Federal Farm Bill Conservation Programs & Great Lakes Restoration

Mar 20: The Healing Our Waters-Great Lakes (HOW) Coalition released a report urging Federal public officials to strengthen and support successful farm conservation programs that are vital to restoring the health of the Great Lakes. Jeff Skelding, campaign director for the HOW Coalition said, "Farm conservation programs are essential for Great Lakes restoration. Farm conservation programs are producing results, but there is more work to do. Cutting support for these successful programs now will cause problems to get worse and more costly to solve."

    The report, The Case for Federal Farm Bill Conservation Programs in the Great Lakes Region, documents how conservation measures on farms across the region are protecting natural resources, helping farmers improve productivity and providing jobs.
According to a release, the report comes as U.S. legislators embark on revising the Federal Farm Bill, the primary agriculture and food policy tool of the Federal government that includes one of the largest sources of conservation funding in the Federal budget: The Great Lakes states of Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin receive more than $500 million in conservation funding annually through the Farm Bill.

    The degree to which the new Farm Bill helps Great Lakes restoration efforts may hinge on the actions of Federal public officials from the Great Lakes region -- particularly in the U.S. Senate, which is leading the effort to update the Farm Bill. The Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry is chaired by Senator Debbie Stabenow (D-MI), and includes members Sherrod Brown (D-OH), Bob Casey (D-PA), Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY), Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) and Richard Lugar (R-IN).

    HOW points out that in the last two Federal budgets the U.S. Congress has cut Farm Bill conservation programs by more than $1 billion. President Obama's fiscal year 2013 budget recommends further reductions of more than $400 million. The HOW Coalition is urging lawmakers to restore conservation funding in the Farm Bill. The new report offers several recommendations to get more "bang for the buck" from Federal Farm Bill programs, including: Invest more, not less, on farm conservation programs;
Support a new regional restoration program; Connect crop insurance subsidies to conservation compliance; Eliminate provisions that incentivize habitat destruction; and, Target programs on the worst problems.

    Access a lengthy release from the HOW Coalition with more details and links to related information (click here). Access the complete 24-page report (click here). [#GLakes]

 

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Interim Asian Carp Environmental DNA Calibration Study

Mar 15: Members of the Asian Carp Regional Coordinating Committee (ACRCC) released the first interim report of the Asian Carp Environmental DNA Calibration Study (ECALS). The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is leading the two-year study in conjunction with the U.S. Geological Survey and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to reduce the uncertainty surrounding Asian carp environmental DNA (eDNA) results. eDNA is a process in which genetic material (cells containing DNA from mucus, feces and/or urine) is extracted from water samples to detect the possible presence of Asian carp. ECALS is funded through the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative.

    A new ECALS page on the ACRCC's website Asiancarp.us will host interim reports and tentative release dates for upcoming interim reports and document the progress of the study. Kelly Baerwaldt, ACRCC eDNA program manager said, "At present, eDNA evidence cannot verify whether live Asian carp are present, whether the DNA may have come from a dead fish, or whether water containing Asian carp DNA may have been transported from other sources such as bilge water, storm sewers or fish-eating birds."

    ECALS will investigate alternative sources and pathways for eDNA detections beyond a live fish. The study will also examine how environmental variables such as light, temperature and water velocity impact eDNA detections; explore the correlation between the number of positive samples and the strength of the DNA source; develop more efficient eDNA markers to cut the sampling processing time in half and model eDNA transport specific to the Chicago Area Waterway System.

    The first interim report provides results to date from the study, including storm sewer experiments, fertilization analysis and alternative sampling trials to make the sampling process more efficient. For example, an initial trial on Chinatown storm sewers demonstrates that ice contaminated with Asian carp DNA and deposited into storm drains may serve as a source of eDNA and testing on two brands of fertilizer, as Asian carp are used as ingredients in some, failed to detect bighead or silver carp DNA. Moreover, the differences in sampling at different depths were investigated, and it was found that surface sampling was the most successful in detecting eDNA.

 

    Access a release and link to the interim report (click here). Access the ACRCC's website (click here).

 

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Overall Great Lakes Ice Coverage Down 71% Since 1973

Mar 12: NOAA/Great Lakes Environmental Research Laboratory recently published a paper in the American Meteorological Society (AMS) Journal of Climate entitled, Temporal and Spatial Variability of Great Lakes Ice Cover, 1973–2010. In this study, temporal and spatial variability of ice cover in the Great Lakes are investigated using historical satellite measurements from 1973 to 2010. The seasonal cycle of ice cover was constructed for all the lakes, including Lake St. Clair. A unique feature found in the seasonal cycle is that the standard deviations (i.e., variability) of ice cover are larger than the climatological means for each lake. This indicates that Great Lakes ice cover experiences large variability in response to predominant natural climate forcing and has poor predictability. Spectral analysis shows that lake ice has both quasi-decadal and interannual periodicities of ~8 and ~4 yr.

