great lakes restoration initiative success 2012 book fws
TRANSCRIPT
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Success Stories rom the2012 Field Season
U. S. Fish and Wildlie Service
Restoring the
Great Lakes
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contents
On the Cover: Vince Cavallieri rom the Services East Lansing Field Oce
shows o GLRI unded educational materials on piping plover. Service photo.
Great Lakes Restoration Initiative Fact Sheets 4
GLRI Supports the Great Lakes Fish and Wildlie Restoration Act! 6
Great Lakes Fish and Wildlie Restoration Act: How Dollars Become Projects 7
Creating Ecient Conservation Actions Through Collaboration and Sound Science 8
Permanently Protected: 286 Acres o Erie Shorelines and Wetlands 10
Asian Carp Outreach and Education 11
Niagara River Lake Trout Project 11
Ottawa National Wildlie Reuge: Creating Jobs to Help Restore Lake Erie 12
The Maumee River Areas o Concern: Improving the Health o Streams 14
Clear Creek Stream Habitat and Fish Passage Restoration 15
Great Lakes Restoration Initiative Species and Habitat Restoration Initiative 16
Restoration o Lake Trout and Lake Sturgeon: Lower Niagara River Lake Sturgeon
Population Dynamics 18
Comparative Lake Trout Energetics 18
Sign o Progress 19
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Dear Reader,
Now in its third year, the Great Lake Restoration Initiative continues to und priority research and
restoration throughout the Great Lakes basin. As we tighten our budgets in a tough economic climate,the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative ensures that our dedicated sta and our project partners have
the resources they need to bring positive environmental change to the Great Lakes. Their hard workis needed now more than ever. In addition to 37 million people, the Great Lakes are also home to over
30 Areas o Concern. An AOC is a geographic area that is so polluted that it threatens aquatic lieand potentially jeopardizes human health. With the largest group o reshwater lakes on the planet in
jeopardy, the time has come to roll up our sleeves and get to work making the Great Lakes cleaner and
saer.
The U.S. Fish and Wildlie Service is proud to be a ederal partner in the implementation o the GreatLakes Restoration Initiative and we are excited to share with you our success stories rom the 2012 eld
season. Through an interagency agreement with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the Servicereceived more than $43.5 million in unding to reduce toxic substances, restore critical habitat, protectwildlie and prevent the movement o invasive species into and throughout the Great Lakes. In our third
edition o Restoring the Great Lakes we present only a sampling o the amazing work our sta, eldteams and project partners have accomplished with support rom Great Lakes Restoration Initiative
dollars.
From the small darting gure o the piping plover on the beach to the shadowy orm o the mighty lake
sturgeon under your boat, you may be surprised to learn how the work o the U.S. Fish and WildlieService in the Great Lakes basin is all around you. I the stories within this book spark your curiosity,
we invite you out to our national wildlie reuges and national sh hatcheries to learn more not only aboutthe sh and wildlie o the Great Lakes, but also the people who depend on this resource as a source o
income and way o lie. We are already planning our 2013 eld season and we look orward to sharing ourongoing Great Lakes Restoration Initiative accomplishments.
Warmest regards,
Tom Melius Wendi Weber
Regional Director, Midwest Region Regional Director, Northeast Region
introduction
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Great Lakes RestorationInitiative (GLRI)
U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service
Why save the Great Lakes?
Comprised of more than 10,000 miles ofcoastline and 30,000 islands, the GreatLakes provide drinking water, transportation,power and recreational opportunities to the30 million citizens who call the Great LakesBasin home. Fishing, hunting, and wildlifewatching in the Great Lakes generate almost$18 billion in annual revenue. As the largestgroup of fresh water lakes on Earth, theGreat Lakes hold 95 percent of the UnitedStates surface fresh water. Unfortunately,years of environmental degradation hasleft the Great Lakes in need of immediateon-the-ground action to save this precious
resource for generations to come.
What is the Great Lakes RestorationInitiative?The Great Lakes Restoration Initiative(GLRI) is a driver for environmental actionin the Great Lakes. Building upon strategicrecommendations for how to improve theGreat Lakes ecosystem presented in theGreat Lakes Regional Collaboration Strategyof 2005, President Obamas FY 2010 budgetinvested $475 million for GLRI. Fundingdecreased to $300 million in FY 2011 andFY 2012. GLRI represents a collaborative
effort on behalf of the U.S. EnvironmentalProtection Agency and 15 other federalagencies, including U.S. Fish and WildlifeService (USFWS), to address the mostsignicant environmental concerns of theGreat Lakes.
