Greal
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National
Program
&EPA
On the Web at:
www.epa.gov/glnpo
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
Great Lakes National Program Office
Significant Activities Report
April 2002
IN THIS ISSUE:
Great Lakes Plan Released
Progress Reports on Lakes
Major Lake Ontario Study Begun
Spring Fever
Lake Guardian Gets Busy
Biodiversity CD Released
Areas of Concern Featured
Air Monitoring Caucus
New U.S. IJC Commissioner
Great Lakes Plan Released
Great Lakes Strategy 2002: A Plan for the
New Millennium was officially released on
April 2, 2002. USEPA Administrator
Christie Whitman announced the Strategy in
Muskegon, Michigan on behalf of the U.S.
Policy Committee. She was joined by sev-
USEPA Administrator Christie Whitman Announces
Great Lakes Strategy in Muskegon, Ml after Intro-
duction by Great Lakes National Program Manager,
Tom Skinner
eral U.S. Policy Committee members.
The Strategy presents a basin-wide vision
for protecting and restoring the Great Lakes.
It identifies the major basin-wide environ-
mental issues in the Great Lakes and estab-
lishes common goals that Federal, State,
and Tribal agencies will work toward. The
Strategy was created to help coordinate and
streamline the efforts of the many agencies
involved with protecting the Great Lakes. It
will help improve programs that fulfill
United States responsibilities described in
the U.S.-Canada Great Lakes Water Quality
Agreement.
The Strategy was developed cooperatively
by the U.S. Policy Committee, a forum of
senior-level representatives from Federal,
State, and Tribal natural resource manage-
ment agencies and environmental protection
agencies. It is the culmination of a 3-year
long effort, which included an extensive
public comment process. Public workshops
were held throughout the basin in Duluth,
Chicago, Detroit and Niagara Falls. Addi-
tional comments were received in response
to a Federal Register notice. This input
helped refine the document and developed a
shared, long-range vision for the Great
Lakes.
The U.S. Policy Committee will use the
Strategy to guide protection and restoration
activities over the next several years. The
implementation of the Strategy will be
tracked by measuring progress toward the
various goals identified in the document.
Progress will also be judged by tracking the
many specific actions that are listed. Infor-
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Significant Activities Report
April 2002
Vision for the Great Lakes
The Great Lakes Basin is a healthy
natural environment for wildlife and
people.
All Great Lakes beaches are open for
swimming.
All Great Lakes fish are safe to eat.
The Great Lakes are protected as a safe
source of drinking water.
mation on environmental progress will con-
tinue to be provided by the State of the Lake
Ecosystem Conference, Lakewide Manage-
ment Plans, and other programs.
The Strategy can be found online at: http://
www.epa.gov/glnpo/gls/index.html.
The release of Great Lakes Strategy 2002
was met with great interest by the electronic
and print media throughout the United
States, Canada, and even England. Newspa-
pers and Web Sites in the United States
from Michigan to Georgia; from New York
to San Francisco; and many points in be-
tween covered the story. International cov-
erage included outlets in Toronto and Lon-
don, in Canada, as well as London in the
United Kingdom. News articles can be
viewed at: http://www.epa.gov/glnpo/gls/
glstrat_news.html. (Contact: Vicki Thomas,
312-886-6942, thomas.vicki@epa.gov)
Progress Reports on Lakes
USEPA and Environment Canada an-
nounced that progress reports on Lakewide
Management Plans, or LaMPs, for Lakes
Superior, Michigan, Erie, and Ontario are
available. The update on the Lake Huron
Initiative has also been completed. The
LaMPs, originally released in April of 2000,
presented a strategic ecosystem manage-
ment plan for restoration and protection of
the lakes. They also outlined the environ-
mental status of each lake, highlighted suc-
cesses, identified problems and presented
proposed recommendations and actions to
achieve specific lake objectives. Applying
an adaptive management approach to ad-
dressing the needs of the LaMPs, progress
reports are issued every two years to report
on activities and successes and to address
continuing challenges.
