Author: Great Lakes Commission

The Forest Service is awarding $6.28 million in grants to support restoration projects on nonfederal lands in Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, New York, Ohio, and Wisconsin. In all, 38 projects are funded through this year’s GLRI competitive grant program in partnership with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. 

As a result of this Forest Service grant program, over 1 million trees have been planted on nonfederal lands in the past decade—intercepting an estimated 18.5 million gallons of stormwater runoff per year and contributing to the restoration of an estimated 19,300 acres of land. 

This year’s grantees will plant 107,620 trees, which will intercept stormwater to reduce runoff that can pollute water bodies and cause flooding. Grants will also mitigate forest insect and disease impacts with over 3,000 acres of reforestation and support local partnerships to treat 1,790 acres for nonnative invasive plants and survey 111,130 acres for new infestations. 

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Originally from the southeastern U.S., the red swamp crayfish has become an unwelcomed world traveler. These invasive crayfish are highly aggressive and mobile. Here in the U.S., they are commonly spread by unsuspecting aquarium-hobbyists or biology teachers releasing the unwanted pet into their backyard ponds and rivers. 

In 2017, the red swamp crayfish initially found its first Michigan home in a hotel retention pond. The Michigan Department of Natural Resources spent three years trapping and removing more than 100,000 crayfish from the pond without reaching eradication. Michigan has been trying to control booming populations of invasive red swamp crayfish for six years, and intensive efforts have only made a dent in their numbers. 

U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is partnering with Michigan DNR, Michigan State University, Auburn University and the U.S. Geological Survey to develop invasive crayfish control technologies. Serving as a hub for innovative eradication techniques, the GLRI-funded partnership creates a direct research-to-management pathway. 

Efforts to control red swamp crayfish have included daily trapping, filling burrows, sound baiting, biological predation control, and X-ray sterilization, among other efforts. All these approaches take a significant amount of time, money and scientific expertise. The team is excited to be developing techniques that bypass trapping and culling all together. They hope to find the most efficient and effective methods of management. 

If red swamp crayfish numbers were to spiral out of control, their effects would be devastating to our waters. Red swamp crayfish are more aggressive than native crayfish, outcompeting them for food and space. The invasive is quick to disperse and has more stamina to travel. Furthermore, unlike native species, the invasive’s burrowing habits are so intense they can collapse underground infrastructure as the sediments supporting piping shift and erode. Their burrows form unwanted drainage from wetlands. 

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Shiawassee National Wildlife Refuge has undergone a dramatic transformation over the past decade, thanks to funding from the GLRI. Habitat restorations have reconnected rivers that were cut off from diked floodplains for more than 100 years. The refuge is the site of a 1,000-acre wetland restoration project, which aims to provide high-quality habitat for wildlife and cleaner water. 

“We have worked hard to prove this is a coastal system,” said Eric Dunton, a U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service refuge biologist for the past 13 years. “Despite being 20 miles in-land, the Shiawassee Flats are directly connected to Saginaw Bay and the southern end of Lake Huron.” 

Michigan’s lower peninsula is famously mitten-shaped, thanks to Saginaw Bay. Twenty miles south of the bay lies the refuge’s impressive 10,000-acre grassland and wetland complex. That complex is part of a larger area called the Shiawassee Flats, which act like a giant funnel where the Cass, Tittabawassee, Shiawassee, and Flint rivers all converge in this low-lying area. 

The flats include the national wildlife refuge, the state game refuge, and surrounding wetland complexes. They serve as an important migratory stopover for tens of thousands of waterbirds. Fish, amphibians and other wildlife also rely on the habitat for breeding grounds, and the area is well known as a recreational paradise for bird watchers, anglers and hunters. 

Dunton has been working with partners to assist in surveys to better understand the fisheries population of the Saginaw River. U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the U.S. Geological Survey, and the University of Michigan School of Natural Resources and Environment have partnered to determine how many fish are in the river and are moving into the refuge. Using sonar detection, the partners have been able to see how many fish are passing through the system. This allows scientists to better understand how aquatic species use the coastal marsh, which is critical to understanding the next steps in the refuge restoration. 

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To support the ongoing battle to reduce the destructiveness of invasive carp and the threats they pose to the Great Lakes, the Invasive Carp Regional Coordinating Committee today announced the release of its annual Invasive Carp Action Plan for 2024. Species addressed through the Action Plan include bighead carp, silver carp, grass carp and black carp.

This year, 45 collaborative projects are being supported through $47.4 million, including $26.4 million in agency funding and $21.0 million through the GLRI. Work conducted through the Action Plan helps protect the Great Lakes recreational and commercial fishery which is valued at almost $7 billion annually.

The 2024 Action Plan projects are focused on:

• Preventing the introduction of silver carp and bighead carp into the Great Lakes.
• Developing hydrologic barriers to block other potential migration pathways into the Great Lakes.
• Preventing grass carp from becoming established in the Great Lakes.
• Assessing black carp to inform new management strategies, with a focus on the lower Illinois River.
• Interagency information-sharing and coordination on project progress, emerging needs and preparedness planning. 