What is the USFWSs role in the GreatLakes Restoration Initiative?The USFWS facilitates the implementationof GLRI Action Plan priority programs,projects and activities to protect, restore,and maintain the Great Lakes ecosystem.Through an interagency agreement with theU.S. Environmental Protection Agency, theUSFWS was allocated approximately $69million in FY 2010 , $37.4 million in FY2011 and $43.6 million in FY 2012 to workon projects in the following focus areas:
Toxic Substances and Areas of Concern
(AOCs): Years after pollution stopspersistent pollutants can remain in theenvironment, often trapped in sedimentsbelow the surface of the water. The areaof the Great Lakes Basin most severelyimpacted by these pollutants are knownas Areas of Concern (AOCs). USFWSwill work to restore and protect aquaticecosystems in the Great Lakes from thethreat of persistent pollutants. In additiothe USFWS is initiating an effort toaddress the looming threat of emergingcontaminants, such as hand sanitizers,pharmaceuticals, and personal care produ
in the Great Lakes.
Invasive Species: More than 180 non-native species are established in the GreaLakes. The most invasive of these reprodand spread, ultimately degrading habitat,out-competing native species, and disrupfood webs. USFWS activities will work control and eradicate harmful non-nativespecies in the Great Lakes. An additiona$10 million in GLRI funding was allocatto the USFWS to work specically on Ascarp control and management.
Habitat and Wildlife Protection andRestoration: From climate change toincreasing development activities along tshores of the Great Lakes, a multitude ofthreats are affecting the health of the GreLakes habitats and native wildlife. USFWprojects will work to identify, restore, anprotect important habitat for the areas and wildlife.
Accountability, Education, Monitoring,Evaluation, Communication, andPartnerships: USFWS will fostercoordination of management activities to
create synergy with project partners.
Bird and bat radar unitCredit: USFWS
Lake trout ngerling after being taggedCredit: USFWS
Lake sturgeon streamside rearing unitCredit: USFWS
Ofce of Law Enforcements X-ray vanCredit: USFWS
Want more informatioGo to http://www.fws.gov/GL
(From the top) The Service is working to identify ecologically important areas for birds and batsin the Great Lakes. Millions of lake trout are tagged and stocked into the Great Lakes throughthe mass marking program. In the streamside rearing unit juvenile lake sturgeon are raised intheir natal waters. The mobile X-ray van travels to airports and shipping centers throughout theGreat Lakes to prevent the illegal import of potentially harmful invasive species.
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Diversity and the Great Lakes: GLRI represents the collaborative efforts of a diverse group of stakeholders. Pictured above are State,Federal and Tribal representatives who participated in the Great Lakes Regional Collaboration Conveners Meeting held in Chicago, IL inDecember of 2004. This group is just a sub-set of the more than 1,500 stakeholders who helped identify needed priority actions in the GLakes, many of which are now being implemented through the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative.
Want more informationGo to http://www.fws.gov/GLR
Piping plover species recoveryCredit: USFWS
Asian carp education and outreachCredit: USFWS
Contaminants of emerging concern researchCredit: USFWS G
REATLAKESRESTORATIONIN
ITIATIVE Proud Partner
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is a proud partnerin the implementation of the Great Lakes RestorationInitiative. Working with our conservation partnersand utilizing our feld based organization; we helpto bring positive environmental change to the GreatLakes region.
$43.6 million
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GLRI Supports the Great Lakes Fish and WildlieRestoration Act!
Fish and wildlie restoration
needs in the Great Lakes presenta management challenge that is
staggering in scope and complexity.The Great Lakes Fish andWildlie Restoration Act provides
critical support to implement keyresearch and restoration eorts by
prompting actions that move theneedle in a strategic and eectiveway. The Act provides grants on a
competitive basis to states, tribes,non-governmental organizations,
universities, and other groups. Italso supports monitoring, research,
and on-the-ground solutions torestore degraded habitat, preservequality habitat, and re-establish
healthy populations o sh andwildlie. Key projects have allowed
or the restoration o importantGreat Lakes habitats in cutting
edge ways as well as promotinginnovation, communication, andaccountability.
GLRI has supported the Act by
inusing additional unds into
an already strong partner ledgrant process where projects arerecommended or unding to the
Service by the Proposal ReviewCommittee. The PRC is comprised
o state and tribal representatives inthe Great Lakes basin who review,
score, and rank each proposal. Theaddition o $8 million in FY2010, $1.5
million in FY2011, and $1.5 millionin FY2012 to the Act has immenselyexpanded the amount o on-the-ground
work being unded and completed.
Although most o these projectsare ongoing, many are slated to becompleted this Fall. Changes on the
landscape have already begun. Forexample, barrier removals and streamrestoration projects have improved
habitat connectivity; unds have beenused toward long-term protection o
lands through conservation easements;and thousands o wetland acres have
been restored. Funding has beenprovided or many important researchtopics as well, including the mass
marking o salmonids stocked in theGreat Lakes and as studies on aquatic
pathogens, avian migration, and otherpertinent restoration concerns.
The Act is uniquely designed to
provide a high level o on-the-groundrestoration work through Service Fishand Wildlie Conservation Oces.
Although this work has been ongoingsince the Acts inception in 1990, its
long standing history and strong PRCled selection process has allowed the
Act to eectively utilize GLRI undingto directly increase restoration in the
Great Lakes basin. Additionally, GLRIunding also made it possible to utilizea portion o the Act legislation that
allows or the selection o regional level
projects, which are large enough inscope to directly eect multiple Statesor Tribes in the Great Lakes basin.
In the past three scal years we
have received a total o 310 pre-proposals requesting more than$63 million or projects in the Great
Lakes basin. O those, the Servicehas unded 23 high quality projects,
including three regional projects, allo which are making strides orward
in the ecological understanding andrestoration o the Great Lakes basin.In the uture the Act will continue to be
an excellent mechanism or translatingavailable unding into meaningul
progress towards the restoration o theGreat Lakes ecosystem.
Grand River, Ohio. Ducks Unlimited photo.
Above: Deer Creek, Mich. ConservationResource Alliance photo.
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You may know o the Great Lakes
Restoration Initiative (GLRI) and howit benets native sh, wildlie, their
habitats, and water quality; but haveyou ever thought about how GLRI
dollars nd their way to the eld? TheU.S. Fish and Wildlie Service works
with many partners to und successulprojects throughout the Great Lakesbasin.
Where does the Services grant money
come rom? Funding or all GLRIprojects is allocated rom the U.S.
Congress to the U.S. EnvironmentalProtection Agency. The EPA isresponsible or distributing these
unds to a host o partners, and oneis the Service. The two agencies sign
an Interagency Agreement which
provides unds to the Service tosupplement ongoing activities thataddress GLRI priorities.
Once the IA is signed, unds aredistributed to Service programs
in the Great Lakes basin. In theinstance o the Great Lakes Fish
and Wildlie Restoration Acto 2006, unds are given to the
Services Fisheries Program, whichis responsible or processing the
grant proposals, obligating unds
to selected projects, and workingwith partners to ensure project
objectives are being met. The Actprovides unding or grant proposals
related to conservation, restoration,research, and management o sh and
wildlie resources, and their habitatsin the Great Lakes basin through acompetitive process to any state, tribe,
or interested entity.
The grant process begins when theFisheries Program places a request
or proposals through www.grants.gov, the Midwest Region FisheriesWebsite, and press releases. In
scal year 2010 alone, the programreceived 165 pre-proposals requesting
nearly $40.6 million. Once submitted,
proposals undergo a competitivereview process that ensures the merito those ultimately chosen. Leadingthis process is the Proposal Review
Committee made up o state andtribal sheries as well as wildlie
representatives, anonymous peerreviewers who are subject matter
experts on the proposed projects, andthe Service who works with the PRCto ultimately review and select the
recommended projects. Projects are
reviewed, scored, and ranked based
on eight criteria meant to describethe project. The eight criteria are: 1)
importance o problem or opportunity,2) project impact and scale, 3) targetspecies/ habitats, 4) aects both sh
and wildlie, 5) objective and methods,6) cost value, 7) likelihood o success,
and 8) potential or negative impacts.
Ater a project is selected, the Service
develops an ocial agreement withthe successul applicant and unds
are obligated. Once the agreementis nalized, and the National
Environmental Policy Act complianceis met, the awardee can utilize the
unding to achieve project objectives.
An example o a project unded,
in part, by the Services FisheriesProgram and Act is the Brown Bridge
Dam removal project in Traverse City,Mich. This year the Service approved
a $500,000 grant to the ConservationResource Alliance to support the
removal and restoration o the BrownBridge Dam. The ongoing Boardman
River Dams Project will be one oMichigans largest dam removal andrestoration projects. This Brown
Bridge dam removal project is animportant rst step in what could be
a larger eort to remove or modiythree additional dams downstreamin the Boardman River to improve
the ecosystem and sh habitat.Deconstruction o the Brown Bridge
Dam is scheduled to begin in late July2012.
The Brown Bridge Dam removal
project unded through the GreatLakes Fish and Wildlie RestorationAct is just one o many ways that the
Service transorms GLRI dollars intoon-the-ground conservation eorts
that work to conserve and restore theunique Great Lakes ecosystem.
Great Lakes Fish and Wildlie Restoration Act:How Dollars Become Projects
Brown Bridge Dam. Service photo.
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Natural resource managers today
are presented with unprecedentedchallenges that threaten the
continued protection, conservationand management o land, water and
wildlie, rom impacts o climatechange to habitat ragmentation and
invasive species.
In 2012, the Upper Midwest and
Great Lakes Landscape ConservationCooperative, part o a network o
science-driven partnerships aimed ataddressing these large scale natural
resource stressors, continues toadvance the pool o science-basedresearch necessary or land use
managers, policy makers and others tomake decisions that support long-term
sustainability o the Great Lakes, its
animals and its people.
Great Lakes Restoration Initiative
provided $500,000 in 2012 to expandresearch guided by the UpperMidwest and Great Lakes LCC. This
ongoing research aims to prioritizeterrestrial wildlie and advance
shery management techniques inthe ace o climate change and build a
sound strategy or targeting aquatic
connectivity eorts across the Great
Lakes basin.
Researchers rom the University oWisconsin and Wisconsin Department
o Natural Resources led an eortamong scientists and natural resource
managers to identiy priorityterrestrial wildlie species that maybe especially vulnerable to impacts
o climate change. Species identiedrom the research include eastern
massasauga rattlesnake, white-tailed
deer, Blandings turtle, rued grouseand snowshoe hare. Researchers are
now orging ahead with quantitativevulnerability assessments or a subseto these identied species to determine
how climate change may impact uturedistribution and abundance.
Researchers rom U.S. GeologicalSurvey and Ohio Division o Wildlie
continue to work to address regionalclimate change impacts on aquatic
ood webs in the Great Lakes, withthe ultimate goal o adapting shery
management techniques that considercurrent and continued climate change
trends, and more eciently monitorshery populations. Research isocused on dominant prey and predator
shes during spring, summer andall between the central and eastern
basins o Lake Erie. This data willallow researchers to understand how
certain species respond to seasonalenvironmental variability in relation tolong-term climate change.
Researchers rom state and ederalnatural resources agencies, academic
Below: Eastern massasauga rattlesnake.Service photo.
Creating Efcient Conservation ActionsThrough Collaboration and Sound Science
Research isexamining howclimate change
impacts GreatLakes sheries.Service photo.
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institutions and non-governmental
entities across the Great Lakesare continuing to ll knowledge
gaps that limit strategic removalo barriers to sh migration. Thewaterways that connect the Great
Lakes with their tributaries arewidely ragmented rom construction
o dams and road crossings.Researchers are working to map thelocation and attributes o barriers
across the basin in relation to shbreeding habitat, which can help
decision makers at local, state andregional levels, optimize on-the-
ground habitat restoration and shpassage projects, and provide asystematic ramework or weighing
benets and costs o barrier removal.
These and other LCC-undedprojects continue to transcend
boundary lines to generate the mostadvanced and scientically grounded
data to guide the natural resourcescommunities o the Great Lakes. Thepartnerships and data produced are
critical to inorming the protection
and conservation o these unique andvaluable natural resources.
For the most up to date inormationo Upper Midwest and Great Lakes
LCC activities, visit:greatlakeslcc.org
Creating Efcient Conservation ActionsThrough Collaboration and Sound Science
Great Lakes Restoration
Initiative provided$500,000 in 2012 to
expand research guided
by the Upper Midwest
and Great Lakes LCC.
With our variousederal, state,
tribal, and publicpartners weare conductingcooperativeresearch toaddress pertinentissues. Servicephoto.
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Lake Erie Shoreline,Pennsylvania. Service photo.
Portions o the pristine Lake Erie
shoreline, Elk Creek and associatedwetlands and riparian corridors
near Erie Blus State Park, willbe permanently protected or
conservation and recreational useas part o the David M. RoderickWildlie and Lower Elk Creek Natural
Heritage Area in Erie County, Penn.The Atlantic Coast Joint Venture
utilized Great Lakes RestorationInitiative unding to support the
Western Pennsylvania Conservancysacquisition o 286 acres o privately
owned property to add to more than
3,600 acres o land in the ecologicallydiverse region previously protected
by the Western PennsylvaniaConservancy. The multiyear project
protects approximately 136 acreso wetlands, 780 eet o Lake Erieshoreline and 1,525 eet along Elk
Creek.
The acquisition was made possiblethrough public-private collaboration
to protect this critically importanthabitat or migratory birds and other
wildlie, including several rare or
endangered species. Saeguardedrom residential and commercial
development, the land owned andmanaged by the Pennsylvania GameCommission and Western Pennsylvania
Conservancy will provide publicaccess or shing and recreational
opportunities along Elk Creek, ahigh-quality stream and well-knownsteelhead angling destination, as
well as hiking, nature photography,birding, and other recreational
activities along the beautiul Lake Eriecoastline. A portion o the land was
sold by a amily-run business FairviewEvergreen Nurseries, Inc., who willreinvest the proceeds rom the sale
into their business while contributingto the conservation o land no longer
viable or nursery production.
Through a combination o more than$1.25 million in ederal, state and
partner unding including GLRIdollars, this ecologically diverseregion will be permanently protected
or a vast array o birds, plants and
wildlie, while generating ecotourismopportunities or visitors andresidents.
Permanently Protected:286 Acres o Erie Shorelines and Wetlands
The Western PennsylvaniaConservancy protects 3600acres o land. Service photo.
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What do law enorcement and
sheries management have to dowith each other? A lot i you are
talking about Asian carp.
Two species o Asian carp, bigheadand silver, are listed as injuriousunder the Lacey Act. The law makes
it illegal to transport live bighead orsilver carps across states lines. Yet
recent law enorcement activitieshave demonstrated that shipments
o live Asian carps are routinelybeing unlawully transported acrossthe United States in violation o
ederal and state laws. Within thelast year shipments o live sh have
been interdicted at the Canadianborder destined or the ood markets
in Toronto. It is also expected thatillegal shipments are hauled to otherlarge cities in the lower 48 states and
Canada, where live Asian carp arehighly valued in the ood market.
In an eort to reduce the illegal
transport o live Asian carp,
the Midwest Regions Oce o
Law Enorcement is launching anew outreach initiative to assist
in educating the law enorcementcommunity about Asian carp. With theassistance o the Midwest Fisheries
Program and External Aairs, theOce o Law Enorcement created an
eight minute video that demonstrateshow to identiy bighead and silver
carp, as well as telltale signs opotential illegal sh haulers. Thevideo is accompanied by an educational
brochure that includes photographso dierent species o carp as a point
o reerence and outlines what
an ocer should do i he or sheencounters a vehicle suspected oillegally transporting live Asian
carp.
With support rom the Great LakesRestoration Initiative, the Midwest
Regions Oce o Law Enorcementis doing its part to help apprehend
the companies, drivers, and vehiclesthat illegally ship live Asian carps ininterstate commerce.
Lake trout restoration in the Great
Lakes uses hatchery stocking asa management tool to reestablishnaturally reproducing populations in
each o the Great Lakes. Thoughnatural reproduction in the lower
lakes continues to be limited, naturalreproduction o lake trout has been
documented within the Niagara
River, a tributary o Lake Ontario.
Through a GLRI-unded jointproject with the Services Northeast
Fishery Center in Lamar,Pennsylvania, and the Lower
Great Lakes Fish and WildlieConservation Oce in Amherst,
N.Y., over the past two years laketrout have been observed using theNiagara River or spawning. In
2010, 27 adult sh were sampled and
15 o them were radio tagged as a way
to identiy where in the river the share spawning. In 2011, 46 adult sh
were sampled and 29 o them were
radio tagged. Eggs and larval shwere collected during the late all/earlywinter and then again in the spring
when eggs are expected to be hatching.
Within Lake Ontario, multiplehatchery strains are stocked. This
project will use genetic analysis o
collected samples to identiy whichhatchery strain is using the NiagaraRiver or spawning to determine ithere is any strain-specic movement
or spawning site dierences, and todetermine which o the strains are
successul in naturally reproducedospring. Results rom this study will
be used to help inorm strain selectionand stocking practices within theNiagara River area to aid in lake trout
restoration.
Asian Carp Outreach and Education
Niagara River Lake Trout Project
Above: Graduate student Kelley Salvesenholding an adult emale lake trout caught onthe Niagara Bar in Lake Ontario. The shwas radio tagged and released. Service photo.
Silver carp. Service photo.
Below: Law Enorcement brochure.
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In August 2011, the U.S.
Environmental Protection Agencyannounced that the Great Lakes
Restoration Initiative was allocatingapproximately $6 million or ederal
agencies to help put Americans backto work and restore the Great Lakes.In eect, the U.S. EPA created a
small-scale, 21st century CivilianConservation Corps. The Ottawa
National Wildlie Reuge submitteda grant proposal and was awarded
$480,000 to hire 30 temporary seasonalemployees. Creative budgeting andplanning yielded an even more positive
result, with ve additional positionsbeing added, or a total o 35 new
hires.
The positions were divided up betweenthe reuge and conservation partners,
including the Ottawa County Soil andWater Conservation District, LakeErie Cooperative Weed Management
Association and Black Swamp BirdObservatory. The reuge hired 22
seasonal employees including sevenbiological science technicians, two park
rangers, two maintenance workers,an assistant oce clerk, eight YouthConservation Corps students, an
intern and a contract employee to
oversee and coordinate the grant.
In addition, reuge partners hired13 seasonal employees including a
wetland educator, several invasiveplant technicians and various nonpoint
source pollution and other outreacheducators. Between new reugeand partner hires, collaborative
eorts were implemented to developand execute various conservation,
restoration and outreach programs.These programs ocus on GLRI
principal actions as they relate to the
National Wildlie Reuge System andpartnering organizations.
The reuge with partners haveproposed various projects to augment
existing reuge and partner programsto benet coastal wetlands and develop
outreach eorts to reach a wideraudience. Project examples include:
Extensive water quality monitoringprogram in partnership with U.S.