 

    There was a significant downward trend in ice coverage from 1973 to the present for all of the lakes, with Lake Ontario having the largest, and Lakes Erie and St. Clair having the smallest. The translated total loss in lake ice over the entire 38-yr record varies from 37% in Lake St. Clair (least) to 88% in Lake Ontario (most). The total loss for overall Great Lakes ice coverage is 71%, while Lake Superior places second with a 79% loss. An empirical orthogonal function analysis indicates that a major response of ice cover to atmospheric forcing is in phase in all six lakes, accounting for 80.8% of the total variance. The second mode shows an out-of-phase spatial variability between the upper and lower lakes, accounting for 10.7% of the total variance. The regression of the first EOF-mode time series to sea level pressure, surface air temperature, and surface wind shows that lake ice mainly responds to the combined Arctic Oscillation and El Niño–Southern Oscillation patterns.

 

    Access an abstract and link to accessing the complete paper (click here). Access an article on the study in Marquette Mining Journal (click here).

 

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HOW RFP For Great Lakes Grant Program

Mar 9: The goal of the Healing Our Waters (HOW) GLRI/Federal Project Support grants program is to provide financial support that will aid in the development and implementation of Great Lakes Restoration Initiative (GLRI) and other Federal proposals or projects by organizations working to directly impact the Healing Our Waters Priority Areas with awards up to $15,000. The deadline for electronic application submission on the HOW form is May 13, 2012.

 

    The HOW-Great Lakes Coalition, formed in 2005, reflects a growing public awareness about the urgent need to protect the Great Lakes. The Coalition is generously supported by the Wege Foundation, Joyce Foundation, Charles Stewart Mott Foundation, Great Lakes Fishery Trust, the Kresge Foundation, and the Fred A. and Barbara M. Erb Family Foundation. The Coalition seeks to secure a sustainable restoration plan and the billions of dollars of state and federal funding needed to implement it. The coalition seeks to clean up sewage and toxic sediments, to restore damaged habitat, to protect high quality habitat, and to control and prevent the introduction of invasive species, each of which is an essential component of restoring the health of the Great Lakes ecosystem.

    The HOW Priority Areas encompass only those watersheds listed as part of the area description, unless otherwise specified. All watersheds are listed by their name as defined by U.S. EPA as follows: St. Louis Bay and St. Louis River; including the St. Louis and Beartrap-Nemadjii watersheds; Chicago Land; including the Little CalumetGalien, Pike-Root, and Chicago watersheds; Saginaw Bay; including the Saginaw watershed, Saginaw Bay and its coastal zone; Western Lake Erie; including the Lower Maumee watershed and its coastal zone; and Eastern Lake Ontario; including the Irondequoit Ninemile watershed.

    Access the complete RFP (click here). Access the HOW application form (click here). Access more information from HOW (click here); and (click here).

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HOW Coalition Meets With White House Officials

Feb 29: Healing Our Waters-Great Lakes (HOW) Coalition members announced they will be meeting today with senior White House and Obama Administration officials at a Great Lakes summit to discuss the accomplishments and priorities of the current administration. The HOW Coalition consists of more than 120 environmental, conservation and outdoor recreation organizations, zoos, aquariums and museums representing millions of people, whose common goal is to restore and protect the Great Lakes.

 

    The gathering followings a meeting Monday between coalition leaders and Obama Administration officials in the West Wing of the White House, at which time Great Lakes advocates put forward an agenda to: Maintain momentum for restoring the lakes by continuing to fund restoration programs through the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative; boosting Federal assistance to help communities combat sewage overflows; enacting strong protections against ballast water invaders; confronting the algae bloom epidemic in Lake Erie; and moving more aggressively to separate the Great Lakes and Mississippi River to prevent the spread of Asian carp and other invasive species between the two bodies of water.

    Jeff Skelding, director of the Healing Our Waters-Great Lakes Coalition said, "We look forward to meeting with Obama Administration officials to discuss how we can work together to support Great Lakes restoration projects that benefit the environment and economy. Restoration efforts are producing results, but there is more to do. Continued leadership by President Obama and the U.S. Congress will be essential to restore our lakes, protect our drinking water, create jobs and uphold our way of life." The gathering, sponsored by the White House Council on Environmental Quality's Office of Public Engagement, comes as coalition members from Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin conclude two days of meetings with U.S. congressional offices as part of Great Lakes Days.

