{"id":13453,"date":"2025-10-24T09:25:16","date_gmt":"2025-10-24T09:25:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/13453\/"},"modified":"2025-10-24T09:25:16","modified_gmt":"2025-10-24T09:25:16","slug":"at-city-club-great-lakes-talk-positives-for-lake-erie-and-a-push-for-localities-to-take-the-lead","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/13453\/","title":{"rendered":"At City Club Great Lakes Talk, Positives for Lake Erie and a Push For Localities to Take the Lead"},"content":{"rendered":"

\t\t\"\"<\/a>Chris Winslow, a Great Lakes specialist and researcher at Ohio State University, gave a Lake Erie status update at the City Club on Thursday. It was reminder that accurate monitoring of the world\u2019s largest fresh water supply need to be kept strong in an era of federal cuts to scientific research. Credit: Mark Oprea There is a special mirage that we all acknowledge about Lake Erie.<\/p>\n

Beneath that seemingly endless pool of blue and grey is a whole heap of problems. There\u2019s the algal blooms. The invasive fish and the microscopic pollutants.<\/p>\n

But all of that must be acknowledged to keep Lake Erie, and its four siblings, healthy and a Midwestern landmark, Chris Winslow, a Great Lakes specialist and researcher at Ohio State University, said at a City Club lecture on Thursday.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is a Great Lake,\u201d Winslow said. \u201cNot a very good lake.\u201d<\/p>\n

The talk, titled \u201cThe State of the Great Lakes,\u201d was hosted in the middle of what could be a trying time for city, county and regional limnologists fixated on maintaining Lake Erie\u2019s current quality in midst of federal indecision.<\/p>\n

The Trump administration, in a May executive order<\/a>, promised to shield the Great Lakes from the threat of Asian carp by boosting a popular inter-basin construction in Illinois. But the White House has also mulled over cuts to programs used in previous administrations to tackle pollution and bolster wetlands meant to keep a huge stock of the world\u2019s fresh water, well, fresh.<\/p>\n

Which means, in Winslow\u2019s mind, a substantial need for cities and towns nestled along Lake Erie to work collaboratively to do the clean-up work without leaning too much on the Feds.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou cannot manage what we don\u2019t measure, right?\u201d Winslow told the room. \u201cIf we are the stewards of this lake, all five Great Lakes\u2014you can\u2019t manage that resource unless you monitor it and you understand the science that\u2019s out there, okay?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cSo, we are not done monitoring,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

And monitor Winslow does. Whether that be the migratory patterns and population of Asian carp, or the nutrients that fuel algal blooms, or the excess phosphorus that leads to low-oxygen \u201cdead zones\u201d in Lake Erie, or the who-knows-how-much amount of microplastics in the water.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>The State of the Great Lakes: water levels are increasing. Credit: Mark Oprea Or even conundrums that involve an overlapping network of entities including the Port Authority, the Great Lakes Water Alliance, the Metroparks and the City Planning Commission. How do lakeside governments manage rising water levels? (Which are rising.) What do we do with all of Lake Erie\u2019s 1.5 million pounds of lakebed earth<\/a> dug up each year? <\/p>\n

\u201cCan we grow crops on that? Can we move that sediment back onto our agricultural fields? Can we construct mountains?\u201d Winslow said, hinting at the routine dredging carried out by the Port. \u201cCan we actually harvest that sediment and sell it on the market, or build construction material?\u201d<\/p>\n

And for Lake Erie, it\u2019s a battle between more and less. More heat, more algae, more walleye to fish, more \u201cslimy biofilm\u201d left on trashed plastics\u2014those that contain faint amounts of antidepressants and caffeine that linger around Lake Erie. \u201cA way to dose ourselves,\u201d Winslow said.<\/p>\n

And, of course, all up against less funding.<\/p>\n

County Executive Chris Ronayne, who segued his love for Lake Erie last year into the county\u2019s PSA-friendly Fresh Water Institute<\/a>, became head of the of the Great Lakes Regional Forum earlier this month, which could mean more dollars from Cleveland, Chicago and Detroit tossed into water upkeep.<\/p>\n

Or at least trying to maintain the principles of the the Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement, a Nixon-era contract between the U.S. and Canada that keeps each country in check as far as pollution and harmful species go. (Or rivers catching on fire, for that matter.)<\/p>\n

But Winslow, being one of Ohio\u2019s chief academics obsessed with everything Lake Erie, stressed on Thursday that updated data precedes any future agreement or, say, taxpayer money thrown at another research buoy.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere is no difference between a healthy environment and a healthy economy,\u201d Winslow said.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs long as we keep that in mind,\u201d he said, \u201cany investment in the protection and restoration of this lake will pay itself back for us.\u201d <\/p>\n

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This article appears in Cleveland SCENE 10\/8\/25<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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