Author: Interlochen Public Radio
Oil and gas projects fast-tracked, while Minnesota Power plans to quit fossil fuels
Catch the latest energy news from around the Great Lakes region. Check back for these biweekly Energy News Roundups.
Hundreds of energy projects may have their permits fast-tracked by the Trump administration, including Enbridge’s tunnel for Line 5 in the Straits of Mackinac and a roughly $1 billion gas plant in Superior.
Tapping Into Tradition: It’s Maple Syrup Season
This is a part of “A Year in the Wild Kitchen of the Great Lakes,” a series in partnership with expert forager Lisa M. Rose, with the mission of nurturing a deeper connection with the natural world through foraging. To get started with your foraging journey, begin here with our “Framework to Sustainable and Safe Practices.”
In the Great Lakes, the maple syrup harvest season begins when daytime temperatures rise above freezing while nights remain cold — typically from mid to late February for much of the region, and a bit later further north.
Great Lakes Moment: Detroit River common terns under threat
Great Lakes Moment is a monthly column written by Great Lakes Now Contributor John Hartig. Publishing the author’s views and assertions does not represent endorsement by Great Lakes Now or Detroit PBS.
Common terns are known for their aerial acrobatics, performing rapid turns and swoops to the delight of those watching.
Nibi Chronicles: Invisible Borders
“Nibi Chronicles,” a monthly Great Lakes Now feature, is written by Staci Lola Drouillard. A Grand Portage Ojibwe direct descendant, she lives in Grand Marais on Minnesota’s North Shore of Lake Superior. Her nonfiction books “Walking the Old Road: A People’s History of Chippewa City and the Grand Marais Anishinaabe” and “Seven Aunts” were published 2019 and 2022, and the children’s story “A Family Tree” in 2024.
How do you heal a sacred lake?
For over 70 years, a massive U.S. Steel plant on the shores of Spirit Lake near Duluth, Minnesota dumped toxic waste into the water, causing lasting environmental damage to this sacred site.
Spirit Lake, once a vital ecosystem rich in fish, wild rice, and wildlife, was central to the homeland of the Fond du Lac Band of Lake Superior Chippewa.