Michigan Statewide Public Advisory Council

Workshop Announcement - Restoring Fish and Wildlife in Michigan’s Great Lakes Areas of Concern: Establishing a Pathway for Action

Wednesday, July 21, 2004
Holiday Inn Express - Monroe
Monroe, Michigan

The workshop will advance efforts to restore fish and wildlife in Michigan’s Great Lakes Areas of Concern designated under the Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement. The workshop will review specific programs and methodologies for establishing measurable restoration targets for fish and wildlife habitat, populations, and benthic communities. This will include innovative new indices of biological integrity developed to assess the health of coastal wetlands, rivers and streams, and riparian habitat. The workshop will also review critical components in the restoration process for fish and wildlife, followed by case studies from Michigan’s Great Lakes Areas of Concern. Please see the following workshop materials:

• Invitation
• Agenda
• Registration Form
• Logistical Information

For more information, contact Matt Doss, 734-971-9135, mdoss@glc.org.

Draft Assessment of Fish and Wildlife Beneficial Use Impairments in Michigan’s Great Lakes Areas of Concern

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency-Great Lakes National Program Office (GLNPO) has prepared a draft report, Pathway for Delisting Three Beneficial Use Impairments in Great Lakes Areas of Concern (PDF), that establishes a restoration pathway for delisting habitat-related beneficial use impairments and assesses progress being made along that pathway in Michigan’s Areas of Concern. The pathway adapts an ecological restoration approach comprised of five steps: vision and goals; inventory and assessment; project design; implementation; and monitoring and re-assessment. These steps ensure that habitat restoration targets will be met and Area of Concern environmental goals reached, resulting in a clearly articulated and defensible delisting process for the three habitat-related beneficial use impairments (degradation of fish and wildlife populations; loss of fish and wildlife habitat; and degradation of benthos).

For each of Michigan’s 14 Areas of Concern the report identifies which of these steps have been undertaken; the natural resource values and unique features in the Area of Concern; whether the three beneficial use impairments under review are considered impaired and the causes of their impairment; and the actions needed to address the impairments.

Appendices to the report include a primer on ecological restoration prepared by the international Society for Ecological Restoration; information on natural landscaping and native plants; and lists of natural landscaping design consultants and nurseries.

Findings from the report will be presented at the July 21 workshop Restoring Fish and Wildlife in Michigan’s Great Lakes Areas of Concern: Establishing a Pathway for Action.

U.S. EPA-GLNPO invites input on the draft report, including both the proposed restoration pathway and the assessment of progress in Michigan’s Areas of Concern, and is committed to pursuing ecological restoration leading to delisting, and improvement in the overall health of the Great Lakes basin.

Comments on or questions about the draft report Pathway for Delisting Three Beneficial Use Impairments in Great Lakes Areas of Concern should be directed to Karen Rodriguez, U.S. EPA-GLNPO, 312-353-2690, rodriguez.karen@epa.gov; or James Schardt, 312-353-5085, schardt.james@epa.gov.