Ml Travel Bureau
LAKE MICHIGAN
Lakewide Management
Plan (LaMP)
D Tomaszevvskr
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Lake Michigan LaMP
From the wave-washed beaches and
dunes of the northern shore to the
bustling urban-industrial communities
at the southern rim, Lake Michigan
represents an ecologically, culturally,
and economically diverse system
unparalleled in the United States. Lake
Michigan, by volume, is the second
largest Great Lake and the only one
located totally within the United States.
What is the Lake
Michigan Basin?
The Lake Michigan Basin includes the
lake and the area of land where rivers
and streams all drain into Lake Michigan.
The lake's drainage basin covers more
than 45,000 square miles and drains
parts of four states: Wisconsin, Illinois,
Indiana, and Michigan. Lake Michigan
discharges into Lake Huron through the
Straits of Mackinac at a rate that allows
for a complete change of water about
every 100 years. The lake forms a link
in a waterway system that reaches east
to the Atlantic Ocean through the St.
Lawrence Seaway and south through the
Chicago River locks, to the Mississippi
River and on to the Gulf of Mexico.
Resources of the Lake
Michigan Basin
Lake Michigan has unique conditions
that support a wealth of globally rare,
biological diversity, including many plant
and animal species found nowhere else
in the world. Lake Michigan basin's
sand dunes, coastal marshes, tall grass
prairies, savannas, forests, and fens
all provide essential habitats for this
diversity of life.
Agricultural and industrial products such
as iron ore, coal, limestone, metals,
petroleum, coke, and chemicals are
derived from the basin's resources. The
water of Lake Michigan serves many
purposes. Fleets of freighters pass over
the lake carrying bulk commerce items.
It supports large commercial and sport
fishing industries; it provides industrial
process and cooling water, and water for
agricultural irrigation.
Lake Michigan supports many beneficial
uses. For example, it provides
drinking water for 11 million people;
has internationally significant habitat
and natural features; supports food
production and processing; supplies fish
for food, sport, and culture; has valuable
commercial and recreational uses;
and is the home of the nation's third
largest population center. Furthermore,
significant progress is being made to
remediate the legacy of contamination in
the basin.
"Lake Michigan is an outstanding
natural resource of global
significance, under stress and in
need of special attention." LaMP
2000
The Lakewide
Management Plan
(LaMP)
Under the Great Lakes Water Quality
Agreement, the United States and Canada
agreed "to restore and maintain the
chemical, physical, and biological integrity
of the waters of the Great Lakes basin
ecosystem." To achieve this objective, the
parties agreed to develop and implement,
in consultation with state and provincial
governments, Lakewide Management
Plans (LaMPs) for open waters.
Work on the Lake Michigan LaMP began
in the early 1990s with a focus on critical
pollutants affecting the lake. At that time,
monitoring data showed that point source
regulatory controls established in the
1970s and 1980s were reducing the levels
of persistent toxic substances such as
polychlorinated biphenyls (PCB), DDT,
and other pesticides. Monitoring results
also indicated that nonpoint sources of
pollution such as runoff and air deposition,
as well as aquatic invasive species, were
stressing the Lake Michigan ecosystem. It
has been documented that core regulatory
programs at the federal, state, tribal, and
local levels have effectively controlled
many pollutants. What remains is a set
of difficult, persistent, and multifaceted
problems.
Several key indicators point to the
continuing concern for the health of the
ecosystem, such as:
• Beach closings,
• Food web disruption,
• Invasive species impacts,
• Nuisance alga blooms,
• Habitat destruction and fragmentation,
• Fish advisories, and
• Lake and ground water level changes.
Despite these concerns, there have been
several successes in the basin, such as:
• Eagles are nesting on Indiana shore
for the first time in 100 years,
• Gray wolves have been removed from
the endangered species list, and
• Piping plovers, nines emerald dragon
fly and kirtlands warbler all have U.S.
Fish and Wildlife Service recovery
plans.
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LaMP Vision and
Goals
The LaMP provides a status report
on the health of the Lake Michigan
ecosystem and a summary of related
activities based upon the vision, goal
and subgoals of the Lake Michigan
LaMP.
The vision is:
A sustainable Lake Michigan ecosystem
that ensures environmental integrity
and that supports and is supported by
economically viable, healthy human
communities.
The LaMP goal is:
To restore and protect the integrity of
the Lake Michigan ecosystem through
collaborative, place-based partnerships.
State of the Lake
Overall, the finding of the LaMP is that
the status of achieving the goals is
mixed. Some successes have been
achieved - notably, drinking water
quality is generally good throughout
the basin- but there is much room for
improvement in all the other areas.
• Over 43 percent of all Great Lakes
fishing is done in Lake Michigan, being a
significant contributor to the economy of
the basin. While fishing is an important
Lake Michigan resource, the need
exists for all 4 Lake Michigan states to
maintain advisories to warn the public
about potential health effects resulting
from consuming certain species offish
in the lake. As a result, achievement is
mixed.
• The drinking water in the Lake
Michigan basin is of good quality,
although there have been sporadic
outbreaks of illness related to
drinking water. The issue of ground
water depletion has been growing in
importance with implications for drinking
water sources and habitat.
• Lake Michigan contains the world's
largest collection of freshwater sand
dunes and associated beaches used for
swimming and recreation. However, some
areas experience episodic beach closures
because of contamination due to issues
such as combined sewer overflows,
upstream confined animal feeding
operations and stormwater runoff. As a
result, the current status is mixed.
• The Lake Michigan ecosystem
continues to experience profound
changes because of development,
impact on natural areas, impacts of
invasive species, and nonpoint source
pollutant loading. Overall, the status
of Lake Michigan habitats is mixed to
deteriorating.
• Currently, the public has access
to abundant open space, shoreline,
and natural areas and enhanced
opportunities for interaction with the
Lake Michigan ecosystem. However,
the status of this issue is mixed due
to the competing needs of the public
and the ecosystem. There is a need
to continuously find a better balance
between public use and ecosystem
protection.
• Land use, recreation, and economic
activities are more sustainable, healthy
and supportive of a healthy ecosystem,
but there is significant work that needs
to be done. There is more information
available on critical ecosystems,
significant activity in better managing
water resources, and determining the
true value of a healthy ecosystem. There
is danger, however, that the ecosystem
could deteriorate if the knowledge is not
shared and translated into actions.
• While regulatory and remediation
programs are reducing toxic pollutant
sources, ongoing air deposition, and the
legacy of contamination in sediments
continue to serve as sources of
pollutants. As a result, the status of the
toxic reduction goal is mixed.
• While there are success stories for the
control of sea lamprey and the potential
to prevent future introductions, zebra
mussels and other invasive species
continue to proliferate and are competing
for food and habitat with native species.
There is a danger that other new invasive
species, the bighead and silver carp,
could enter Lake Michigan from the
Illinois River system through the Chicago
River. Until the trend for invasive species
is reversed, the status of this goal is
mixed/deteriorating.
• Each government, institution,
organization, and individual within the
Lake Michigan basin has a potential role
in ecosystem stewardship; however,
no single government, institution,
organization, or individual has the ability
to implement stewardship activities
and achieve sustainability in the basin
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Lake Michigan LaMP
unilaterally. The current status of
stewardship is mixed but will improve as
more Lake Michigan partnerships are
formed.
• Through the LaMP comprehensive
goals, specific objectives, strategic
plan, and a system of indicators and
monitors to judge the environmental
status and effectiveness of current
actions are underway. In providing these
to a widespread audience, partnership
and collaboration are promoted and
stewardship activities increase.
• Some information sources are
available to support Lake Michigan
decision-makers, but there is a need to
better coordinate and interpret existing
data in addition to gathering more
data and developing new indicators.
Positive movement was achieved by
not only the collaborative 2005 intensive
monitoring, but also the attention to
the issue as one of the Great Lakes
Regional Collaboration issues. Efforts
have been undertaken to gather data on
wetlands, beaches, stream buffers, and
other items that will ensure that the goal
status changes from mixed to mixed/
improving by 2010 and to good by 2020.
Lake Michigan
Pollutants
One of the key functions of the
LaMP process is to identify and track
pollutants that are or have the potential
to adversely affect the Lake Michigan
ecosystem. The LaMP process for
identifying three categories of Lake
Michigan LaMP pollutants on a
geographic basis is outlined:
• Critical pollutants,
• Pollutants of concern, and
• Watch list pollutants.
Remedial Action
Plans (RAPs)
The Great Lakes Water Quality
Agreement (GLWQA) also called for
the development of RAPs for specific
Areas of Concern (AOC). The RAPs
and LaMPs are similar in that they
both use an ecosystem approach
to assessing and remediating
environmental degradation of the 14
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beneficial use impairments outlined in
the GLWQA, Annex 2, and rely on a
structured public involvement process.
The RAP focus is a much smaller
geographic area, concentrating on
an embayment or stretch of a river
within a single watershed. Forging
a strong relationship between the
LaMPs and RAPs is important to the
success of both efforts. The RAPs
serve as point sources discharges to
the lake as a whole. Improvements
in the 10 AOC areas have begun and
will eventually help improve the entire
lake. Cooperation between the two
efforts is essential in order for LaMPs to
remove lakewide impairments and for
the RAP watershed to be able to restore
integrity.
Highlights of
Accomplishments
A number of accomplishments highlight
the on-going LaMP activities, including:
• Setting targets for reduction of
critical pollutants and stressors
using sampling data and models,
• Bi-annual review of the LaMP list of
contaminants and stressors,
• Filling data gaps, including the Lake
Michigan Mass Balance Project and
2005 Intensive Monitoring,
• Identifying ecologically rich areas
and habitats catalogued by
watershed, and setting a target of
125,000 restored and protected
wetlands,
• Developing tools to aid and increase
stewardship in the basin, including
watershed fatsheets,
• Providing opportunities for public
involvement, public conferences
and workshops for development of a
Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL)
strategy, beach management,
monitoring issues, and watershed
management, and
• Supporting federal/state/local
partnerships to implement
AOC remedial action plans and
coordinating them with other basin
wide efforts toward clean ups,
restoration and delisting.
Since 1999 during odd years, a State
of Lake Michigan conference is held to
inform the public and stakeholders of
accomplishments under the LaMP.
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Lake Michigan LaMP
Lake Michigan Partnerships
The LaMP framework is led by a technical coordinating committee (federal, state, and tribal agencies) that develops partnerships
of organizations brought together to solve problems too large or complex to be dealt with by one agency with a limited mission.
This approach also has the potential to leverage and direct local, state, federal, and private resources into a coordinated effort.
The challenge is to create the framework for participating organizations to contribute their expertise and resources in a manner
that allows all partners to participate in the decision-making on an even basis.
The Lake Michigan Stakeholder Forum
The Lake Michigan Stakeholder Forum provides input on issues from representative stakeholders of the Lake Michigan basin.
In recognition that every basin resident is a "Lake Michigan Manager," the forum seeks opportunities to foster ecosystem
stewardship through multi-organizational initiatives and partnerships, looking for opportunities beyond what can be achieved by
government efforts. The forum has a number of responsibilities, including 1) representing the diverse interests and geography
of the Lake Michigan basin and creating important communication links; 2) identifying targets of opportunities for demonstration
projects; and 3) building a constituency for improving Lake Michigan.
For more information visit
www.lkmichiganforum.org.
The Lake Michigan
Monitoring Coordinating
Council
The Lake Michigan Monitoring
Coordinating Council (LMMCC)
responds to the need for enhanced
coordination, communication, and data
management among the many agencies
and organizations that conduct or
benefit from environmental monitoring
efforts in the Lake Michigan basin. The
LMMCC provides a forum for identifying
gaps and establishing monitoring
priorities; exchanging information; and
forming partnerships for collaborative,
coordinated monitoring.