Read the full announcement.

The United States Geological Survey (USGS) announces the availability of a new online, interactive water-quality dashboard for 24 major U.S. tributaries to the Great Lakes. The dashboard provides map and graphical displays of estimated loads and trends of phosphorus, nitrogen, and sediment for the period 2011 to 2020. This information is being used to evaluate ongoing progress toward the nutrient reduction goals of the GLRI and the Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement (GLWQA) with Canada. The dashboard will be regularly updated as new data become available.

This effort is jointly funded by the USGS National Groundwater and Streamflow Information Program and the GLRI. For any questions or technical assistance needs, please contact the USGS project lead, Matt Diebel (mdiebel@usgs.gov), or the USGS Great Lakes Program Coordinator, Jon Hortness (hortness@usgs.gov).

With funding from the GLRI and H2Ohio, Toledo Public Schools and the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency led two events to help restore Hill Ditch, a tributary of the Ottawa River within the Maumee Area of Concern (AOC). Hill Ditch restoration project partners include the U.S. EPA, Toledo Public Schools, the Mannik and Smith Group, Metroparks Toledo, Geo Gradel Co., GEI Consultants, and Partners for Clean Streams. 

Ohio EPA coordinated a live stake harvesting event with Toledo Public School Natural Science Technology Center (ANSAT) students. During the event at Wiregrass Lake Metropark, students harvested dormant branches of Willow and Red Osier Dogwood trees for replanting as part of a habitat restoration project nearby in the Maumee AOC. The students cut, trimmed, and bundled 525 stakes to be installed at the Hill Ditch project site. Three days later, students assisted with the live stake planting, where they planted about 400 of the harvested stakes directly into the soil. These stakes will root a few weeks after planting and will eventually grow into new trees. 

Hill Ditch is a newly re-routed tributary stream of the Ottawa River, which ultimately flows into Maumee Bay and Lake Erie. These new plantings will help stabilize the stream banks and improve the riparian and aquatic habitat in the restored portion of the stream, which flows through the ANSAT campus. By stabilizing the stream banks, the willow and dogwood trees will not only help keep the soil in place but can also reduce the amount of phosphorous and nutrients entering the waterway that can ultimately contribute to harmful algal blooms in Maumee Bay. The harvest and planting events were unique opportunities for ANSAT students to learn about restoration ecology, bioengineering, and to gain hands-on experience with ecosystem restoration practices. Future students will also benefit from this project as part of learning exercises for their courses at ANSAT, where they will be able to study this restoration project as it matures.

To learn more about these events and the Hill Ditch restoration, watch news coverage from WTOL-Channel 11(YouTube) featuring the project.
 

Outside of Detroit, a city renowned for its vibrant culture and rich history, a unique program named the Detroit River Youth Fishing Team (DRYFT) has been making waves. The DRYFT story is one of community, strength and the transformative power of nature. It began as a collaborative effort with organizations like the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Girl Scouts of America, Detroit Outdoors, and various local schools and community groups. DRYFT’s primary goals were to serve traditionally underserved communities, connect people to their local watershed, teach the importance of native versus invasive species, and foster an awareness of how human activities affect water quality. 

The GLRI-funded program has two aspects:

• Learn to Fish Experience: Youth learned to set up their fishing poles, understand their tackle boxes and then try fishing. This hands-on approach culminated in each participant taking home their gear, igniting a potential lifelong hobby.
• A Day in the Life of a Fisheries Biologist: This program delved into career pathways, fish identification and practical fieldwork, enabling participants to step into the shoes of a fisheries biologist for a day. Uniquely, our agency’s refuges and fisheries programs worked together to create this program, with participants learning alongside a fisheries biologist and park ranger.

Participants were from Hamtramck High School, Cesar Chavez Academy and local Girl Scouts. Each brought their unique background and perspective but shared a common curiosity about fish and wildlife. 

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Kane Dairy LLC in Denmark, Wisconsin is well-known in Brown County for their progressive conservation practices. Tim Kane and his wife, Carla, bought the Kane family farm from Tim’s dad in 1988 and have since implemented many conservation practices on their ever-growing operation with financial and technical assistance from Natural Resource Conservation Service programs. 

The 3000-acre dairy and grain operation supports nearly 900 head of dairy cattle and hosts local producers for demonstrations, funded by the GLRI Lower Fox Demonstration Farm Network (“Fox Demo Farms”), showcasing the viability of their conservation practices. 

Over the past decade, Kane Dairy has become almost entirely a no-till operation and has led the way in their community with new agronomic technologies that improve soil and water quality in Brown County. The implementation of conservation has become a family tradition as Tim and Carla’s three children, Pat, Rachel, and Jennifer, have become more involved in the day-to-day operation of Kane Dairy.

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The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and its federal partners are seeking input from the public on the draft Great Lakes Restoration Initiative Action Plan IV. The plan outlines the goals and objectives of the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative for the years 2025 to 2029. Input will be accepted until May 24, 2024.

Learn more about Action Plan IV.