Saving Buffalo Reef

Please take 10 minutes out of your day and watch this excellent short film produced and directed by my friend Finn Ryan.

The film highlights how mine tailings from historic copper mines in the UP are spreading in Lake Superior and threatening to destroy one of the Lake’s most productive lake trout breeding habitats.

It’s easy to blame overfishing for falling fish stocks, but more often than not the issue is habitat destruction. If we want to have healthy fisheries for commercial and recreational harvest we must address the root causes of fisheries degradation whether they be dams, industrial pollution, urban runoff or climate change.

In this case, work is underway to mitigate and ultimately remove the stamp sands that are the source of the problem. It’s headed in the right direction. Let’s make sure it keeps going that way.

The Death and Life of the Great Lakes

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I first heard of Dan Egan’s book, The Death and Life of the Great Lakes during an interview on WORT radio here in Madison. I caught the final few minutes of the discussion and made a mental note to check out the book sometime soon. It took me a few more months than intended to get a copy in my hand, but it was well worth the wait. The book is outstanding. Not only is is one of the most comprehensive summaries of the ecology and history of the Great Lakes I’ve ever read, it’s also a real page-turner.