Habitat/Wetlands Initiative
Progress Report - February 2008
(printer-friendly PDF, 59Kb)

Introduction

The Great Lakes Regional Collaboration’s (GLRC) December 2005 Strategy to Restore and Protect the Great Lakes identifies habitat and wetlands degradation as a key threat and provides recommendations for protecting and restoring them. The GLRC’s Wetlands and Habitat Initiative is working to address these recommendations. As a first step, the Initiative is focused on protecting and restoring 200,000 acres of wetlands in the Great Lakes basin.

Progress to Date

• A Steering Committee with members from federal agencies, state, local and tribal governments and non-governmental organizations was established to help guide the Initiative. The Steering Committee provides a link to state, lakewide, tribal and local partners and restoration actions and also helps coordinate activities. The group is currently reviewing options for engaging the broader Great Lakes community and promoting coordinated restoration actions.
• A habitat projects and funding database was developed. The database contains information on approximately 200 potential habitat restoration projects and more than 130 programs that provide funding for restoration projects. It has a user-friendly, web-based interface that allows easy access to users to search for, enter and update project information. The database is available online at:
  http://www.glhi.org/.
• A data call was conducted as a pilot for providing an estimate of the number of wetland acres protected, restored and improved by federal agencies and their partners since the release of the Great Lakes Regional Collaboration’s Strategy. A white paper has been developed that frames some of the issues identified during the pilot and will help guide discussions on how to properly focus our efforts.
• A Great Lakes Regional Collaboration Wetlands and Habitat Initiative: A Progress Report and Call to Action that reports on progress, the habitat project and funding database, key issues and next steps has been drafted and is under final review for release to the public.