Geological Survey sta to establishbaseline water quality data, evaluate
aquatic resource threats andimplications to reuge management
and coastal wetland restoration.
Completion o bathymetric surveyso reuge wetland impounds to providethe reuge with general elevation data
and adaptively manage wetlands ormigratory birds under looming climate
change threats.
Expansion o the reuges
interpretive and environmentaleducation programs in which parkrangers and seasonal sta were able toreach a more diverse audience in order
Ottawa National Wildlie Reuge:Creating Jobs to Help Restore Lake Erie
Ottawa National Wildlie Reuge sta. Service photo.
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to connect youth and adults with
nature.
New GLRI displays, brochures,
and other outreach materialsincluding presentations are being
developed to deliver a strongunied Great Lakes restoration and
conservation message.
Implementation o invasive plantmanagement in and around OttawaNational Wildlie Reuge including
invasive plant mapping, monitoring,and control eorts on the reuge
and within watersheds around thereuge.
Restoration and enhancement o
reuge wetlands and other wildliehabitats by seasonal wage grademaintenance workers through
installation o dikes, ditches, andwater control structures which were
in desperate need o repair.
Through GLRI unding and
increased employment in theGreat Lakes basin, the combinedconservation eort has improved andrestored reuge water management
and has allowed the Service to ulllits mission in Ohio.
Let: Wildlie Biologist Ron Humanand Biological Science Technician JoannaKauman collect water samples in
reuge wetlands to provide baseline dataor the Near shore Health GLRI project.
Right: Park Ranger Aimee Weidnerconducts environmental educationprograms or area high schoolenvironmental science students.
Service photos.
Ottawa National Wildlie Reuge:Creating Jobs to Help Restore Lake Erie
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Healthy streams are able to assimilate
nutrients or other pollutants withoutbecoming degraded.
In addition to controlling sources
o nutrients entering waterways, itis essential to preserve the natural
physical eatures o waterways, such
as riparian zones, foodplains, channelmorphology and habitat diversity. In
the Maumee River Area o Concern,eorts are underway to restore
eatures in waterways that fow intoLake Erie and assimilate nutrients.
At Ottawa National Wildlie Reuge
in Ohio, eorts are underway torestore some o these propertiesby reconnecting coastal marshes
and establishing sh passage. One
marsh has been reconnected to CraneCreek, which fows into Lake Erie.Monitoring shows that nutrients
entering the marsh are greatlyreduced ater pulsing through thereconnected wetland, and sh species
diversity and numbers increased.GLRI unds will support some o
the monitoring o this and otherreconnected wetland, along with
habitat restoration at two other reuge
sites. The completed project will
result in restoration and enhancemento 512 acres o habitat, along with 127
acres reopened to Lake Erie or shspawning; improved sh passage; and
improved habitat or rare, threatenedand endangered species on the reuge.Project partners include The Nature
Conservancy, Ducks Unlimited,U.S. Geological Survey, and the
National Oceanic and AtmosphericAdministration.
In Toledo, the Service is working
with partners to restore, enhance andcreate habitat along the Ottawa Riveron the main campus o the University
o Toledo. Until recently the Riverhere was under a sh consumption
advisory due to eects o agriculturaland storm water runo, development,
municipal and industrial dischargesand hazardous waste disposal. Serviceunds will enhance stream and stream
bank restoration and stabilizationeorts. The project will result in
about 3,700 eet o contiguous habitatalong the Ottawa as well as provide
a public demonstration area orrestoration o an impaired, urbanizedstream system. Partnering with the
Service are the U.S. Army Corps o
Engineers, Ohio EPA, Toledo Public
Schools, Partners or Clean Streams,Inc., and the University o Toledos
Presidents Commission on the River.
A project along Swan Creek in Lucas
County, Ohio, will enhance habitatin the Oak Openings Region, one o
the most ecologically unique areasin the Midwest. In a predominatelyagricultural area, the wet prairies
here are among Ohios most diverse.Activities include invasive plant
control, re-vegetation o armed areas,creation o vernal pools, and creation
o in-stream aquatic habitat. Amongthe projects benets are restoration
o 8 acres o foodplain; connectivityto adjacent Oak Openings NaturePreserve Metropark; and improved
aquatic habitat and water quality inSwan Creek. Partners include the
Toledo Metropolitan Area Council oGovernments, Lucas Soil and Water
Conservation Districts, Ohio EPA, theMaumee River Remedial Action PlanCoordinator, and a private landowner.
The Maumee River Area o Concern:Improving the Health o Streams
Swan Creek beore restoration activities.Service photo.
Above: Restoration activities in the MaumeeAOC will restore waterway fows. Service photo.
