Ann Arbor, Mich. – The Great Lakes Commission (GLC) announced that nearly $900,000 in grants has been awarded to seven local organizations to reduce the runoff of sediment, nutrients, and other pollutants into the Great Lakes. This runoff has economic and environmental impacts and contributes to the formation of harmful algal blooms and dead zones in the lakes. Grant recipients will use the funding to install long-term structural practices to limit sediment or nutrient runoff and implement programs to ensure nutrients are applied to agricultural land from the right source, in the right place, at the right rate and time (often referred to as the 4Rs of nutrient management).

“Working with local partners to implement these conservation practices is critical to protecting water quality in the Great Lakes region,” said John Linc Stine, chair of the GLC and commissioner of the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency. “This program enables communities to take specific, measured steps toward reducing the sediment and nutrient runoff affecting their local watersheds.”

Funding for the Great Lakes Sediment and Nutrient Reduction Program is provided by the U.S. Department of Agriculture – Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) under the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative (GLRI). The GLRI is a U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (U.S. EPA)-led initiative designed to accelerate efforts to protect and restore the largest system of fresh surface water in the world — the Great Lakes.

Grants totaling $894,392 have been awarded to the following recipients:

• Allegan Conservation District, Michigan
• Blanchard River Watershed Partnership, Ohio
• Erie County Soil and Water Conservation District, New York
• Fulton Soil and Water Conservation District, Ohio
• Village of Glencoe, Illinois
• LaGrange County Soil and Water Conservation District, Indiana
• Mequon Nature Preserve, Inc., Wisconsin

More information about the projects is available here. Please visit www.keepingitontheland.net or email Nicole Zacharda at the GLC for more information on the Great Lakes Sediment and Nutrient Reduction Program.

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The Great Lakes Commission, led by chair John Linc Stine, commissioner of the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency, is an interstate compact agency established under state and U.S. federal law and dedicated to promoting a strong economy, healthy environment and high quality of life for the Great Lakes-St. Lawrence region and its residents. The Commission consists of governors’ appointees, state legislators, and agency officials from its eight member states. Associate membership for Ontario and Québec was established through the signing of a “Declaration of Partnership.” The Commission maintains a formal Observer program involving U.S. and Canadian federal agencies, tribal authorities, binational agencies and other regional interests. The Commission office is located in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Learn more at www.glc.org.