Superior
Ontario
Michigan
The Great Lakes
Highlights from LaMP Progress Reports:
The 2002 Progress Report on Lake Supe-
rior focuses on progress in achieving zero
discharge of nine critical pollutants, on
habitat restoration, and on the develop-
ment of broad ecosystem goals. (Contact:
Elizabeth LaPlante, 312-353-2694, lap-
lante.elizabeth@epa.gov)
The Lake Michigan report specifies ac-
tivities that must be undertaken in order
for the lake quality to be rated "Good" by
the year 2020, and describes initial results
from the Lake Michigan Mass Balance
Project. An additional Lake Michigan
document, Habitat and Land Use Man-
agement Toolbox, will be issued at the
same time as the progress report. (Contact:
Judy Beck, 312-353-3849, beck.
judy@epa.gov)
Lake Huron reports on contaminated
sediment dredging and remediation activi-
ties in Saginaw Bay, environmental indi-
cators, and the development of a Geo-
graphic Information System (GIS) deci-
sion-support system to better manage im-
portant tributary habitat. (Contact: James
U.S. EPA Great Lakes National Program Office
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Significant Activities Report
April 2002
Schardt, 312-353-5085, schardt.
james@epa.gov)
The Lake Erie report includes a vision for
the future of the lake and the latest infor-
mation on changes in aquatic life, fisheries
and habitats. (Contact: Dan O'Riordan,
312-312-886-7981, oriordan.daniel@epa.
gov)
Lake Ontario reports on adoption of eco-
system indicators for the lake; beneficial
use impairments; current status of levels of
critical pollutants; sources and loadings of
critical pollutants; and trackdown/remedial
actions in the watershed. (Contact: Bar-
bara Belasco, 212-637-3848, belasco.
barbara@epa.gov)
Links to the reports can be found on EPA's
Great Lakes web site, http://www.epa.gov/
glnpo/1 akes.html.
Major Lake Ontario Study Begun
The R/VLake Guardian, the largest pollu-
tion monitoring vessel on the Great Lakes,
departed from Rochester, New York on
April 13th for a week of collecting samples
of air and water in Lake Ontario as part of
the Lake Ontario Air Deposition Study, or
LOADS. Scientists from the USEPA and
three universities will study the levels of
mercury, PCBs, dioxins, mirex, and DDE in
Scientists Deploy Air Monitoring Equipment from the
R/V Lake Guardian
the air over the lake and in the water. These
pollutants can affect fish and other aquatic
life in the lake, and the safety of eating fish
caught in the lake.
At the same time, a land-based collection
site is operating at Sterling, New York, to
collect wet and dry deposition for the next
seven months. Results from this station will
later be correlated with those obtained on
the Lake Guardian.
Air Monitoring Station at Sterling, New York
USEPA scientists also sampled the Black
River, Salmon River, Oswego River,
Genessee River, and Eighteenmile Creek
using a small boat. The water samples col-
lected will be tested for PCBs, mirex, mer-
cury, DDT, dieldrin and dioxin.
Another cruise on the Lake Guardian will
take place in September of this year to cap-
ture seasonal variations in temperature and
rainfall. The data obtained will be used to
assist the Lake Ontario Lakewide Manage-
ment Plan in reducing pollutant loads to the
lake.
The objectives of LOADS are to:
1.Estimate loadings of these pollutants for
use in the Lake Ontario Mass Balance
Model,
2. Assess any differences in concentrations
and deposition over land versus over wa-
U.S. EPA Great Lakes National Program Office
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Significant Activities Report
April 2002
ter,
3.Determine the effect of urban areas on
deposition to the Lake, and
4.Investigate the sources and source regions
of deposition to Lake Ontario.
LOADS is being managed by USEPA Re-
gion 2 and Clarkson University, with assis-
tance from SUNY Oswego, SUNY Fredo-
nia, Environment Canada, University of
Michigan, USEPA Region 5 and the Great
Lakes National Program Office. (Contact:
Barbara Belasco, 212-637-3848, belasco.
barbara@epa.gov)
Spring Fever
USEPA's annual booth at the Chicago
Flower and Garden Show, March 9-17,
2002, was more popular than ever. This
year was an all-time record for visitors to
the show (over 150,000) and to USEPA's
booth, helped along by a new central booth
location. We distributed USEPA fact sheets
including Landscaping with Native Plants
and state-specific lists with native plants
and resources. We handed out anywhere
from 1,000 copies (Minnesota fact sheets)
to nearly 10,000 copies (Illinois fact sheets).
