speaking of Superior

Summary of the first day of a conference on Lake Superior in Duluth:

Researchers agree the biggest threat to Lake Superior comes from people, especially the people who want to live and work close to the lake.

"The biggest threat to Lake Superior is development along the shoreline," said Swackhamer. "As we develop the shoreline, many of these chemicals of emerging concern and chemicals of emerging effects are going to be coming in from shoreline, from nearshore use. And so they're coming in from cities and development. And it's those nearshore areas that we need to be very cognizant in protecting."

Clearly, researchers agreed, there's a huge threat from global warming. A warmer climate means a warmer Lake Superior. That could be bad for coldwater fish like lake trout. It could wreak havoc with lake levels, affecting regional economies dependent on shipping. And it could even change the way Lake Superior deals with toxic chemicals like toxaphene.

http://minnesota.publicradio.org/display/web/2007/10/29/lakesuperior/