GLFT Grant Library

This grant was funded under the GLFT's Great Lakes Stewardship Initiative (GLSI). It was jointly supported by the C.S. Mott Foundation and the GLFT, funded a planning process to create a GLSI hub focused on Flint, the Flint River (in the Saginaw Bay Watershed), and selected schools in region. Partners in planning included the Genesee County Land Bank, the Michigan Nature Association, and Flint Community Schools. The planning process involved an assessment of school and community readiness (when additional planners will be identified and recruited), developing a vision for a sustainable effort, and crafting an implementation plan. The plan was approved and funded by the GLFT.

This grant was funded under the GLFT's Great Lakes Stewardship Initiative (GLSI). It supported a planning process for a GLSI hub to serve the Saginaw Bay area. The process resulted in an implementation plan/proposal for the hub, which was submitted to the GLFT for funding. While the planning process resulted in stronger partnerships amoung educators and community organizations, it was not funded by the GLFT.

This grant was funded under the GLFT's Great Lakes Stewardship Initiative (GLSI). It builds on a capacity-building grant provided earlier by the GLFT. The grant funded a planning process for a GLSI hub to serve six counties in northeastern lower Michigan. The process resulted in an implementation plan for the hub, which was successfully submitted to the GLFT for funding.

This grant was funded under the GLFT's Great Lakes Stewardship Initiative (GLSI). It supported a planning process for a GLSI hub in Traverse City that would serve the Grand Traverse region and Manistee. The process resulted in an implementation plan for the hub.

The Michigan Great Lakes Protection and Restoration Initiative is a joint project between Lt. Governor John Cherry, the Office of the Great Lakes and Michigan United Conservation Clubs. The purpose of this effort is to develop a Michigan Great Lakes Protection and Restoration Plan. A Framework for the plan has been developed that examines Michigan’s Great Lakes Protection and Restoration needs by utilizing the same focus areas of the Great Lakes Regional Collaborative, e.g. habitat, invasive species, coastal health, sustainable development, indicators, nonpoint source, toxic pollutants and areas of concern. This Framework has been shared widely and been reshaped into a series of conference calls. Next the Framework will be taken to eight regional meetings to garner stakeholders’ comments and concerns and to discuss their interest and concern for managing the Great Lakes to foster prosperity for Michigan’s economic future. These eight meetings will focus on regional interests and will examine watershed restoration efforts as the foundation for Great Lakes restoration. A final report is expected to be released by the first of the year. This grant will be used to offset the cost of the regional meetings and travel for key participants, and fund an economic analysis to reframe the report.

This project's purpose is to contribute towards the North American Benthological Society's 57th Annual Meeting to be held in Grand Rapids in 2009.

This project provides enhanced shoreline fishing access on Pentwater Lake, a tributary to Lake Michigan. The construction of a fishing pier facility provides increased opportunities to fish for migrating Great Lakes species. Pentwater is a known destination for fishing, but the opportunity for shoreline fishing in the area is limited. The new fishing pier is the only designated facility in Oceana County for Great Lakes fishing for children and individuals requiring ADA access.    

New and updated fishing access was built on the shores of Lake Macatawa, near Lake Michigan. The new facilities include fishing decks, fishing piers, and informational signage, as well as connecting walkways, boardwalk, and parking. 

A fish cleaning station was constructed on Lake Macatawa, which is connected to Lake Michigan. 

The City of Muskegon Heights  requested a grant from GLFT to construct a fishing pier, boardwalk, bathrooms with small setting plaza, walkways and native plantings. Mona Lake is a contributary of Lake Michigan and is the only source of lakefront recreation for 12,000, low to moderate income residents of Muskegon Heights. This project was part of the renovation of Mona Lake Park. The project is sustainable and meets LEED certification requirements.

The 10th Street Fishing Pier located along the East bank of Harbor Point was constructed with MNRTF, CMI, and local matching funds. Phase I of the Gladstone Harbor Point Project was the next step in an aggressive plan to revitalize Van Cleve Park and the Gladstone Municipal Harbor. The project included construction of a public restroom, fish cleaning station, paved parking lot, connecting walkways to the fishing pier, navigation light station refurbishment, shoreline erosion protection, and site restoration.

The proejct removed a wooden box structure running the width of the river, a wooden retaining wall at each end of the strucuture, an adjacent generator shed and underground wiring, and fencing around the area. Banks and other areas of the site were restored. Removal of the barrier reconnected the lower two miles of stream with the upper 21 miles of river.

The Healing Our Waters-Great Lakes Coalition which administers the Healthy Lakes, Healthy Lives public awareness campaign was launched with the generous support of the Wege Foundation and Peter Wege, a Michigan philanthropist and former CEO of Steelcase Inc. Since its inception in 1968, the Wege Foundation has supported a number of causes, including the environment, education, health care and community development.

The focus of the symposium was on habitat restoration in urban areas. The urban nearshore zone, with over 17,000 kilometers, is heavily stressed by habitat alterations associated with increasing populations, heavy industry, commercial navigation, and pollution. Despite the immense importance of the nearshore region and the major economic return it provides, scientists and policymakers know very little about how and why problems emerge or how to mitigate them. Moreover, while significant funding is available for restoring urban nearshore and riverine areas, the knowledge of how do to so—and the ultimate affect of restoration efforts—was less developed than it should be. Through this symposium, the Great Lakes Fishery Commission shared technical knowledge, coordinated these existing efforts to maximize the effectiveness of work being done, and improved attendees’ ability to define what comprises a successful urban restoration project.

The grant funded the AGL to establish the Great Lakes Education Collaborative (GLEC). The goal of the Great Lakes Education Collaborative (GLEC) is to promote and expand Great Lakes education and stewardship in the eight Great Lakes states. As a result of the grant, GLEC developed:
*A structure for the GLEC including goals and strategies
*The membership of the GLEC to include at least 15 formal and non-formal education organizations representing six of the Great Lakes states (short of the eight proposed)
*A sustainability plan (goals, strategies, budget) that promotes place-based education (PBE) among the members of the collaborative as an effective strategy to lead to stewardship and lay the groundwork for expanding the Great Lakes Stewardship Initiative (GLSI) beyond Michigan
*A “funder-ready” proposal as a pilot test of the structure emerging for the GLEC over the course of the grant.

This multi-year grant supports the process to determine the future of four dams on the Boardman River and helps build the capacity of organizations' involvement with the management of the river's watershed.

This workshop assessed adaptation needs for climate change in the Great Lakes region and began the development of strategies for addressing those needs in decision making. The workshop was designed to provide the Great Lakes funding and policy communities with the latest information on climate impacts on the Great Lakes region and at the same time suggest the most fruitful areas to pursue resource management, policy, and science initiatives around Great Lakes adaptation needs.

Protection and rehabilitation of lake sturgeon in the Great Lakes requires an understanding of the relationship among mortality and recruitment factors. As a result, there is a need to identify and quantify the sources of mortality that act on early life stages and determine how they influence lake sturgeon populations. This research will aid recovery efforts for lake sturgeon populations in Lake Michigan by examining these parameters within the context of ongoing and future rehabilitation activities.

The Healing Our Waters® – Great Lakes Coalition used the grant fund for a public education initiative by the Great Lakes’ fastest sailboat: the Earthvoyager. This 60-foot ship, with a 95-foot tall mast, in the summer of 2008l lead a flotilla of ships through the Great Lakes, stopping at ports throughout its journey for publicity generating events that created awareness of the need to restore the Great Lakes.

The project characterized the genetic basis for survival following Renibacterium salmoninarum (Rs) infection in a Lake Michigan population of Chinook (Chk) salmon. Plasticity of Rs survival were evaluated in the presence of a model environmental variable. A second project goal was to validate biomarkers associated with disease prognosis. Results provided insight into the ability of Lake Michigan Chk to respond and adapt to Rs and will form the foundation for future studies aimed at identifying genes.

Lake Michigan's Mid-Lake Reef Complex (MLRC) was a very important spawning area for indigenous lake trout. Techniques developed for a concluding (June 2008) GLFT project demonstrate distinct smaller sub-reefs within each main reef, each with eggs deposited and sac-fry produced, of statistically distinguishable egg deposition densities. This study provided a more complete assessment of the MLRC's total spawning habitat by a targeted search for additional sub-reefs.

This project builds on the recently funded Sturgeon Tag Identification Database, by providing PIT tag reading capabilities to agencies and partners that frequently encounter lake sturgeon. With the increased number of individuals having PIT tag detection capabilities and by using the PIT Tag Identification Database, information sharing will improve for recaptured lake sturgeon.

Diporeia, a critical fish food, has declined in Lake Michigan. Dreissenid-driven changes in algal density and species composition are cited as probable causes, but there may be other reasons. Paleolimnological analysis of the sediment record will document whether a loss of lipid-rich diatoms was associated with the influx of dreissenids. Examination of the diets of Diporeia before and after the dreissenid influx from Lakes Michigan and Superior will confirm or refute mussels as the likely cause of the Diporeia decline.

Working with Lake Michigan fishery managers and key stakeholders, researchers developed an updated decision model to assess the performance of alternative policies for stocking of salmonine fishes into Lake Michigan. They assembled and analyzed data collected since 2002, especially on alewife recruitment dynamics, and collected new data on Chinook salmon wild recruitment, as well as updated the existing model and expanded it to include all stocked salmonine species.

The West Michigan Great Lakes Stewardship Initiative supported the work of 21 teachers and 2,200 students in 10 schools in the region. Seventeen community organizations joined the students and teachers in completing a variety of successful, community-based projects. Professional development for teachers focused on the pedagogy of problem-based learning and inquiry, while capacity-building for community organizations focused on place-based learning and high-performing partnerships with schools. A Youth Environment Symposium (YES!) for the public capped the 2008-09 school year and provided a stage for students to share the results of their work with the community. The hub’s structure features an active advisory council and a committed leadership team that regularly reflects on progress and challenges. The hub used the local media and printed materials to successfully promote its work throughout the region, and kept two other funders appraised of its progress throughout the grant period. This hub applied for and was awarded a continuation grant through the Great Lakes Stewardship Initiative.