Plans for Great Lakes Day, GLC Semiannual Meeting in D.C. taking shape
Final planning is underway for two upcoming events in Washington, D.C., the Great Lakes Commission’s Semiannual Meeting and the annual Great Lakes Day rally on Capitol Hill.
The GLC Semiannual Meeting will start at 1 p.m. on Feb. 23 at the Madison D.C. Hotel, 1177 Fifteenth St. NW, and conclude at noon on Feb. 24. An evening reception on Feb. 23, co-sponsored by the Provinces of Quebec and Ontario, will be held at The Brookings Institution. On the evening of Feb. 24, a reception sponsored by the Healing Our Waters® – Great Lakes Coalition will be held at the Canadian Embassy.
Great Lakes Day will start off with the Great Lakes Congressional Breakfast Reception on Feb. 25 to be held in Room 902 of the Senate Hart Office Building from 8-9:30 a.m. The reception includes a continental breakfast sponsored jointly by the Great Lakes Commission and Northeast-Midwest Institute. Invited guests include members of the Great Lakes Congressional Delegation and staff, Great Lakes Commissioners, , mayors, tribes and partner organizations.
The remainder of Feb. 25 will be devoted to visiting Congressional offices on the Hill to convey the day's message of restoring and sustaining the Great Lakes. GLC staff is coordinating office visits, as is the Healing Our Waters®-Great Lakes Coalition and other regional organizations. A joint briefing session and other preparatory sessions will take place on the afternoon of Tuesday, Feb. 24. Interested parties planning to participate in Member office visits are strongly encouraged to attend the briefing and planning sessions on Feb. 24.
Online registration, agendas, and travel and lodging information are available at www.glc.org/meeting. Contact Tim Eder, teder@glc.org, or Matt Doss, mdoss@glc.org, at 734-971-9135.
Great Lakes Urban Habitat Restoration Symposium convenes in Chicago this week
A symposium being held this week in Chicago will explore new strategies and partnerships in the unique challenge of habitat restoration in urban lakeshore and river bank areas. The Jan. 22-23 event is being hosted by the Chicago Park District, in cooperation with several agencies involved in Great Lakes restoration, including the Great Lakes Commission.
Scientists, planners, policymakers and other experts will gather to review methods for urban habitat restoration and share techniques and technologies. Participants will also exchange progress on similar efforts and network with other professionals involved in restoration; discuss ways to make restoration projects more cost effective; and develop methods to communicate the benefits of urban restoration to the public, decision makers and the scientific community.
The symposium, being held at the Palmer House Hilton in Chicago, will consist of plenary sessions and breakout groups designed to investigate restoration issues in detail. Detailed information on the agenda and registration can be accessed at glfc.org/urbanrestore. Contact: Matt Doss, mdoss@glc.org.
Harbor Coalition to meet in Mt. Pleasant
The fourth general meeting of the Michigan Small Harbors Coalition (MSHC) will be held from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m., Jan. 27, 2009, at the Winding Brook Conference Center near Mt. Pleasant, Mich. The Coalition was established in 2007 to address issues surrounding inadequate dredging of Great Lakes recreational harbors, and resulting impacts to the regional economy and human safety. The Jan. 27 meeting will feature updates on the Coalition’s growth (currently over 60 members), the status of efforts to reform the Harbor Maintenance Trust Fund, and the International Upper Great Lakes Study of water levels. Also on the agenda is a legislative panel including representatives of Sens. Levin and Stabenow on the outlook for harbor maintenance funding given the changes in Congress and the Administration.
A primary focus of the meeting, however, will be discussions on the potential expansion of the initiative to a Great Lakes-wide harbors coalition beyond just Michigan, collaborations with other organizations with shared interests, and movement toward a more formal organizational structure. Helping facilitate the meeting will be the Great Lakes Commission, Michigan Sea Grant and the Michigan Boating Industries Association.
Registration can be accessed online via the MSHC website at www.miseagrant.umich.edu/harbors, which also features past Coalition proceedings and background on the initiative. Contact: Dave Knight, dknight@glc.org.
NOAA dedicates new Great Lakes research facility
Dedication ceremonies were held Jan. 7 for a new facility housing the NOAA Great Lakes Environmental Research Laboratory (GLERL) outside Ann Arbor.
The new 40,225 square-feet facility has modern wet and dry laboratories, conference facilities, a library, marine instrumentation shop, and office space to accommodate about 120 federal and cooperative institute employees. NOAA will lease the building for 20 years.
Office and laboratory space will also be provided to partner organizations, including Michigan Sea Grant Extension, the Cooperative Institute for Limnology and Ecosystem Research, the International Association for Great Lakes Research, the NOAA National Center of Excellence for Great Lakes and Human Health, NOAA National Center for Research on Aquatic Invasive Species, and the Great Lakes Habitat Restoration Office.
Dr. Marie Colton was announced as the acting director of the lab and acting lead of the NOAA Great Lakes regional team, succeeding Dr. Stephen Brandt who is leaving Michigan to be the director of Oregon Sea Grant in Corvallis, Ore.
Applications being accepted for 2009 Sea Grant Fellowship
Applications are being accepted until Jan. 30, 2009, for the Great Lakes Commission – Sea Grant Fellowship. This 10th annual fellowship provides an opportunity for a graduate student to work for a year at the Commission office in Ann Arbor in such areas as Great Lakes science, policy and information/education. The program is sponsored by the Commission, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's (NOAA) National Sea Grant College Program and the Great Lakes Sea Grant Network.
Working with Commission staff and partner agencies, GLC-Sea Grant fellows are directly involved with research coordination, policy analysis and other project work promoting environmental quality and sustainable economic development in the Great Lakes-St. Lawrence basin. The length of assignment is for one year and is nonrenewable. The dates of the official fellowship are June 1, 2009, until May 31, 2010; however, these dates are flexible to accommodate academic semester or recipient needs. Eligible applicants include students who, at the time of application, are in a graduate or professional degree program in public policy, public health, natural resources, aquatic sciences or other related field at a U.S. accredited institution of higher education. Contact: Christine Manninen, manninen@glc.org.
Basin Program now accepting 2009 project proposals for soil erosion control
The Great Lakes Basin Program for Soil Erosion and Sediment Control is now accepting applications for the 2009 funding cycle, with a deadline of March 1, 2009. Applications can be submitted online at glc.org/basin. This program, originated in 1991 and authorized in the 2002 Farm Bill, supports demonstration and technical assistance projects aimed at mitigating soil and sediment erosion impacting Great Lakes water quality. The Basin Program is a federal/state partnership that has supported over 200 projects throughout the Great Lakes region since 2002.
The Basin Program is coordinated by the Great Lakes Commission in partnership with the U.S. Department of Agriculture (Natural Resources Conservation Service), U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. Contact: Gary Overmier, garyo@glc.org.
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