A buoy network managed by the Great Lakes Observing System (GLOS) across the Great Lakes collects information on wave height, approximate wind speed and direction, and water temperature. Once collected, this data not only allows for safe tourism, recreation, and shipping but also warns researchers about impacts to water quality, including toxic algal blooms that pose serious health threats to humans, pets, and wildlife. However, despite the health, safety, and environmental benefits these buoys provide, $1.6 billion in budget cuts proposed by the Trump administration could bring funding for GLOS to a halt.

In a new report, titled Safe for Swimming?, researchers found that 71% of Great Lakes beaches tested positive for fecal indicator bacteria like E. coli and Enterococcus at least one day last year. The report, published in July, was produced by Environment America Research and Policy Center, the 501(c)(3) research arm of Environment America.

A once-manicured golf course in Geauga County, Ohio, has transformed into a thriving public park where visitors can stroll past native trees and shrubs, cold-water streams, revitalized wetlands, and quality habitat for wildlife. This blend of recreation and habitat is thanks to a series of restoration projects prioritizing natural spaces over putting greens and has breathed new life into the 180-acre park.

At Presque Isle State Park in Erie, Pennsylvania, a dune habitat restoration project will welcome native plants, shorebirds, and other wildlife to Pennsylvania’s only “seashore.”

In the Finger Lakes region of upstate New York, the Syracuse Urban Food Forest Project is creating a corridor of edible wild plants to serve as a nutritious new food source for local humans and wildlife.

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The Healing Our Waters-Great Lakes Coalition and over 60 of our member organizations urged House appropriations subcommittees to support robust funding for Great Lakes restoration and clean water priorities in their Fiscal Year 2026 appropriations bills.

The Trump Administration released more details about how its proposed budget would undermine efforts by local, state, and Tribal governments to protect the drinking water, public health, and quality of life for more than 30 million people in the Great Lakes states of Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin.