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Lake Michigan LaMP 2004
10-1
Status
 
The LaMP provides a lake-level framework servingboth as a reference document and a proposalfor a process to remediate past errors andachieve a sustainable Lake Michigan basinecosystem. To this end, every effort has beenmade to ensure that the Lake Michigan LaMPand updates contain clear, comprehensivegoals, specific objectives, a strategic plan, and asystem of indicators and monitoring to judge theenvironmental status and effectiveness of currentactions. In providing these to a widespreadaudience, partnership and collaboration arepromotedCollaboration among a variety of stakeholders toimprove the Lake Michigan ecosystem continuesto increase since LaMP 2000. This chapterdocuments several of these collaborativeactivities, which have a Great Lakes focus withLake Michigan involvement, including:
•
The Great Lakes Strategy(
www.epa.gov/glnpo/gls/index/html
)
•
The Binational Executive Committee
•
Great Lakes Binational Toxics Strategy(
www.epa.gov/glnpo/p2/busintro.html
)
•
The Great Lakes Human Health Network
•
The Great Lakes Fishery Commission(
www.glfc.gov
)
•
Shared goals project involving EPA Region 5and state water quality programs(
www.epa.gov/region5/watergoals.htm
)
•
The 2002 Wingspread Accord into theWatershed Academy
•
The Great Cities Initiative(
www.greatlakescities.org
)
•
The Great Lakes Legislative CaucusOther collaborative activities such as the LakeMichigan Watershed Academy, are discussed inother sections of this document. As the numberof groups and efforts grow, the LaMP provides astatus report and framework for these efforts.
 
Challenge
To develop a framework for clear goals andobjectives that facilitate coordinated actionsamong agencies and stakeholders.To provide and facilitate opportunities forpartnerships and leveraging resources.
Great Lakes Strategy
 
Great Lakes Strategy 2002 was created by the
Subgoal 10Is collaborative ecosystem management the basis fordecision-making in the Lake Michigan basin?
 
Lake Michigan LaMP 2004
10-2
U.S. Policy Committee – a forum of senior-levelrepresentatives of federal, state, and tribalagencies responsible for environmental andnatural resource management of the Great Lakes – to help coordinate and streamline the efforts ofthe many governmental partners involved inprotecting the Great Lakes. The strategy focuseson multi-lake and basinwide environmental issuesand establishes common goals that thegovernmental partners work toward. It supportsefforts already underway, including LaMPs andRAPs for AOCs, by addressing issues that arebeyond the scope of these programs and helpingto integrate them into an overall, basinwidecontext. The strategy also advances theimplementation of the United States’responsibilities under the 1987 GLWQA.The strategy is a concise, policy level statementof basinwide priorities and activities that addressthe current state of the Great Lakes basinecosystem and key environmental goals for thefuture so that a unified approach toimplementation can be carried out by a diverseset of federal, state, and tribal agencies. Thelong-term vision of the strategy can be simplyexpressed as follows:
•
All Great Lakes beaches are open forswimming all the time.
•
All Great Lakes fish are safe to eat all the time.
•
The Great Lakes are maintained andenhanced as a safe source of drinking water.
•
The Great Lakes basin is a healthy naturalenvironment for wildlife and people.
The Binational Executive Committee
The Binational Executive Committee (BEC) ischarged with coordinating the implementation ofthe binational aspects of the 1987 GLWQA. TheBEC is co-chaired by Environment Canada andU.S. EPA, and includes members of the GreatLakes states, the Province of Ontario, and otherfederal departments and agencies in Canadaand the United States. The BEC addressesbinational, basinwide issues of concern andprovides strategic direction to the LaMPs, RAPs,and other Great Lakes programs such as theBinational Toxics Strategy, and the State of theLakes Ecosystem Conference.
Bills to Restore the Great Lakes Introduced in Congress
Legislation was introduced in both the U.S. House and Senate to provide significant resources to restore theGreat Lakes. The legislation would give states restoration funding in the form of block grants, authorizing be-tween $4 and $6 billion. Money would be allocated to states by a formula that takes into account criteria suchas population, exposure to the Great Lakes Watershed, number of Areas of Concern and critical habitat.In order to qualify for funding, states would be required to develop a state management plan. The state planwould be approved by the EPA Administrator and must comply with the President’s “Great Lakes Strategy 2002”and appropriate Lakewide Management Plans.In addition to providing restoration funding, the bill would create a Great Lakes Advisory Board. Comprised ofthe governors of the Great Lakes states, representatives of the federal government, local mayors, as well as thebusiness, scientific and advocacy communities, the board would be tasked with developing a ComprehensiveLakes Management Plan. This plan would build on the existing catalog of Great Lakes research to provide aclear vision of the Lakes’ future. Further, the plan would review the value of current restoration efforts and rec-ommend to Congress and states which programs should be strengthened, combined, or eliminated altogether.Further, it would target:
•
Cleaning up toxic hot spots;
•
Combating invasive species;
•
Controlling pollution from urban and agricultural runoff;
•
Restoring and conserve wetlands and critical coastal habitat; and
•
Increasing public education of Great Lakes issues.
 
