness and take action in their communities. IISG does not engage in advocacy, rather we provide scientific knowledge on a number of water-related issues to a variety of audiences. The students who took part in the legislative hearing to fund medicine collection programs are learning how to affect change in their community by sharing their knowledge with decision makers. Here is a video of their experience.

From Madison.com:

Residents in 36 Wisconsin counties will be able to dispose of unwanted drugs and help keep the Great Lakes cleaner just by using the postal system.

“Get the Meds Out,” a program developed by the University of Wisconsin Extension, will allow residents in counties whose watersheds empty into either Lake Michigan or Lake Superior to send unwanted prescription medications to a facility in Maine for safe disposal.

The benefits are two-fold: Residents get the prescription drugs out of the house and the drugs stay out of the state’s water supply. Read more.

Twenty educators from Illinois, Indiana, Wisconsin, and Michigan were actively engaged in many activities shared at the March 24th COSEE Great Lakes workshop, “Catch the Wave!” at the Field Museum in Chicago. At the morning workshop, Steve Stewart, Michigan Sea Grant, demonstrated the many ways teachers could incorporate real-time and historical data to teach about fish habitat, climate, and dead zones. Steve’s presentation was based on the Great Lake Lessons website.

The afternoon session, led by IISG’s Robin Goettel and Terri Hallesy, was filled with hands-on activities that teachers can use in their classrooms and nonformal education centers, along with a tour of the Nab the Aquatic Invader! website. The workshop began with a presentation by Notre Dame University biologist Matt Barnes (pictured here) who provided the latest information on common Great Lakes invasive species Including pathways of introduction. The educators wrapped up the day by developing preliminary action plans to implement community stewardship projects that help prevent the spread of aquatic invasive species.

The use of live organisms in classrooms is a valued tool for engaging students. However, it is not wise for a class to release organisms into the wild or for teachers to allow students to take organisms home as pets (if they are later released). These organisms are often distributed to teachers through biological supply houses, frequently with widely-used science curriculum packages. Sometimes these plants and animals are documented invasive species.

In an ongoing national project, funded through NOAA-National Sea Grant, IISG is working with Sea Grant programs around the country as well as several Canadian entities to address this AIS pathway from two fronts—in classrooms and through supply houses.

At the recent National Science Teacher Association meeting in San Francisco, project leaders talked with teachers about how they can help prevent the spread of invasive species using an exhibit titled “Don’t Release Classroom Organisms! They Can Become Invasive Species.” The exhibit was coordinated by Sam Chan and Tania Siemens of Oregon Sea Grant.

In the top photo, Linda Chilton (on left), Oregon Sea Grant, shares classroom resources that will help students understand this issue. IISG’s Pat Charlebois (bottom photo, on right), along with Robin Goettel, helped develop the exhibit.

At the recent University of Illinois Public Engagement Symposium, IISG featured its unwanted medicine collection program and a University course, Community Stewardship through Environmental Education, in which students bring the issue of aquatic invasive species to elementary and middle school classrooms in Champaign and Urbana. Under the guidance of their student leaders, the local school children formed community partnerships with local organizations to create community stewardship projects, to be used by the partners to inform the public. In this photo, Robin Goettel, IISG associate director for education, is sharing the course description with two U of I students who were interested in learning more about the course.

From the Chicago Tribune:

Billed as an engineering marvel and national model, Chicago’s Deep Tunnel was designed to protect Lake Michigan from sewage overflows and put an end to the once-frequent practice of dumping human and industrial waste into local rivers.

But nearly four decades after taxpayers started paying for one of the nation’s most expensive public works projects, billions of gallons of bacteria-laden sewage and storm runoff still routinely pour into the Chicago River and suburban waterways during and after storms, according to records obtained by the Tribune. Read more.

As World Water Day quickly approaches on Tuesday, March 22, now is the time to start thinking about how our lawn care practices affect local lakes.

Many landscapers and residents who manage lawns and other landscapes overuse chemical fertilizers, pesticides, and water. The “Lawn to Lake” program is working to improve awareness on this issue, and will be holding a “Natural Lawn Care for Landscape Professionals, Homeowner Associations, and Municipalities” workshop from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Wednesday, March 23, at Oakton Community College in Des Plaines.

Lawn to Lake focuses on outreach to multiple audiences, including municipalities, landscape professionals, homeowners, master gardeners, teachers, retailers, and commercial property owners.

“We propose to change the practices of those responsible for the creation and upkeep of lawns and landscapes,” said Margaret Schneemann, a water resource economist for Illinois-Indiana Sea Grant, which is leading the project. “Not only can this benefit the health of our waters, but it can also open new markets for lawn and landscape companies, help municipalities save money while meeting sustainability initiatives, and reduce the chemicals and water required for lawn maintenance.”

Lawn to Lake is funded by a grant from the U.S. EPA Great Lakes Restoration Initiative, and the three-year project aims to reduce the amount of toxins entering Great Lakes Basin waters. For this project, IISG has partnered with Safer Pest Control Project, Lake Champlain Sea Grant, and University of Illinois Extension.

“Our goal is to protect water quality in the Great Lakes by reducing the amount of pollution from fertilizers and pesticides. We can prevent pollution more easily than we can clean it up,” said Susan Ask, an IISG watershed specialist. “What we put on the land, winds up in the lake.”

Rachel Rosenberg, Safer Pest Control Project executive director, offers tips for maintaining a healthy lawn without over-relying on chemicals. She suggests that using organic fertilizers and leaving grass clippings on the lawn can help capture and deliver nutrients to the lawn, improving both soil and plant health. Also, mowing high will increase root strength and create healthy grass that better withstands drought.

During the March 23 workshop, the featured speaker will be Chip Osborne, president of Osborne Organics, who has more than 30 years of experience in the turf and horticulture industry. Participants can also choose between two specialized workshop tracks: “Implementing Natural Lawn Care on Your Property,” or “Running a Natural Lawn Care Business.” The event is co-sponsored by the Illinois Landscape Contractors Association and the Midwest Ecological Landscaping Association. The cost is $150, with lunch and a take-home binder with all program materials included. Discounts for groups and affiliated organizations are also available.

For more information, visit lawntolakemidwest.org.

From the CBC:

A mysterious resurgence of phosphorus in the Great Lakes is endangering the aquatic food chain and human health, says a binational agency that advises Canada and the U.S.

Fifteen years after the last programs to control phosphorus runoff ended, the International Joint Commission urged on Wednesday a renewed effort to get the oxygen-depleting chemical out of the water.

The call to action was one of 32 recommendations the commission made to both governments in its biennial report on the state of the Great Lakes at Detroit’s Wayne State University.

The report specifically urges the two governments, which are currently renegotiating a binational water quality agreement, to include human health language in the agreement.

The report underlined a growing problem with phosphorous in the Great Lakes, especially in Lake Erie, which over the last few years has seen an increase in algal blooms caused by excessive nutrient runoff such as phosphorous. Read more.