GLIN==> Coalition Targets 5 Great Lakes Restoration Priority Areas

Healing Our Waters-Great Lakes Coalition
 
Coalition Targets 5 Great Lakes Restoration Priority Areas
 
New Healing Our Waters-Great Lakes Coalition program to help local
groups participate in federal $475 million restoration initiative
 
ANN ARBOR, MICH. (April, 6 2010)—The Healing Our Waters-Great Lakes
Coalition today launched a new program to help local conservation
partners participate in the federal $475 million Great Lakes Restoration
Initiative. The coalition will be providing $200,000 to help groups
jump-start restoration projects in five priority areas—one on each of
the Great Lakes.
 
“Our top priority is to ensure that Great Lakes restoration succeeds,”
said Jeff Skelding, campaign director for the Healing Our Waters-Great
Lakes Coalition. “After decades of abuse, there is an enormous backlog
of work that needs to be done. We’re focusing our work on five priority
areas where we believe we can make a difference for the Lakes and the
economy.”
 
Coalition grants to local conservation groups will help provide the
tools, capacity and expertise to apply for Great Lakes Restoration
Initiative funds. The federal initiative—enacted by President Obama and
the U.S. Congress last year—funds projects to clean up toxic pollution
that threatens the health of people and wildlife; prevent and control
invasive species that cost the region $200 million per year in damages
and control costs; and restore wetlands that help improve water quality
and provide the foundation for the region’s outdoor recreation
industry.
 
The coalition will focus its efforts on 5 priority areas:
--Lake Superior: St Louis Bay and St. Louis River 
--Lake Michigan: Chicagoland
--Lake Huron: Saginaw Bay
--Lake Erie: Western Lake Erie
--Lake Ontario: Eastern Lake Ontario
 
“Based on our resources, the coalition cannot be everywhere, but we
want to do our part,” said Jill Ryan, executive director of Freshwater
Future and co-chair of the Healing Our Waters-Great Lakes Coalition.
“Our goal is to make sure that restoration projects succeed, so that
public officials continue to support solutions to serious problems
facing the Lakes, people, businesses and communities. It’s going to take
a sustained, multi-year effort to restore the largest freshwater
resource in the world. ”
 
A panel of Great Lakes scientists advised the coalition in its
selection of priority areas, recommending sites that were highly
degraded, while at the same time holding great promise for being
successfully restored. 
 
“These sites represent some of the many areas across the region that
suffer from multiple assaults, including invasive species, toxic
chemical pollution, habitat loss and polluted run-off,” said Michael
Murray, Ph.D., staff scientist for the National Wildlife Federation’s
Great Lakes office, who convened the panel of science advisors.  “The
bottom line is that in the end, we are going to have to restore many
areas to successfully nurse the Great Lakes back to health. Our list is
a staring point, not an end point.”
 
Many of the science advisors to the coalition helped craft a 2005 paper
asserting that the cumulative impact of threats to the Great Lakes were
causing the Lakes to lose their natural resiliency. Without a
comprehensive effort to confront these threats, the paper concluded, the
Great Lakes were in danger of collapse and could face irreversible
changes. 
 
The release of that paper, “Prescription for Great Lakes Ecosystem
Protection and Restoration: Avoiding the Tipping Point of Irreversible
Changes,” helped underscore the urgency behind restoring the Great
Lakes—yet in subsequent years, the federal investment in the Lakes’
restoration lagged behind the mounting threats of invasive species,
sewage contamination, toxic pollution and habitat destruction.
 
Even with significant new federal support from President Obama and the
U.S. Congress, the need for funding far outweighs what is currently
available. Federal agencies recently requested proposals for $144
million in Great Lakes Restoration Initiative funds. Nearly 1,400
proposals were submitted, totaling more than $1.1 billion dollars—a
demand 7 times more than the supply of existing funds. Many projects
will go unfunded.
 
The coalition is urging the U.S. Congress to maintain funding for the
Great Lakes Restoration Initiative at $475 million, the level of funding
approved last year by federal lawmakers.
 
“Now more than ever, we need to fully fund solutions to these serious
threats,” said Skelding. “Reducing funding will hamper our progress. We
have a big job ahead of us. Let’s not hold back from what needs to be
done. The health of our lakes and our economy depend on swift action by
Congress now.”
 
The Brookings Institution found that every $1 investment in Great Lakes
restoration leads to $2 in economic benefit for the eight-state region
of Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania
and Wisconsin.
 
The Healing Our Waters-Great Lakes Coalition consists of more than 100
environmental, conservation, outdoor recreation organizations, zoos,
aquariums and museums representing millions of people, whose common goal
is to restore and protect the Great Lakes.
 
For more information, visit: www.healthylakes.org 
 
For Immediate Release:
April 6, 2010
 
Contact:
Jordan Lubetkin, Healing Our Waters-Great Lakes Coalition,
734-887-7109
Jeff Skelding, Healing Our Waters-Great Lakes Coalition, 410-242-2704
Jill Ryan, Freshwater Future, 231-348-8200
Michael Murray, National Wildlife Federation, 734-887-7110
 
 
Jordan Lubetkin - Senior Regional Communications Manager
National Wildlife Federation
Great Lakes Regional Center
213 W. Liberty St., Suite 200
Ann Arbor, MI 48104-1398
www.nwf.org/greatlakes 
www.healthylakes.org ( http://www.healthylakes.org/ )

Phone: (734) 887-7109 
Cell: (734) 904-1589

Inspiring Americans to protect wildlife for our children's future.
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