USEPA's Greenacres Web Page also had a
record month in March. The Green Land-
scaping with Native Plants web site, http://
Wild Ones
Handbook
A VOICE FOB THE NATURAL LANDKAMN4 MOVtMtNT
Wild Ones Handbook Online
www.epa.gov/greenacres, had approxi-
mately 48,000 visitors. Popular points of
entry were the front page, http://www.epa.
gov/greenacres, and the pages of the Wild
Ones Handbook, http://www.epa.gov/glnpo/
greenacres/wildones, with 12,000 visits to
each of those areas during the month.
(Contact: Danielle Green, 312-886-7594,
green.danielle@epa.gov)
Lake Guardian Gets Busy
The Great Lakes National Program Office's
research ship, the R/V Lake Guardian went
into full operation for the year. (The 180-
foot Lake Guardian is the largest govern-
ment research ship on the Great Lakes.)
On March 30th, it began the Spring Water
Quality Survey of the all of the Great
USEPA Administrator Whitman and Members of U.S.
Policy Committee Tour R/V Lake Guardian in Muske-
gon, Ml on April 2, 2002
U.S. EPA Great Lakes National Program Office
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Significant Activities Report
April 2002
Lakes. The Spring Survey will run through
May 6th. Because of unusual conditions
(high turbidity) encountered in Lake Erie
on the first pass through, the lake will be
sampled a second time in late April. Sam-
ples in this annual monitoring program are
being taken to assess the chemical and
biological health of the Great Lakes.
(Contact: Glenn Warren, warren.
glenn@epa.gov, 312-886-2405)
»On April 2nd, the Lake Guardian was in
Muskegon, Michigan as part of the an-
nouncement of the Great Lakes Strategy
(see related story in this issue).
(Contact: Paul Horvatin, 312-353-3612,
horvatin.paul@epa.gov)
Lake Guardian in Rochester, NY to Prepare for Lake
Ontario Atmospheric Deposition Study
On April 13th, the ship was in Rochester,
New York, preparing for the Lake Ontario
Atmospheric Deposition Study (see related
story in this issue). Despite the pouring
rain, TV and newspaper reporters turned
out to interview scientists as they loaded
and prepared their sampling equipment.
(Contact: (Barbara Belasco, 212-637-
3848, belasco.barbara@epa.gov)
On Earth Day, April 22nd, the Lake Guard-
ian was in Fort Niagara at the mouth of
the Niagara River on Lake Ontario. De-
spite weather for all seasons (rain, sleet,
and snow during the day), the event re-
ceived extensive local media coverage.
(Contact: George Ison, 312-353-1669,
ison.george@epa.gov.)
Biodiversity CD Released
lodiversity Around
e Great Lakes
«
Purdue University
USEPA Great Lakes
National Program Office (GLNPOJ
Center for Technology Transfer
and Pollution Prevention
Biodiversity Around the Great Lakes CD Cover
The Great Lakes National Program Office
and its cooperator, Purdue University,
working in partnership with the Region 5
Software Development Section, have re-
leased a new educational software program,
Biodiversity Around the Great Lakes, Re-
leased just in time for Earth Day, the CD-
ROM based program is intended to intro-
duce advanced junior high through high
school students, as well as the general pub-
lic, to the concepts of biodiversity gener-
ally, and the biodiversity of the Great Lakes
in particular. It incorporates a tour of Great
Lakes Biodiversity Investment Areas, a
guide to 401 Great Lakes plant and animal
species, and numerous multimedia enrich-
ment clips. (Contact: Bob Beltran, 312-353-
0826, beltran.robert@epa.gov)
The Biodiversity Software proved a very
popular item at Chicago's Earth Day 2002
U.S. EPA Great Lakes National Program Office
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Significant Activities Report
April 2002
festivities in Lincoln Park. Despite the
frigid temperatures, the event was well at-
tended. (Danielle Green 312-886-7594,
green.danielle@epa.gov)
Copies of the software are available from
the Great Lakes National Program Office by
contacting Larry Brail, 312-886-7474, brail.
lawrence@epa.gov.
Areas of Concern Featured
An Overview of U.S. Great Lakes
Areas of Concern
Cover of
An Overview of U.S. Great Lakes Areas of Concern
Report
A new publication entitled An Overview of
U.S. Great Lakes Areas of Concern is now
available from the Great Lakes National
Program Office. The document features
summaries of the 31 U.S. and binational Ar-
eas of Concern, or AOCs, in the Great
Lakes. The AoCs include rivers, lakes and
bays where one or more of 14 beneficial
uses have been impaired due to historic or
ongoing pollution.
The summaries were compiled by the Great
Lakes Commission through a cooperative
agreement with the Great Lakes National
Program Office. The document reviews the
background and status of each Remedial
Action Plan, or RAP, beneficial use impair-
ments, progress and achievements, commu-
nity involvement, partner agencies and or-
ganizations, research, and publications pro-
duced by RAP partners. The RAP is a plan
for how to restore the health of the Area of
Concern. The overview also lists key con-
tacts for each AOC. The summaries are in-
tended for local residents, agency staff,
elected officials and others interested in
learning about the status of cleanup efforts
in the Great Lakes basin's most polluted
water bodies.
The 254-page publication is available by re-
quest from Larry Brail, 312-886-7474, brail.
lawrence@epa.gov. It is also available
online in PDF format via the Great Lakes
Commission website publications link,
http://www.glc.org/docs/respol.html. Indi-
vidual AOC information can be viewed
online in html format at http://www.epa.
gov/glnpo/aoc. Links to RAP partners and
other AOC-related information can be ac-
cessed through these websites.
Air Monitoring Caucus
The Integrated Atmospheric Deposition
Network (IADN) Steering Committee met
in Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ontario on April
3rd and 4th to discuss events leading up to
lADN's next implementation period, which
will begin in 2005. In order to ensure the
continued scientific integrity of this bina-
tional air monitoring program, a peer review
of the program will be held in conjunction
with a Society of Environmental Toxicol-
ogy and Chemistry (SETAC) meeting in
November 2002 in Salt Lake City, Utah. In
preparation for the peer review, a technical
summary of the IADN program, which will
cover topics including history, methods,
chemicals monitored, results to date, and
research related to IADN, will be prepared
Integrated Atmospheric Deposition Network
Web Site Logo
U.S. EPA Great Lakes National Program Office
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Significant Activities Report
April 2002
by the Steering Committee. The group's
goal is to finalize the next installment of the
monitoring plan by the end of 2004.
During the Steering Committee meeting,
IADN researchers made presentations on
passive air samplers, a laboratory inter-
comparison study for toxaphene, levels of
toxaphene in tree bark around the U.S., lim-
ited PBDE (a flame-retardant chemical)
measurements taken at IADN stations in
1997-1999, and emerging contaminant
monitoring studies being conducted by En-
vironment Canada. The group also dis-
cussed a wide range of topics on potential
improvements to the cooperative monitor-
ing network. (Contacts: Melissa Hulting,
312-886-2265, hulting.melissa@epa.gov
and Todd Nettesheim, 312-353-9153,
nettesheim.todd@epa.gov)
New U.S. IJC Commissioner
International Joint Commission Logo
On April 17th, Deputy Regional Administra-
tor Dave Ullrich and GLNPO hosted a get
acquainted visit to Chicago by Dennis
Schornack, the newly-appointed U.S.
(International Joint Commission) Commis-
sioner and Chair of the U.S. Section. The U.
S.- Canada International Joint Commission,
or IJC, deals with a range of matters affect-
ing the two nations, including environ-
mental issues and water levels and with-
drawals. Commissioner Schornack was
briefed on the Great Lakes Strategy, as well
as the key environmental challenges facing
the Great Lakes, including invasive species,
contaminated sediments, and habitat loss.
Commissioner Schornack was very in-
formed on policy and environmental issues,
coming from distinguished career in envi-
ronmental and policy matters in the State of
Michigan. This resulted in a very interesting
and lively discussion on a wide spectrum of
issues and ideas for making progress in re-
storing and protecting the Great Lakes eco-
system. More information on Commissioner
Schornack is available on the IJC web site
at: http://www.ijc.org/news/april08.html.
(Contact: Gary Gulezian, 312-886-4040,
gulezian.gary@epa.gov)
We welcome your questions, comments or
suggestions about this month's Significant
Activities Report. To be added to or re-
moved from the Email distribution of the
Significant Activities Report, please contact
Tony Kizlauskas, 312-353-8773,
kizlauskas.anthony@epa.gov.
U.S. EPA Great Lakes National Program Office
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