In a world of streets, parking lots, and sidewalks, rain gardens can be a place for stormwater to go besides flowing into sewers and ultimately, nearby lakes and rivers. As it flows towards waterbodies, rainwater picks up pollutants like pesticides and fertilizers along the way. Precipitation that is absorbed into rain gardens recharges groundwater 30 percent more than even that of a typical lawn.

The Southern Lake Michigan Rain Garden Manual is a how-to for homeowners, landscape architects, city planners, and anyone interested in creating a garden to “absorb the storm.” This booklet is chock full of information–from choosing a location to designing and installing a rain garden to care and maintenance. You can find a plant list, including those suited for shade and clay soils, and sample garden plans. 

This publication is adapted from the Vermont Rain Garden Manual for the southern Lake Michigan region. The manual was developed through Lawn to Lake, which is a collaborative program to protect water resources in the Great Lakes region by promoting healthy lawn and landscape practices.

**The Red Oak Rain Garden at University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign  

Earlier this week, a new environmental monitoring buoy joined a chain of similar buoys that are increasing boating and swimming safety and helping anglers target specific species of fish from Ludington, MI to Michigan City, IN.

From Michigan Live: 

Deployed roughly two miles off the shores of South Haven on Wednesday, the buoy can distribute improved wind and wave observations in addition to measuring wind speed, wind direction, air temperature, relative humidity, solar radiation, water temperature and wave height among other variables. 

“Given South Haven’s strong connection to Lake Michigan I am excited for the addition of this station to the regional buoy network,” South Haven Mayor Robert Burr said in a statement. “The city’s goal is to provide area boaters, swimmers, and water safety professionals with up-to-date lake conditions. Conditions on the big lake can change fast and we want everyone to be prepared when venturing out on the water.

Click on the link above to read the complete article. And visit our buoy website to learn more about how real-time data is helping weather forecasters and researchers better understand the nearshore waters of Lake Michigan.  

**Photo: Boaters and swimmers enjoy the water at South Haven Beach 

Boaters, anglers, and swimmers, you many want to think twice before heading out into Lake Michigan today. Forecasters are predicting waves swells as high as 7 ft, creating dangerous conditions for any one in water.

The high waves are the result of an unusual weather pattern expected to continue into tomorrow. A small piece of the polar vortex has dropped down to the southern Great Lakes, bringing fall-like weather to parts of Michigan, Wisconsin, Illinois, and Indiana.

The cool air may be a welcomed break from July heat, but the shifting weather is not without its downsides. Right now, parts of the lake are actually warmer than the air above it, creating the perfect conditions for waterspouts. The wave swells created by gusty winds also bring a higher chance of rip currents, especially along Michigan’s western shore.

Whether you are planning a trip to the lake or not, you can track wave height and other lake conditions in southern Lake Michigan as the strange weather continues with the IISG real-time buoy.

*The week’s strange weather brings a chance of waterspouts like this one captured near Winthrop Harbor in 2013. Photo by Phil Mathis.

“Highly invasive Asian carp are advancing on the Great Lakes, so fire up your grill. Asian carp are eaten and appreciated globally, but the fish have never been popular in America because they’re bony and are thought to be bottom-feeders (actually, you can tell your pesca-prejudiced pals, Asian carp are plankton-feeders.) Nevertheless, Asian carp burgers at Dirk’s Fish & Gourmet Shop have been well-received.

 

’90 percent of the people who try it like it,’ Dirk Fucik says. At Taste of Chicago one year, Fucik gave out 800 carp burgers in two hours.

 

Fucik fillets the carp, then grinds the remaining fish. ‘Once you’ve done that, it’s like ground anything,’ Fucik says. He’s used Asian carp in the meatballs in Italian wedding soup, and he’s received a lot of compliments for his Asian carp gefilte fish. Fucik recommends preparing his burgers with some cambozola cheese in the middle, or using Dirk’s Thai or ‘Terry-aki’ marinades. The burgers cost $6 per pound, compared to $18 a pound for salmon burgers.”

“The exercise – including intensive netting and electro-fishing – will be the first of its kind utilizing provisions of the new Mutual Aid Agreement for Combating Aquatic Invasive Species, signed at the Council of Great Lakes Governors meeting on April 26 in Chicago… 

 

Crews coordinated by the Illinois and Indiana Departments of Natural Resources are deploying boats on Chicago’s Calumet Harbor, and on adjoining waters of Lake Michigan on both sides of the Illinois-Indiana state line, for electro-fishing and netting to determine whether invasive Eurasian ruffe are present.

 

‘Aquatic invasive threats know no national or state boundaries. Our ability to sample fish communities, respond quickly, and effectively communicate on efforts could be critical in the future to respond to a threat within the Great Lakes basin,’ said Indiana DNR Aquatic Invasive Species Coordinator Eric Fischer.

 

Eurasian ruffe, an eastern European species of fish, have been found in Lake Superior since the mid-1980s, have a similar diet and feeding habits of native fish, and could present problems for the food web in Lake Michigan. Researchers detected environmental DNA of Eurasian ruffe in Calumet Harbor last year.”

“Water levels on Lake Michigan- Huron typically rise from March through July. Lake Michigan- Huron has risen one inch since early March, but is 13 inches higher than this same time last year. Although the above two lakes are higher, they are still 16 inches below the long term average for this date.

 

The rise in the lakes in the past month was the result of melting snow. Precipitation didn’t help much to the rise in lake levels, as March was fairly dry. The dry pattern in March was good for helping Michigan avoid major flooding. However, heavy rain would have really boosted lake water levels. March precipitation over the Lake Michigan-Huron drainage basin was only 1.49 inches, which was 69 percent of normal.”