News
Great Lakes Commission awards more than $1.5 million to reduce runoff and improve water quality
Ann Arbor, Mich. – The Great Lakes Commission (GLC) announced today that it will award more than $1.5 million in grants to reduce the runoff of sediment, nutrients, and other pollutants into the Great Lakes and their tributaries through the Great Lakes Sediment and Nutrient Reduction Program.
“For more than thirty years, grants under the Great Lakes Sediment and Nutrient Reduction Program have prevented millions of pounds of phosphorus and tons of sediments from entering the Great Lakes,” said Todd L. Ambs, chair of the Great Lakes Commission and deputy secretary of the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources (retired). “The Great Lakes Commission congratulates the 2023 grantees of this enduring program and is looking forward to witnessing their work contribute to a healthier Great Lakes basin.”
Each year, the Great Lakes Sediment and Nutrient Reduction Program provides competitive grants to local and state governments, Indigenous Nations, and nonprofit organizations to install erosion and nutrient control practices in the Great Lakes basin, including innovative and unique practices not typically funded by other federal cost-share programs. The 2023 projects focus on two approaches: long-term sediment and nutrient management through engagement with the agricultural community and streambank restoration.
The following grants have been awarded:
|
Project |
Grantee |
Amount |
State |
|
Pierson Drain Improvements – Phase I |
Fort Wayne City Utilities |
$175,000 |
Indiana |
|
Cascading & Grassed Waterways in St. Marys River |
Mercer Soil and Water Conservation District |
$111,800 |
Ohio |
|
Kingsbury Creek Channel and Floodplain Restoration |
South St. Louis Soil and Water Conservation District |
$300,000 |
Minnesota |
|
Finger Lakes Phosphorus and Sediment Reduction Project |
Ontario County Soil & Water Conservation District |
$300,000 |
New York |
|
Upper Buffalo Creek Sediment and Nutrient Reduction Phase II |
Erie County Soil and Water Conservation District |
$178,500 |
New York |
|
County Road Z and G Stream Restoration |
Outagamie County Land Conservation Department |
$116,541 |
Wisconsin |
|
Neumiller Woods Wetland Improvements: Phase 2 |
Root-Pike Watershed Initiative Network |
$61,142 |
Wisconsin |
|
Phase 3: Targeted Phosphorus and Sediment Reduction to North Fish Creek and Chequamegon Bay, Lake Superior |
Northland College |
$299,795 |
Wisconsin |
Since 2010, the U.S. Department of Agriculture – Natural Resources Conservation Service has provided funding for the Great Lakes Sediment and Nutrient Reduction Program under the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative (GLRI). In that time, the GLRI has provided more than $3.7 billion to fund more than 7,500 projects across the Great Lakes region which protect freshwater resources by restoring wetlands, preventing the spread of invasive species, and reducing sediment and nutrients.
More information about the projects is available at www.nutrientreduction.org.
The Great Lakes Commission, led by chair Todd L. Ambs, deputy secretary of the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources (retired), is a binational government agency established in 1955 to protect the Great Lakes and the economies and ecosystems they support. Its membership includes leaders from the eight U.S. states and two Canadian provinces in the Great Lakes basin. The GLC recommends policies and practices to balance the use, development, and conservation of the water resources of the Great Lakes and brings the region together to work on issues that no single community, state, province, or nation can tackle alone. Learn more at www.glc.org.