Governor Whitmer’s Budget Proposes Major New Funding for Water Priorities
FLOW is reacting positively to the funding for water priorities unveiled in Governor Whitmer’s FY24 budget proposal.
Blog Posts
Blog posts by FLOW team and guest writers
Michigan DNR Sets Feb. 8 Deadline for Public to Comment on Proposed Camp Grayling Expansion
Feb. 2, 2023 Update: DNR will accept public comment on proposed Camp Grayling expansion through 5 p.m. on Feb. 8, 2023 The Michigan Department of Natural Resources announced today it will continue to accept public comment through 5 p.m., Wednesday, Feb. 8, on the National Guard’s proposed expansion of its Camp Grayling training facility to… Read more »
From Wastelands to Wetlands: Once Condemned, Now Celebrated
World Wetlands Day, celebrated annually on February 2, is not only an opportune time to appreciate these special ecosystems, but also to understand why we destroyed so many until recently. Michiganders especially need to know this history, and what residents of the Great Lakes State can do to write new chapters in the understanding and… Read more »
How Are We Using Great Lakes Water and Groundwater?
Above: Watershed art by Glenn Wolff. By Bob Otwell, FLOW Board member A Great Lakes water use report recently released by the Great Lakes Commission provides an important snapshot of the kinds and volumes of water withdrawals in the region. The report found that an average 37.5 billion gallons of water per day were withdrawn… Read more »
What U.S. and Canada Won’t Say in the ‘State of the Great Lakes’ Reports
Above: The cover of the State of the Great Lakes Report 2022 published by the Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy’s Office of the Great Lakes. Reading the two State of the Great Lakes reports published last year— one by the Canadian and U.S. governments and one by the Michigan Department of Environment,… Read more »
Keep Michigan’s Water Affordable and in Public Hands
Photo: Liz Kirkwood is Executive Director of FLOW (For Love Of Water), the Great Lakes law and policy center based in Traverse City, Michigan. Reach her at liz@flowforwater.org. Editor’s note: The following op-ed originally appeared Jan. 17, 2023, in Bridge Michigan. Michigan is a water wonderland — think Great Lakes, 36,000 miles of rivers and… Read more »
Opinion // Keep Michigan water affordable and in public hands
By: Liz Kirkwood, Executive Director January 17, 2023 // Bridge Michigan Michigan is a water wonderland — think Great Lakes, 36,000 miles of rivers and streams, groundwater that supplies 45 percent of our state with drinking water, and more than 6 million acres of wetlands. But these waters face a daunting array of challenges, everything… Read more »
FLOW on the Go in Traverse City
Look for FLOW’s motif and mottos in motion around northwest Michigan’s Grand Traverse Region right now and in the months ahead thanks to the generosity of Andrew Kohlmann and his creative and professional Image360 – Traverse City team. Image360 has partnered with the Bay Area Public Transportation Authority on an initiative to provide free traveling… Read more »
Michigan Coastal Research Reserve Would Boost Science, Attract Visitors
Above: Maps of the collection of drowned river mouths encompassed in the proposed West Michigan coastal research reserve along Lake Michigan from the St. Joseph River north to the Platte River. (Graphic/Megan Mader) Michigan would get its first site in a national estuarine research reserve program if the federal government embraces a proposal submitted by… Read more »
Veteran Great Lakes Advocate and Author Explores Letting Rivers ‘Meander’ in Latest Book
What is the “physical integrity” of the Great Lakes ecosystem and why does it matter? In her latest book, Meander: Making Room for Rivers, Margaret Wooster, former director of Great Lakes United and resident of Buffalo, New York, answers the question. Physical integrity is one of three recovery targets in the Great Lakes Water Quality… Read more »
