FY2001 GLNPO Project Summaries

INTRODUCTION

This document contains brief summaries of the 74 Great Lakes environmental protection and restoration projects totaling $6.8 million funded by USEPA’s Great Lakes National Program Office in FY 2001. GLNPO has funded 609 projects totaling $60.8 million between 1993 and 2001. Summaries for these projects are available from http://www.epa.gov/glnpo/fund/glf.html.

USEPA's Great Lakes National Program Office (GLNPO), located in Chicago, Illinois, has a staff of 40 and a budget of $15 million. GLNPO brings together Federal, state, tribal, local, and industry partners in an integrated, ecosystem approach to protect, maintain, and restore the chemical, biological, and physical integrity of the Great Lakes. The program monitors Lake ecosystem indicators; manages and provides public access to Great Lakes data; helps communities address contaminated sediments in their harbors; supports local protection and restoration of important habitats; promotes pollution prevention through activities and projects such as the Canada-U.S. Great Lakes Binational Toxics Strategy (GLBTS); and provides assistance for community-based Remedial Action Plans for Areas of Concern and for Lakewide Management Plans. Each year, GLNPO uses its funding to assist Great Lakes partners in these areas through grants, interagency agreements, and contracts.

The Boundary Waters Treaty of 1909 and the 1987 Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement (GLWQA) with Canada provide the basis for our international efforts to manage this shared resource. Additional responsibilities are defined in Section 118 of the Clean Water Act, Section 112 of the Clean Air Act Amendments, and the Great Lakes Critical Programs Act of 1990. The Great Lakes 5-Year Strategy, developed jointly by EPA and its multi-state, multi-Agency partners and built on the foundation of the GLWQA, provides the agenda for Great Lakes ecosystem management: reducing toxic substances; protecting and restoring important habitats; and protecting human/ecosystem species health.

GLNPO makes "venture capital" available for important, innovative projects to protect and clean up the Great Lakes ecosystem. In the fall of 2000, mid-level environmental managers from Great Lakes State, Tribal, and Federal programs met in a Great Lakes Planning Meeting to discuss Great Lakes priorities and the criteria for projects to be funded by GLNPO in the upcoming year. That information was used in developing a Great Lakes Funding Guidance which was then used in a broad solicitation of Preproposals through direct mailings, notification in the Federal Register, and Internet posting and announcements.

The 2001-2002 Great Lakes Funding Guidance asked interested Applicants to submit short Preproposals for $3.15 million for Great Lakes projects in the areas of Contaminated Sediments, Pollution Prevention and Reduction (pursuant to the Binational Toxics Strategy), Habitat (Ecological) Protection and Restoration, Indicator Development, Invasive Species, and Strategic or Emerging Issues. Our criteria looked at whether projects: (i) State a Rationale/Relevance/Bias for Action, (ii) Have Scientific/Professional Merit, (iii) Demonstrate Innovativeness, (iv) Demonstrate Performance Capability, (v) Involve Diverse Stakeholders, (vi) Have its Geographic Scope within the Great Lakes Basin, (vii) Disseminate Results effectively, (viii) Outline an Appropriate Budget, (ix) Leverage additional resources, and (x) More closely match the mission of Other Funding Sources. Reviewers internal and external to USEPA evaluate the Preproposals. Evaluations take into account recommendations on specific needs and priorities of geographic areas within the Great Lakes.

In response, 130 applicants submitted 242 Preproposals, seeking $27 million in funding. On May 15th, 38 applicants were asked to submit 42 full proposals < http://www.epa.gov/glnpo/fund/2001fund/yeslist.html > totaling $3.12 million.

In all, GLNPO awarded $3,131,372 through awards for 42 projects as a result of the Funding Guidance. In addition, GLNPO issued awards for 32 projects totaling $3,693,695 for projects outside of the Funding Guidance process. In all, GLNPO issued awards for 74 projects totaling $6,825,067 in 2001. GLNPO makes reports and other products of this assistance accessible to the public via the Internet and other means.

Projects described in this document are listed by category. Within each category, projects are listed according to the Great Lake most impacted by the project. Projects that address the issues of more than one lake are placed under the heading "Basin-wide or Multiple Basin." The summary for each project includes the project’s name, EPA grant or Interagency Agreement number, the amount of funds granted, the recipient, the project period, and the USEPA-GLNPO project officer. Project-specific questions should be directed to the project officer at the telephone number given. General questions regarding this document or GLNPO funding should be directed to Michael Russ at 312-886-4013.

GLNPO contacts for the principal areas described in this document are:

We may also be contacted via e-mail using the convention: lastname.firstname@epa.gov

We especially appreciate the efforts of Student Aide Elias Avalos in pulling this document together.

Emerging Issues

The Michigan Office of the Great Lakes (OGL) will continue its efforts with the Lake Huron Initiative (LHI) and assist both the U.S. EPA-GLNPO and Environment Canada in the continued implementation of the LHI Action Plan. OGL will assist in the development of the 2002 Update for the LHI. OGL will assist in the development of a 2002 Action Plan for the LHI. OGL will assist in the development and implementation of a bi-national meeting/conference necessary to provide public input into the both of these products. The OGL will also prepare a four-color, 22"x 16.5", information/education poster for Lake Huron. The poster will be a handout that will provide the reader with basic information regarding Lake Huron and key issues identified by the Lake Huron Initiative (LHI) such as protection and restoration of fish and wildlife habitat and biodiversity.

Lake Erie Fish Consumption Advisory and Public Outreach (GL975676-01-0: $15,600)
Recipient: Lake Erie Binational Public Forum
Project Period: 10/01/2001 to 9/30/2002
Project Officer: Melissa Hulting (312-886-2265)

This project consists of an outreach campaign that includes the enhancement and distribution of an educational brochure and other materials that will alert at-risk families in the Lake Erie basin to the dangers of contaminated fish consumption and highlight preventative behaviors that will help to reduce risks. This outreach will also focus on building the capacity of health professionals who provide information and care to at-risk populations to educate their patients about reducing risks of fish consumption.

The St. Regis Mohawk Tribe will work in collaboration with the U.S. Geological Survey’s Tunison Biological Laboratory to identify possible causes of the dramatic decline in the American Eel population. The eel is an important traditional food fish for the Tribal populations in the Lake Ontario/St. Lawrence River watersheds, and may have once been the most abundant species in Lake Ontario. The St. Lawrence River is the gateway for Great Lakes population of these eels as they migrate to breeding grounds in the Atlantic Ocean’s Sargasso Sea. These are all females, and comprise the bulk of the global American Eel population. The Tribe will collect specimens near Massena, New York, primarily individuals killed passing through electrical generating turbines. The Tribe will submit the collected specimens to the USGS for biological analysis, including pathology and fecundity, and to a private laboratory for chemical toxicant analysis. An attempt will be made to draw conclusions regarding the causative factors of the species’ decline.

Beachcast: Great Lakes Beach Forecasting will further develop the beaches website of the Great Lakes Commission ("Commission") to include beach advisories, monitoring data, an education and outreach section, and a pilot beachcast system for three major U.S. metropolitan areas that notifies users of beach conditions and precautions. In addition, the Commission will continue to add to its beach closings database with data provided by beach monitoring agencies. This resource will serve as a network for beach managers, monitoring staff, wastewater treatment staff and county health and planning department managers. It will also provide a real-time update of beach conditions, based on available data, and will therefore assist Great Lakes residents in deciding whether to travel to the beach. In addition to its education/information benefits, this site will also motivate users to become involved in efforts to enhance beach health in the Great Lakes.

Invasive Species

This project will provide previously unknown information on the impacts of invasive species on native lake trout reproduction in Lake Huron. Information provided by this project will provide guidance for current and future lake trout rehabilitation efforts – and provide much needed information on lake trout early life mortality used to generate estimates for lake trout stocking in Lake Huron. Selected nearshore lake trout spawning reefs in the Thunder Bay region of Lake Huron will be sampled monthly April to November and additional sampling will be concentrated on the reefs in the fall during lake trout spawning to determine if round goby are present as residents on the reefs or if their abundance increases during the spawning season. Round goby diets will be examined for the presence of lake trout eggs and fry.

This grant will support the development of a three-day Invasive Species field class for educators, regulators, and volunteers in the Great Lakes region, which will cover the history and nature of the invasive species problem, plans and possible tools for prevention of introductions, and quantitative sampling techniques to assess representative, susceptible sites. A limited monitoring program for invasive species will be established using course-generated data and other data gathered by ISEA. The monitoring information and education modules will be shared via ISEA’s website.

A Rapid Response Plan for Great Lakes Aquatic Invasions will enhance mitigation prospects and slow the spread of such species. Currently, no protocol allows immediate implementation of appropriate eradication/control measures when a new invasive species is discovered. The absence of a protocol has been problematic in the Great Lakes-St. Lawrence system, as evidenced by the ruffe (Gymnocephalus cernuus) and round goby (Neogobius melanostomus) that have advanced without intervention, and caused extensive infestations. A rapid response plan would advance a proactive approach to the prevention and control of invasive species in the Great Lakes-St. Lawrence system. Such a plan will provide the region with increased ability to anticipate, prevent and respond to invasive species invasions, and, in so doing, provide a model for prospective application in other regions.

European buckthorn is a serious terrestrial invasive nuisance species in te Great Lakes basin. It spreads aggressively, displacing native species and communities that provide important wildlife and other functions important to the ecosystem. The Minnesota Department of Natural Resources will work with the International Institute of Biological Control to develop a list of European insect species that feed on the plant that can be evaluated as candidates for its control. The list of candidate species will then be screened in Europe by attempting to induce them to feed on North American species. Species that switch host plants will be eliminated from consideration. The project seeks to develop a refined list of candidate insect species that can then be put through rigorous final screening for suitability as biological control agents for the North American invasive population of European buckthorn.

This project will assist in the holding of the U.S.-Russian Workshop on Invasive Species Research to be held in August 27-30, 2001 at the Institute for Biology of Inland Waters in Borok, Russia. The objective of the workshop is to develop joint research projects on invasive species of priority concern (i.e., species from Russia that are invasive in the U.S. and vice versa). The workshop will be organized around major taxonomic groups of organisms (fish, aquatic invertebrates, vascular plants, and terrestrial animals). Because of the seriousness of the invasive pathway between the Great Lakes and the Ponto-Caspian region, developing research needs and specific research projects on the prevention and control of aquatic invaders in the Great Lakes will be a principal focus of the workshop. Invited presentations on the status of invasive species will be given in a plenary session followed by discussions in breakout sessions to develop high priority research topics. Recommend research themes and projects will be subsequently presented in the closing plenary session. The recommended research themes and projects will provide the basis for a workshop report. The published written document will be the product from the workshop. It will be used to develop funding initiatives in the U.S. and Russia for collaborative research on invasive species based on scientific merit and potential application of lessons learned in addressing prevention and control of invasive species.

Habitat

Conference activities will bring together Great Lakes partners–local officials and non-profit conservation organizations from Southeast Wisconsin–for the purpose of developing comprehensive strategies to implement the Southeastern Wisconsin Regional Plan Commission (SEWRPC) Report No. 42, A Natural Areas and Critical Species Habitat Protection Plan for Southeastern Wisconsin. USEPA–Great Lakes is co-sponsoring the conferences in order to help protect species and habitats.

The project will develop additional layers and query tools required by biologists in this basin, and to integrate these additional tools and layers into the ongoing Lake Huron GIS-based Decision Support System. This additional work will add tremendous value to what has already been done and better enable all jurisdictions in the watershed to base restoration and habitat protection decisions on sound habitat information rather than perceptions or educated guesses. Value-added query tools will be added to aid managers and researchers in achieving the fish community and habitat objectives outlined in the Lake Huron Initiative. These tools, when combined with the data contained in the GIS, will enable managers to: 1) identify impediments to fish population recovery and assess the impacts of dams on accessibility to historic and contemporary spawning habitat; 2) summarize historic and currently available habitat for aquatic species of concern; 3) evaluate and prioritize alternative habitat restoration scenarios based on the efficacy of each (e.g. reconnect historic spawning tributaries); 4) take a proactive approach to habitat protection; 5) model how much habitat is required to achieve fish community objectives (by combining fish population and habitat data); 6) capitalize on the opportunities provided by hydroelectric companies who are receptive or committed to providing fish passage at dams; 7) allow, for the first time, a dynamic approach to developing and maintaining basin and species level management plans 8) estimate amount and quality of nearshore/ wetland habitat lost and consequences to aquatic ecosystems.

