Lake Erie News

The National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration’s National Centers for Coastal Ocean Science issued the first-ever seasonal harmful algal bloom forecast for Lake Erie at an all-day press event Thursday at Ohio State University’s Stone Laboratory. The forecast predicts a mild bloom, similar to conditions last seen in 2007 and about one-tenth the size of last year’s bloom.
“A mild bloom is great news for this year,” said Dr. Jeffrey Reutter, Director of Ohio Sea Grant and Stone Laboratory. “But this is happening because we’re in a drought, not because phosphorus loading to Lake Erie has improved. If we have a real wet spring in 2013, we could be right back to where we were.”

Have you been noticing giant black plumes of smoke in the sky around Lake Erie lately? The local Pheasants Forever chapter and the Ottawa Soil & Water Conservation District have been conducting prescribed burns as a fundamental part of the Lake Erie Cooperative Weed Management Area program. This program aims to protect, restore, and enhance the Western Lake Erie Basin landscape and wetlands by coordinating efforts to identify, prevent and control invasive species.

President Barack Obama made two unannounced stops in Ottawa County Thursday during the first day of his “Betting on America” bus tour.
Valerie Winterfield was at Kozy Corners with her kids on Thursday when Secret Service agents announced the President’s plan to stop there for lunch. She said they searched the restaurant and the diners and brought a dog through to sweep the place. Then in walked the President.
“He sat down and ate lunch right next to us,” she said. “He was really down to earth. Almost to the point where you didn’t realize it was the President.”
According to Winterfield, nobody talked politics but instead Obama patiently made his way to everyone in the restaurant, shaking hands, posing for pictures and asking the locals how the summer was going. He even shared his pie with Winterfield’s 8-year-old son, Mason.