Coalition Grants Helping Groups Participate in Great Lakes Restoration Initiative

January 26 – The Healing Our Waters-Great Lakes Coalition today announced that $200,000 in grants it issued in 2010 to help local conservation groups participate in the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative has resulted in more than $1.6 million in Great Lakes Restoration Initiative funds for restoration projects—an 8-to-1 return on investment.

The $200,000 in coalition grants also led to an additional $4.2 million in state, federal and private funds to support restoration work.

RESTORE Act critical to helping Gulf Coast in aftermath of Gulf oil disaster

January 26 – According to some estimates, BP could face as much as $20 billion in fines from the Clean Water Act for its responsibility in the Gulf oil disaster of 2010. Environmental advocates and organizations say the proposed RESTORE Act is essential to put fine money directly to work in restoring the Gulf Coast.

The RESTORE Act (Resources and Ecosystems Sustainability, Tourist Opportunity and Revived Economics of the Gulf States Act of 2011) will invest 80 percent of fines by BP and other parties directly in areas affects by the disaster.

Energy Plays Major Role in President Obama’s 2012 State of the Union

January 25 – President Obama delivered his State of the Union address on Tuesday night, asking Congress to extend tax credits for renewable energy and to end tax giveaways for oil companies that are already turning massive profits.

“The National Wildlife Federation’s 4 million supporters from across the political spectrum want clean energy and they want leaders who’ll face down special interests to deliver it,” said Larry Schweiger, president and CEO of the National Wildlife Federation. “Coming off a year in 2011 that saw global warming-fueled extreme weather cause record damage, action on clean energy is more critically needed than ever.”

And here are highlights from NWF in the News:

• Houston Chronicle: State rebuffs bid for Brazos River rights
• The Times-Picayune: Master plan for coastal restoration gives hope
• Public News Service:

  1. “Green School” Movement Blossoming in Texas
  2. FL Wildlife Federation Pushing State Restoration Act
  3. Study: Lake Erie a Comfortable Place for a Menacing Species 

For more, visit www.nwf.org/News

Sleeping Bear Dunes | Credit: Jennifer Janssen, NWF

“Before we eat,” the host will announce, “I’d like to go around the table and have everyone say what they are thankful for this year.”

The collective gulp is almost audible.

I know this to be true because I’ve been guilty in the past of subjecting my Thanksgiving Dinner guests to this unique form of torture.

The first person facing the question gets off easy.

“I’m thankful for my family,” he or she will say. Everyone will nod in agreement.

Others will express gratitude for having a job, devoted friends or an adoring pet.

Before long, hungry guests desperate for an answer that won’t offend friends or relatives are offering thanks for such trivial things as the weather.

Great Lakes Thanks for Thanksgiving

In anticipation of the Thanksgiving Dinner interrogation, I’m offering up a list of things I am thankful for in 2011. This list focuses on the Great Lakes because I live in the Great Lakes basin and I write about issues facing the lakes.

Besides, I’m pretty sure none of my relatives will beat me to the punch with any of these offerings. (Feel free to use any of these to shock or awe your friends and relatives).

With all due respect to family, friends and employers, here are three things I am thankful for in 2011.

• The Great Lakes and, more specifically, Lake Michigan.These wondrous lakes slake my thirst, offer countless recreational opportunities and provide respite from the grind of life.

• Ongoing efforts to restore the Great Lakes, which are yielding tremendous benefits. Congress and President Obama over the past two years have approved $775 million for the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative. The GLRI, along with other Great Lakes programs, are cleaning up toxic hot spots, reducing polluted storm water runoff, restoring wetlands and bolstering fish and wildlife populations. One of the most dramatic examples is in Lake Ontario, where wild Atlantic salmon are spawning naturally again in rivers. The salmon, which are native to Lake Ontario and its tributaries, were sustained for years by hatcheries. The Wall Street Journal recently published a fine article about the lake’s Atlantic salmon recovery.

