While less heralded than its national park system, the United States abounds in waterfront treasures that are part of the national seashore and lakeshore program. The latest TipSheet takes you on a guided tour of more than a dozen, from barrier islands and dunes to tidepools and turtles. Plus, a half-dozen reporting ideas for your own region.
"Flooding across northern Michigan last month pushed rivers to record levels, testing the limits of the state’s aging dams so severely that officials in one city nearly ordered evacuations as water threatened to spill over the top of a key barrier — a close call that highlights the growing risk that intensifying storms pose to similar infrastructure around the country."
"Thousands of Milwaukee children are growing up with poison in their blood. It courses through their veins, cements in their bones and threatens to rob them of impulse control, learning ability and physical health."
"In a little-noticed memo early last year, Illinois scientists made a dire prediction." "Blamed in part on climate change, the threat of water ponding in your yard or your basement is growing, a Sun-Times/WBEZ investigation has found, putting health, homes at risk."
"A unanimous Supreme Court ruling clears the way for state court proceedings in the decades-long dispute over the pipeline crossing between Lakes Michigan and Huron."
"Residents proved their tap water carries sewage and bacteria. Federal funding dried up anyway."
"Federal energy regulators have ordered immediate inspections of the Cheboygan Dam powerhouse and other Michigan dams that faced the risk of failure in this month’s historic flooding. Separately, state officials said they plan to inspect dams under their oversight to check for damage from the high waters that nearly overtook several impoundments last week amid spring snowmelt and heavy rains."
"An Ohio bill would require the state replace all lead service lines, but some statewide organizations worry about the costs associated with the bill."
"Wolves on a remote island in Lake Superior appear to be thriving, but they’re making deep dents in the moose population that they rely on as a leading food source, according to a report released Monday."
SEJournal is providing full coverage of all eight of the day-long tours from the annual Society of Environmental Journalists’ conference, April 15-18, in Chicago. In Part 2, contributors Meg Duff, Nathaniel Eisen, Nhung Nguyen and Marlowe Starling provide detailed reports from tours focused on the transitioning steel industry, microgrids, climate-friendly crop practices and evolving Midwestern agricultural systems.
Also check out the first round of tour coverage and read all the great work from our team of early-career freelance journalists, part of SEJournal’s live #SEJ2026 Live conference reporting.
