In 2025, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration implemented numerous Great Lakes Restoration Initiative projects across the five focus areas.
Under Focus Area 2, the Invasive Crayfish Collaborative released new curriculum that will help educators across the Great Lakes region engage students in thinking critically about crayfish and freshwater ecosystems. Educators were trained on the curriculum at a spring 2025 workshop in partnership with the National Park Service, Indiana Dunes Learning Center, and Center for Great Lakes Literacy. Since then, over 1,200 youth have participated in the crayfish lessons, including field sampling.
Under Focus Area 3, NOAA and partners developed a toxin risk statistical model. NOAA plans to operate a demonstration version of the Lake Erie HAB Toxin Risk Forecast in 2026, and obtain stakeholder feedback, with a public version of the operational forecast planned for June 2027.
Under Focus Area 4, NOAA released a new dataset and updated Environmental Sensitivity Index maps for Lake Michigan. In addition, NOAA’s Office of Response and Restoration has also begun updating the ESI datasets for Lakes Superior and Huron, which were last updated in 1994. Once all updates are complete, the Great Lakes ESI data will cover over 2,000 miles of shoreline and produce more than 200 maps.
To learn more about these projects and to read about 2025 work in other focus areas, read the full story on NOAA’s website: 2025 GLRI Success Stories