On Wisconsin’s Lake Superior coastline, kayakers depend on information gathered by National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) buoys to assess whether the weather is suitable for a weekend paddle or whether the wind and swells pose a risk to a lake that is notorious for destroying much larger boats.
On any given day, Sheboygan surfers utilize buoys on Lake Michigan to determine whether the city is truly living up to its moniker as the Malibu of the Midwest. The buoy data is used to monitor fish populations by fishermen on the ice and along the coasts of the lakes.
NOAA data is used by freighters sailing from Duluth, Minnesota, and Superior to monitor ice cover and weather trends.
According to a 2024 NOAA assessment, Wisconsin’s maritime economy contributes around $3 billion to the state’s GDP and supports nearly 50,000 employment. However, the agency is under threats in the first month of President Donald Trump’s administration.
The two Great Lakes in the state are being studied by the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee’s School of Freshwater Sciences, UW-Madison’s Sea Grant, and UW Extension’s National Estuarine Research Reserve using funding from NOAA grant programs.
NOAA funds faculty at institutions around the state to research precipitation on the Pacific Ocean, severe droughts, and weather forecasting. NOAA pays local efforts to avoid flooding and control erosion, and also assists the state Department of Administration in managing almost 1,000 miles of shoreline. In order to preserve the plant, which is revered by the tribes and serves a significant ecological function, a prior NOAA initiative collaborated with the state’s Native American tribes to study manoomin, also known as wild rice.
Reductions at NOAA might jeopardize all of that research.
NOAA is the target of Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), which was called after an online meme of an ashiba inu, a Japanese hunting dog breed that gained popularity more than ten years ago. According to the Guardian, DOGE employees broke into NOAA’s offices in early February in order to gain access to its IT system. A week later, the site said that before speaking with foreigners, agency scientists would need to get permission from a Trump appointee. The agency has been requested to find grant projects relating to climate change.
Trump has appointed Neil Jacobs as the administrator of NOAA. Following the Sharpiegate affair, in which he and other officials pressured NOAA scientists to change forecasts regarding Hurricane Dorian in 2019, Jacobs was cited for misconduct. Taylor Jordan has been nominated by Trump to be the assistant secretary of commerce in charge of NOAA. Prior to this, Jordan was a lobbyist for private weather forecasting organizations that stood to gain from NOAA’s dissolution of the National Weather Service.
The Heritage Foundation’s Project 2025 roadmap outlined a proposed Trump administration strategy for NOAA. According to the plan, NOAA should be dismantled and many of its functions transferred to other agencies, privatized, or placed under state and territory control because it has become a major force behind the climate change alarm industry and is therefore detrimental to the prosperity of the United States in the future.
The city of Ashland depends on Lake Superior all year round, and NOAA money helps the city maintain its coastline, according to Sara Hudson, director of parks and recreation for the city. According to her, NOAA budget changes may have an impact on the city’s about $1.2 million in grant funds. The entire budget for the city in 2024–2025 is approximately $2.4 million.
“We really don’t have a lot of access to be able to do coastal resiliency or coastal management projects with the funding that Ashland has,” she adds. Therefore, in order to do more, we depend on funding. Coastal resiliency projects that support public access to a waterfront trail along Lake Superior, water quality improvement projects like the Bay City Creek project, and efforts to combat invasive species and promote native species on public lands are some examples of the projects that may be impacted, she says.
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According to Hudson, a warming climate might have catastrophic effects on Ashland’s lake-based economy, even if Trump and Musk are attempting to remove climate change research from NOAA’s mandate. If the tourism season ends in the fall, hundreds of enterprises on Lake Superior will not be able to continue.
According to Hudson, it might have disastrous economic effects on a community that depends on winter and experiences less of it each year. All twelve months of the year must see tourism. And it will truly be a turning point for us if our winters end. However, the only way our enterprises can survive here is during the winter.
Approximately 40 million people in the US and Canada rely on the Great Lakes for their drinking water. NOAA funds agencies such as the National Estuarine Research Reserve to assist ensure the health of the water.
The director of the research reserve, Deanna Erickson, adds, “We’re doing things like tracking algae blooms and changes in water quality that are really important for tourism, fishing, and drinking water.” On Lake Superior, we are addressing coastal erosion, flood emergencies, and emergency management in rural towns. NOAA provides 70% of the reserve’s operating money, which is matched by state monies. We have over a million dollars in funding for our activities, so that’s a very large economic impact here in Superior, Wisconsin.
Cuts to NOAA could have a significant impact on Great Lakes shipping, according to Eric Peace, vice president of the Ohio-based Lake Carriers Association, as the agency’s data is essential for safely crossing the lakes.
According to him, those buoys are essential to the safety of navigation on Lake Michigan since they provide real-time information on wind, waves, water temperatures, and other factors. And our captains make significant use of such to discover transit and departure locations and to avoid storms.
Given how dangerous Lake Superior may get further north, real-time water condition data are essential.
Peace, who served in the U.S. Coast Guard for more than 20 years, adds, “I was stationed on a buoy tender in Alaska, and I’d take the 30-footers that you get up there over the 10-footers you get on Lake Superior, because they’re so close together here.” They are all deadly and pushed by the wind. You have a formula for disaster when you combine that with the frosting and everything else.
Because NOAA works with the Coast Guard and a Canadian agency to monitor ice conditions on the Great Lakes, the DOGE directive for NOAA scientists to cease speaking to foreigners may have a big effect on shipping in the region.
According to Peace, that is one place where it might be harmful. The Canadians wouldn’t be able to forecast the ice. For our own sake, we would have to take full responsibility for that.
Along with senators from seven other Great Lakes states, U.S. Senator Tammy Baldwin has submitted a bipartisan bill to boost financing for the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative. NOAA is one of 12 federal agencies involved in the effort to maintain the lakes’ cleanliness. Baldwin said in a statement that she will fight against any initiatives that would endanger the Great Lakes in Wisconsin.
In an effort to find space in the budget to give their millionaire buddies a tax relief, Republicans are cutting funding for cancer research and our veterans, and now they are targeting organizations that maintain the Great Lakes clean and accessible to businesses, she added. Our Great Lakes are vital to Wisconsin residents, farmers, and industries, and I will oppose any initiatives that threaten their way of life.
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Eliot Pierce is a dedicated writer for ChiefsFocus.com, covering local crime and finance news. With a keen eye for detail and a passion for storytelling, Eliot aims to provide his readers with clear and insightful analysis, helping them navigate the complexities of their financial lives while staying informed about important local events. His commitment to delivering accurate and engaging content makes him a valuable resource for the community.