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Strategic plan targets invasive species
The Superior Daily Telegram (11/17)
Douglas County’s Land Conservation Committee is forwarding a plan to the county board that takes aim at invasive species.

Mich. Clean Marina Program: Public-private partners work together to improve water quality
Grand Rapids Environmental News Examiner (11/9)
Partners from the public and private sector in Michigan are working together in a voluntary program to improve the quality of the Great Lakes.

Researchers seek funding for wind test site in Lake Michigan
Grand Rapids Environmental News Examiner (11/7)
In a recent article in The Muskegon Chronicle, it was reported that researchers at Grand Valley State University’s Michigan Alternative and Renewable Energy Center (MAREC) cited a lack of year-around data (on wind platform testing) needed by prospective development companies.

COMMENTARY: Senate needs to pass clean energy act to help Michigan
The Grand Rapids Press (10/26)
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid was absolutely correct with his recent proclamation about the current condition of the Great Lakes State: "The State of Michigan," Reid declared from the Senate Floor, with a copy Time Magazine in his hand, "is in trouble."

First Nation women 'walk the environmental talk'
WeNews (10/23)
Tomorrow's global day of climate activism aims for media and political attention. First Nation women have another way. Since 2003, they've walked the shoreline of a Great Lake or major river, meditating on the needs of an unborn generation.

City making big push for water school
The Business Journal (10/23)
The push is on to convince the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee that the best location for its new School of Freshwater Sciences is near the university’s existing Great Lakes Water Institute on East Greenfield Avenue.

TEACH Calendar of Events
What's going on in your neighborhood this month? Meet other people and learn together at recreational and educational events! Our new dynamic calendar is updated daily with current educational events.
TEACH Questions & Answers

Do the Great Lakes have whirlpools?
from Joshua in Dunrobin, Ontario, Age 11

Whirlpools are defined as water moving rapidly in a circle so as to produce a depression in the center into which floating objects may be drawn. A common whirlpool is seen when you pull the stopper on a sink to left water out and anything floating in the sink is drawn toward the drain.

Any body of water can have whirlpools of varying sizes...it simply depends on the movement of the water (or objects on the water) and weather conditions. For example, a brisk, swirling wind can cause small whirlpools on the lakes, just as a swirling wind can cause mini "dust funnels" to be stirred up on a dirt road. Also the waves produced by boats on the lakes can cause mini whirlpools to develop.

Thank you for your question!


Answered on April 6, 2001

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