• A filthy coal-fired power plant near Chicago will be shut down in 2012, two years ahead of schedule. The Chicago Tribune reported that Dominion Resources would close its State Line Power Plant, which is visible from the Chicago Skyway, instead of making the huge investment needed to reduce air pollution at the facility. The power plant is one of the nation’s worst air polluters, according to the Tribune. Closing the facility will mean cleaner air for everyone downwind; it will also be another step toward reducing America’s reliance on fossil fuels that contribute to global warming and cause asthma and other lung ailments for millions of Americans. Clean air — it’s as American as Mom and apple pie.

So there you have it. I’m off to visit family for a day of food, fellowship and football.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Since human settlement in the region, Great Lakes wetlands have vanished as they are converted to agricultural land or other types of development.

As a response to declining water quality in the area the community of western Lake Erie is collaborating to bring their filters back. One step towards doing so is to rehabilitate wetlands adjacent to Lake Erie.

This field of weeds and grasses will soon become rich, diverse wetlands. Photo by Melinda Koslow, 2011.

The Great Lakes Restoration Initiative(GLRI), an investment to restore the Great Lakes, provides the means.

This GLRI project near the Ottawa Wildlife Refuge in Ohio is now set to rehabilitate 300+ acres of wetlands from fallow agricultural fields.

Since these fields are no longer used to farm, as they lie unused they act more like “tubs” and “drains” than “filters.”

This green color indicates nutrient pollution. Photo by Melinda Koslow, 2011.

When a large rain event happens (as they more often do) nutrients such as fertilizer and other debris from nearby farms or yards get carried by the rain and directly into Lake Erie.

A site manager on the project said:

The heavy rains we are experiencing in the springtime drain muck right out of the fields and into Lake Erie.

Algal in blooms Lake Erie. Photo by S. Bihn, 2011.

The health of Lake Erie and its community of people and wildlife pay the price. Algal blooms caused by nutrient pollution encourage the growth of harmful bacteria such as E.coli and Salmonella.

See the National Wildlife Federation report, Feast and Famine, to learn more about this issue.

Restored wetlands resulting from this project will provide cleaner water and beaches, and also habitat for numerous species of shorebirds, hawks, ducks, bald eagles, fish like walleye and perch, turtles, frogs and land mammals.

These photos show the Before. I am looking forward to posting the During and especially the After, likely including some bird and turtle sightings!

This blog is the first in a series to track this and other restoration projects throughout the Great Lakes region.

To learn more about Great Lakes ecosystems and how you can help visit the Great Lakes Regional Center.

Participants learn web-based tools. Photo by Melinda Koslow.

The Great Lakes, often referred to as our nation’s third coast, has as much coastal shoreline as the Atlantic coast of the United States. The diversity of wildlife habitat is unlike anywhere else in the world.

Why is this workshop important?

The Great Lakes region is currently experiencing climate change impacts like warmer air and water temperatures, decline of lake ice, and increased heavy events of snow and rain. More of these impacts, along with some unexpected surprises, await us in the future. Actions to integrate these impacts and potential surprises into conservation efforts today and into the future will greatly enhance wildlife survival.

Participants discuss many topics like invasive species management. Photo by Melinda Koslow

Who attended the workshop?

Professionals who work in conservation and restoration of wildlife habitat in the Great Lakes. They represent states, tribal nations, governmental and non-governmental organizations.

What did they learn?

Participants learned strategies and tools for applying climate change impacts to actions that control invasive species, restore toxic hot-spots, expand habitat for fish and birds and manage agricultural watersheds. They also had “hands-on” training on web-based tools such as Climate Wizard, CAKE, and NOAA’s CanVis.

What does coastal habitat conservation look like in the “real world?”

Participants at Erie Marsh Coastal Wetland Restoration site. Photo by Melinda Koslow.

Participants visited two Great Lakes Restoration Initiative-funded sites on Lake Erie to see what coastal habitat conservation in a changing climate looks like.

These sites represent one of the largest marshes on Lake Erie and rare and unique lakeland prairie.

Erie marsh is on the western edge of Lake Erie. Photo by Melinda Koslow.

Restoring these sites will enhance habitat for waterfowl, raptors, turtles, beaver, shorebirds and songbirds, fish to name a few – plus will enhance the habitat of Lake Erie itself.

Restoration professionals at the site explained their plans for dealing with climate change impacts such as lake level decline and warmer air temperatures and also discussed how this restoration will protect people from climate change impacts by acting as a buffer from large rain storms and as a filter for better water quality.

