Binational Public Engagement For GLWQA Amendments

May 27: The Governments of Canada and the United States (the Parties) recognize the importance of engaging the Great Lakes community as they proceed with the negotiations to amend the Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement (GLWQA). Therefore, to ensure broad and meaningful public engagement, the Parties are inviting public input on a number of substantive issues being addressed during the negotiations.   

 

    The parties have established a series of binational public webinars on the issues at various times on June 7, 8, and 9. The issues include: Governance including Place-Based Approaches and Science Coordination; Climate Change Impacts and Habitats and Species; Toxic Substances; Nutrients; and Ship-Source Pollution and Aquatic Invasive Species. They are interested in receiving input and comments on all issues and have established a separate website for comments on all issues.

 

    Access complete information with details on times and web links for each webinar and for submitting comments (click here). Access the GLNPO GLWQA website for additional information (click here).

New Website For International Upper Great Lakes Study

May 27: The International Upper Great Lakes Study has launched a completely redesigned website. According to an announcement, the key goal of the new design is to allow the public easier access to important information and Study documents. For example, the Study Board, Technical Working Groups and Public Interest Advisory Group all have new pages where the interested public can find information about membership, mandate, meeting minutes and progress reports. The latest information regarding the Study is available in a "Highlights" area, and the "Media" section archives helpful documents, including "On the Level" (the Study newsletter), news releases, and detailed factsheets about key aspects of the Study. The site also provides easy access to all documents related to the St. Clair River report that was published last year, including the final report, summary documents, supporting technical reports and public comments.

 

    Access the new website (click here). Access several WIMS blog postings on the Upper Great Lakes Study (click here).

No Asian Carp Found In Latest Sampling Operation

May 25: The Asian Carp Regional Coordinating Committee (RCC) wrapped up a the sampling and data collection operation on the Little Calumet River in South Chicago on Tuesday (May 25). Fisheries biologists from the Illinois Department of Natural Resources (IDNR), the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) and other supporting agencies collected just over 100,000 pounds of fish during the week long operation. Over 40 species of fish were collected though no Bighead or Silver Asian carps were found.  

 

RCC co‐chair John Rogner said, "We will now look at the entire body of evidence collected thus far, including eDNA sampling results and all of our conventional sampling with nets and electrofishing gear to see if we can draw ay further conclusions about the risk of invasion and establishment of Asian carp in Lake Michigan through the Chicago Area Wateway System." The safety zone restrictions established on the Calumet River and Little Calumet River between mile marker 321.5 and 326.5 have been lifted by the U.S. Coast Guard Captain of the Port. IDNR fisheries said it will restock the area with a variety of sport fish species in the future. Over 250 people from more than 20 local, state and federal agencies contributed to the sampling and data collection efforts.

 

    Access a release from RCC (click here). Access photographs and b‐roll footage from the operation (click here). Access further information on the Asian Carp RCC and Asian carp control efforts (click here).

Great Lakes Restoration Initiative Accountability System

May 25: The Great Lakes Restoration Initiative (GLRI) Accountability System is an internet-based system designed to track GLRI projects in order to assess the GLRI's effectiveness. The Conference Report accompanying Public Law 111-88, House Report 111-316, requires EPA to develop a process that "ensures monitoring and reporting on the progress of the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative" (GLRI). A video has been prepared to demonstrate the features of the Great Lakes Accountability System (GLAS) data input screens. The 28 measures listed in the GLRI Action Plan will be tracked through GLAS.

 

    Access an Introduction to the GLRI GLAS (click here). Access the video demonstration (click here). Access the GLRI Action Plan (click here). Access the GLRI website for more information (click here).

Groups Praise Senators For Asian Carp Control Efforts

May 24: Conservation and environmental groups praised U.S. senators for taking action to stop the movement of aquatic invasive species like the Asian carp between the Great Lakes and the Mississippi River. In a letter to the Senate Environment and Public Works (EPW) Committee, Great Lakes senators are urging Congress to direct the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to study how to build a physical barrier between two of North America's largest freshwater ecosystems. The groups signing the letter included:

Alliance for the Great Lakes; Environment Illinois; Freshwater Future; Great Lakes United; Healing Our Waters-Great Lakes Coalition; National Wildlife Federation; Natural Resources Defense Council; Prairie Rivers Network; and Sierra Club.

 

    The letter from the Senate Great Lakes Task Force to EPW Committee Chairwoman Barbara Boxer (D-CA) and Ranking Member James Inhofe (R-OK) is signed by Great Lakes Senators Sherrod Brown (D-OH), Ronald Burris (D-IL), Bob Casey (D-PA), Richard Durbin (D-IL), Al Franken (D-MN), Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY), Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), Herb Kohl (D-WI), Carl Levin (D-MI), Chuck Schumer (D-NY), Arlen Specter (D-PA), Debbie Stabenow (D-MI) and George Voinovich (R-OH).

    Jack Darin, director of the Sierra Club, Illinois Chapter said, "We applaud Sen. Durbin for his leadership in seeking a long-term  solution to the threat posed by Asian carp, and other invasive species, to Lake Michigan and our Illinois River system. For right now, we have little choice but to try to find and kill Asian carp, but the study Sen. Durbin and the other senators are calling for gives us hope for a permanent fix that won't require repeated poisonings of the Chicago River system."

    Among other items, the Senators request in their letter that the EPW Committee include in the next Water Resources Development Act (WRDA) now under consideration a provision to "authorize the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to implement measures recommended in the Efficacy Study, authorized under section 3061 of WRDA 2007, authorize a study to separate watersheds, authorize measures to prevent the movement of aquatic nuisance species, purchase real estate, and provide improvements to making Barrier I a permanent barrier."

    In a separate release, Senator Durbin said, "Asian Carp has the potential to do great damage by threatening the native fish and natural wildlife of the lake and in turn, the economy of the entire Great Lakes region. I am glad to join my colleagues from the region in calling for this study and other measures to be included in the next Water Resources Development Act. We must continue working together to find a solution that will protect our lakes, while preserving jobs and promoting economic activity in the region." The issue of providing a permanent barrier via separating watersheds has been highly contentious between the State of Illinois and other Great Lakes states.

 

    Access a release from the groups and link to their letter and related information (click here). Access a release from Sen. Durbin that includes the letter from the Senators (click here).

Asian Carp Sampling Effort Officially Underway

May 20: A release from the Asian Carp Regional Coordinating Committee (RCC) indicates that a five-mile section of the Little Calumet River in South Chicago is now closed to all traffic for a period of four to six days as sampling efforts for Asian carp get underway. The closure is necessary for biologists to safely and effectively apply the fish toxicant Rotenone to a more than two-mile stretch of the waterway at T.J. O'Brien Lock and Dam as a part of ongoing Asian carp sampling efforts by RCC. The length and location of the application and fish removal area was chosen to maximize the opportunity to capture Asian carp by including a variety of habitats along a substantial length of river channel that has had a high frequency of positive eDNA detections. 

  
    The release indicates that in addition to the Rotenone action, simultaneous electrofishing and commercial netting will take place between the downstream block net and Acme Bend. Electrofishing and netting will allow for an expansion of the area sampled and a comparison of conventional methods with Rotenone sampling. The waterway will be treated in one day, and the fish recovery phase of the operation will last for four to five days. During that time, the FWS, Illinois DNR, and other participating agencies will aim to recover as many fish in the application area as possible to determine the abundance and type of fish present in the treated area.

    The release says, "Knowledge of the population size and location of possible Asian carp in CAWS is important data that will inform biologists and decision makers on selecting and prioritizing appropriate future actions to keep Asian carp from moving into Lake Michigan." The RCC includes representatives from the City of Chicago, Illinois Department of Natural Resources, Metropolitan Water Reclamation District, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, U.S. Coast Guard, U.S. EPA, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, U.S. Geological Survey, the Great Lakes Fishery Commission and the Indiana Department of Natural Resources.

    Access a release from RCC (click here). Access further details on implementation of this new sampling and monitoring plan and the updated Asian Carp Control Strategy Framework (click here).

Attorneys General Critical Of Corps Response To Asian Carp

May 19: Attorney General Mike Cox, along with the four other Great Lakes Attorneys General who supported his U.S. Supreme Court lawsuit, sent a letter to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers "demanding that the Agency live up to its commitments to address the looming Asian carp invasion." The Attorneys General repeated their request that the Corps take immediate and comprehensive actions to block the invasive fish from entering the Great Lakes.

    Cox said, "The Corps told the Supreme Court it had the authority, the resources and a plan to keep Asian carp from infesting the Great Lakes.  "We're still waiting. It's long past time for the Corps to show a sense of urgency on behalf of the job-makers who depend on the health of the Great Lakes. The plan to apply fish poison for the first time in nearly six months -- in just one of the areas that have tested positive for Asian carp eDNA -- is not enough. They need to take real action on all fronts."

    In the letter, Cox and the Attorneys General of Minnesota, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin urge the Corps to "take more comprehensive and effective action, and to act more quickly." The letter repeats the demand that the Corps take immediate measures to block Asian carp currently in the Chicago waterway system from entering the Great Lakes, and to accelerate plans to permanently separate the waterways from Lake Michigan. The Attorneys General also criticize the lack of urgency from the Corps, highlighted by the inadequacy of the recently announced measures it is undertaking. These include starting construction of an already planned project, a barrier between the Des Plaines River and I&M Canal, that does nothing to address carp now threatening the Great Lakes, and electro-fishing, netting, and rotenone application in only some of the areas of the waterway system that have tested positive for Asian carp.

    Cox said further, "While these actions could be part of a comprehensive plan to address this emergency, they are inadequate by themselves. Their own experts have said that conventional fishing techniques, like electro-fishing are ineffective, and I simply don't understand why rotenone isn't being applied in all of the areas where carp eDNA has been found." In the Army Corps' Asian Carp Control Strategy Framework released last January, the Corps called for a new schedule to reduce the frequency of lock openings by April 30, 2010. Cox said that this plan, although inadequate, has not yet been put in place.  In fact, the revised framework released this month drastically extends the deadline for implementation by eight months, from April 30, 2010 to "End of 2010." 

    Cox and the other Attorneys General requested that the Corps and the US Fish and Wildlife Service publicly disclose documents underlying the Asian Carp Control Strategy Framework, including details of monitoring, evaluation of options and proposed actions. Cox said, "Given what is at stake here, the citizens of all of the Great Lakes States need to be able to see, in detail, what the responsible federal agencies are and are not doing, and why, to protect the Lakes from Asian carp."

 

    On May 5, the Asian Carp Regional Coordinating Committee and AsianCarp.org, the official web site established to coordinate the implementation of control and management of Asian carp in the United States, has release an 82-page Updated Asian Carp Control Strategy Framework; a Three‐Month Monitoring and Sampling Plan; and related information [See WIMS 5/6/10].

    Access a release from Attorney General Cox and link to the letter to the Corps and the document request letter (click here). Access the AsianCarp.org website for links to the Updated Strategy, the three-month monitoring and sampling plan, and related information released on May 5 (click here).

Great Lakes Regional Body & Compact Council Meetings

May 10: The Great Lakes-St. Lawrence River Water Resources Regional Body (Regional Body) will meet on June 10, 2010, at 1:00 PM CDT. The meeting will be held at the Avenue Crowne Plaza Hotel Chicago, 160 E. Huron, Chicago, Illinois 60611. The meeting is open to the public and will include an opportunity for public comments. An agenda, materials to be discussed and call-in information for those wishing to participate remotely are available on the Regional Body website.

    Additionally, the Great Lakes-St. Lawrence River Basin Water Resources Council (Compact Council) will meet on the same day at 1:45 PM CDT at the same location. The meeting is open to the public and will include an opportunity for public comments. An agenda, materials to be discussed and call-in information for those wishing to participate remotely are available on the Compact Council's new website

 

    Access the Regional Body website (click here). Access the Compact Council's website (click here).

Updated Asian Carp Control Strategy

May 5: The Asian Carp Regional Coordinating Committee  and AsianCarp.org, the official web site established to coordinate the implementation of control and management of Asian carp in the United States, has release an 82-page Updated Asian Carp Control Strategy Framework; a Three‐Month Monitoring and Sampling Plan; and related information.

 

    According to the updated framework, its main are to: Outline the urgent actions agencies are taking; Integrate and unify the future actions of responding agencies; Transition from a single point of defense at the electric barriers to a multi-tiered approach; Provide general direction while recognizing that agencies require flexibility to best respond; Recognize potential hurdles that might complicate Framework implementation; and Suggest an approach for stakeholders and other agencies to actively collaborate in future efforts. The latest version differs from the first draft released in February 2010 in that it contains new actions either now underway or whose efficacy will be assessed in 2010. It also includes updated milestones based on activities conducted to date, and a Responsiveness Summary addressing public comments received over the last several months.

 

    The Strategy indicates that since February, responding agencies have used conventional and commercial fishing techniques, including gill and trammel netting and electro shocking, to physically confirm the presence of Asian carp upstream of the electric barrier. To date, no Asian carp have been found. In addition, eDNA (environmental deoxyribonucleic acid) sampling has continued. Out of 221 samples collected and processed in 2010, two have tested positive. "Taken together, the fishing and sampling results further the belief that there are not enough Asian carp upstream of the barrier to create self-sustaining populations."

    The actions outlined in the Strategy are grouped into two categories: (1) Short-term Actions and (2) Long-term Actions. Environmental considerations, including minimizing impacts on resident aquatic life, will be integrated into the decision-making process and appropriate environmental review will occur as necessary for all proposed actions. Short-term actions include: Operations to confirm and reduce Asian carp populations upstream of the electric barriers; eDNA capacity and indicator refinement; Contract for the construction of emergency engineering measures to block passage of water and fish between (1) Des Plaines River and CSSC and (2) Illinois and Michigan (I&M) Canal and CSSC; and Begin construction of the additional planned electric barrier (Barrier IIB).

 

    The Asian Carp Regional Coordinating Committee (RCC) also announced its latest monitoring and sampling plan to guide Asian carp control efforts in the Chicago Area Waterway System CAWS). John Rogner, Assistant Director of the Illinois Department of Natural Resources said, "This sampling plan will provide us with important data needed to make future decisions. Keeping Asian carp from establishing a population in Lake Michigan remains our ultimate goal and we think this new monitoring pan will help us achieve our objectives." Charlie Wooley, Deputy Regional Director of the Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) said, "These new monitoring efforts will help us make the most strategic decisions for keeping Asian carp from becoming established in the Great Lakes. The new monitoring plan will provide the quantitative information necessary to determine the most successful control methods for Asian carp, if they are present in the area."

 

    The Chemical Industry Council of Illinois (CICI) issued a release saying that the Illinois Coast Guard announced Monday [May 3] a temporary closure on portions of the Little Calumet River south of the "economically vital" O'Brien Lock and Dam at the request of the Illinois Department of Natural Resources and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. CICI said, "While the potential environmental threat posed by Asian Carp slipping into the Great Lakes warrants serious concern, the actual immediate economic consequences posed by a closure of the locks is a nightmare for the entire Mississippi Valley and Midwest. In this time of economic uncertainty, shutting the locks will have serious consequences for businesses throughout the region that depend on goods transported by river freight. Put bluntly, long term closure and disruption will cost jobs and force some facilities out of business. . . Hopefully this temporary closure is not a sign of thing to come."

   

    Access the AsianCarp.org website for links to the Updated Strategy, the three-month monitoring and sampling plan, and related information released on May 5 (click here). Access a release from CICI (click here).

Policy Committee Meeting On GLRI & GLWQA

May 4: The Great Lakes U.S. Policy Committee is hosting a public forum on Wednesday, May 19, 2010, 9:15 AM - 4:00 PM (Eastern) to provide information on the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative (GLRI) and on U.S.-Canadian negotiations on the Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement (GLWQA). EPA indicates that this will be an opportunity to learn and provide comments on the two issues. The forum will take place at the lodge at Maumee Bay State Park, Toledo, Ohio. Those who wish to attend in person must register by May 10. Others who cannot attend, can access a live video webcast.

 

    Access a draft agenda, registration and lodging information (click here). Access the webcast website (click here).

GLRI To Expand Great Lakes Watershed Database

May 3: The Great Lakes Restoration Initiative (GLRI) has announced that NOAA's existing Great Lakes Query Manager database is being expanded under the GLRI to help expedite the development, implementation, and monitoring of sediment cleanup and restoration projects throughout the Great Lakes.  According to a GLRI posting, historically, data available at any given project site have been from various agencies and programs that have kept data in different formats. This has often resulted in substantial time being expended to compile, analyze, and interpret the data. To address this problem, the GLRI expansion of the Great Lakes Watershed Environmental Database will incorporate additional environmental sediment chemistry, biota contaminant-residue chemistry, and environmental contaminant toxicity data from all Great Lakes States and federal partners. The database will serve as a centralized repository for all Great Lakes Basin environmental contaminant-related data. 

 

    GLRI indicates that having data in one compiled, standardized form will decrease the time necessary to interpret the data, thereby, helping to speed cleanup and restoration. All agencies will benefit through increased volume and accessibility of the data as well as the technical input provided by the coordinating agencies. Establishing a more comprehensive Great Lakes Query Manager database will also provide partner agencies with a powerful outreach tool that can be used to share information with the public in an easy to use format. NOAA currently maintains Query Manager databases for several Great Lakes sub-watersheds and a Basin-wide Query Manager database for the NOAA National Status and Trends Mussel Watch data.

    Query Manager is a relational database that has been used in the cleanup and restoration of contaminated sediment sites throughout the coastal United States. It is routinely used throughout the Great Lakes in investigation and sample plan design, ecological risk assessment, cleanup level derivation, development and evaluation of remedial alternatives, development of mitigation strategies, sediment and soil remediation design–including time-critical removal actions, natural resource damage assessment (pathway evaluation, injury determination, and restoration project development and scaling), and long-term effectiveness monitoring programs and other management activities needed to cleanup and restore the Great Lakes ecosystem.

    Access the GLRI announcement and link to additional information about NOAA's Query Manager database application, or to obtain a copy of the desktop version (click here).