The Freshwater Roundtable is proud to announce the 15^th Annual Freshwater Summit. The Summit will be held on Friday, October 28^th from 9:00am – 3:00pm at the Hagerty Center at Northwestern Michigan College.

Presentations include salinity in the Great Lakes, management efforts for the New Zealand Mud Snail, food web impacts of microplastics, arctic grayling reintroduction, spread and impact of invasive Didymo in local rivers, monitoring water quality in Torch Lake, and lightning talks about local initiatives.

The Watershed Center Grand Traverse Bay will begin its annual beach testing on June 15, 2022. Nineteen area beaches in Benzie, Grand Traverse, and Leelanau counties will be tested for harmful E. coli bacteria every Wednesday through September 7.

The Watershed Center Grand Traverse Bay received two substantial grants from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) Great Lakes Restoration Initiative (GLRI) and one from the Michigan Department of Natural Resources’ (MDNR) Fisheries Habitat Grant Program totaling nearly $1.3 million. These state and federal grant funds will be used to reduce stormwater inputs into Grand Traverse Bay from the Village of Northport and re-establish a woody riparian buffer and provide floodplain connection along a section of Kids Creek near Silver Lake Road in Traverse City.