Coordinating Monitoring in the Great Lakes Basin

1. Coordinating Monitoring in the Great Lakes Basin Ric Lawson Project Manager Great Lakes Commission National Water Quality Monitoring Council meeting Ann Arbor, Michigan July 20, 2004

2. Overview • Issue Introduction • Great Lakes Commission Background • GLC Approaches • Coordination bodies • Online information resources and tools • New Directions Coordinating Monitoring in the Great Lakes Basin

3. Issue Introduction • Sound management policies should build on reliable information • Policies and management should scale to resource • Ecosystem management requires information integrated from various fields of study Coordinating Monitoring in the Great Lakes Basin

4. Two Issues • Information collected according to political boundaries rather than resource boundaries • Information collection agencies focused on narrow fields of study Coordinating Monitoring in the Great Lakes Basin

5. Great Lakes Commission • Binational agency representing Great Lakes states and provinces • Formed in mid 1950s via U.S. state and federal law: provincial associate membership in 1999 • Promotes the informed use, management and protection of the water and related natural resources of the Great Lakes Basin and St. Lawrence River Coordinating Monitoring in the Great Lakes Basin

6. Great Lakes Commission • Addresses resource management, environmental protection, transportation and sustainable economic development issues • Functions are information sharing, policy research and development, and advocacy • “Information and research broker” that focuses on hydrologic, rather than geo-political boundaries Coordinating Monitoring in the Great Lakes Basin

7. Monitoring Coordination Bodies • Great Lakes Coastal Wetlands Consortium (GLCWC) • Lake Michigan Monitoring Coordination Council (LMMCC) • Great Lakes Air Deposition Program (GLAD) • Great Lakes Observation System (GLOS) • Tributary Modeling Coordinating Monitoring in the Great Lakes Basin

8. GLCWC • To develop a long-term, binational monitoring program for Great Lakes coastal wetlands • Indicators • Wetlands inventory • Implementation team • Monitoring database • Decision support Coordinating Monitoring in the Great Lakes Basin

9. Process • Three-Phase Project: • Phase I: indicator evaluation and development • Phase II: monitoring program development • Phase III: coordination and implementation • PMT directs, GLC coordinates and facilitates; contractors develop products Coordinating Monitoring in the Great Lakes Basin

10. Products • HGM-classified coastal wetlands inventory • Indicator investigations and evaluations • Index of Biotic Integrity (IBI) development • Satellite and airborne investigation Coordinating Monitoring in the Great Lakes Basin

11. Coordinating Monitoring in the Great Lakes Basin

12. LMMCC Objectives • Document monitoring activities, identify data gaps and contribute to a monitoring plan • Establish and maintain collaborative partnerships • Encourage monitoring activities that document data quality and are comparable • Establish an information network that links basinwide information systems • Improve awareness of monitoring and Council products Coordinating Monitoring in the Great Lakes Basin

13. LMMCC • Membership includes feds, states, locals, NGOs • Meets twice annually, with continuous info exchange • Issue-oriented workgroups form workplans/ projects Coordinating Monitoring in the Great Lakes Basin

14. Products • Basinwide monitoring inventory • Communications (website, brochure, white-papers, etc.) • Aquatic Nuisance Species – Early Detection project • Coordinated Tributary Monitoring project Coordinating Monitoring in the Great Lakes Basin

15. ANS – Early Detection • Goal to develop guidelines and recommendations for a system to detect and monitor new invasions of ANS in the Lake Michigan basin as a pilot effort. • Survey and inventory of high risk and high probability sites Coordinating Monitoring in the Great Lakes Basin

16. ANS Time Series Maps Coordinating Monitoring in the Great Lakes Basin

17. LM Tributary Monitoring Project • Coordinated monitoring effort for 2005 field season • Collect tributary loading data to recalibrate Lake Michigan Mass Balance (’93-’94) for mercury, PCBs and nutrients • Utilizing combined state and federal resources Coordinating Monitoring in the Great Lakes Basin

18. GLAD • Program to monitor air emissions and deposition • Source characterization, modeling and effects assessment • Regional Air Pollutant Inventory Development System (RAPIDS) • Centralized Air emissions Repository On-Line (CAROL) • GLC facilitates and administers Coordinating Monitoring in the Great Lakes Basin

19. Great Lakes Observing System • Global Ocean Observing System • Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission • World Meteorological Organization • United Nations Environment Program • International Council for Science • U.S. GOOS • Integrated Ocean Observing System • Great Lakes Component Coordinating Monitoring in the Great Lakes Basin

20. National Federation of Regional Systems • National System: • Satellite remote sensing • Reference, Sentinel Stations • Link to global module • Data standards • Exchange protocols • Regional Systems: • Land-based inputs • State and Regional Priorities • Greater resolution • More variables Coordinating Monitoring in the Great Lakes Basin

21. Great Lakes Observing System Observations will be those needed to produce products and services required by a broad community of users for: • Detecting and predicting open water components of climate variability • Facilitating safe and efficient marine operations • Ensuring national security • Managing resources for sustainable use • Preserving and restoring healthy ecosystems • Mitigating natural hazards • Ensuring public health Coordinating Monitoring in the Great Lakes Basin

22. Great Lakes Observing System • Global component (climate, marine services, security and defense) will be federally funded • Regional enhancements will be locally driven • Products and services will be developed by a wide range of entities Coordinating Monitoring in the Great Lakes Basin

24. Tributary Modeling • Program to develop sediment transport models for watersheds or subwatersheds • Provides a tool to assist NPS management • GLC facilitates linkage of federal funding & services with local management • Models developed by Corps of Engineers; maintained and used locally Coordinating Monitoring in the Great Lakes Basin

25. Online Resource Projects • Great Lakes Monitoring Inventory • Inland Sensitivity Atlas • Lake St. Clair Integrated Coastal Management • Beachcast Coordinating Monitoring in the Great Lakes Basin

26. Great Lakes Monitoring Inventory • Effort to understand extent and breadth of monitoring in the Great Lakes basin • Inventory of federal, state, and local monitoring efforts • Built upon sub-basin inventories • Online, searchable database and gap analysis report Coordinating Monitoring in the Great Lakes Basin

27. Lake St. Clair Monitoring Inventory Coordinating Monitoring in the Great Lakes Basin

28. Inland Sensitivity Atlas • Originally built for oil and toxics spill contingency planning • Collection and mapping of environmentally and culturally sensitive site information • Nested map sets with quick reference symbols Coordinating Monitoring in the Great Lakes Basin

29. Inland Sensitivity Atlas Coordinating Monitoring in the Great Lakes Basin

30. Lake St. Clair Integrated Coastal Management • ICM tool developed utilizing coastal environmental data and social information • To assist in analyzing impacts of coastal management decisions through scenario testing • Used to develop a broad habitat management plan Coordinating Monitoring in the Great Lakes Basin

31. Coordinating Monitoring in the Great Lakes Basin

32. Beachcast Coordinating Monitoring in the Great Lakes Basin

33. Beachcast Coordinating Monitoring in the Great Lakes Basin

34. Future Directions • Volunteer monitoring coordination • Monitoring in Areas of Concern • Habitat tracking and restoration coordination • Broader systemic networks • Monitoring-policy linkages Coordinating Monitoring in the Great Lakes Basin

35. For More Information • Great Lakes Commission • www.glc.org/ • Me – Ric Lawson • 734.971.9135 or rlawson@glc.org Coordinating Monitoring in the Great Lakes Basin