Science elicits hope, joy depending on the audience

The IJC Science Advisory Board is developing a decadal science strategy to address aging infrastructure, workforce shortages, and emerging threats through a collaborative, basin-wide plan.

A groundbreaking experiment at IISD Experimental Lakes Area shows that trained detection dogs can locate oil spills under ice with 100% accuracy, offering a rapid and cost-effective solution for winter response.

The LEARN program demonstrates how meaningful collaboration between researchers and management professionals in Ohio fosters trust, adaptive monitoring, and hope for freshwater futures.

Long-term monitoring of wetlands in Ontario reveals that while secondary invasions occur after Phragmites control, native plant communities eventually recover, highlighting the importance of sustained monitoring and collaboration.

Research from the Freshwater Restoration Ecology Centre explores how soft-release strategies can mitigate transport stress and improve survival rates for reintroduced lake sturgeon in the Great Lakes.

New lead editor Margaret Docker discusses the future of the Journal of Great Lakes Research, emphasizing community, peer review integrity, and the value of society journals amidst changing publishing landscapes.

A coalition of partners is reintroducing Arctic grayling to Michigan streams using streamside incubators to ensure imprinting, reconnecting Anishinaabe people with their cultural heritage.

After nearly 70 years of effort, native lake trout populations have been fully restored in Lake Superior, marking a major conservation triumph through sea lamprey control and stocking.

Submerged sinkholes in the Great Lakes harbor unique, biodiverse microbial mats that offer insights into early Earth life and potential pharmaceutical compounds, representing hidden refugia of hope.

A citizen science program engages volunteers to document sucker fish migration, revealing temperature as the primary trigger and demonstrating the power of public engagement in fish conservation.

A Keweenaw Bay Indian Community climate study shows that despite challenges, climate impacts are strengthening cultural knowledge transmission and community bonds, offering a path forward for Indigenous-led research.

A piece reflecting on the theme of hope in the face of scientific challenges, emphasizing the role of storytelling and collaboration in sustaining the Great Lakes research community.

An EPA postdoctoral fellow, Molly Wick studies cultural ecosystem services along Great Lakes.

A Ph.D. candidate at Bowling Green State University, Julia Obuya uses molecular techniques to study harmful algal blooms, translating complex data into actionable strategies for communities in Africa and North America.

A Purdue master's student studying alewife in Lake Michigan, Anna Hill bridges the gap between scientific research and community stakeholders to make fish ecology findings accessible to anglers and the public.