Highlight on Cat Islands

Last week, Lisa Jackson, US EPA administer, announced EPA’s first Great Lakes Restoration Initiative competitive grants which included a $1.5 million dollar grant for the Cat Island Chain Restoration Project in lower Green Bay.

Details of the project funded by the grant are:

Grant Number: 00E00552
Total Federal Award: $1,500,000
Applicant Name: Brown County
Project Title: Cat Island Chain Restoration Project

Project Description: This project supports the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative and the Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement, pursuant to Public Law 111-88. Specifically, it consists of constructing a 2.5 mile barrier in Lower Green Bay to begin the process of restoring the Cat Island Chain of barrier islands. Three barrier islands will be created over the next 20 years. These islands will protect and enhance 1,400 acres surrounding Duck Creek (a tributary to Green Bay). This project will also provide immediate environmental benefits by protecting wetlands and promoting emergent and submergent aquatic vegetation growth in Lower Green Bay.

Vicky Harris, Wisconsin Sea Grant outreach specialist, has been working in this area for years. Read about her work.

To learn more about the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative, visit their website.

image above from Wisconsin Sea Grant.

President Obama Signs Great Lakes Restoration Initiative into Law

With Obama's signature on the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative, work has quickly begun. One of the guiding documents will be the Wisconsin Great Lakes Strategy from the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources.

Read it.

WDNR has a Web page for the GLRI....

Great Lakes Restoration Initiative

The President's 2010 Budget provides $475 million in the Environmental Protection Agency's budget for a new interagency Great Lakes restoration initiative, which will target the most significant problems in the region, including invasive aquatic species, non-point source pollution, and contaminated sediment.

This initiative will use outcome-oriented performance goals and measures to target the most significant problems and track progress in addressing them. EPA and its Federal partners will coordinate State, tribal, local, and industry actions to protect, maintain, and restore the chemical, biological, and physical integrity of the Great Lakes.

Early this summer, one or more Requests for Proposals will be announced for competitive grants advancing the Initiative, in order that some grants may be issued as early as December. A series of stakeholder meetings, open to the public, will be held in July and August 2009 in various Great Lakes locations.

The one in Milwaukee will be held on Tuesday, July 21st from 5-7pm at
Doubletree Hotel Milwaukee City Center
Wisconsin Room
611 W. Wisconsin Avenue
Milwaukee, WI 53203

To learn more about the Initiative and meetings in your area, go to EPA.