Participants also had a chance to provide input into the upcoming National Climate Assessment. You can too as this assessment is intended to provide the latest climate change information for all of us!

To learn more about ecological restoration in a changing climate, see National Wildlife Federation’s guide Restoring the Great Lakes Coastal Future.

This workshop is part of a National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) series of workshops focused on strategies and tools for coastal habitat conservation, restoration, and management, in a changing climate. Support for this workshop was provided by the NOAA Climate Program Office, Office of Habitat Conservation, and Great Lakes Regional Collaboration Team.

To learn more about this workshop please visit the Joint Office for Science Support.

Canoeing in the Great Lakes. Image: Shutterstock

Growing up swimming in the clear, cool water of Lake Superior I was blissfully unaware that the Great Lakes were under attack. I had a pretty good grasp of environmental issues  in my hometown – I knew why we didn’t eat the fish I caught with my dad near our house, and I knew which plants in our yard weren’t welcome, but my exposure to the Great Lakes was limited to the remote (and seemingly pristine) areas my family visited on vacation.

It wasn’t until I was in college that I learned about things like toxic algal blooms, aquatic invasive species, and the dramatic effects of climate change.

My work at NWF’s Great Lakes Regional Center has taught me so much more about current threats to the Great Lakes, but more importantly, about what groups across the region are doing to protect a resource that 30 million people depend on for their drinking water. Programs like the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative are making sure that restoration projects are happening in the areas where they are most needed.

Great Lakes projects are producing results in communities around the region. But there is more to do. This is where the Healing Our Waters – Great Lakes Coalition (HOW) steps in.  Co-chaired by NWF, the HOW Coalition brings together more than 115 organizations across the region that share the common goal of restoring and protecting the Great Lakes. The Coalition is working to insure that the nation robustly funds Great Lakes programs – and that local groups can successfully participate in restoration efforts. Recently the HOW Coalition announced $115,000 in grants among nine organizations to help them prepare and apply for larger GLRI grants.

These grants, of up to $15,000 each, are given to groups in five geographic priority areas: The St. Louis River and St. Louis Bay in Lake Superior; the waters of Lake Michigan in the Chicagoland area; Lake Huron’s Saginaw Bay; western Lake Erie and eastern Lake Ontario. These areas suffer from some of the most severe problems plaguing the Great Lakes, but also show great potential to be restored. The grants will help to jumpstart projects that are key to improving conditions for both wildlife and people who depend on the Great Lakes.

The Great Lakes face many threats: sewage contamination fouls beaches, habitat destruction erodes water quality, Asian carp threaten to devastate the ecosystem, waters warm due to climate change, and toxic pollution persists across the region. Yet we know that we have solutions — projects like those funded by the HOW Coalition are significant victories in a larger struggle. They are important steps towards accomplishing an enormous and necessary goal. Projects like these that remind me that we are making progress in protecting and restoring the Great Lakes for future generations.

Read the list of 2011 HOW Implementation Grants

Join us in October for the 7^th Annual Great Lakes Restoration Conference hosted by the Healing Our Waters – Great Lakes Coalition in Detroit, Michigan!

“I could see from my house that the river was on fire,” Hartig said. “I couldn’t understand why.”

It was only fitting that Hartig would devote his career to improving Great Lakes water quality and eventually write a book about four rivers in the region that caught fire.

John Hartig

Hartig’s book, “Burning Rivers: Revival of Four Urban-Industrial Rivers that Caught on Fire,” was released earlier this year. It explores the causes and consequences of blazes on four Great Lakes rivers: The Buffalo, Chicago, Cuyahoga and Rouge rivers.

Hartig wrote from personal and professional experience: In addition to growing up near the lakes, he has spent 30 years studying the Great Lakes as a limnologist. He has written or co-authored more than 100 publications about the lakes and currently manages the Detroit International Wildlife Refuge, along the Detroit River.

Although “Burning Rivers” recounts some of America’s worst environmental assaults, it delivers a message of hope.

