Ann Arbor, Mich. – The Great Lakes Commission (GLC) today released a video highlighting work to restore wetlands and reduce flooding at Powderhorn Lake near Chicago. The video shows how a collaborative effort between local, state, regional and federal organizations is restoring more than 100 acres of wetlands, connecting the lake to its northern neighbor, Wolf Lake, and ultimately Lake Michigan.

Powderhorn Lake is part of one of the few remaining examples of the dune and swale topography – sandy ridges interspersed with water pockets – that once characterized the Calumet Region along the south shore of Lake Michigan. The area is home to 100 bird species, 250 plant species and 2,500 insect species. In addition to reconnecting water flow to Lake Michigan, this project will allow fish passage between the lakes, install water control structures to help prevent future community flooding, and increase hemi-marsh habitat. This work aligns with the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative objective of protecting and restoring communities of native aquatic and terrestrial species important to the Great Lakes.

“The Great Lakes Commission is excited to showcase the collaboration among dedicated partners focused on improving Powderhorn Lake and its surrounding community, the region, and the Great Lakes,” said GLC Chair Todd Ambs, of Wisconsin. “We are proud to coordinate regional partnerships to restore and protect habitat, remediate degraded areas, and ensure resiliency to climate change across the basin.”

A team including Audubon Great Lakes, Forest Preserves of Cook County, the Illinois Department of Natural Resources, the Indiana Department of Natural Resources, and engineers Hey & Associates, Inc. are collaborating with the GLC and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration on this project.

For more information on the Powderhorn habitat reconnection project, visit www.glc.org/work/priorityareas/powderhorn.

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.