WBEZ 91.5 Chicago

Changing climate in the Great Lakes region is driving native species out of national parks along the Great Lakes, according to a report published Wednesday by the Rocky Mountain Climate Organization and the National Resources Defense Council.

Back in the 19th century, Chicago had a problem: Its river went the wrong way, washing sewage into its drinking water supply in Lake Michigan, spreading diseases like cholera and dysentery. The solution sounded crazy: turn the river around.

Editor's note: This story was produced by Interlochen Public Radio.For twenty years now state and federal governments have been trying to restore wild lake trout in Lake Michigan. Lake trout are native to the Great Lakes and were once the big game fish in all the lakes.

The gravel in your driveway, the steel in your car, and the coal that produced electricity for your home may well have spent time on a Great Lakes freighter on its way to you.

Let’s say you’re the captain of a ship tied up at one of dozens of ports along the St.

For more than a half-century tourism has been big business around the Great Lakes. For many small towns in the north, the entire economy can depend on visitors coming for two months out of the year.