Objective 1.1. Remediate, restore and delist Areas of Concern.
Commitments:
1.1.a. Implement management actions necessary to remove Beneficial Use Impairments and delist Areas of Concern.
1.1.b. With input from community partners on the benefits they would like to see included in GLRI projects, investigate opportunities for enhancing planned projects that focus on environmental justice, equity and access in disadvantaged and other communities with environmental justice concerns.
1.1.c. In Areas of Concern that have management actions yet to be completed, ensure that agencies and local Public Advisory Committees have meaningful involvement with communities to ensure fair treatment.
Measures:
1.1.1. Areas of Concern where all management actions necessary for delisting have been implemented.
1.1.2. Beneficial Use Impairments removed in Areas of Concern.
1.1.3. Areas of Concern delisted.
1.1.4. Meaningfully involve communities within Areas of Concern in all phases of Management Actions to ensure equitable distribution of benefits.
Objective 1.2. Engage communities, with a focus on disadvantaged and other communities with environmental justice concerns, and vulnerable populations, and share information on the risks and benefits of consuming Great Lakes fish, wildlife and harvested plant resources with the people who consume them.
Commitments:
1.2.a. Provide information, including Indigenous Knowledge- based information, regarding the consumption of Great Lakes fish, wildlife and harvested plant resources to Great Lakes communities, with a focus on disadvantaged and other communities with environmental justice concerns.
Measures:
1.2.1. Risks and benefits of consuming Great Lakes fish, wildlife and harvested plant resources are shared to inform consumption choices.
Objective 1.3. Increase knowledge about contaminants that have impacted or pose the potential to impact the ecological health of the Great Lakes and their natural resources and/or pose a public health risk.
Commitments:
1.3.a. Fill critical data gaps and communicate results for priority contaminants in the Great Lakes through discrete monitoring and assessment activities.
Measures:
1.3.1. Contaminant monitoring and assessment activities conducted to address data gaps.
Objective 2.1. Protect native species and communities by preventing introductions of new non-native species.
Commitments:
2.1.a Target introduction pathways at state, multi-state, reservation and other similar regional scales for surveillance, education, technology development and enforcement.
Measures:
2.1.1 Number of regional introduction pathways for non-native species invasion addressed through comprehensive approaches.
Objective 2.2. Reduce economic, ecological and human health impacts by limiting range expansion, including lake-to-lake transfers, of non-native species.
Commitments:
2.2.a. Conduct standardized, basin-wide early detection and surveillance activities.
2.2.b. States, Tribes, local governments and non-governmental organizations conduct targeted early detection, surveillance and rapid response actions.
2.2.c. Regional and local organizations sustain containment after initial response projects and complement federal, state and Tribal surveillance.
Measures:
2.2.1 Percentage of aquatic, high-priority locations for potential new non-native species occurrence under surveillance.
2.2.2. Number of rapid responses, exercises and post-response follow-up activities conducted annually.
Objective 2.3. Provide ecosystem and human benefits through prioritized and collaborative invasive species control efforts.
Commitments:
2.3.a. Implement invasive species control efforts that sustain ongoing and past GLRI restoration efforts, providing benefits to native species, habitat and Great Lakes communities.
2.3.b. Pilot and test new control tools including, where applicable, tools derived from Indigenous Knowledge, for high-impact invasive species.
Measures:
2.3.1. Acres controlled for invasive species to benefit habitats, native species and communities.
Objective 3.1. Reduce nutrient loads from agricultural watersheds to prevent harmful and nuisance algal blooms.
Commitments:
3.1.a. Implement systems of conservation practices on farms and in watersheds to reduce and prevent nutrient runoff.
3.1.b. Increase adoption of enhanced nutrient management practices through peer-to-peer learning and one-on-one assistance.
3.1.c. Support development, expansion and capacity of demonstration farms to reach new producers.
Measures:
3.1.1. Estimated pounds of phosphorus reductions from conservation practice implementation.
3.1.2. Acres receiving technical or financial assistance on nutrient management in priority watersheds.
3.1.3. Number of active demonstration farms created or sustained with GLRI funding.
Objective 3.2. Reduce or prevent stormwater runoff to improve and sustain water quality under a changing climate.
Commitments:
3.2.a. Increase implementation of green infrastructure practices, with a focus on disadvantaged and other communities with environmental justice concerns impacted by polluted runoff.
3.2.b. Implement projects in urban and rural communities designed to reduce or prevent runoff, flooding and erosion.
Measures:
3.2.1. Estimated gallons (in millions) of stormwater runoff reduced.
3.2.2. Miles of Great Lakes streams and shoreline restored or protected.
3.2.3 Acres of riparian buffers, wetlands and floodplains restored or reconnected.
Objective 3.3. Improve effectiveness of nonpoint source control efforts to prevent harmful and nuisance algal blooms.
Commitments:
3.3.a. Monitor and assess nutrient conditions in western Lake Erie, Green Bay, Saginaw Bay and priority tributaries to the Great Lakes.
3.3.b. Demonstrate new, improved or collaborative approaches to achieve water quality goals.
Measures:
3.3.1. Nutrient monitoring and assessment activities conducted.
3.3.2. Nutrient and stormwater runoff reduction demonstration projects implemented.
Objective 4.1. Protect, enhance and increase resilience of habitats necessary for sustaining native aquatic and terrestrial species important to the future Great Lakes ecosystem.
Commitments:
4.1.a. Protect, enhance and provide connectivity for habitats under future climate conditions so they support important native species, maintain Tribal cultural uses and/or provide benefits to people.
4.1.b. Implement projects that increase resilience in watersheds and along coastlines, considering flood reduction and recreational benefits to disadvantaged and other communities with environmental justice concerns.
Measures:
4.1.1. Acres of coastal wetland, nearshore and other habitats protected or enhanced.
4.1.2. Miles of connectivity established for aquatic species.
Objective 4.2. Increase resilience and representation of native species under future climate conditions.
Commitments:
4.2.a. Update and implement recovery actions for federal threatened, endangered and candidate species.
4.2.b. Support population-level protections, enhancements and reintroductions for state, Tribal and other native species important to future Great Lakes ecosystems.
Measures:
4.2.1. Species benefited where actions have been completed to significantly protect or promote recovery of populations.
Objective 5.1. With a focus on disadvantaged and other communities with environmental justice concerns, (1) educate the next generations about the Great Lakes ecosystem and (2) teach people the skills needed to enter the environmental restoration and protection workforce.
Commitments:
5.1.a. Support and implement experience-based learning opportunities to promote Great Lakes stewardship, with a focus on disadvantaged and other communities with environmental justice concerns.
5.1.b. Support and implement environmental workforce development programs, with a focus on disadvantaged and other communities with environmental justice concerns.
Measures:
5.1.1. Number of youth impacted through education and stewardship projects.
5.1.2. Number of people trained through workforce development programs.
Objective 5.2. Conduct targeted science to inform and assess Great Lakes restoration.
Commitments:
5.2.a. Assess Great Lakes ecosystem health and implement interdisciplinary science projects that will guide Great Lakes restoration and help protect the lakes from current and future threats.
Measures:
5.2.1. Annual Great Lakes monitoring conducted; interdisciplinary science projects and assessments implemented to support the GLRI and Cooperative Science and Monitoring Initiative, lake-specific priorities identified in LAMPs and other GLWQA activities.