When the common periwinkle population exploded in Maine in the 19th century, it literally changed the color of the coastline. The stone-colored winkles ate the orange, red and green algae that once lined the bottom of the northeastern shallows. Marine biologists have studied oil paintings from the period to try and determine the degree of this... See more

The Maumee River anchors the largest river basin in the Great Lakes watershed, and 80 percent of the land in that basin is farmland — including roughly 1700 acres of Seiler land. The tributary runs from Fort Wayne, Indiana, into Lake Erie, and farms all along its length have leached in tons and tons of phosphorus from commercial fertilizers. Lake... See more