“I thought it was important for people to know just how much has been accomplished since the worst of days, celebrate that and then explore what remains to be done for these rivers,” Hartig said. “The recovery of these rivers has been pretty amazing.”

His book dispels is the widely held belief that that the Cuyahoga River, in Cleveland, was the only Great Lakes river to catch fire in the 1960s. The Buffalo and Rouge also ignited in the ’60s; the Chicago River repeatedly caught fire a century ago.

The lack of strong environmental regulations and America’s growth as an industrial superpower took a devastating toll on rivers. Nowhere was the abuse more acute than in the Great Lakes region, where abundant water helped build the implements of a modern society and then absorbed the toxic leftovers.

By the 1960s, sections of the Buffalo River were devoid of fish. Parts of the Rouge River had no oxygen, a condition that caused the river to release noxious hydrogen sulfide gas into the air.

“Even carp couldn’t live in the Rouge,” Hartig said.

Today, all four rivers support multiple species of fish, mammals and birds.

Despite dramatic improvements in all four rivers, the job is far from complete: Toxic sediments remain a serious problem; storm water runoff from paved areas carries huge quantities of filth to the rivers; many species of fish are contaminated with industrial toxins; and sewer overflows routinely foul waterways with untreated human and industrial waste.

Hartig said programs like the Great Lakes Legacy Act and Great Lakes Restoration Initiative have greatly accelerated efforts to restore the lakes and their connecting waters. But in an era of government budget cuts, he said community groups, nonprofit organizations and universities must be vigilant to ensure that Great Lakes restoration programs don’t fall by the wayside.

Efforts to restore the Great Lakes are far from complete and much work remains to make the Rouge, Chicago, Cuyahoga and Buffalo rivers fishable, swimmable and drinkable at all times.

Still, Hartig said the recovery of those rivers over the past four decades should provide hope for others.

“If these four rivers can be revived and made into community assets, there is hope for all rivers and all people working to restore them,” he said.

That’s why it is good to remind yourself, from time to time, that a small army of people is working diligently to restore the Great Lakes.

From Duluth to the St. Lawrence River, individuals, nonprofit organizations, government agencies, researchers and private engineering firms are working on projects that will make the Great Lakes healthier now and in the future. Learn more here.

Those efforts are paying off.

Millions of pounds of toxic mud has been removed from Great Lakes harbors in recent years, thousands of acres of coastal wetlands have been restored and cities are (slowly) reducing sewage overflows.

Heck, whitefish and lake sturgeon are thriving in the Detroit River. That’s pretty remarkable, considering the enormous abuse humans inflicted on that river over the past century.

And what about Lake Erie, which Time magazine declared “dead” in the 1960s? Lake Erie has made a tremendous recovery over the past four decades and now produces more fish each year than the other four Great Lakes combined.

In the coming months, I’ll feature several Great Lakes restoration success stories on this blog.

This is not me viewing the Great Lakes through rose-colored glasses. I realize that all of the lakes still suffer from a myriad of costly, vexing problems.  And there are menacing threats on the horizon, such as Asian carp.

But it’s important to remember in this era of 24-hour, gloom and doom news that good things are happening in the Great Lakes. There are dozens of projects underway that are improving water quality, restoring fish and wildlife habitat and, in general, making the lakes healthier.

That is something to celebrate the next time you enjoy a summer day on these glorious waters.

The $10 million shoreline restoration project on Muskegon Lake will generate more than $66 million in economic benefits, according to a new study. That’s a 6-to-1 return on investment over a 10-year period, according to the study by Grand Valley State University economics professor Paul Isely.

The project will bring about the removal of 180,000 tons of unnatural fill from the lake, restore several miles of shoreline habitat and advance efforts to heal one of the region’s most abused waterways.

Sure, the work will make Muskegon Lake more hospitable to birds, fish and humans. But it will also bolster the economy of a community that has been hit hard by the national recession.

On a broader scale, the Muskegon Lake project highlights the tremendous economic benefits that can be realized by removing toxic mud from Great Lakes harbors, restoring wetlands and fighting invasive species. It also underscores the need for Congress to fully fund President Obama’s Great Lakes Restoration Initiative.

Congress this year reduced funding for the GLRI from $475 million to $300 million; it was one of many federal programs affected by sweeping budget cuts.

