Great Lakes Commission Restoration Initiatives
Introduction | Featured Products and Events | Great Lakes Regional Collaboration Resources | Additional Plans, Strategies

Introduction
Restoration of the Great Lakes ecosystem has received increasing attention as an essential approach for securing a healthy environment and prosperous economy for the Great Lakes region into the future. The suite of activities encompassed by Great Lakes restoration include a combination of improving impaired components of the system and protection of those that are of high quality. Planning of a large-scale and cooperative restoration initiative has made significant advances during recent years, and the Great Lakes Commission has often been at the forefront of such efforts. A large number of Great Lakes Commission events and products are directly applicable to implementing restoration of the Great Lakes basin.

Featured Products and Events
The following is a list of Great Lakes restoration-related products and events produced or sponsored by the Great Lakes Commission.

• Sustainability Conference - In May of 2004, over 200 policymakers, opinion leaders and stakeholders throughout the binational Great Lakes-St. Lawrence region convened for a common purpose: to move the notion of “sustainability” from concept to application. In February 2005 the Commission published proceedings (PDF) from this meeting, available for download online.
• Restoration Planning Workshops - The Great Lakes Commission sponsored a series of workshops throughout the Great Lakes states in 2004 to solicit public input on the development and implementation of priorities for ecosystem restoration. You can view each of the separate meeting proceedings individually, or the complete proceedings document, A Blueprint for the Future: Toward a Great Lakes Restoration Strategy (PDF, 1.6M).
• The Great Lakes Program to Ensure Environmental and Economic Prosperity - The Great Lakes Program is a descriptive listing of the federal legislative and appropriations priorities of the Great Lakes Commission. Originally published in 2000, this document is updated every March and distributed at the annual Great Lakes Day in Washington.
• Great Lakes Day - Great Lakes Day in Washington, D.C., is an annual event featuring presentations and dialogue on Great Lakes priorities by regional leaders and members of Congress. Great Lakes Day 2005 was held March 2.

Great Lakes Regional Collaboration Resources
The Great Lakes Regional Collaboration, established in May 2004, is made up of eight strategy teams. Below are links to each team's web site along with Commission-related resources.

Aquatic Invasive Species

Area of Concern (AOC) Restoration/Sediment

Coastal Health
• Great Lakes BeachCast
• Great Lakes Beach Association


Habitat / Species

Indicators and Information
• Great Lakes Information Network (GLIN)
• Great Lakes Observing System


Nonpoint Source

Persistent Bioaccumulative Toxics (PBT)
• Great Lakes Air Toxics Emissions Inventory for years 1996,1997,1998,1999, and 2001 (2002 will be completed in spring ’05)
• The Centralized Air emissions Repository On-Line (CAROL) for reporting emissions data from the above inventories
• The Great Lakes Air Deposition (GLAD) program supports research projects relating to atmospheric deposition of toxic substances to the Great Lakes. Current projects include monitoring and modeling projects concerning mercury, dioxins, PBDEs, PAHs, and many others.
• Clearing the Air newsletter


Sustainable Development
• Great Lakes Sustainable Land Use
• Linking Brownfields Redevelopment and Greenfields Protection for Sustainable Development (PDF, June 2001)
• Proceedings: Sediment Reduction in the Great Lakes Basin: A Strategic View (PDF, 2004)

Additional Plans, Strategies and Documents
There are many Great Lakes restoration activities and initiatives ocurring throughout the region led by numerous organizations. For a composite list of these resources, please see the Great Lakes Information Network's Great Lakes Restoration section.