Resources

The Great Lakes Panel on Aquatic Nuisance Species convened a Risk Assessment Ad Hoc Committee in 2016, with a charge to improve regional species and pathway risk assessment coordination, and to develop a scope of work for the development of a risk assessment clearinghouse. This clearinghouse includes summaries of risk assessments conducted throughout the Great Lakes region to improve access to risk assessment information and provide at-a-glance information about different risk assessment methodologies. 

The Governments of Canada and the United States are pleased to release the 2019 State of the Great Lakes Highlights Report, which provides an overview of the status and trends of the Great Lakes ecosystem. Overall, Great Lakes water quality is assessed as “fair and unchanging.” While progress to restore and protect the Great Lakes has occurred, including the reduction of toxic chemicals, challenges cited in the report include invasive species and excess nutrients that contribute to toxic and nuisance algae. 

Click below to download a summary file of the tributary data on ErieStat.

Tributary monitoring data was used by the USGS, NCWQR, USEPA and ECCC to calculate spring and annual phosphorus loads. Annual loads were estimated at the river mouth using tributary monitoring and municipal discharge data from NCWQR, OEPA, MDEQ, USEPA, USGS, ECCC, and OMECC.

As large-scale restoration plans for degraded aquatic habitats evolve, it is essential that multiorganizational collaborations have a common vision to achieve consensus on restoration goals. Development of restoration targets and postrestoration monitoring strategies can be focused using a viability analysis framework that supports an adaptive management process.  Resource managers in the corridor can use these results to identify knowledge gaps, research and restoration priorities, and to assess progress towards meeting restoration goals.

Welcome to the Great Lakes Coastal Wetlands online explorer, provided by Michigan Tech Research Institute (MTRI). Through a binational collaborative project between Canada and the United States, the team has been working to better measure and map coastal wetland features and hydrologic changes through time at fine resolution. Several remote sensing derived products have been developed for monitoring wetland type, extent and inundation of Great Lakes coastal wetlands.

The Great Lakes Regional Water Use Database provides comparable water use information on withdrawals, diversions and consumptive uses. This database supports the states and provinces in implementing Article 4 of the Great Lakes-St. Lawrence River Basin Water Resources Compact and Article 301 of the Great Lakes-St. Lawrence River Basin Sustainable Water Resources Agreement.