Congress will soon consider how much money to allocate to the GLRI in fiscal 2012.

The Muskegon Lake project should prove to skeptics in Congress that restoring the Great Lakes does much more than protect pubic health and improve fish and wildlife habitat.

The GVSU study found that restoring Muskegon Lake would generate a $12 million increase in property values and up to $600,000 in new tax revenues annually. It also will result in an annual increase of more than $1 million in new recreational spending and nearly 65,000 new visitors to Muskegon Lake annually.

An earlier study by the Brookings Institution found that every $1 spent on Great Lakes restoration creates $2 in economic benefits.

Keep those figures in mind the next time someone questions the value of protecting and restoring North America’s freshwater seas. Challenge the skeptics to identify any other federal program that produces a 6-to-1 return on investment while protecting a resource that provides drinking water for 25 million people and fuels one of the world’s largest regional economies.

Sewer overflows like this one near Chicago are common in the Great Lakes. (Alliance for the Great Lakes photo)

Chicago may be the new poster child for failing sewer systems in the Great Lakes basin.

The Chicago Tribune reported this week that the city’s Deep Tunnel System, a $3 billion project that was supposed to halt the discharge of untreated sewage into Lake Michigan, has failed to do the job.

Between 2007 and 2010, Chicago dumped nearly 19 BILLION gallons of untreated sewage mixed with storm water into Lake Michigan. The lake happens to be the source of drinking water for 7 million people in the greater Chicago area.

Ick!

The problem is that Chicago, like many other Great Lakes cities, captures rainwater and sanitary sewage in combined sewer pipes.

When it rains, the resulting stormwater can overwhelm sewage treatment facilities. Cities respond by dumping the bacteria-laden mix of stormwater and untreated sewage into the nearest surface water to prevent the filth from backing up in basements and flooding streets.

These combined sewer overflows, known as CSOs, are a threat to human health and a blatant violation of the Federal Clean Water Act.

Sadly, they are also quite common.

A 2010 National Wildlife Federation study found that Great Lakes cities discharged 41 billion gallons of untreated sewage and storm water into the lakes in 2009 (Chicago and Detroit were among the worst offenders). That volume equals the amount of water that flows over Niagara Falls over the course of 18 hours.

Federal officials are now investigating Chicago’s repeated sewer overflows.

The focus on Chicago’s sewer overflows comes as President Obama and Congress are considering deep funding cuts to the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative. The initiative is part of a burgeoning effort to restore the lakes, a magnificent natural resource that contains 20 percent of all surface freshwater on the planet.

Cutting funding for the GLRI at a time when Chicago and other cities need federal help to upgrade inadequate sewer systems makes no sense.

How can we expect to restore the Great Lakes if the cities that line their shores continue to use these wondrous lakes as sewers every time it rains hard?

The president’s 2012 budget, released Monday, contained $350 million for the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative — a reduction of $125 million from the 2010 budget of $475 million and an increase of $50 million from the amount the president requested for the 2011 budget.

The president’s 2012 budget comes as the U.S. House of Representatives debates a continuing resolution to complete the current 2011 budget. The continuing resolution provides $225 million for the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative — a reduction of $250 million from 2010 levels.

Congress needs to complete a 2011 budget by March 4, at which time the current continuing resolution expires.

Bottom line: Now is not the time for the president to reduce funding for the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative. The situation is even more distressing in Congress, where funding for the GLRI could be slashed by more than half this year.

This despite the fact that the GLRI has been widely hailed as kick-starting the nation’s effort to restore the Great Lakes, which continue to suffer from toxic pollutants, invasive species and the loss of fish and wildlife habitat. The lakes also face the growing threat of an Asian carp invasion.

The Healing Our Waters-Great Lakes Coalition has consistently advocated for the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative to be funded at $475 million since it was introduced in 2009 and will continue to do so. National Wildlife Federation co-chairs the coalition.

Protecting the Great Lakes is a national priority: The lakes are the foundation of the world’s third largest regional economy, support a $7 billion fishery and provide drinking water for more than 30 million people.

The president and Congress should treat the Great Lakes like a national jewel when considering funding for the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative.