Skip to main content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

October 3, 2022

The symposium held in Michigan's upper peninsula was themed “Identifying Priorities for Coastal System Conservation and Restoration in Less-Altered Coastal Ecosystems.”

Carnivorous Butterwort
A carnivorous butterwort plant near Sault Ste. Marie visited during the 2022 Great Lakes Coastal Wetlands Symposium. Photo Credit: Wes Bickford, USGS.

Wes Bickford, Sasha Bozimowski, Kurt Kowalski, and Taaja Tucker-Silva (GLSC, Ann Arbor, Michigan) presented at the 2022 Great Lakes Coastal Symposium held in Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan, September 19-21, 2022. The theme of the symposium was “identifying priorities for coastal system conservation and restoration in less-altered coastal ecosystems.” Attendees were also offered the opportunity to visit and learn more about less-altered systems in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula on several guided field trips. Dr. Kowalski shared an overview of the Great Lakes Coastal Wetland Restoration Assessment, a basin-wide decision-support tool developed to support the restoration of coastal wetland habitats. Dr. Bickford discussed ongoing research efforts to evaluate the cut-to-drown treatment approach for the non-native Phragmites australis. Ms. Tucker-Silva gave an overview of the binational Great Lakes Phragmites Collaborative and implementation details on the Phragmites Adaptive Management Framework. Finally, Ms. Bozimowski described how a high-resolution sonar and machine-learning analysis approach are contributing to a large coastal wetland restoration project at the US Fish and Wildlife Service Shiawassee National Wildlife Refuge. Approximately 120 people attended the symposium and participated in presentations, training sessions, and networking opportunities focused on Great Lakes coastal issues. 

Pitcher Plants in a Fen Wetland
A Pitcher Plant in a fen wetland near near Sault Ste. Marie visited by participant of the 2022 Great Lakes Coastal Symposium. Photo Credit: Wes Bickford, USGS.
A Coastal Fen Wetland Near Sault Ste. Marie, MI
A Coastal fen wetland near Sault Ste. Marie, MI visited by participant of the 2022 Great Lakes Coastal Symposium. Photo Credit: Wes Bickford, USGS
Shoreline near Sault Ste. Marie, MI
A shoreline near Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan visited by participants of the 2022 Great Lakes Coastal Wetlands Symposium. Photo Credit: Wes Bickford, USGS.

Get Our News

These items are in the RSS feed format (Really Simple Syndication) based on categories such as topics, locations, and more. You can install and RSS reader browser extension, software, or use a third-party service to receive immediate news updates depending on the feed that you have added. If you click the feed links below, they may look strange because they are simply XML code. An RSS reader can easily read this code and push out a notification to you when something new is posted to our site.