Great Lakes Restoration Initiative

Harmful algae blooms can produce cyanotoxins that are harmful to humans, pets, livestock, and ecosystem health. Harmful algae blooms are a frequent occurrence in the Great Lakes, particularly in Lake Erie and Lake Michigan at the mouths of the Maumee and Fox Rivers and are partially caused by an excess of nutrients such as nitrogen and phosphorous in the water column.

The USGS is adapting the Chinese Unified Method, a fishing harvest method that uses herding techniques and a variety of nets to drive fish and concentrate them into a concentrated area for capture, in the fight against invasive Asian carps. This “Modified Unified Method” incorporates adapted techniques and modern technology for efficient, mass removal of bigheaded carp in North American waters...

The Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement designated 31 Areas of Concern (AOCs) across the Great Lakes. The AOCs are geographical areas where significant beneficial use impairment has occurred as a result of human activities. A beneficial use impairment (BUI) relates to a change in the chemical, physical, or biological integrity of the Great Lakes system sufficient to cause any of the 14 conditions...

The Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement, in addition to designating 31 Areas of Concern (AOCs) across the Great Lakes, also identified contaminants of emerging (CECs) and mutual concern (CMCs) that warranted additional work not only at AOCs but elsewhere within the Great Lakes Basin.

Over 180 and 140 aquatic invasive species (AIS) have been introduced into the Great Lakes and Upper Mississippi River basins, respectively, with threats of new invasions always on the horizon. Sea lamprey, zebra mussels, and invasive carps are just a few examples of AIS whose abilities to alter aquatic habitats and disrupt food cycles threaten many outdoor recreation opportunities and ecosystems...

The President's 2010 Budget provided $475 million for a new interagency Great Lakes restoration initiative, which targets the most significant problems in the region, including invasive aquatic species (like zebra and quagga mussels), non-point source pollution, and contaminated sediment. This initiative uses outcome-oriented performance goals and measures to target the most significant problems...

Rivermouth ecosystems, or freshwater estuaries, are the focus of human and wildlife interactions with the Great Lakes. They are highly valued as the region’s urban, industrial, shipping and recreational centers; and home to recreational harbors, wildlife viewing and production, beaches and urban riverfronts. Rivermouths are also both the mixing zones where nutrients from upstream watersheds are...

The Upper Midwest Environmental Sciences Center (UMESC) in La Crosse, Wisconsin is studying the distribution and foraging patterns of sentinel fish-eating waterbirds through aerial surveys, and by tracking migration movements coupled with foraging depth profiles of common loons equipped with archival geo-locator tags and satellite transmitters. The results of this work are expected to elucidate...

Objectives: 1. Use tree swallows and colonial waterbirds in the Great Lakes to evaluate contaminant Exposure (geographic and spatial) 2. Trends through time (temporal) 3. Effects (reproductive, physiological, genetic) 4. Monitor cleanup actions