Greal
Lakes
National
Program
&EPA
On the Web at:
www.epa.govlglnpo
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
Great Lakes National Program Office
Significant Activities Report
October 2003
IN THIS ISSUE:
• GLNPO Navy Wraps Up 2003
- Probing the Food Web
- Hunting Diporeia
- A Needle in a Haystack
- Chicago Media Event
- Black Lagoon Preparations
- Buffalo River Probed
• How are the Lakes Doing?
• Examining Indicators
• Lake Michigan Conference
• Calumet Bioblitz 2002
• Reducing Global Mercury
• New Great Lakes CD
GLNPO Navy Wraps Up 2003
GLNPO's 180-foot research vessel, the R/V
Lake Guardian and 32-foot sediment sam-
pling boat, R/V Mudpuppy, wrapped up a
busy 2003 monitoring season with several
surveys and several press events.
RIV Lake Guardian leaves Chicago on last voyage of
2003 sampling season
Fred Luckey, USEPA Region 2 scientist processes
samples collected in Lake Ontario LOLA Study
Probing the Food Web
From September 18th to 26th, researchers
from USEPA Region 2, Cornell University,
Environment Canada, and the National Oce-
anic and Atmospheric Administration were
aboard the Lake Guardian to study the im-
pacts that exotic species have had on Lake
Ontario's lower food web. The study is
called "LOLA" which stands for Lake On-
tario Lower Aquatic Foodweb Assessment.
Samples were collected at approximately 35
stations on Lake Ontario along 6 transects
selected to characterize the northern, south-
ern, eastern, and western quadrants of the
lake. The samples will be analyzed for total
phosphorus, soluble reactive phosphorus,
silica, chlorophyll-a, microbial loop, cyano-
bacteria, rotifers, phytoplankton, zooplank-
ton, mysids and benthic organisms. LOLA
is a cooperative binational project that will
define the current status of native and exotic
zooplankton and benthos in terms of bio-
mass, distribution, and community struc-
ture.
A press event was also held in Rochester,
New York on September 24th. The event
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October 2003
Significant Activities Report
was covered by the Rochester Democrat
and Chronicle and all the major local televi-
sion stations.
(Contact: Fred Luckey, 212-637-3853,
luckey.frederick@epa.gov; or Todd
Nettesheim, 312-353-9153, nettesheim.
todd@epa.gov)
Hunting Diporeia
Dr. Thomas Nalepa, of the NOAA, Great
Lakes Environmental Laboratory, sampled
Lake Michigan from the R/V Lake Guard-
ian, from September 29th through October
1st, looking for the small crustacean, Di-
poreia hoyi. This the fifth survey, using the
Lake Guardian, and provides an annual
snapshot of the populations in Lake Michi-
gan.
Diporeia are tiny shrimp-like organisms
that live in the bottom sediments of the
Great Lakes. They require clean, cold, well-
oxygenated water and have inhabited the
Great Lakes since their formation over
5,000 years ago. They feed on plant mate-
rial that settles out of the water column to
the lake's bottom sediments. Diporeia are a
key component of the food chain in the
Great Lakes and are a key source of food to
many of the prey fish (i.e.; smelt, sculpin,
bloater) as well as the whitefish. They have
a high fat content which makes them an ex-
cellent food source for the higher food-
chain organisms. This GLNPO-supported
study is documenting the disappearance of
this important animal from Lake Michigan,
where they have disappeared from the east-
ern half of Lake Michigan. The decline in
Diporeia has also been documented in all
the other Great Lakes except Lake Superior.
Diporeia appear to have been completely
eliminated from Lake Erie. The jury is still
out on the reasons for the declines of Di-
poreia, but it's thought that proliferation of
the non-native zebra mussels that have in-
ZMO
Graphic showing dramatic decline in diporeia
between 1994-95 (image on left) and 2000
vaded the Great Lakes may be out-
competing them for food.
(Contact: Marc Tuchman, 312-353-1369,
tuchman.marc@epa.gov)
A Needle in a Haystack
From October 3rd to 10th, GLNPO, in coop-
eration with Dr. Matt Simcik of the Univer-
sity of Minnesota, conducted a cruise to col-
lect water samples for analysis of extremely
low levels of persistent bioaccumulative
toxic contaminants in the open waters of
Lake Michigan. Some of these chemicals
are likely to be found
at levels of parts per
trillion. This is
equivalent to finding
one drop of the con-
taminant in 17 million
gallons of water-
truly a needle in a
haystack proposition.
Samples with vol-
umes of from 4 liters
(about 1 gallon) up to
2000 liters were col-
lected depending on
the contaminant. The
samples will be ana-
Dr. Matt Simcik, U. of
Minnesota, describes
difficulty of measuring
ultra-low levels of con-
taminants in open wa-
ters of the Great Lakes
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U.S. EPA Great Lakes National Program Office
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Significant Activities Report
October 2003
lyzed for polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs),
organochlorine pesticides, dioxins and fu-
rans, mercury (including methyl mercury),
polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs),
perfluorooctane sulfonate (PFOS), and per-
fluorooctanoic acid (PFOA). The last three
are chemicals of emerging concern for
which water data has not yet been collected
for the Great Lakes. This project will pro-
vide baseline levels for these substances.
For PCBs and other "legacy contaminants",
data from this study will be compared to
historical data in order to measure progress
in reducing these pollutants in Lake Michi-
gan. The water data, combined with
GLNPO's fish contaminant data, will allow
calculation of updated bioaccumulation fac-
tors for lake trout. Finally, when used to-
gether with air deposition data from the bi-
national Integrated Atmospheric Deposition
Network, it will also allow improved esti-
mates of the exchange of these chemicals
between the air and the water. This study is
intended to be the beginning of a long-term
PBT water monitoring program that will
complement Canada's data collection ef-
forts on the rest of the Great Lakes.
(Contact: Melissa Hulting, 312-886-2265,
hulting.melissa@epa.gov; or Glenn Warren,
312-886-2405, warren.glenn@epa.gov)
Chicago Media Event
A media event was held at Chicago's Navy
Pier aboard the R/V Lake Guardian on Oc-
tober 9th. The event was part of the outreach
effort for World Monitoring Day. Monitor-
ing issues that were highlighted included
the disappearance of the diporeia in Lake
Michigan and the new early-warning moni-
toring program for new toxic pollutants that
could become problematic in a similar man-
ner to PCBs (see previous two articles for
details).
Great Lakes National Program Manager
Tom Skinner, USEPA Great Lakes National Program
Manager speaks with television reporter at Lake
Guardian Media Event in Chicago
Tom Skinner, Great Lakes National Pro-
gram Office Directory Gary Gulezian, and
GLNPO Monitoring and Indicators Branch
Chief Paul Horvatin were onboard to an-
swer reporters' general questions and
GLNPO Scientists including Melissa
Hulting, Marc Tuchman, Glenn Warren, as
well as grantee Dr. Matt Simcik from the
University of Minnesota provided more in-
depth information.
Attendees were treated to a short cruised on
Lake Michigan to demonstrate some of the
sampling and laboratory techniques used
onboard the Lake Guardian. Photographers
took advantage of the many photo opportu-
nities.
Coverage of the event appeared on a dozen
press, television, and radio media outlets.
(Contact: Karen Thompson, 312-353-8547,
thompson.karen@epa.gov; or Tony
Kizlauskas, 312-353-8773, kizlauskas.
anthony@epa.gov)
Black Lagoon Preparations
On October 14th and 15th, the R/V Mud-
puppy was in Trenton, Michigan to assist
the Michigan Department of Environmental
U.S. EPA Great Lakes National Program Office
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October 2003
Significant Activities Report
Quality (MDEQ) in a sediment assessment
on the Trenton Channel. The focus of the
study was to collect sediment data to inform
remediation design work at the Black La-
goon site. MDEQ is targeting calendar year
2004 for initiating a sediment remediation
project at the site. MDEQ and GLNPO col-
lected 8 sediment cores for chemical and
physical analysis. MDEQ's state lab is con-
ducting the analysis of the samples, and re-
sults should be available in November 2003.
