News

From Sept. 3-17, scientists aboard the EPA Research Vessel Lake Guardian will conduct the 2021 EPA Great Lakes Summer Water Quality Monitoring Program and Biology Monitoring Program surveys on Lake Michigan, Lake Huron and Lake Superior.

EPA announces that habitat for mink and bottom-dwelling plants has improved enough to remove the Degradation of Fish and Wildlife Populations Beneficial Use Impairment from the Rochester Embayment AOC in Lake Ontario.

EPA has issued a request for applications for the Great Lakes Biology Monitoring Program: Zooplankton, Mysis, and Benthic Components. The deadline to apply is October 29, 2021.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced that the Ashtabula River has been removed from the binational list of the Great Lakes' most environmentally degraded areas after decades of work. In the 1980s, the United States and Canada identified 43 "Areas of Concern" on the Great Lakes affected by historical contamination dating back over many decades. The Ashtabula River is the sixth AOC to be delisted in the United States and first of four in Ohio.

Illinois Beach State Park project to reduce shore erosion and nearshore habitat loss nears halfway completion mark. This U.S. Army Corps of Engineers pilot project will help determine whether similar technology can reduce shore erosion and improve habitat elsewhere in the Great Lakes.

The GLRI Pollinator Task Force Story Map highlights progress in native bee conservation in the Great Lakes basin. The Pollinator Task Force has standardized methodology, increased understanding of native pollinator habitat requirements, restored 100 acres of pollinator habitat, and collaborated with various partners to promote native bee conservation.

In June, State, federal, and tribal agencies sampled fish from Buffalo River and Cattaraugus Creek. This collaboration will allow the agencies to determine how effective prior sediment remediation and habitat restoration efforts were at improving biological conditions in the Buffalo River Area of Concern.

New York State Department of Environmental Conservation has announced that, for the first time in over 50 years, a spawning female lake sturgeon has been collected in the lower Genesee River, a section of the Rochester Embayment Area of Concern. This discovery signifies a tremendous environmental achievement and is a testament to the success of ongoing restoration efforts in the AOC.

EPA provided $840,000 of GLRI funding for habitat restoration work on Interstate Island in the Duluth-Superior harbor to enhance the island’s nesting area for the common tern. The tern population had fallen due to high water levels and flooding and an increase in the number of ring-billed gulls, a natural predator of terns.

NOAA has announced $876,477 in funding for 11 projects under the Great Lakes B-WET program. The projects support environmental education programs in Michigan, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin.