Implementing Great Lakes Restoration

 

Protection and restoration of the Great Lakes are major state responsibilities and commitments considering that nearly three million New Yorkers depend on the Great Lakes for their drinking water, and millions fish, boat, play in and appreciate the beauty of Lakes Erie, Ontario and the Niagara and St. Lawrence Rivers.  In the U.S., New York is at the receiving end  of the pollution and other problems generated by the other seven Great Lakes states, and the front end where ships arrive from overseas via the St. Lawrence Seaway, the likely source of many aquatic invasive  species. There are numerous state agencies and authorities with responsibility for some aspect of Great Lakes protection and restoration including the Departments of Agriculture and Markets; Economic Development; Environmental Conservation; general services; parks, recreation and historic preservation; energy research and development authority, the State University of New York and the NY Department of State. Recently these agencies and authorities have been brought together by legislation creating the New York Ocean and Great Lakes Ecosystem Conservation Council.

This report looks at how well New York is positioned to implement the recommendations basin-wide restoration strategy developed under the auspices of the Great Lakes Regional Collaborative (GLRC), a federal-state partnership to design and implement a strategy for restoration, protection and sustainable use of the Great Lakes. The strategy emerged in response to the need to better coordinate state, federal and local Great Lakes restoration activities. Initially Congress asked the Great Lakes Governors to prepare a list of priorities, the President created an interagency task force and directed the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to undertake a collaborative process to develop what became the Strategy to Restore and Protect the Great Lakes (see http://www.glrc.us/strategy.html). The Collaboration has included the federal Great Lakes Interagency Task Force, the Council of Great Lakes Governors, the Great Lakes and St. Lawrence Cities Initiative, Great Lakes tribes (represented by the Great Lakes Indian Fish and Wildlife Commission) and the Great Lakes Congressional Task Force. More than 1500 people participated in the writing of the Strategy.

In response to New York’s own interest in improving communication between organizations working on behalf of the Great Lakes, Dave White, New York Sea Grant’s Great Lakes Coordinator for extension and outreach activities, convened an informal Great Lakes Leaders Group. Since it appeared that the GLRC regional restoration strategy was likely to drive federal Great Lakes action, the leaders group requested an assessment of how New York’s existing Great Lakes programs were aligned with the strategy. New York Sea Grant agreed to fund a graduate student, Katherine Barnhill, to work with Dr. Jack Manno, then Executive Director of the NY Great Lakes Research Consortium to undertake a gap analysis to uncover both the strengths and the gaps in the programs with respect to implementing the regional restoration strategy and to report to the leaders’ group and to the NY Great Lakes Basin Advisory Council and the NY Council of Great Lakes Legislators. Since this project was initiated, a coalition of advocates for Great Lakes restoration, called Healing Our Waters coalition, who will also receive this report.

 

You can download from below the final version of the Assessment Report and its appendix, Gap Analysis Matrix.