GLIN==> Northeast-Midwest Weekly Update -- 28 September 2009

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Weekly Update

28 September 2009

 

*	September Upper Mississippi River Basin Update Released
*	Great Lakes Restoration Initiative Funding Letter
*	USDA Mississippi River Basin Healthy Watersheds Initiative
*	Abstracts Requested for Upper Midwest Stream Restoration
Symposium
*	Annual U.S. Areas of Concern Program Meeting

.         State of Lake Michigan and Great Lakes Beach Association
Joint Conference

 

 

September Upper Mississippi River Basin Update Released

 

The September Upper Mississippi River Basin Update has been released.
This edition reports on a recent study released by the U.S. Geological
Survey of nonnative fish species observed by the Long Term Resource
Monitoring Program.  Also covered is the release of The Guide to the
Conservation Stewardship Program by The National Sustainable
Agriculture Coalition, a report by the EPA Office of Inspector General
entitled EPA Needs to Accelerate Adoption of Numeric Nutrient Water
Quality Standards, and the latest Capitol Hill updates on climate and
clean water legislation.

 

Contact Mark Gorman
<mailto:mgordon at nemw.org?subject=UMRB%20September%20Update>
(202/464-4015) at the Northeast-Midwest Institute.

 

 

Great Lakes Restoration Initiative Funding Letter

 

The Great Lakes Task Force is circulating letters to the House and
Senate Interior Appropriations Subcommittees in support of full
funding for the $475 million Great Lakes Restoration Initiative (GLRI)
in the Interior bill.  The GLRI is an interagency approach to funding
restoration and protection efforts in the Great Lakes.  The Senate
bill includes $400 million, and the House bill includes $475 million.
The deadline for signing the letter is Wednesday, September 30.

 

Contact Joy
<mailto:joy_mulinex at levin.senate.gov?subject=Corps%20of%20Engineers%20
Briefing>  Mulinex (202/224-1211) at the Great Lakes Task Force.

 

 

USDA Mississippi River Basin Healthy Watersheds Initiative

 

On September 24, U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Secretary Tom
Vilsack announced the launching of a Mississippi
<http://www.usda.gov/wps/portal/!ut/p/_s.7_0_A/7_0_1OB?contentidonly=t
rue&contentid=2009/09/0463.xml>  River Basin Healthy Watersheds
Initiative that will allocate $320 million over four years for
agricultural conservation efforts in high-priority watersheds for 12
states along the Mississippi River main stem.

 

The natural capacity of the Mississippi River Basin to remove
nutrients has been diminished by a range of human activities over the
years, including modification of floodplains for agricultural and
urban land.  The USDA initiative aims to help agricultural producers
implement conservation and management practices that avoid, control,
and trap nutrient runoff, in an effort to eliminate hypoxia
<http://toxics.usgs.gov/definitions/hypoxia.html>  (low oxygen levels)
in the Gulf of Mexico.  Hypoxia can be caused by the presence of
excess nutrients in water.  Hypoxic waters do not have enough oxygen
to support fish and other aquatic animals.

 

Funds for the initiative will be available for projects in Arkansas,
Kentucky, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Louisiana, Minnesota, Mississippi,
Missouri, Ohio, Tennessee, and Wisconsin.

 

Contact Mark
<mailto:mgordon at nemw.org?subject=Healthy%20Watersheds%20Initiative>
Gorman (202/464-4015) at the Northeast-Midwest Institute.

 

 

Abstracts Requested for Upper Midwest Stream Restoration Symposium

 

Organizers are making a final call
<http://www.prrsum.org/content/umsrs-symposium>  for abstracts for the
inaugural Upper Midwest Stream Restoration Symposium, to be held
February 21-24, 2010, in LaCrosse, Wisconsin.  The Symposium aims to
bring together leading national and regional stream restoration
practitioners for presentations and discussions on important regional
stream and river restoration issues.  The deadline for submitting
abstracts is Friday, October 2.

 

Contact Mark
<mailto:Smailto:mgordon at nemw.org?subject=Symposium%20Abstracts>
Gorman (202/464-4015) at the Northeast-Midwest Institute.

 

 

Annual U.S. Areas of Concern Program Meeting

 

The annual U.S. Areas of Concern (AOCs) program
<http://glc.org/rap/aocconference>  meeting will be held in
conjunction with the Joint Conference on October 1-2, also at the
Hyatt Regency, 333 West Kilbourn Avenue, in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
AOCs are severely degraded geographic areas within the Great Lakes
Basin.  They are defined by the U.S.-Canada Great Lakes Water
<http://www.epa.gov/glnpo/glwqa/>  Quality Agreement as "geographic
areas that fail to meet the general or specific objectives of the
agreement where such failure has caused or is likely to cause
impairment of beneficial use of the area's ability to support aquatic
life."

 

Participants from the 30 U.S. AOCs will review recent developments
affecting the program; discuss approaches for implementing delisting
targets; build capacity to implement on-the-ground restoration
actions; identify opportunities to address AOC restoration priorities
under President Obama's Great Lakes Restoration Initiative; improve
linkages between the AOCs, Lakewide Management Plans (LaMPs) and other
programs; and consider actions that will strengthen the regional U.S.
AOC program.

 

Contact Matt
<mailto:mdoss at glc.org?subject=Annual%20AOC%20Program%20Meeting>  Doss
(734/971-9135) at the Great Lakes Commission.

 

 

State of Lake Michigan/Great Lakes Beach Association Joint Conference 

 

On September 29-October 1, the Sixth Biennial State of Lake Michigan
and the Ninth Annual Great Lakes Beach Association 2009 Annual Joint
Conference will be held at the Hyatt Regency, 333 West Kilbourn
Avenue, in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

 

The conference convenes scientists, resource managers, local
officials, and interest groups, to assess current conditions and
progress toward improving Great Lakes beaches and Lake Michigan.  The
information presented is used to revise the Lake Michigan
<http://www.epa.gov/glnpo/michigan.html>  Lakewide Management Plan
(LaMP), improve lake and beach management, and protect public health.
The conference is also an excellent opportunity to improve regional
coordination and share successes, challenges and new ideas.

 

For more information, or to register for the conference, visit the
conference web site <http://www.aqua.wisc.edu/solm> .

 

Contact Victoria Harris
<mailto:harrisv at uwgb.edu?subject=Joint%20Conference>  (920/465-2795)
at the University of Wisconsin's Sea Grant Institute.

 

 

 
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