GLIN==> NOAA Announces $4.8 Million to Restore Habitat in Great Lakes Areas of Concern

*NOAA Announces $4.8 Million to Restore Habitat in Great Lakes Areas of 
Concern*

September 15, 2011

NOAA announced today that it has awarded nearly $5 million to eight 
projects to support habitat restoration throughout the Great Lakes Areas 
of Concern.  NOAA's Restoration Center is funding three shovel-ready 
projects and five engineering and design projects. This allows NOAA to 
support both current efforts to restore the Great Lakes as well as 
future projects that, once implemented, will have significant benefits 
to Great Lakes restoration.

NOAA provides financial and technical assistance to remove dams and 
barriers, construct fish passage, clean up marine debris, restore 
coastal wetlands, and remove invasive species in the region.

Implementation projects include:
*
.    Wayne Road Dam Removal and Habitat Improvement Project (Wayne, MI) 
*-- $1million: The Alliance of Rouge Communities will remove the Wayne 
Road Dam. This will restore fish passage to migratory species such as 
salmon, walleye, northern pike and small mouth bass, and improve 
shoreline habitat. It will also reconnect 22 miles of the Rouge River 
with the Great Lakes.
*.    Lower Black River Habitat Restoration (Lorain, OH)* -- $1million:  
In the second phase of this project, the City of Lorain, Ohio will build 
more than 2,800 feet of prime vegetated fish habitat for walleye, 
smallmouth bass, and northern pike. This project will also restore up to 
two acres of riparian habitat, and will remove more than 45,000 cubic 
yards of recyclable steel mill slag in the Black River watershed -- a 
tributary to Lake Erie.
*.    Habitat Restoration in the Maumee Area of Concern (Oak Harbor, OH) 
*-- $1.3 million: The Nature Conservancy, in partnership with Ducks 
Unlimited and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, will restore and enhance 
512 acres of critical coastal wetland and marsh habitat within Ottawa 
National Wildlife Refuge. The project will reconnect 127 acres of 
wetlands to Lake Erie.

Engineering and design projects and future implementation impacts include:

*.    Muskegon Lake Hydrologic Reconnection and Mill Debris Removal 
(Muskegon, MI) * -- $313,000: The West Michigan Shoreline Regional 
Development Commission will develop designs for a project that will 
soften 2,850 feet of shoreline, restore up to 126 acres of floodplains 
and emergent wetlands, and remove more than 197,000 metric tons of 
unnatural lake fill debris.
*.    Little Rapids Habitat Restoration Project (Sault St. Marie, MI)* 
-- $348,000: The Eastern Upper Peninsula Regional Planning & Development 
Commission will begin developing engineering and design plans for a 
project that will increase fish passage in the remaining available 
rapids habitat, considered essential spawning and nursery habitat for 
species such as lake whitefish, lake sturgeon and walleye.
*.    Clinton River Spillway and Fish Habitat Restoration (Clinton 
Township, MI)* -- $350,000: Macomb County will develop plans to improve 
fish passage along two miles of restored channel, directly connecting 
nearly 200 acres of river corridor to Lake St. Clair. The project will 
refurbish and adapt the existing spillway to reduce erosion and sediment 
loading by stabilizing river shorelines and by increasing vegetated 
buffers along the river.
*.    Buffalo River RiverBend Habitat Restoration project (Buffalo, NY)* 
-- $167,000: Buffalo Niagara Riverkeeper will develop plans to restore 
and soften 1,520 feet river shoreline. The shoreline is currently 
channelized and made of hard materials like steel which can contribute 
to erosion and degrade and alter habitat. Additionally, almost four 
acres of shoreline and riparian habitat will be stabilized and planted, 
creating a 100-foot vegetated buffer area along the river.
*.    Lower Black River Fish Habitat Restoration Project (Lorain, OH)* 
-- $350,000:  In the third phase of this project, the City of Lorain, 
Ohio will develop plans to build shallow underwater rocky fish habitat 
shelves, totaling more than 1,600 feet of new prime vegetated fish 
habitat for walleye, smallmouth bass, northern pike and longnose gar. 
This project, once implemented, will also restore up to seven acres of 
riparian habitat from a former industrial area back to its original 
natural forested state in the Black River watershed---a tributary to 
Lake Erie.

These projects are supported by the NOAA Restoration Center with funding 
provided by the U.S. EPA via President Obama's Great Lakes Restoration 
Initiative. The Great Lakes Restoration Initiative is a collaborative 
effort between the EPA and 15 other federal agencies to build on 
existing and current work to restore the Great Lakes.

For more information on the Initiative and Action Plan go to 
www.greatlakesrestoration.us.

NOAA's mission is to understand and predict changes in the Earth's 
environment, from the depths of the ocean to the surface of the sun, and 
to conserve and manage our coastal and marine resources. Join us on 
Facebook <http://www.facebook.com/usnoaagov>, Twitter 
<http://www.twitter.com/usnoaagov>and our other social media channels 
<http://www.noaa.gov/socialmedia>.

###
On the Web:

NOAA: www.noaa.gov

Great Lakes: 
http://www.habitat.noaa.gov/restoration/programs/greatlakes.html

-- 
Julie Sims
NOAA Restoration Center
4840 South State Road
Ann Arbor, MI 48108-9719

julie.sims at noaa.gov
Ph: 734.741.2385

www.habitat.noaa.gov

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