Ann Arbor, Mich. — Water quality and soil conservation in the Great Lakes states are getting a boost from a wide range of local projects that will promote erosion control, clearer streams and lakes, and sound land-use practices.

The Great Lakes Commission has selected 34 projects to share more than $715,000 in grants under its Great Lakes Basin Program for Soil Erosion and Sediment Control. Funding is provided through a cooperative agreement with the U.S. Department of Agriculture-Natural Resources Conservation Service (USDA-NRCS).

“The Great Lakes Basin Program is a decade-long success story in state/federal/local partnership,” said Nat Robinson, chairman of the Great Lakes Commission. “It’s a great example of how we can improve water quality by promoting innovative land-use practices.”

The projects selected by the Commission range from information/education programs to physical measures designed to reduce erosion and improve water quality. Among them are the creation of buffer zones (grasses, shrubs and trees) to slow and filter stormwater runoff, prescribed grazing areas to protect grasses and other vegetation along streambanks, assistance for citizens and local officials in instituting stormwater and urban erosion controls, erosion control on rural construction sites, stream channel restoration and “soft engineering” installations along rivers and shorelines (i.e., covering shorelines with vegetation, matting or other material to hold soil in place).

“Improving Great Lakes water quality begins with sound land-use practices in our agricultural and urban areas,” Robinson said. “It’s projects like these that help improve and preserve the health of the entire Great Lakes ecosystem.”

Since its creation in 1991, the Great Lakes Basin Program has supported 216 projects and invested more than $5.9 million in water quality improvement efforts, with an additional $3 million of non-federal matching funds applied to the projects. The Basin Program has placed well over 60,000 acres of land under some form of erosion and sediment control. In the process, the program has involved hundreds of community volunteers in watershed restoration projects, improved local ecosystems, and built support for ongoing environmental restoration efforts.

Successful applicants for this highly competitive grants program are chosen by the Commission’s Soil Erosion and Sedimentation Task Force, comprised of state and federal officials.

The following local projects have been offered FY2002 funding under the Great Lakes Basin Program. Visit projects.glc.org/basin/searchproject.html for information on previously funded projects.

For immediate release: May 3, 2002
Contact: Gary Overmier, [email protected], office: 734-971-9135

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The Great Lakes Commission, chaired by Nathaniel E. Robinson (Wisconsin), is a nonpartisan, binational compact agency created by state and U.S. federal law and dedicated to promoting a strong economy, healthy environment and high quality of life for the Great Lakes – St. Lawrence region and its residents. The Commission consists of state legislators, agency officials, and governors’ appointees from its eight member states. Associate membership for Ontario and Québec was established through the signing of a “Declaration of Partnership.” The Commission maintains a formal Observer program involving U.S. and Canadian federal agencies, tribal authorities, binational agencies and other regional interests. The Commission offices are located in Ann Arbor, Michigan.