Author: Bridge Michigan

The USDA Forest Service provided $50,000 to the Saginaw Bay Cooperative Invasive Species Management Area (CISMA) to establish a two-person strike team to monitor and prioritize invasive plant species including phragmites and Japanese knotweed.  The Saginaw Bay watershed is the largest in Michigan and Saginaw Bay itself hosts a critically important and expansive Great Lakes coastal wetland system. The Saginaw Bay CISMA established a two-person strike team to monitor and prioritize invasive plant species.  

During the last two years, the strike team monitored over 700 acres for invasive plants and treated over 250 acres to control phragmites, Japanese knotweed, and European frog-bit population and spread.  Two shoreline sites, one just south of Au Gres and another just north of Sebewaing, along with roadsides and a few private parcels were treated for phragmites primarily during 2023 using the grant funding. Japanese knotweed treatments were also conducted in multiple locations. Invasive plants were either sprayed with herbicide on the ground or water, or pulled from the water during the treatments. 

Saginaw Bay CISMA and the Michigan Department of Transportation coordinated and shared their data to treat Japanese knotweed on public highways and private parcels. Working with the Arenac County Road Commission, Saginaw Bay CISMA also placed signs about the CISMA’s treatments for phragmites throughout the roadside treatment area in the county, particularly in areas that had long stretches of phragmites. 

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GLRI funds are supporting an innovative approach to water quality improvement in the Finger Lakes region of New York State. Efforts are underway to reestablish surface water conductivity of the abandoned Crooked Lake Canal that runs parallel along the Keuka Outlet stream to create wetland habitats in sections of the unused, historic canal system. Keuka Outlet begins in Penn Yan as the outflow of Keuka Lake, extending about 8 miles and dropping 270 feet in elevation to ultimately empty into Seneca Lake at Dresden, NY. The Seneca Watershed Intermunicipal Organization (SWIO), Seneca Lake Pure Waters Association and Finger Lakes Institute of Hobart and William Smith College have long documented excessive nutrient pollution, streambank erosion and downstream flooding along the Keuka Outlet, impacting Seneca Lake downstream. Fortunately, remnants of the historic canal system provide a solution to these water quality issues.

Four locations along the Canal/Outlet channels have been identified as viable diversion locations for this project. Two diversion locations involve the installation of pre-cast concrete pond risers within tributaries flowing from the north into the Keuka Outlet. This management technology maintains normal flows under normal conditions. However, when flow rates increase, water begins to collect and eventually flows downhill into areas of the former canal when the flow of water increases. At two other diversion locations, water will be directed out of the Keuka Outlet via culverts. These culverts are set an elevation such that water only flows into them under stormflow conditions when water quality is at its worst.Model estimates suggest the combined systems can divert 34 million gallons of stormwater flows and sequester 45 pounds of phosphorus from a single 10-year storm event. Project partners are leveraging the ecosystem services of the former canal system/newly reconnected wetland areas to mitigate flooding, reduce streambank erosion and reduce excessive phosphorus transport in downstream Seneca Lake.

The project leverages the Keuka Outlet Trail and partnership with the Friends of the Outlet – an organization dedicated to preserving the history, environmental benefits and recreation access along the Outlet and to maximize public engagement. This past spring, SWIO and Keuka College Visual Communication Design students conceptualized and created interpretive signage for each of the four diversion locations highlighting the unique history and water quality solutions of the former Crooked Lake Canal. This project is an example of innovative repurposing of an abandoned canal system to yield much needed environmental benefits for the Great Lakes Basin. 

The Great Lakes Aquatic Nonindigenous Species Information System (GLANSIS) team characterized the impacts of the top 10 Great Lakes aquatic invasive species. Based on the analysis, 78 of the 188 species listed in the database were scored as invasive. Of these 78 species, 32 species had moderate impacts and 36 species had high impacts. The remaining 10 species had exceptionally strong impacts in multiple categories. 

Which invasive species have the most significant negative impacts in the Great Lakes? Based on GLANSIS impact scores, they include: zebra mussels, quagga mussels, alewife, sea lamprey, Japanese stiltgrass, grass carp, water chestnut, phragmites, round goby, and white perch. 

These species come from different continents and from different pathways of introduction (such as through ballast water, shipping channels, or the aquarium trade). Their most common shared impacts are threats to and competition with native species, altering predator/prey dynamics, and costly damage to human recreation and enjoyment of natural areas, along with harming economic activities. These rankings can serve as a reference point for researchers, educators and science communicators throughout the Great Lakes region. Read the paper here.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has awarded  $255,973 in funding for three projects that will engage Indigenous youth in meaningful place-based watershed educational experiences through the Great Lakes Bay Watershed Education and Training (B-WET) program. This initiative is supported by the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative under Focus Area 5: Foundation for Future Restoration Actions.

Funded projects:

• Michigan Technological University, partnering with Keweenaw Bay Indian Community: Increased Water Literacy & Stewardship with the Keweenaw Bay Indian Community: Water is Life
• Seneca Nation of Indians: Seneca Nation B-WET project
• Tip of the Mitt Watershed Council, partnering with Little Traverse Bay Bands of Odawa Indians: Nimiigwechwendam Nibiish (I am thankful for water): Caring for our local watersheds

NOAA B-WET is an environmental education program that promotes place-based experiential learning for K-12 students and related professional development for teachers. B-WET fosters the growth of new, innovative programs and encourages capacity-building and environmental education partnerships. The primary delivery of B-WET is through competitive grants that promote Meaningful Watershed Educational Experiences (MWEEs). The MWEE is a learner-centered framework that focuses on investigations into local environmental issues and leads to informed stewardship action.

New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation (OPRHP) is making strides to enhance biodiversity, wildlife habitat and improve water quality at Woodlawn Beach State Park through a grant from the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative (GLRI). OPRHP completed a project in 2023 focused on the expansion and enhancement of coastal wetland habitat along Lake Erie that is intended to benefit wildlife and improve water quality by increasing water circulation between the wetland and Blasdell Creek. The project involved expanding an existing wetland, installing a culvert [a structure which allows water to pass under a road or another barrier] to connect the wetland and adjacent Blasdell Creek, removing and controlling invasive species, and planting native wetland vegetation.

The area of Woodlawn Beach State Park is heavily urbanized and water quality in the park is often poor, particularly from elevated bacteria levels. With the project complete, water in Blasdell Creek will now flow through the expanded 4-acre oxbow-shaped wetland. The final elevations and contours in the wetland were designed to support native wetland plants and to allow physical and biological processes to remove pollutants from the water before re-entering to Blasdell Creek and into Lake Erie. The expanded wetland habitat, invasive species control, and extensive planting of native trees, shrubs and aquatic plants will also benefit wildlife such as birds, fish, reptiles, and amphibians.

Coastal wetlands are valuable resources to protect and restore due to the ecosystem services they provide. Some of which include providing habitat for critical species, protection against floods, water purification, and recreational opportunities which all occur at Woodlawn Beach State Park. The coastal wetland in the park will be positively impacted from this project by improving water quality in the park and the Lake Erie shoreline, increasing, and improving wildlife habitat, and conserving biodiversity such as the rare Wafer Ash tree that occurs in the park and prefers wetland habitats. This project will also benefit the many visitors to the park that come to walk, swim, birdwatch and enjoy a natural area on the shores of Lake Erie.