    The HOW Coalition views 2012 as a pivotal year in the effort to restore the Great Lakes, as the fate of key water issues hinge on actions by the Obama Administration and U.S. Congress. Among them: Funding the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative and other clean water programs; Reauthorizing the Farm Bill, the largest funding source for federal conservation programs; Finalizing EPA guidelines dealing with clean water protections and Coast Guard and EPA rules addressing polluted ballast water discharges; and, Acting to prevent the advance of Asian carp, which are on the doorstep to the Lakes.

   Access a release from HOW with more details (click here). Access the HOW website for more information (click here).

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U.S. Supreme Court Denies States' Asian Carp Suit

Feb 27: In a brief order by the U.S. Supreme Court, in the case of Michigan, et al., Petitioners v. United States Army Corps of Engineers, et al. (SupCt No. 11-541) denied the States' petitions for writs of certiorari. The Order notes that Justice Kagan took no part in the consideration or decision of these petitions.

 

    On October 26, 2011 Michigan Attorney General Bill Schuette filed a request for appeal with the Supreme Court to review a U.S. Court of Appeals decision that denied the request of five Great Lakes states for an immediate injunction against the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers [See WIMS 10/26/11]. Michigan and the states of Minnesota, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin were requesting that the Army Corps greatly speed up their study on the ecological separation of the Lake Michigan and Mississippi basins to prevent the advancement of invasive Asian carp toward Lake Michigan. Additionally the states requested an injunctive order compelling the Corps to place block nets in the Little Calumet and Grand Calumet Rivers.

 

    On August 24, 2011, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 7th Circuit in Chicago issued a ruling on a preliminary injunction request concluding that Michigan's lawsuit had "a good or even substantial likelihood of success on the merits of their public nuisance claim." [See WIMS 9/6/11]. Despite the recognition of the real threat posed by Asian carp, the Court denied the states' request. The states then decided to appeal. The states' petition asked the Supreme Court to overturn the 7th Circuit decision and order.

 

    Access the Supreme Court order (click here, page 6). Access the Supreme Court docket in the case (click here). Access the 32-page Petition for a Writ of Certiorari (click here). 

 

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Great Lakes Commission Gets Updates At DC Meeting

Feb 28: A release from the Great Lakes Commission (GLC) indicates that the first details of a renegotiated Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement (GLWQA) between the United States and Canada emerged this week in Washington at a GLC meeting.  Cameron Davis, senior advisor for the Great Lakes at U.S. EPA, said that although the document has not been finalized, "We have an agreement in principle." The Parties are scheduled to report to the public on the outcome of the GLWQA negotiation sessions on March 5, at a meeting beginning at 3 PM (EST) and a copy of the presentation will be released 48 hours before the meeting [See WIMS 2/27/12].

 

    Also unveiled at the meeting were the Commission's FY 2013 Federal legislative priorities which include preventing the introduction and spread of aquatic invasive species, cleaning up contaminated sediments, controlling polluted runoff, restoring degraded wetlands, and conserving fish and wildlife resources. Davis noted that the new GLWQA's forward-looking orientation will be more effective in identifying and responding to emerging environmental threats to the Great Lakes. He said, "Even before they became established in the Great Lakes, we knew that zebra mussels were likely coming, but we could not move fast enough. This new agreement will allow us to respond to such threats much more effectively."

 

    The Commission received a firsthand report on the 2012 Farm Bill from Chris Adamo, staff director for the Senate Agriculture Committee, chaired by Senator Debbie Stabenow (D-MI). Reauthorization of the Farm Bill with strong provisions for conservation programs such as those supporting control of soil erosion and agricultural runoff is another high priority for the Commission. GLC Chair James Tierney said, "The 2012 Farm Bill is not only important to maintaining and enhancing our agricultural productivity , but also to protecting the Great Lakes from one of the greatest threats to water quality: non-point source pollution."

 

    Also appearing before the Great Lakes Commission was EPA Assistant Administrator Nancy Stoner who provided an update on a new, more integrated approach to stormwater and waste water management. In addition to being more effective in dealing with overflows impacting Great Lakes water quality, the new approach is more cost effective. The Commission also heard updates on efforts to keep Asian carp out of the Great Lakes, including a recently released study by the Commission and the Great Lakes and St. Lawrence Cities Initiative, outlining engineering approaches to separation of the Chicago Areas Waterway System of the Great Lakes from the Mississippi River where Asian carp have been migrating northward since the 1980s.

 

    Acknowledging the substantial backlog of dredging in the Great Lakes that has impaired navigational access to many ports and harbors, the Commission moved to support development of new legislation to provide federal funding for harbor maintenance, particularly for low-use commercial and recreational harbor communities.  John Goss, Asian carp director for the White House Council on Environmental Quality, presented the U.S. federal government's strategic framework for Asian carp control in FY2012, which will be supported by a $51 million budget commitment [See WIMS 2/24/12].

 

    Access a release from GLC (click here). Access the GLC website for more information (click here).

 

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