Aug 3: The Healing Our Waters-Great Lakes Coalition (HOW) announced $115,000 in grants that will be awarded to nine organizations poised to jump-start restoration projects on four of the five Great Lakes. The coalition grants will help conservation organizations participate in the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative, a federal program to clean up toxic pollution, confront aquatic invasive species and restore habitat and wetlands. Access a lengthy release from HOW with details on each of the grants and links to the organizations (click here). Access the HOW website for more information (click here).
According to a release, one organization funded by the coalition last year -- the Alliance for the Great Lakes -- leveraged a $15,000 grant into a recently announced $150,000 Great Lakes Restoration Initiative award to improve 28 acres of habitat along Lake Michigan in northeastern Illinois. Jeff Skelding, campaign director for HOW said, "We're excited to be working with local groups to continue progress on Great Lakes restoration. Restoration projects produce results -- but there is more work to do. These grants will address a variety of issues that are important to the health of the Great Lakes and economy."
The coalition awards grants of up to $15,000 to groups in five geographic priority areas: The St. Louis River and St. Louis Bay in Lake Superior; the waters of Lake Michigan in the Chicagoland area; Lake Huron's Saginaw Bay; western Lake Erie and eastern Lake Ontario. This year, the coalition awarded grants to three Michigan groups; two Minnesota organizations; two New York groups; and two Ohio organizations.
The 2011 implementation grants will support efforts to: Reduce phosphorus pollution and Control the invasive reed Phragmites in western Lake Erie; Reduce noxious algae and improve water quality in Lake Ontario's Sodus Bay; Restore the lower Salmon Creek watershed in New York; Restore the Rifle River in Michigan and remove a dam in the Shiawassee River that limits upstream fish passage from Lake Huron's Saginaw Bay; Replace invasive Phragmites in Saginaw Bay with native wild rice; and Restore streams that flow into Lake Superior's Duluth Harbor and increase public awareness of restoration projects underway in the St. Louis River.
