In 1972, Milwaukee had the good fortune to be sued by the state of Illinois. At the time, Milwaukee and several nearby cities were sending an estimated 200 million gallons annually of combined sewer overflow (CSO) – a mix of untreated or partially treated sewage and stormwater – into Lake Michigan during heavy rains. The fortunate part was that…

The Community Foundation for Southeast Michigan is working on an agreement with groups in Canada to connect the developing “Great Lakes Way” tract of trails and waterways between Port Huron and Toledo to trails on the other side of the border through joint marketing — and potentially programming. The memorandum of understanding the Community Foundation is forging…

Has the time finally come to clean up the toxic sediment in the Detroit River that remains as legacy pollutants from the peak industrial era? That’s approximately 3.5 million cubic yards of sediment, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. A successful cleanup could lead to the river’s removal from a 1987 list of toxic…

Major financial support is being invested into some of Michigan’s high-priority waterways, and the Detroit River is one of them. Senators Debbie Stabenow and Gary Peters announced Thursday that the Environmental Protection Agency is making a $1 billion commitment …

A dedicated group of American and Canadian activists, educators, and community members are advocating for the designation of the Detroit River between Detroit, Michigan and Windsor, Ontario as an UNESCO World Heritage Site for its significance in the Underground Railroad. While the Detroit River was the lifeblood …

For more than a decade, environmental watchdog agencies have been studying a number of contaminated sediment areas along the Detroit River. Contaminated sediments reflect a century of municipal and industrial activities and discharges along the river’s shoreline. Such activities have affected some of the river’s beneficial uses, such as swimming and fishing. Because of these…

Authorities were baffled by a geological incident that caused the ground itself to buckle in Detroit’s Delray neighborhood last fall. On the night of Sept. 11,  the intersection of Dearborn and West Fort streets experienced a shifting of the ground that lasted approximately  35-minutes and left a roughly eight-foot-high mound of earth at one location.

Central Michigan University researchers have discovered unexpected populations of native mussels in the Detroit River, an area that hasn’t been searched for the mollusks since 1998. Back then, researchers thought the natives, known as unionids, were fast on the way out—victims of no-native zebra mussels invading from Europe and Asia.

Cruising down the Detroit River to Boblo Island is a fond memory held by older Detroiters. The island, located about 18 miles downriver, was home to an amusement park and often characterized as Detroit’s own Coney Island. However, Black folks were not always allowed to ride the famed Boblo boats. 

City officials are calling for Detroit to permanently ban Detroit Bulk Storage Inc. from operating anywhere along the Detroit River. Officials said the company’s continuous violations have led to at least three docks collapsing along the Detroit River in the last decade, including the latest incident on Nov. 26, the second riverfront collapse since 2019. The collapsed was blamed on improper…

One of the most important remaining habitats for fish and wildlife in Michigan waters of the Detroit River is the target of a habitat restoration project that is expected to bring about a considerable improvement in the surrounding area. Work will begin soon at South Hennepin Marsh to reconstruct its protective island shoals, with the…

Ask a current Detroiter what stands at the junction of the Detroit and Rouge Rivers in the Delray neighborhood, and they may tell you about Zug Island: blast furnaces, mounds of coal, and gated-off trestle bridges guarded by signs warning “No Trespassing” and “Cameras Prohibited.” There is no sign at the site, however, of what…

The bronze sculpture of George Armstrong Custer — a towering figure in Monroe’s central park — gazes regally from astride a horse, celebrating the town’s most famous former resident as a Civil War hero. Beneath it, a historical marker lauds Custer’s valor at the Battle of Gettysburg, with only a brief, vague reference to his…

“Obtawaing” is the Anishinaabemowin word for “at the halfway place.” It was the name for the center of the Odawa village that used to stretch 16 miles along northern Lake Michigan, near what is now the town of Harbor Springs and the hamlets Good Hart and Cross Village, says Frank Ettawageshik, executive director of the…

“Reunioning” is an interactive, place-based experience, uplifting the rich legacy of Wahnabezee as a site of ecological significance and celebration. Integrating mixed-media photo collage within the natural landscape, Halima Afi Cassells and Shanna Merola guide participants through a visual exploration of the island’s delicate eco-system while paying homage to indigenous plants and wildlife. 

In 1987 the U.S. and Canada entered into a Great Lakes agreement to start the process of cleaning up the most polluted sites, 43 of them, that dot the waterways in and between the two countries.  The sites, officially known as Areas of Concern, contain legacy toxic sediment from the industrial era when dumping pollutants into rivers and…

DETROIT — It started, as things often do, with Mike. “I have been wanting to paddle the entire Detroit River in one trip for a while,” he said earlier this summer. Mike calls the body of water that separates the Detroit metro area from Canada, “my river.” His many friends indulge him. After all, Mike…

A habitat restoration project is set to begin soon on a small island in the lower Detroit River, between Grosse Ile and the Livingstone Channel. The work is designed to stabilize Sugar Island’s southerly end and enhance fish and wildlife habitat in the surrounding area. The 29-acre island is part of the U.S. Fish and…

Smokestacks and semi-trucks are the persistent backdrop to life in the 48217 zip code. The predominately minority community in Southwest Detroit is often called the most polluted zip code in Michigan. A heavily-trafficked interstate, I-75, brings trucks heading to and from the Canadian border right through its heart. The neighborhood is home to Michigan’s only…

It was 20 years ago this week that the Detroit River became the first river to hold a dual heritage designation from the U.S. and Canada. “I think we’re so fortunate to live here and experience all the great things the river has to offer,” said Danielle Stuebing, the director of communications for the Essex…

Detroit — Within the next year, state officials hope to begin drafting a “mini-master plan” to replace two gems of Belle Isle’s past: its zoo and nine-hole golf course. The options range from a planned return-to-nature — which is different than the uncontrolled vegetation now sprouting up in and around buildings at the long-vacant zoo — to adventure areas…