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Clear Creek Stream Habitat and FishPassage Restoration
Stream habitat degradation and
ragmentation limit native andrecreational sheries throughout
the Great Lakes basin. Like manyother streams, Clear Creek locatedin the Cattaraugus Creek watershed
o New York is signicantly incised.High channel incision promotes
excess bank erosion and sedimentaggradation, causes channelinstability, and limits ecological and
habitat unction o streams.
The U.S. Fish and Wildlie Servicecompleted a stream habitat
restoration project along ClearCreek in June 2012. Project goals
were to: (1) re-establish a bankullfoodplain bench to reduce channelincision, (2) reduce excess stream
bank erosion and channel instability,and promote sediment transport, (3)
reduce sediment inputs and improvewater quality, and (4) restore sh
upstream passage above an obsoletesheet-pile dam. Natural channeldesign approaches including cross-
vanes, J-hooks, toewood bank
protection, and riparian plantingswere installed to restore 2,400linear eet o in-stream habitat and
provide sh passage to six mileso habitat along Clear Creek inSandusky, Cattaraugus County,
New York. Stream habitat and shpassage restoration will support
brook trout restoration, and improverecreational brown and rainbow
trout sheries along Clear Creek.The New York State Departmento Environmental Conservation
maintains 5.5 miles o Public FishingRights easements along Clear
Creek including the project site.This project will complement other
stream restoration and dam removalprojects in the watershed to supportrestoration o native and recreational
sheries in Cattaraugus Creek andLake Erie.
Project partners are the New YorkState Department o Environmental
Conservation, Trout Unlimited RedHouse Brook and Western New York
Chapters, Seneca Trail ResourceConservation and Development, ve
private landowners, and the Service.The project was implemented with
unding received through the GreatLakes Restoration Initiative, and
the New York State Council TroutUnlimited Conservation Fund.
Implementing ClearCreek stream habitat andsh passage restoration.Service photo.
Clear Creek post-restoration; 4cross-vanes installed to reduce bankerosion, promote sediment transport,and restore habitat unction. Servicephoto.
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Funding provided by the GLRI
Species and Habitat RestorationInitiative has been key in the
implementation o priority habitatprotection, restoration, and
enhancement in the Great Lakeswatershed. Implementation iscoordinated through our Service
programs the National Fish PassageProgram, Bird Habitat Joint Ventures,
Coastal Program, and the Partners orFish and Wildlie Program. Eorts o
all our programs are designed to mosteectively implement the objectiveso major regional and national plans,
such as the Upper Mississippi River/Great Lakes Region Joint Ventures
Implementation Plan, the GreatLakes Basin Fish Habitat Partnership
Strategic Conservation Framework,and others. Additionally, habitat
work supported by each program hastangible benets that extend acrossspecies groups.
In 2012, the GLRI NFFP program
initiated a project to remove the LyonsDam in Ionia County, Mich. As with
thousands o other relic dams acrossthe country, this structure no longerserves its intended purpose, and its
removal will open 16 miles o habitat
to migrating and spawning sh on
the Grand River that has been cut orom the rest o the system or over
150 years. This will also help reducefooding and sedimentation issues
caused by the presence o the dam.Removal o passage barriers improvesin-stream habitat or many species
o sh and other aquatic lie, leadingto more diverse species assemblages
and healthier sh populations, whichalso provide secondary benets to
sh-eating birds such as BeltedKingshers and Green Herons.
Likewise, emergent marsh restoration
projects designed to benet waterowland other wetland birds, such as the
GLRI-JV project at Maple RiverState Game Area in Gratiot County,Mich. (also within the Grand River
watershed) benet more than justbirds. This project will enhance
344 acres o wetlands by replacingoutdated and ineective water controlinrastructure, which will enable
managers to better emulate naturalhydrologic cycles, and control invasive
species such as purple loosestrie. Thisproject will provide habitat or wetland
birds such as American Bitternand Black Tern, and will also boostpopulations o sh and other aquatic
organisms by increasing the amounto quality emergent marsh vegetation
on the area, which provides crucialnursery habitat or young sh.
The CP and the Michigan Department
o Natural Resources are workingtogether through GLRI to conserverare and endangered species at
Wilderness State Park. In the early
1990s the Park provided nestinghabitat or nearly 25 percent o theendangered Great Lakes Piping Plover
population. Today with reduced icescour and prolonged low lake levels,vegetation encroachment has made
Great Lakes Restoration InitiativeSpecies and Habitat Restoration Initiative
Piping Plover taking a drink. Photo courtesy o Alice Van Zoeren.
Maple River State Game Amera, Mich. Service photo.
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habitat unsuitable. Eorts will ocus
on restoring open beach habitat byremoving invasive species, both or
the plovers benet and populationso ederal and state listed species
including Pitchers thistle, Houghtonsgoldenrod, and Lake Huron tansy.
