Environmental Monitoring Inventory for the Lake St. Clair Basin

Overview

Working with federal, state/provincial, and local organizations, the Great Lakes Commission developed the Lake St. Clair monitoring inventory and strategic plan. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Detroit District, in partnership with Macomb County, St. Clair County, Macomb County Public Works Commissioner’s Office, Office of Oakland County Drain Commissioner, and Southeast Michigan Council of Governments, initiated this project.

The monitoring inventory is a compendium of current Lake St. Clair monitoring programs housed in a web-based, searchable database for use throughout the basin. To search the Lake St. Clair Monitoring inventory visit http://mapserver.glc.org/website/lkstclair/search.htm.

Based on gaps identified in the monitoring inventory, the Lake St. Clair monitoring strategic plan has been developed and recommendations have been presented to federal, state/provincial, and local stakeholders throughout the Lake St. Clair watershed. The strategic plan incorporates the results of the gap analysis and examines opportunities to better coordinate monitoring programs to meet regional monitoring needs. The strategic plan document is currently available at http://www.glc.org/monitoring/stclair/pdf/StrategicPlan.pdf.

The Great Lakes Commission found that there has been little effort to coordinate monitoring programs addressing key environmental issues in the watershed. The strategic plan recommends that a committee be formed to prioritize and coordinate monitoring efforts. The plan also lays out a strategy for addressing such issues as collaborative data collection and developing regular reports on the state of the watershed.

If you are aware of new monitoring efforts in the Lake St. Clair watershed please submit program information through our online submission form at http://www.glc.org/monitoring/stclair/inventory.html or to update entries in the monitoring inventory please contact Anne Sturm at asturm@glc.org, 734-971-9135.