For more information visit:
http://wi.water.usgs.gov/lmmcc.
The Lake Michigan
Watershed Academy
The challenge of translating Lake
Michigan scale watershed data and
planning to local governments divided by
political boundaries is being undertaken
through the development of the Lake
Michigan Watershed Academy. The
concept of a Lake Michigan Watershed
Academy is to provide a "packaging
and delivery system" that brings
together the tools, data, and expertise
of many federal, state, local and tribal
agencies, as well as nongovernmental
organizations (NGOs) and environmental
organizations to explore opportunities for
new partnerships, thereby impacting the
quality of land use plans and partners in
the Lake Michigan watershed.
Science and Models: The Lake Michigan
Mass Balance Project
The LMMB Project is an enhanced monitoring and modeling project that is
working to develop a sound, scientific base of information to inform LaMP
policy decisions. The LMMB Project's specific objectives are as follows:
• To identify relative loading rates of four different pollutants entering
Lake Michigan: PCBs, mercury, transnonachlor, and atrazine,
• To evaluate relative loading rates by media (such as tributaries,
atmospheric deposition, and contaminated sediments) to better
target future load reduction efforts and to establish baseline
loading estimates against which to gauge future progress,
« To develop the predictive ability to determine the environmental
benefits of specific load reduction scenarios for toxic substances
and the time required to realize those benefits through the use of
models, and
• To improve our understanding of key environmental processes
and how they combine to govern the movement of pollutants
through the lake (cycling) and fish and plant life (bioavailability).
Data from this project will be used to drive the final LaMP load reduction
schedule.
The LMMCC led the effort of ten years after the completion of the LMMB
sampling effort; the Lake Michigan states and EPA agreed to resample five
of the original 11 LMMB sampling sites in 2005 to generate updated load
estimates. The Lake Michigan Tributary Monitoring 10-Year Anniversary
Sampling Project is a result of a cooperative effort of the U.S. EPA, Great
Lakes Commission, Michigan Department of Environmental Quality,
Indiana Department of Environmental Management, Illinois EPA, Wisconsin
Department of Natural Resources, and the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS)
offices in Wisconsin and Michigan.
Sampling began in spring 2005 following ice-out and continued through
summer 2006. USGS field crews sampled the following tributaries: the
Lower Fox River in Wisconsin, the Grand Calumet River in Indiana, and
the Kalamazoo, Grand, and St. Joseph Rivers in Michigan. Samples were
analyzed for PCB congeners, heavy metals (including total mercury), nutrients,
and conventional parameters. Results will be reported at the State of Lake
Michigan Conference, October 2007, and the LaMP 2008.
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For More Information
Lake Michigan LaMP is available on line at www.epa.gov/glnpo/michigan.html. For a CD or printed copy, contact
the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Mail Code T-17J, 77 West Jackson Boulevard, Chicago, IL 60604.
For more information, please contact:
Judy Beck (312) 353-3849
E-mail: beck.judy@epa.gov
U.S. EPA
77 West Jackson Blvd., Chicago, IL 60604
CREATTIMES
This project was funded, in part, by a grant from the U.S. Environmental
Protection Agency's Great Lakes National Program Office.
Prepared by the Office of the Great Lakes
Michigan Department of Environmental Quality
Jennifer M. Granholm, Governor; Steven E. Chester, Director
www.michigan.gov/deq
The Michigan Department of Environmental Quality (MDEQ) will not discriminate against
any individual or group on the basis of race, sex, religion, age, national origin, color,
marital status, disability or political beliefs. Questions or concerns should be directed to
the MDEQ Office of Personnel Services, P.O. Box 30473, Lansing, Ml 48909.
Printed by authority of Department of Environmental Quality.
Total number of copies printed: 25.000: Total Cost: S4.754.42: Cost per copy: $0.19
Michigan Department of Environmental Quality
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