2013 Conference Funders, Partners and Sponsors
$25,000 Level
Milwaukee Metropolitan Sewerage District$20,000 Level
University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee School of Fresh Water Sciences$10,000 Level
The Brookby Foundation$5,000 Level
The Fund for Lake Michigan$2,500 Level
Ducks Unlimited$500 Level
Gathering Waters Conservancy
Natural Resource Technology$250 Level
Great Lakes and St. Lawrence Cities Initiative
The John G. Shedd Aquarium
Conference Updates
A Pipeline Runs Through It
In this case, “it” is the Great Lakes. Few people, me included, realize that 28,834 miles of hazardous liquid pipelines crisscross the Great Lakes states. On the last day of the 8th Annual Great Lakes Restoration Conference when hundreds of advocates are energized and poised to get back to the work of restoring the lakes, … Continue reading
Ohio and the Great Lakes Compact
Today was the last day of the Great Lakes Conference. The last session I attended was ”Ohio and the Future of the Great Lakes Compact” with former Ohio Governor Bob Taft, Kristy Meyer from Ohio Environmental Council, Marc Smith from National Wildlife Federation, and Christopher Evans from the Cleveland Plain Dealer.
National Parks playing role in restoring Great Lakes
The National Park Service has a big role to play in the restoration of the Great Lakes. About $18 million of federal Great Lakes Restoration Initiative funds was obtained by the park service for restoration projects within the Great Lakes watershed. Attendees at the Great Lakes Restoration Conference on Thursday heard about several successful examples … Continue reading
Blogging and Social Media Essentials for Great Lakes Advocates
Great Lakes advocates who are new to blogging and a few blogging pros shared how to use blogs and social media effectively during the Great Lakes Restoration Conference. Bloggers used the blogging how-to slides to come up engaging leads for blogs on greening Detroit, the new Greater Cleveland Aquarium, the experience of being at a … Continue reading
Conference ends with a ‘presidential forum’ of one
The Healing Our Waters-Great Lakes Coalition planned to wrap up its 8th Annual Great Lakes Restoration Conference in Cleveland with a presidential candidate forum. But the campaign of Mitt Romney declined to participate in the forum. The campaign of President Obama sent former U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Carol Browner to the forum. Andy Buchsbaum, … Continue reading
Good Times on Lake Erie
Guest post by Jennifer Doron, Director of Marketing and Communications, Ohio Environmental Council Last night the Great Lakes Conference took to the water. We set sail on the Good Times III for a dinner cruise. A good time was definitely has by all. It was a warm beautiful night.
Seeing opportunity in an old enemy; port authority eyes sustainable sediment strategies
The Cleveland-Cuyahoga County Port Authority is trying to change perceptions of the humble sediment particle. Instead of being viewed as a nuisance that has to be dredged out of the Lower Cuyahoga River and stored at great expense, what if the sediment that settles in the river could become a marketable product. Perhaps it could … Continue reading
“Get the frack out of the Great Lakes!”
Hydrofracking, or fracking, is a technique used to free petroleum and natural gas from underground shale rock. But more and more, we are hearing about the problems fracking is wreaking on the environment and unsuspecting citizens. In Pennsylvania, the Department of Environmental Protection listed 85 hydraulic fracturing chemicals, e.g. benzene, petroleum distillates, many of which … Continue reading
Delisting AOCs: Behind the Scenes Research in the Great Lakes
Admittedly, I sat in on this session not knowing what to expect mainly because I knew absolutely nothing about degraded benthos and plankton communities. Here’s what I’ve learned so far…
Plastics in the Great Lakes… are Smaller Than You Think
It was a half hour session that could have easily gone on for another hour. At one point, Dr. Marcus Eriksen of the 5 Gyres Institute held up a tube of exfoliating cream, a ball jar filled with water and a black t-shirt to demonstrate exactly what type of plastic he was finding in his … Continue reading
How to work on community-scale climate adaptation projects
How do you work with communities on climate adaptation projects when public opinion hasn’t caught up to the science? It’s a tough sell to talk about climate change, acknowledged Jill Ryan, executive director of Freshwater Future. But she offers some advice: “We don’t have to talk necessarily about climate change.” For instance, problems with flooding … Continue reading
Restoring forests for today and tomorrow
To restore former agricultural land into forest, the first draft of the plan called for planting four species of trees that would be favored by the migratory birds that frequent this area near Lake Erie. But there was one more variable to consider: How would those trees fare in a warming world? It’s a question … Continue reading
Great Lakes Week and Restoration Conference – Watch It Live!
A special thank you to Great Lakes Now, Detroit Public Televisionand WVIZ/PBS ideastream® for the live stream of the Great LakesWeek events. If this player is not working for you than, click here. This movie requires Flash Player 9 More information regarding the media cooperation is available at the Great Lakes Now Media Information page.
Continuity of Conservation: A medical model for conservation delivery
Consider using a patient treatment model when we talk about supporting the environment. Continuity of conservation, from science to practice, was the theme of one of the breakout sessions today. Just the same way we might hope to be handled by our doctor, with great communications and a flexible plan; we should also be handling … Continue reading
Act Now, Act Fast, Stop Asian Carp
The emerging theme of the sessions I’ve been in so far is that funding the Great Lakes works. The Great Lakes Restoration Initiative is producing on-the-ground results and much of it is happening because people in the region are making their voices heard. Asian carp is the Canary in the Coal Mine …And it’s singing … Continue reading
Speaker: Voters should make Asian carp an election issue
Jobs and the economy may dominate discussions about the 2012 election, but one conservation leader said Great Lakes residents should make Asian carp part of the political dialogue. Erin McDonough, executive director of Michigan United Conservation Clubs, said voters should ask the presidential candidates and politicians running for Congress what they would do to keep … Continue reading
Plastics in the Great Lakes
Guest post from Dr. Marcus Eriksen, executive director of The 5 Gyres Institute When we joined the crew of the Flagship Niagara to study plastic pollution in three of the Great Lakes this summer – Superior, Huron, and Erie. We had no idea we would find a greater number of plastic fragments than any other water … Continue reading
Stream restoration project offers lessons for success
Although stream restoration projects can be challenging, the proponents of the successful restoration of a tributary of Tinker’s Creek in the city of Hudson offered a few lessons. Paul Kovalcik, senior environmental scientist at Biohabitats, Inc. and J. Meiring Borcherds, watershed coordinator at the Cuyahoga County Board of Health, talked about the tributary project at … Continue reading
Restoration to Control Stormwater in Cleveland Neighborhood
Rain gardens, wetlands, and stream riparian restoration are all being created in Cleveland’s West Creek watershed thanks to funding from the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative. Take a look at restoration sites along tributaries of the Cuyahoga River. Where storm water now runs out of control, restoration projects will help dampen the blow to protect West … Continue reading
Mentor Marsh: Pretty Dry for a Wetland
Guest post from Jennifer Doron, Director of Marketing & Communications, Ohio Environmental Council Yesterday, I joined a couple dozen Great Lakes Conference attendees on a trip to Mentor Marsh State Nature Preserve, an 850-acre, “plain peat wetland” on Lake’s Erie southern shore. It wasn’t what I expected for a wetland.