Great Lakes Aquatic Habitat News
The Newsletter of the Great Lakes
Aquatic Habitat Network and Fund
The Great Lakes Aquatic Habitat News is the newsletter of the Great Lakes Aquatic Habitat Network and Fund, published five times per year. The News is intended to provide a forum for the free exchange of ideas among citizens and organizations working to protect aquatic habitats in the Great Lakes Basin.
Volume 15, Number 2 • Summer 2007
Announcing GLAHNF Spring Awards!
We are excited to announce
the projects most recently
funded by the Great Lakes
Aquatic Habitat Network and
Fund. Of 35 worthy applications
received for the Spring 2007
grant cycle, 11 projects were
funded, totalling $34,167.
In the Lake Erie Basin,
EarthWatch Ohio will use its
newspaper to promote awareness
of and involvement in Great
Lakes issues. Articles will
highlight the work that
Ohio-based environmental
groups are doing to protect the
Great Lakes and encourage readers to
take an active role. The newspaper will be
free at libraries, coffee shops, health
food stores, retail shops, colleges & universities,
medical & office buildings, etc.
The East Michigan Environmental Action
Council will organize meetings with
Detroit community social, environmental,
and environmental justice organizations
to discuss and promote how the
community can be an advocate for urban
water issues. Workshops will make clear
the connections between the struggle for
access to water, issues of privatization,
and larger state and global water
protection issues.
The Niagara River Area Property Owners
Group is working to prevent development
of a 230-acre significant wetland. The
Town of Fort Erie voted to proceed with
the development of a golf course on the
site. This project provides support for the
Group's work to prepare for a final, critical
Ontario Municipal Board hearing and
judgment.
On Lake Huron, The Indian Mission
Conservation Club is pursuing Natural
Areas designation for two state parks
on northeast Michigan's Lake Huron
shoreline, Negwegon and Thompson's
Harbor, both noted for their undeveloped
shorelines and wide variety of significant
and diverse natural communities. The
shorelines of both parks are threatened.
Natural Areas designations for the parks
will help ensure protection of their
natural features and prohibit intensive
development.
On Lake Michigan, the Friends of Jean
Klock Park in Benton Harbor, MI are
defending the park against development
of a private golf course. The Friends
maintain that the City of Benton Harbor's
lease to the developer to build part of the
golf course is illegal based on a 2004
Consent Judgment intended to preserve
Jean Klock Park.
The Watershed Watchers are continuing
their legal efforts and a media campaign
to protect over 100 acres of wetlands from
expansion of the West Bend,WI municipal
airport. This project will watchdog the
Environmental Impact Study proceedings
and support a media campaign to
highlight the inadequate need for
expansion and lack of alternative sites'
research, and to remind decision-makers
of the expectations for an open, fair, and
thorough Environmental Impact Study.
In the Lake Ontario Basin, the Adirondack
Communities Advisory League (the
League) of Boonville, New York is continuing
a Clean Water Act citizen’s suit against
the Oneida-Herkimer Solid Waste
Authority (OHSWA) filed in June 2006.
The suit aims to hold OHSWA accountable for allowing excessive sediment to enter
Moose Creek during landfill construction,
and to ensure that the stream will be
protected now and in the future. This
project will provide for continued legal
services for the League during the
discovery period of the lawsuit and help
keep the public informed through the
League’s publications.
Quinte Watershed Cleanup (Bay of
Quinte, Belleville,Ontario) is conducting a
campaign to influence property owners
and educate the general public on the
importance of naturalized shorelines and
the use of native plants when replanting
shorelines. The campaign will include
advocacy to encourage local governments
to initiate policy change, a small
public contest to encourage planting and
acknowledge the property owner that
has made the greatest change in one
season, and incentives for local nurseries
to ensure native plant materials are
available for customers.
On Lake Superior, the Anishinabek of the
Gitchi Gami will engage Fort William First
Nation citizens in developing a draft
vision for the long-term health of the
watershed. Located on the shore of Lake
Superior adjacent to the city of Thunder
Bay, Ontario, the community will create a
vision for the protection of its aquatic
communities and sustainable use of its
water resources. Once finalized, the
watershed vision will be used as a tool to
foster ecosystem-based decision-making.
A quarry is proposed on the shore of Lake
Superior at Michipicoten Bay. Citizens
Concerned for Michipicoten Bay appealed
the municipal re-zoning proposal to the
Ontario Municipal Board (OMB). To
prepare for the OMB hearing, this project
involves media coverage and advocacy for
the issues, including technical expertise
to assess environmental impacts and
help with fundraising and media
coverage.
Duluth Open Space and Urban
Wilderness is working to counter a
disturbing trend toward selling public
lands. This project seeks to prevent the
loss of public lands and the resulting
degradation of waterways by designing
and executing a bottom-up strategy for
the protection of public lands and
watercourses. The strategic plan will
elevate public lands protection through
economic, political, public and legal
approaches. Duluth Open Space and
Urban Wilderness will publicize and
promote the final plan.
As always, we are encouraged and
inspired by those who work so hard to
make these and many more, similar
projects flourish throughout the Great
Lakes. We are honored to support your
efforts!
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