Lake Michigan LaMP 2004
10-3
Great Lakes Binational ToxicsStrategy
 
The Canada-United States strategy for the virtualelimination of persistent toxic substances in theGreat Lakes basin, known as the Great LakesBinational Toxics Strategy (GLBTS), provides aframework for actions to reduce or eliminatepersistent toxic substances, especially those whichbioaccumulate. The strategy was jointlydeveloped by Canada and the United States in1996 and 1997, and it was signed by the twogovernments on April 7, 1997 .The GLBTS establishes reduction challenges for aninitial list of persistent toxic substances targeted forvirtual elimination: aldrin/dieldrin, benzo(a)pyrene,chlordane, DDT, hexachlorobenzene, alkyl-lead,mercury and compounds, mirex,octachlorostyrene, PCBs, dioxins and furans, andtoxaphene. These substances have beenassociated with widespread, long-term, adverseeffects on wildlife in the Great Lakes and throughtheir bioaccumulation, pose threats to humanhealth. The strategy marked the first time thatspecific reduction targets were set jointly by thetwo countries.Recognizing that virtual elimination is a long-termprocess, the GLBTS provides the framework foractions to achieve reductions for specific toxicsubstances in the 1997 to 2006 timeframe.Flexibility is provided in the GLBTS to allow forrevision of challenges, timeframes, and the list oftargeted substances. The development ofbaseline measurements for tracking andmeasuring progress toward reductions is a keyelement. A “Technical Support Document”appended to the GLBTS provides action itemsthat will be undertaken to pursue reductions(
www.epa.gov/glnpo/p2/bnsintro.html
).
Great Lakes Human Health Network 
 
A Great Lakes-wide human health network wasformed by the BEC to maximize resources andefficiencies of scale. The U.S. EPA’s GLNPOprovides staff resources to facilitate the exchangeof information and expertise among health andenvironmental agencies. The human healthnetwork brings together experts and agenciesfrom throughout the basin to share informationand provide technical assistance on humanhealth issues for inclusion in the LaMP. Currently,the Network has representative from six federalgovernment agencies, five tribal governmentagencies, eleven state and provincialgovernment agencies, and one countygovernment agency. The Network anticipatesthat the membership will continue to grow as theNetwork becomes more widely known. Currentinformation on the Network and its work may befound at www.epa.gov/glnpo/health.html.
The Great Lakes FisheryCommission
 
The Great Lakes Fishery Commission (GLFC) is acritical partner in achieving a balanced andhealthy fish community in Lake Michigan, both interms of controlling exotic species andrehabilitating native species in the lake. GLFC hasadopted and implemented an integratedmanagement of sea lamprey (IMSL) approach tocontrol sea lamprey in the Great Lakes. The IMSLprocess involves using a variety of control
Illinois-Indiana-Wisconsin PlanningAgencies Agree to ConsistentGroundwater Planning
In May 2002, the Northeastern Illinois PlanningCommission, the Northwestern Indiana RegionalPlanning Commission, the Southeastern WisconsinRegional Planning Commission and the ChicagoArea Transportation Study signed the WingspreadTri-State Regional Accord to address a potentialwater shortage with comprehensive and consis-tent planning. The accord is an historic agree-ment in which the four planning agencies alongLake Michigan in Wisconsin, Illinois and Indianacommitted to work together as they consider ma- jor environmental and economic issues.Both Milwaukee and Chicago are facing similarwater supply constraints in their western suburbs asthe metro regions continue to grow. The deepaquifer system is being overtaxed, leaving shallowaquifers as the region's primary future water sup-ply resource. The Illinois State Water Survey esti-mates that the current and projected use of theregion’s shallow aquifers is much less than their
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