The significance of the Eighteenmile Creek Watershed to the region’s development parallels its rise and fall. Ecological restoration of the Eighteenmile Creek Watershed is linked to the economic rebirth of the region. The goal of the Eighteenmile Creek Environmental Design & Restoration Forum will be to educate local citizens, officials and developers on the benefits of sustainable development, fisheries restorations, and ecosystem management.

The project will encourage Oswego River homeowners to restore riparian shorelines on their properties with native vegetation and to educate tributary property owners and municipal leaders, encouraging environmentally sound land use decisions.

This project will develop educational materials that promote restoration and preservation of significant shoreland habitat and target them to landowners along the Lake Ontario shoreline.

Northland College in conjunction with the Lake Superior Binational Forum will conduct prioritized basin-wide public outreach activities that will promote the goals and objectives of the Lake Superior Management Plan (LaMP 2000). Special emphasis will be placed on activities that promote the protection and restoration of critical habitat. Public outreach will be implemented on a basin-wide, community level.

The project will remediate excessive sand loading of the Salmon Trout River channel that limits productivity and habitat value and threatens a unique population of the anadromous coaster brook trout. Approximately 18 road crossings will be reconstructed and all banks and drainage courses will be stabilized and revegetated. An extensive monitoring and assessment effort will be initiated.

This project will improve up to 2500 feet of streambank within the watershed, re-establish critically impacted habitat for game and fish and other animals, improve nearshore aesthetics, and replace non-native noxious vegetation with native trees and shrubs. It will also seek to create a network of interested community representatives who will conduct project activities and monitor the project and assess the effects on enhancing stream corridor habitats.

The project will develop goals for measuring the benchmarks for the State of the Lakes Ecosystem Conference indicator #8135 Bald Eagle. The bald eagle indicator provides a gross examination of chronic effects of persistent toxic substances on the ability for eagles to reproduce. This project will attempt to answer the question about how defensible goals for measuring success on a lake by lake basis could be derived.

The project will develop a computer software program to inform and educate students and the general public regarding the importance of biodiversity in the Great Lakes ecosystem, as well as threats to critical species, and biotic communities. It will incorporate modules to teach about aquatic and terrestrial plant and animal diversity in and around the Great Lakes. The program will help users to understand their personal roles and the roles of private and governmental institutions in protecting biodiversity losses resulting from water, air and land pollution, habitat destruction, and other damaging practices, and in finding ways of restoring biodiversity in the Great Lakes basin.

The project will continue the work begun in Phase 1 to develop a monitoring implementation plan for Great Lakes coastal wetlands. In Phase 2, the Project Management Team and technical subcommittees of the Coastal Wetlands Consortium will assess the results of the first year’s projects, develop a set of monitoring plan options, and test key elements of those options. The Consortium will continue to collect key data sets and develop a regional database of monitoring data and information (including basinwide GIS data) to ultimately be used to assess selected indicators.

The project will support the development of an innovative planning tool for local jurisdictions, Smart Places, and interactive GIS based decision support system, which will provide easy access for local decision makers to information needed to avoid environmental conflicts, retain environmental values and ecosystem functions such as water quality, wetland functions, retention of green space and biological diversity. The project will specifically focus on development of the information to support conservation of biological diversity. The project will have a local focus, Jackson County, in south central Michigan, but will provide a structure, protocols, techniques and data that will be full transferable to other jurisdictions throughout the Great Lakes region.

The Plants Out of Place Conference will take place in Eau Claire, Wisconsin March 2-3, 2001. It will bring landowners, natural resource managers, Indian tribes, researchers, conservation organizations, and interested individuals together from the Upper Midwest to share scientific information about invasive plants and establish dialog toward their control and prevention. One goal is to initiate a Wisconsin Invasive Plants Council to better coordinate all types of efforts in invasive plant management. Setting precedence, for future shared learning opportunities, the conference will also initiate strategic planning and collaborative action.

This Agreement contributes to the salary of a U.S. Department of Agriculture, Natural Resource Conservation Service (NRCS) liaison located in the Great Lakes National Program Office in Chicago. The liaison will facilitate coordination between USEPA and NRCS programs. The individual will also contribute ideas to the development of environmental indicators, in support of the SOLEC process.

The workshop will bring together conservation staff and Great Lakes partners for the purpose of training in watershed protection.

Thirteenth International Conference on Ecological Restoration (GL975546-01-0: $20,000)
Recipient: Society for Ecological Restoration
Project Period: 06/01/01 to 05/31/02
Project Officer: Robert Beltran (312-353-0826)

This is an annual international conference of the Society for Ecological Restoration. This year, Canada is the host nation, and the conference theme will be "Restoration Across Borders," focusing on the Great Lakes, emphasizing the binational nature of the ecosystem and the approach that must be taken to address issues confronting the system. The conference activities will bring together Great Lakes partners and the international ecological restoration community for the purpose of sharing information about ways to protect and restore damaged and impaired natural communities. Key Great Lakes natural resource managers from a variety of organizations will be present at the conference. GLNPO is a co-sponsor participating as a contributing partner with non-profit organizations, federal and state agencies, our Canadian counterparts, and the International Joint Commission to protect species and habitats.

The project will assess the validity of using rare species as indicators of biological integrity and high quality ecosystems. This project will correlate the occurrence of rare species with the occurrence of high quality ecosystems and will determine if rare species are reliable indicators of ecosystem quality and health.

This project will support six activities across the Great Lakes Basin: (1) advance freshwater conservation by creating network of sites to demonstrate on-the-ground approaches ensuring that the conservation needs of aquatic species and their habitats are integrated with the needs of terrestrial species and habitats; (2) protect and restore globally rare oak savanna systems within Ohio’s Oak Openings Region by producing and disseminating a landowner’s handbook to engage local landowners; (3) address threats to aquatic and forested systems by merging the expertise of multiple local partners in Michigan’s Cheboygan River watershed; (4) protect Upper Michigan’s forest matrix by forging local landowner partnerships; (5) identify fen management and upland restoration practices in Indiana’s St. Joseph River watershed that are not detrimental to the eastern massasauga rattlesnake (a federal candidate species); and (6) measure ecosystem health indicators along New York’s eastern shore of Lake Ontario by developing and implementing a comprehensive monitoring program for habitat, wildlife, and water quality.

This agreement contributes to the salary of a U.S. Department of Agriculture, Natural Resource Conservation Service (NRCS) liaison will facilitate coordination between USEPA and USFWS programs. The individual will also contribute ideas to the development of environmental indicators, in support of the SOLEC process.

Indicators  

State of the Lakes Ecosystem Conference (SOLEC) organizers have identified the 1 land-use and 7 societal indicators of sustainability that are most in need of further development. This project will address the priority land-use indicator (#7053 Green Planning Process) and 5 of the societal indicators (#3509 and #3510, Capacities and Organizational Richness of Sustainable Landscape Partnerships; #3511 and #3512, Integration of Ecosystem Management and Sustainability Principles Across Landscapes; and #3513, Citizen/Community Place-Based Stewardship Activities), using the Lake Superior Basin as an area of manageable scale for collecting data and testing possible measures of each indicator that will be applicable elsewhere in the Great Lakes.

The State of the Lakes Ecosystem Conference (SOLEC) organizers have identified indicators of human health that are most in need of further development. Through this project, the Wisconsin Division of Public Health will utilize the Great Lakes Sport Fish Consumption Consortium membership expertise to refine SOLEC indicator #4177 (Chemical contaminants in human tissue) and pilot the feasibility of the refined indicator methodology in Wisconsin. The indicator will be for women of childbearing age, 18-45 years old. Sport fish consumption questionnaires will be administered to approximately 1000 women from 5 clinics geographically distributed around Lake Michigan and Lake Superior. Approximately 50 respondents will be invited to donate blood samples for PCB and DDE analysis, and hair samples for mercury content. Other related SOLEC indicators will also be refined, i.e., #113 (Contaminants in recreational fish), #4083 (Contaminants in edible fish tissue), and #4088 (Chemical contaminant intake from air, water, soil and food). This project includes a strategy for implementing the monitoring protocol basin-wide after a successful pilot is concluded.

Monitoring

This project will modify an existing sediment transport and fate model, SEDZLE, for use in Lake Michigan, and extend the model to the transport and fate of PCBs. Erosion rates will also be measured using Lake Michigan sediment cores to verify model predictions. This project presents a unique opportunity to address an issue of critical importance for transportation of contaminants in Lake Michigan and other systems with contaminated sediment.

This project investigates if remedial activities and reductions in point source loadings at several of the Lake Erie harbors and/or river systems have been successful. Components of the project include: 1) Completion of a retrospective analysis of existing data for Lake Erie relating to contaminant sources, types, concentrations and affected biological resources; 2) Re-evaluation of biological health indicators at areas where historic collections and analyses previously showed adverse impacts to fish and invertebrate populations; 3) Transfer of information generated to appropriate Remedial Action Plans and the Lake Erie Lakewide Management Plan; 4) Establishment of a long-term, electronic database for indicators of fish and invertebrate communities, tissue and sediment contaminant concentrations, and fish health; and 5) Integration of an ecological risk assessment with the retrospective analysis of sources and effects of stressors in Lake Erie Areas of Concern.

This project will extend total phosphorus load calculations for Lake Erie from 1996 to 2000 by calculating tributary, point source, atmospheric, and interlake transfer of phosphorus loads using US and Canadian data sources.

One of the goals of phosphorus controls in the Great Lakes, as set out in Annex 3 of the GLWQA, is the "Restoration of year-round aerobic conditions in the bottom waters of the Central Basin of Lake Erie." This IAG assists GLNPO to annually monitor the bottom waters of Lake Erie to assess if the GLWQA goal is being met. The study objectives are to measure the profiles of dissolved oxygen and temperature from the surface to the bottom of the central basin of Lake Erie at 10 sites during the third or fourth week in August, 1997 - 2000 (already completed under the original Agreement), and in 2001 (this extension). The R/V Musky II, belonging to USGS, will be used to visit the sampling stations. The R/V Musky II is needed for these surveys because EPA’s R/V Lake Guardian is scheduled to be elsewhere during this critical time-dependent survey. Vertical profiles of dissolved oxygen and temperature will be obtained by a SeaBird (brand) remote sensing CTD unit equipped with a Beckman (brand) dissolved oxygen sensor. This instrument has been used successfully by U.S. EPA for the purpose stated from the R/V Lake Guardian.

This assistance will provide information on the concentrations of toxic organic contaminants in lake trout, walleye, salmon, and rainbow trout that have been collected for the Great Lakes Fish Contaminant Monitoring Program. The University of Minnesota will provide analytical chemistry support and general scientific input to the program. This project is directed toward the impacts of water contaminants on the Great Lakes fishery and the potential human exposure to contaminants through consumption of popular sport species. Composites of whole fish (lake trout and walleye) and fillets (salmon and rainbow trout) collected in 1999 and 2000 will be analyzed for percent lipid, PCB congeners, toxaphene homologs, pesticides, and other contaminants as listed in the Request for Proposals (RFP) issued by U.S. EPA-GLNPO in 1999. In addition, analyses of contaminants not on the original RFP list, including polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs), polychlorinated napthalenes (PCNs), dioxins and furans, and mercury, will be initiated. These substances were added in response to a March 2001 workshop on Emerging Contaminants funded through a prior amendment. The University will help GLNPO and the other members of the GLFMP with data analysis and interpretation of long term contaminant trends, which will build upon trend analyses performed in previous years in the Great Lakes Fish Contaminant Monitoring Program.

This project will provide an assessment of the nature, extent and ecological significance of the plankton and benthic communities in the Great Lakes. Biological samples will be collected and analyzed from 72 stations in the Great Lakes basin in spring and summer. Following sample collection; sample analysis, statistical analysis and interpretation of the data will be conducted to determine changes in community composition that may be linked to changes in water quality of the Great Lakes. Information will be summarized in reports, presentations and Internet documents.

This action established an interagency agreement between EPA and the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Cooperative State Research, Education and Extension Service. USDA will develop a cooperative agreement with a state Sea Grant program to provide an extension specialist to work with EPA, the various state Sea Grant programs, and its other Great Lakes partners to develop and implement an effective outreach strategy. This strategy will focus primarily upon communicating Great Lakes technical data and program priorities to the Great Lakes partners and the lay public.

This cooperative agreement will continue implementation of the Integrated Atmospheric Deposition Network (IADN) as mandated by Annex 15 of the Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement. The IADN is a binational network made up of 5 master stations (one per Great Lake) and 11 satellite stations. Atmospheric samples of rain, vapor, and particles are taken and analyzed for pesticides and other persistent organic pollutants. The results are used by the applicant and the IADN Steering Committee to calculate loadings of these substances to the Great Lakes and publish the findings. More information is available at our website at www.epa.gov/glnpo/iadn (or at the Canadian site, www.msc.ec.gc.ca/iadn)

This cooperative agreement will provide funds for continued implementation of the Integrated Atmospheric Deposition Network as mandated by Annex 15 of the Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement. Atmospheric samples of rain, vapor, and particles are taken and analyzed for pesticides and other persistent organic pollutants. The results are used by the applicant and the IADN Steering Committee to calculate loadings of these substances to the Great Lakes and publish the findings. The Great Lakes National Program Office (GLNPO) provided funding under Assistance Agreements GL995656-01, -02, and -03 pursuant to an application submitted by Indiana University in response to a Request for Proposals in 1994. The operation of IADN was readvertised in a Request for Proposals in July 2001, and Indiana University was found to have superior qualifications and was selected once again. More information is available at our website at www.epa.gov/glnpo/iadn (or at the Canadian site, www.msc.ec.gc.ca/iadn)

GLNPO collaborates with Environment Canada to implement the binational Integrated Atmospheric Deposition Network as mandated by the GLWQA and Section 112(m) of the Clean Air Act. This cooperative agreement provides the U.S. share to continue the joint Quality Assurance and Quality Control program. This program includes laboratory and field audits, laboratory round robins where participating agencies analyze common samples and sample extracts, use of common laboratory reference standards, and side-by-side sampling operations at the Point Petre, Ontario site. These activities examine comparability of results and help ensure high data quality to determine loadings of air toxics to the Great Lakes, identify sources of air toxics, and assess progress towards virtual elimination of persistent toxic substances.

Great Lakes Environmental Database System Development and
      Loading (DW-47-94799201-0: $200,000)
Recipient: General Services Administration
Project Period:11/01/00 to 12/31/01
Project Officer: Scott Cieniawski (312-353-9184)

This interagency agreement provides funds to the General Services Administration (GSA) to provide contract support for the Great Lakes Environmental Database System (GLENDA). This will allow EPA to take advantage of GSA’s contract for data management services, which is most cost-effective vehicle available. The contractor will continue populating the database with data from the Lake Michigan Mass Balance Study (LMMBS) and base-program studies (such as the base lakes monitoring, fish tissue and sediment programs) as directed. The contractor will also continue development of the database and tools for end-users. This activity has been ongoing for several years. This IAG is a continuation of the GLENDA database. This project started November 1, 2000 and ends December 31, 2001.

Contaminated Sediments

The Cuyahoga River has been considerably modified over the course of time to support a wide variety of industry locating along the shoreline. In spite of these alterations, many areas are returning to a state of naturalness, including the old river channel. However, a high incidence of tumors in brown bullheads and DELT anomalies in other species have been observed in the old river channel area. The data collected under this agreement on contaminated sediments and fish tissue will help to better understand relationships between contaminated Cuyahoga River sediments and incidence of tumors and DELT anomalies in fish populations in the old channel sites. The results of the study will provide the needed information for use in a possible clean-up effort.

This project will bring together available research and monitoring databases to evaluate whether or not recent source loading reductions and recent sediment remediation for PCBs have had an impact on ecosystems. The project will estimate the mass of PCBs removed/treated from Rouge River, Detroit River, Huron River, River Raisin, and the Ottawa River. Then the project will involve compiling summaries of the available research and monitoring data and then a binational forum will be held to analyze and integrate various monitoring and research in these areas. This project would support GLNPO’s mission by assisting in establishing a surveillance network for the Detroit River and Lake Erie to monitor the water quality in these areas, with specific emphasis on monitoring for PCBs.

This project will complete an initial sediment screening assessment for Sandusky Bay of Lake Erie in the Maumee Area of Concern. Approximately 80 to 100 sediment samples will be collected in Sandusky Bay to increase the sediment quality database for the site and to determine the location and quality of sediment deposits at this site. The Cuyahoga River has been considerably modified over the course of time to support a wide variety of industry locating along the shoreline. In spite of these alterations, many areas are returning to a state of naturalness, including the old river channel. However, a high incidence of tumors in brown

bullheads and DELT anomalies in other species have been observed in the old river channel area. The data collected under this agreement on contaminated sediments and fish tissue will help to better understand relationships between contaminated Cuyahoga River sediments and incidence of tumors and DELT anomalies in fish populations in the old channel sites. The results of the study will provide the needed information for use in a possible clean-up effort. This project also replaces a portion of the Duck/Otter Creek Assessment.

This project will build upon a previous GLNPO-funded agreement by analyzing archived sediments from twelve initial study lakes for methylmercury contamination, which is an EPA priority pollutant. Additional sediment samples will be collected from the St. Louis River where the Minnesota Department of Health will assist the Fond Du Lac tribe by collecting fish samples in the same locations to correlate sediment methylmercury levels against mercury levels in resident fish. Since these lakes are highly fished by the Fond Du Lac tribe, it would be extremely beneficial to better quantify correlations between sediment methylmercury, selected water quality and sediment parameters, and fish tissue mercury levels. This project will help establish benchmarks for key indicators which will document the conditions of the reservation’s resources, and lead to the development of possible mercury mitigation strategies.

The project will determine the processes and pathways responsible for mercury bioaccumulation in Deer Lake, Michigan. Comparisons will be made between the mercury dynamics in two basins of the lake with differing levels of contamination. Low-level trace metal techniques will be used to accurately estimate the total and methyl mercury in lake water, sediments, pore waters, and biota. Novel techniques of stable isotope additions will also be used to measure the rates of methylation and release of mercury from the sediments. The results from this project will be incorporated into a mercury cycling model that can be used by lake managers to assess management options.

Sediment cores taken from the Black River near Watertown, New York will be evaluated for polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs). The sampling (and analytical) activities in the work plan, are intended to further delineate the spatial and temporal extent of PCB contamination in the Black River by collecting sediment cores at six sampling sites. Some sites are downstream from a municipal sewage treatment plant and two paper mills. Sediment cores will be analyzed for PCBs (including congeners) and radiodating of sediment cores will be performed at three sampling sites to establish the chronology and potential sources of PCB contamination. Results from this study can be used to further confirm a 1996 and 1997 New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (NYDEC) sediment screening study of PCBs found in the Eastern Lake Ontario Drainage Basin.

The project will expand the modeling capability of LOTOX2, a toxic chemical and bioaccumulation model developed for Lake Ontario over the past several years, to provide support for evaluating load reduction strategies and source characterization for Lake Ontario LaMP priority pollutants.

Currently, there is a limited amount of data available regarding the levels of contamination for sediments in Lake Macatawa. The proposed project will provide an assessment of the nature, extent, and ecological significance of sediment contamination in Lake Macatawa, and will also provide information on the fate and transport of contaminated sediments in drowned river mouth systems. Sediment collected will be analyzed for heavy metals, semivolatile organics, physical characteristics, benthic community assessment, and toxicity. The data collected during this assessment will prove extremely valuable, serving as a basis for the prioritization of areas for remediation, shoreline development and habitat restoration efforts by the community. This project supports GLNPO’s mission in reference to the Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement of 1978 by providing the needed support to assist in evaluating and restoring the chemical, physical, and biological integrity of Lake Macatawa, which is part of the waters of the Great Lakes Basin.

Collaboration between USEPA-GLNPO and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) to augment the existing NOAA Query Manager sediment database with Great Lakes sediment data collected by the GLNPO sediment team. The initial project will consist of the creation of a upload template, followed by the uploading of 3 to 5 Great Lakes data sets containing over 1,000 individual data points. NOAA will also produce data maps of each of the data sets for easy viewing and visualization of the data.

Under this project the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Great Lakes National Program Office (USEPA) and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE)- Great Lakes and Ohio River Division will cooperate in the execution of sediment management work within the Great Lakes basin. Sediment assessment, remediation planning, technical review of sediment data and dredging planning, and other management activities will take place in Great Lakes harbors and tributaries that are of mutual interest to both the USEPA and USACE. Each agency will benefit through an increased volume of data as well as the technical input provided by the coordinating agencies. Additional funds are earmarked for:

1. "Emerging Technologies Sediment Treatment Demonstration at the Erie Pier CDF",
2. Laboratory analysis of sediment samples for the "Raisin River Post-Remediation Sampling Study", and
3. Additional sediment management coordination at Great Lakes Areas of Concern (AOCs), potentially including Saginaw River, MI AOC, Milwaukee River, WI AOC, and/or the Indiana Harbor, IN AOC.

Under this project the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Great Lakes National Program Office (USEPA) and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE)- Great Lakes and Ohio River Division will cooperate in the execution of sediment management work within the Great Lakes basin. Sediment assessment, remediation planning, technical review of sediment data and dredging planning, and other management activities will take place in Great Lakes harbors and tributaries that are of mutual interest to both the USEPA and USACE. Each agency will benefit through an increased volume of data as well as the technical input provided by the coordinating agencies. Additional funds are earmarked for:

1. "Emerging Technologies Sediment Treatment Demonstration at the Erie Pier CDF",
2. Laboratory analysis of sediment samples for the "Raisin River Post-Remediation Sampling Study", and
3. Additional sediment management coordination at Great Lakes Areas of Concern (AOCs), potentially including Saginaw River, MI AOC, Milwaukee River, WI AOC, and/or the Indiana Harbor, IN AOC.

The overall goal of this project is to collect contaminant information in the Rochester Embayment Area of Concern (AOC) that will be valuable for de-listing the identified use impairments and re-establishing the native lake sturgeon to the Genesee River. The objectives are to determine the composition and contaminant concentrations in sediments within the AOC and to determine the toxicity of these sediments. The sediments will be analyzed for PCBs, dioxins/furans, mirex, mercury, polyaromatic hydrocarbons, metals, and various pesticides.

This project will also to tie in with the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (NYSDEC). NYSDEC would provide information on the analysis of benthic macroinvertebrates and on lake sturgeon which can then be correlated to the contaminated sediments. This data gathered will be useful in completing Stage 3 of the Remedial Action Plan for the Rochester AOC for de-listing purposes.

Confirmed and suspected sediment chemical contaminants from point and non point sources are associated with Four Mile Creek, the Muskegon River and Ryerson Creek in the City of Muskegon, Michigan. A sediment contaminant survey will be conducted to determine the lateral and vertical extent of contamination associated with these tributaries to the Muskegon Lake Area of Concern in order to develop appropriate remedial responses. Fifty sediment core samples will be collected and analyzed for volatile organic compounds, PCBs/Pesticides, Cyanide and Polynuclear Aromatic Hydrocarbons. After this work has been accomplished, plans can be made to eliminate in-stream and upland sources of contamination to the waterbodies proposed for the study as well as Muskegon Lake and Lake Michigan.

The grantee pioneered an innovative approach in the White Lake, Michigan Area of Concern aimed at developing a community decision-making model to facilitate meaningful public involvement in contaminated sediment cleanups. The model used in selecting cleanup options was effective and engaged the local community. Through the development of strategic partnerships with community-based Great Lakes organizations and outreach through regional forums, the grantee proposes to transfer the community decision-making model and lessons learned to other Areas of Concern in the Great Lakes facing contaminated sediment cleanups.

The goals of this study are to 1) demonstrate what impact remediation, past and future, has and can have on the economy of Waukegan, 2) provide the city and community organizations with leverage for generating both public support and financing for cleanup, with an eye toward de-listing the Area of Concern, 3) generate public comment on the survey results, and understanding of the local attitudes toward various qualities and characteristics of waterfront development options; and 4) contribute to the continuing improvements in both Waukegan’s economy and environment. The overarching goal of this study is to encourage progress in sediment remediation and the use of economic benefits assessment in decision making.

A Regional Approach for Dredging Windows Determination will develop a regional approach to determining "environmental windows" for Great Lakes dredging. An "environmental window" refers to the time period within which dredging activities will have minimal adverse ecological impact on the affected area. In recent years, the process by which such windows are determined has come into question. Lower lake levels and an overall increase in dredging demands have increased dredging project activity. This has severely compromised the ability of relevant agencies to undertake the monitoring data analyses and studies required to establish windows based on scientifically sound information. A Windows Advisory Team comprised of experts from multiple disciplines will be established under the auspices of the Great Lakes Dredging Team (GLDT), a federal/state partnership. This project will set up a scientifically sound, efficient and cost-effective recommended process for determining environmental windows.

Pollution Prevention

This amendment/increase will continue to focus on promoting mercury reduction in industries that supply materials to the participating steel mills (Bethlehem Steel Corporation, Ispat Inland Inc., and United States Steel) along the southern shore of Lake Michigan and that use mercury-containing equipment in their manufacturing or business operations. The project will continue to promote the mercury inventory and reduction planning activities that the participating steel mills have conducted. This amendment increase also funds these additions to the scope of work:

1) The Delta Institute, with the assistance of Kestrel Management Serrvices, will identify opportunities for sector-specific pollution prevention among major industrial sectors in the Great Lakes region. This work will focus on Level 1 and Level 2 contaminants of concern listed on the U.S./Canadian Great Lakes Binational Toxics Strategy. The Delta Institute will identify promising sectors to approach, develop a strategy for engaging members of the sector, and seek commitments for participation from leading companies in the sector; and

2) The Delta Institute will participate in sector-specific pollution prevention meetings of the Great Lakes Binational Toxics Strategy.

The project will obtain additional short-term PCB samples in southwestern Chicago to determine the amount of PCB emissions to the air from a sludge drying facility. The project will: (1) provide critical information about both local and remote sources of PCBs to the Great Lakes, (2) allow potential remediation strategies to be developed to control PCB emissions into the atmosphere, and (3) provide information that is needed to better estimate the amount of PCBs emitted from urban areas near the Great Lakes.

Project Objectives are: 1) To expand and update a comprehensive set of mercury prevention materials already developed by the Western Lake Superior Sanitary District (WLSSD); 2) To pay for copying or other duplication of these materials for distribution, including a web site; and 3)

To demonstrate and learn from implementation of this community pollution prevention project in order to facilitate future funding and implementation of related projects by utilities and taconite mining operations as part of their voluntary mercury reduction agreements. The primary audience for the workshop would be smaller wastewater treatment facilities, dentists, hospitals, and small businesses in the Lake Superior Basin in Minnesota, particularly those small businesses that use mercury or mercury containing devices in their manufacturing processes. The materials and workshop would be targeted towards meeting the mercury reduction goals of the Lake Superior LAMP.

EISC will work with small and medium-sized manufacturers to aid in the identification of potential sources of PCB release and mercury contamination and help them develop an environmental management program that eliminates or reduces the risk of releases of PCBs. For mercury, alternative products not containing mercury would be suggested as replacements or a management system for items containing mercury could be developed.

Great Lakes United, Inc. (GLU) will continue its support and represent the interests of coalition members, work with member groups to support and develop a Great Lakes "clean car campaign", and promote dioxin and mercury reduction from medical waste disposal.

The Council of Great Lakes Industries (CGLI) will work to facilitate implementation of the Great Lakes Binational Toxics Strategy (BNTS). Project work includes:

1) Continue substance workgroup support activities and awareness efforts to nurture current participants, and seek additional participants from industry sectors which have not yet become involved in the Strategy. These include the primary and secondary aluminum and copper smelters, pesticides manufacturers, and small industries;

2) Increasing strategy awareness and participation among industry suppliers; and

3) Charting a course for future efforts once current strategy goals have been met. This effort will include a study of existing pollution prevention programs to determine how/if Tier II substances have been included.

As part of the Lake Superior Initiative, the MPCA surveyed PCB owners in Northeastern Minnesota in 1997. Approximately 100 facilities responded out of 152 surveys sent. Many requested additional information, fact sheets, video or a site visit, which the MPCA responded to. As a followup, the MPCA is doing a PCB self audit program. The purpose of this project is to assist the self-audit program and contribute to Lake Superior LaMP 2000 commitments.

The primary goal of this project is to reduce the use and release of persistent, bioaccumulative, toxic (PBT) chemicals by establishing a PBT-specific Environmentally Preferable Purchasing (EPP) Program in Erie County, New York. The project will be based on the U.S. EPA’s EPP program. An environmental purchasing position will be established which will be administratively housed in the Department of Environment and Planning, but will spend a significant amount of time working in the Bureau of Purchase. It will be the responsibility of the grant-funded position to evaluate procurement opportunities, revise procedures in cooperation with the County Bureau of Purchase, and create a database of PBT-free replacement products.

The purpose of this project will expand, redirect, and energize many of the pollution prevention efforts in the region, particularly mercury to make them more comprehensive and vigorous. The Great Lakes continue to be plagued by the persistent, bioaccumulative toxic (PBT) pollutants targeted by the Binational Toxics Strategy, including mercury, PCBs, and dioxins. The U.S./Canadian commitment to virtual elimination of mercury and other PBTs is designed to protect the Great Lakes and the people and wildlife who depend on them from this contamination. The project will (1) Enhance state-level pollution prevention work by providing new incentives for industries to adopt pollution prevention measures; and (2) Select a source sector for mercury and other PBTs, and pursue ambitious pollution prevention measures in that sector.

This project shall build upon and expand the successful work done under the original Mercury in Schools grant funding awarded in 1999. New state legislative initiatives, local thermometer bans and exchanges, mercury collection programs, and other mercury related developments have arisen over the last two years that have the potential to enhance and be enhanced by the Mercury in Schools program. Specific activities that will be undertaken during the second phase of the Mercury in Schools program include:(1) Enhance the teacher workshop content and format; (2) Create an online teacher training based on the curriculum package and workshops; and (3) Add new features and information to the Mercury in Schools web site that was created for this program in 2000. Outcomes of these new mercury in schools activities will accelerate the removal of mercury from schools and its proper recycling.

The purpose of this project is to extend the highly successful mercury in schools education and outreach program to the rest of the country. Previously developed web site and workshop materials will be updated with the latest information on mercury sources, spills, health advisories, and reduction programs. In conjunction with local organizers, an educator workshop will be held in each EPA region, a comprehensive impact evaluation will be conducted, and an online teacher training course developed. There is a strong relationship between this proposal and the guidance criteria, with its primary focus upon the proper care of mercury containing devices and exposure reduction. Utilizing an innovative educational approach, a key professional group (teachers) is targeted with training that specifically minimizes their exposure to mercury, including strategies to eliminate its use and release. In addition, teachers are trained in the proper handling and recycling of mercury containing devices, especially barometer, sphygmomanometers, thermometers, and elemental mercury. A follow-up evaluation of the workshop participants will be conducted, documenting the mercury reduction activities implemented, including amounts of mercury recycled. An on-line survey will be conducted, providing feedback of the website and measurement of impacts. Finally, web site hits shall be tracked on a weekly basis.

The recipient will be developing a mercury switch removal and recycling program for automobile and appliance recyclers/scrap yards. The program will work with automobile and scrap associations and the Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers in developing and promoting an appropriate recycling program that is economically feasible and easy for auto recyclers and scrap yards to use.

The grantee will facilitate a diverse workgroup to determine specific steps and goals to recover persistent toxic bioaccumulative toxics (PBTs) from the auto waste stream; to identify the different roles and responsibilities of the participating parties in achieving theses goals; and to secure commitments from the automakers to share responsibility in recovery of PBT added parts at the end of the vehicle’s life. This project will build on the last two years of EPA assisted research and project work and will directly support implementation of the PBT reduction goals of the Great Lakes Binational Toxics Strategy.

This third year of funding to the U.S. Navy, Naval Dental Research Institute (NDRI) at the Great Lakes Naval Station, Great Lakes, Illinois will help diminish the ecological footprint of dentistry through the management of mercury and other heavy metals. The project has two approaches:

1. The educational component aims to inform dental professionals and their auxiliaries about the need to minimize and/or eliminate the release of mercury and other heavy metals into the environment. This educational outreach is aimed also at Publicly Owned Treatment Works (POTWs) pretreatment managers who are soon to be facing radically lower NPDES permit levels for mercury; and
2. The research component involves characterization of the dental-unit wastewater as well as testing and evaluation of commercially available pretreatment systems that remove dental amalgam and mercury from this waste stream. NDRI is also working on the design of new technology that can reduce the mercury concentrations in dental wastewater to less than the parts per billion level.

Funding will enable NDRI to begin implementation of solid waste recycling program to recover mercury from used amalgam capsules and amalgam traps which serves to keep residual mercury from being released to the environment. A new component of this project is the composite sampling at manholes outside dental clinics to assess the efficacy of pretreatment systems in reducing mercury levels reaching POTW wastewater facilities. In addition, the Naval Dental Research Institute maintain and upgrade the dental mercury web site, maintain characterization studies of dental-unit wastewater, and continue testing and evaluation of amalgam pretreatment systems.

Other

The grantee will organize and facilitate a public workshop to present guidance on restoring beneficial uses and delisting Great Lakes Areas of Concern. The Workshop is being held on June 22-23, 2001 in Toledo, Ohio. The Workshop will allow the U.S. RAP Workgroup to receive public comment on the draft guidance. Also being presented will be successful models of developing delisting targets. The Workshop is being sponsored by EPA-GLNPO, the Great Lakes Commission, and the International Joint Commission.

This cooperative agreement will provide funds for the implementation of binational commitments articulated in the Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement. These efforts include tasks involved with the conclusion of the review of the Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement; the implementation Binational Executive Committee workplan and support for meetings; implementing the Binational Toxics Strategy; and other binational activities.

This grant supports the International Association for Great Lakes Research in this mission to "Promote research and education on the Great Lakes and other large lakes of the world..." Funding of this organization, on a biennial basis (when the meeting is hosted by a U.S. university) improves the quality of the meeting and of the organization. The International Association for Great Lakes Research in a primary venue for the publication of research on the Great Lakes relevant to the needs of EPA and other state and federal agencies.

A Binational Conference on Lake St. Clair will provide conference planning, design and facilitation services for a binational conference to assess the status of resource management and environmental protection efforts in Lake St. Clair and its watershed. The conference will be in follow up to the highly successful 1999 conference, Lake St. Clair: Its Current State and Future Prospects. Among other goals, the conference will provide a forum for presenting and receiving public input on a draft management plan for Lake St. Clair and the St. Clair River being prepared by the Commission and the Army Corps of Engineers. The conference also will provide an opportunity for the Commission to present its recommendations for a binational Lake St. Clair management initiative, currently being developed under a separate grant with USEPA. Conference planning and management plan development will be conducted concurrently, with the management plan stakeholder advisory committee providing guidance on the conference’s content and organization. The Commission will coordinate logistical arrangements, including meeting facilities, speaker confirmation, promotion and publicity, and onsite management and facilitation.

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