Budget Cuts Threaten Great Lakes Spotter Buoys Responsible for Keeping Freighters, Fishermen, and Families Safe

Deployed off the tip of Point Betsie just south of Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore in Michigan, a 14-by-14-inch spotter buoy named Loonie transmits live forecasting data that protects boaters, freighters, fishermen, and families from tumultuous conditions on Lake Michigan.

“For the health and wellbeing of families that have ventured north with no real experience with an open body of water, it’s absolutely vital to understand what the condition might be before they bring their children to the lakeshore,” says Ella Skrocki, manager of Sleeping Bear Surf, a family-owned water recreation business that partners with the Great Lakes Observing System (GLOS) to maintain Loonie.

“I run surf lessons and kids’ camps, and I'm responsible for 14 little lives when we have our Junior Waterman Camp programs running,” she adds. “Without that [data], I'm navigating blind and putting the safety and wellbeing of these kids at risk.”

Part of a network of buoys across the Great Lakes, Loonie 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.

An illustration of the data buoys used in the Great Lakes. Image from Great Lakes Observing System: https://glos.org/observing/buoys/

This data, consolidated by GLOS, is available for free to the public via platforms like Seagull. 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.

As one of 11 regions that comprise a national forecasting partnership called the Integrated Ocean Observing System, GLOS is overseen by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), which is “facing massive budget cuts across the board,” says Skrocki. If these cuts go through, it’s possible buoys across the Great Lakes will go dark.

In addition to small spotter buoys like Loonie, which are often managed by local businesses and volunteer organizations, a fleet of large weather buoys is also at risk. These larger buoys, which are deployed in deeper water, are used to track weather patterns, ensure the safe voyage of shipping vessels, and inform Great Lakes health and restoration efforts, including mapping water temperature to predict ice cover, showcasing the effects of climate change, identifying E. coli outbreaks, and more. “It’s really vital, important data that could have a pretty severe impact on Great Lakes restoration efforts if that data goes away,” says Skrocki, who adds that Loonie also contributes to these efforts. “[GLOS is] the only organization that's actually providing live data like that in the Great Lakes region.”

While spotter buoys like Loonie might be able to remain online with private funding, Skrocki says large weather buoys require more resources and may face additional funding challenges. Furthermore, without GLOS, the burden of maintaining spotter buoys could increasingly fall on small business owners and volunteers that are already stretched thin. At Sleeping Bear Surf, Skrocki says keeping Loonie up and running without funding support could put a challenging financial burden on their small team.

Even so, Skrocki recognizes that keeping Loonie afloat, both figuratively and literally, is a major consideration when it comes to the shop’s future success and income. Founded in 2004, Sleeping Bear Surf sells and rents a variety of water recreation equipment—including surfboards and paddleboards—and hosts lessons, camps, and retreats for children and adults. In addition to helping Skrocki and her colleagues keep visitors to the lakeshore safe, Loonie tells the staff and community when to expect the right waves for water recreation, especially surfing. Without that knowledge, Skrocki’s small business suffers.

Sleeping Bear Surf is located in Empire, Michigan, a small village at the heart of the national lakeshore that receives millions of visitors each year. With fewer than 400 year-round residents, Empire relies heavily on tourism to support the local economy. This relationship makes environmental stewardship increasingly important.

“Without these recreational opportunities or sightseeing opportunities—without a beautiful, crystal-clear lake—tourism would very much decrease,” says Skrocki. “We're even seeing this year, with national park cuts and such, the heavy load that park staff are carrying to maintain trails and safe park access. That impacts tourism, and it has a trickle-down effect to the livelihoods of the people that live here.”

Skrocki is also quick to point out that these budget cuts contribute to a loss of jobs in the region, which in turn affects the economies of Empire and other neighboring communities, as well as Ann Arbor, where the GLOS facilities are located. “This is their life's work,” says Skrocki. “For them to go on the chopping block overnight is absolutely awful and repulsive.”

Moving forward, Skrocki plans to continue advocating for the physical, mental, and emotional health benefits of water recreation in the Great Lakes. When it was founded, Sleeping Bear Surf was the only established surf shop on the lakes to buy a surfboard. The Skrockis were also the first to introduce stand-up paddleboarding to the Midwest, which Skrocki says is now one of the fastest-growing water sports in the country. She believes getting people out on the water, where they can forge a personal connection with nature, is what will inspire them to steward the lakes for future generations to enjoy. Sleeping Bear Surf is also motivating other businesses to get involved with water stewardship as a founding member of the Great Lakes Business Network - a business-led Great Lakes advocacy coalition.

“We've always tried to instill this mission of creating more imperfect advocates,” she says. “We're all just doing our best here. We're not going to save the world just one of us. We're all doing our little, teeny, tiny part.”