The GLRI PFW program has restoredmore than 1000 acres o wetlands and
800 acres o native grasslands withinthe Great Lakes watershed on private
lands. Individual projects includere-establishing drained wetlandsto provide habitat or water birds
or restoration o ormer cropland
to a mix o native grass and orbspecies, which provides improvedhabitat or grassland wildlie, such as
Eastern Meadowlarks. In addition toimproving wildlie habitat, restoration
o wetlands and grasslands enhanceswater quality by reducing nutrient andsoil runo.
By proactively working together,
Service programs are helping to
ensure that GLRI grant dollarsare achieving maximal cross-
programmatic benets. Additionally,eorts will continue to be targeted
within Great Lakes Areas o Concernto accelerate the recovery o these
impaired systems or the benet o thesh, wildlie, and people that dependon them.
Great Lakes Restoration InitiativeSpecies and Habitat Restoration Initiative
Top: photo Lyons Dam removal will open 16miles o habitat to sh. Service photo. Bottomphoto: Piping plover. Photo courtesy o Alice VanZoeren.
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The lower Niagara River
lake sturgeon study is
a collaboration betweenthe Services NortheastFishery Center and the
Lower Great Lakes Fishand Wildlie ConservationOce, to assess the health
and status o the lakesturgeon population in
the lower Niagara Riverand locate their spawning
habitat. Since all o 2010,over 300 individual sho 3.5 to 5.5 eet in length
and between 25 and 120pounds in weight have been
tagged and released. Ageanalysis o these sh rom
n spine samples indicate that mostsh in the lower Niagara River arebetween 13 and 16 years old. The
movements o 72 lake sturgeonimplanted with radio transponder
tags (42 in 2011, 30 in 2012) have
been tracked using a combination o
stationary radio-receivers and mobiletracking, which identied the locationso possible spawning grounds and
migration behavior. Using
GIS mapping sotware,
the lake sturgeon trackingdata will be overlayedwith data collected rom
a GLRI-unded sidescansonar project, mapping theriver substrate to provide
important inormationon habitat in the lower
Niagara. In 2012 bloodsamples were collected
rom all sturgeon capturedprior to spawning season, toidentiy sex and spawning
stage by measuringhormone levels. With the
addition o some upcominggenetic analysis, the above
inormation will be combined intoa population viability analysis toestimate the uture population
size o lake sturgeon in the lowerNiagara River.
Stocking o hatchery produced
lake trout within the Great Lakesis one o the primary management
strategies used or restorationeorts. Dierent strains o laketrout are stocked, and these vary
by the location within the lakeswhere the strain originated, and
by body orm. For example, thelean and the humper lake trout
body orms dier in how deep inthe water they live, the type o oodthey eat, and the amount o at they
store in their body. To determinewhich lake trout body orm may
be better to stock in current anduture Great Lakes habitats, it is
also important to consider howmuch the body orms can growunder dierent environmental
conditions. For more than a year,the Services Northeast Fishery
Center in Lamar, Pennsylvania has
worked on completing laboratory
experiments to compare two activelystocked lake trout body orms:
lean and humper. To examine this,laboratory experiments to measure
consumption, oxygen usage, andgrowth were carried out acrossdierent sh sizes and temperatures
or both body orms to refect currentand uture environmental conditions.
Results rom this GLRI unded studywill be used to inorm stocking and
management recommendations ordierent body orms o lake trout invarious habitats ound in the Great
Lakes.
Restoration o Lake Trout and Lake Sturgeon: LowerNiagara River Lake Sturgeon Population Dynamics
Above: Graduate student Megan Kepler mea-suring a lake trout used in the experiments.
Right: Laboratory setup or lake trout eedingstudies at the USFWS Northeast Fishery Cen-ter in Lamar, PA. Service photos.
Comparative Lake Trout Energetics
Above: Service biologist, Greg Jacobs, releasinga reshly tagged lake sturgeon back into thelower Niagara River. Service photo.
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Sign o Progress
All U.S. Fish and Wildlie Service eld sites which receive Great Lakes Restoration Initiative unding will be markedby a sign similar to the one pictured above. Identiying our eld sites is part o our interagency agreement with
the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. This unding requirement was design to increase public awareness and
transparency with regard to the use o GLRI unding.
To learn more about other Service GLRI projects, please visit http://www.ws.gov/glri/
Please direct inquiries to:
Katie Steiger-Meister
External Aairs, Midwest RegionU.S. Fish and Wildlie Service
Phone: 612-713-5317E-mail: [email protected]
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Tom MeliusRegional DirectorMidwest Regionhttp://midwest.ws.gov
Wendi WeberRegional Director
Northeast Regionhttp://www.ws.gov/northeast/
Midwest External AairsPhone: 612-713-5360
2012
Restoring the Great Lakes
U. S. Fish and Wildlie Service