(Contact: Scott Cieniawski, 312-353-9184,
cieniawski.scott@epa.gov)
Buffalo River Probed
GLNPO's RIVMudpuppy
On October 20th to 22nd, Mary Beth Ross, a
new GLNPO employee and native of Buf-
falo, New York, led a sediment sampling
survey on the R/VMudpuppy on the Buffalo
River. This work was conducted to assist
University of Buffalo and SUNY College at
Buffalo with the second sediment sampling
event for this year on the Buffalo River. Ap-
proximately 15 sediment cores were taken
as a follow-up to sampling conducted in
July of this year. Core data will be used pri-
marily to determine the extent of environ-
mental dredging that might be necessary for
habitat restoration projects, and to provide
required data for development, testing and
application of the sediment transport model.
(Contact: Mary Beth G. Ross, 312-886-
2253, giancarlo.marybeth@epa.gov)
How are the Lakes Doing?
Three reports have recently been prepared
to assess conditions in and around the Great
Lakes. The "standard" State of the Great
Lakes 2003 report summarizes 43 indicators
of Great Lakes ecosystem components and
presents an assessment of each of the lakes
as well as the St. Clair River-Lake St. Clair-
Detroit River ecosystem and the St. Law-
rence River. A more in-depth version, Im-
plementing Indicators - A Technical Re-
port, provides the full indicator reports up-
dated from those presented at SOLEC 2002,
along with full documentation of data
sources, references and contact information
for further information. Finally, indicators
Fact Sheets provide a one-page easy to un-
derstand synopsis of indicators related to
"fishability," "swimmability," and
"drinkability." All three documents are (or
will be) online at http://binational.net/
STATE OF
THE GREAT LAKES
2003
Cover of State of the Great Lakes 2003 Report
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U.S. EPA Great Lakes National Program Office
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Significant Activities Report
October 2003
sogl2003/index.html.
(Contact: Paul Bertram, 312-353-0153, ber-
tram.paul@epa.gov; or Kate Beardsley,
(312-353-2151, beardsley.kate@epa.gov)
Examining Indicators
USEPA and Environment Canada are devel-
oping indicators to be used to assess the
health of the Great Lakes ecosystem and to
measure restoration progress. They are us-
ing the State of the Lakes Ecosystem Con-
ference (SOLEC) to engage the collective
expertise and cooperation of a wide spec-
trum of Great Lakes experts, partners, and
stakeholders. In order to validate and im-
prove the process, a formal peer review of
the SOLEC process and products was held
on October 7th and 8th in Toronto, Canada.
Seven recognized experts on indicator and
reporting systems accepted an invitation to
participate. The organizations represented
were: Genuine Progress Index for Atlantic
Canada; the International Institute for Sus-
tainable Development; the Commission for
Environmental Cooperation; the H. John
Heinz II Center for Science, Economics and
the Environment; the University of British
Columbia; the Knowledge Integration Di-
rectorate of Environment Canada; and the
Netherlands Environmental Assessment
Agency. Initial impressions by the SOLEC
organizers is that the reviewers were favora-
bly impressed with the SOLEC efficiency
and apparent effectiveness, especially con-
sidering the few staff and surprisingly small
budget that are directly allocated to the con-
ference and the State of the Great Lakes re-
ports. Several suggestions were also offered
by the reviewers with respect to the organi-
zation of the SOLEC reports and the devel-
opment of aggregations of indicators or in-
dices. A formal report from the reviewers is
due in early December 2003. A second
SOLEC review workshop is planned for
January 2004 to identify which of the cur-
rent and newly-proposed Great Lakes indi-
cators would provide information most use-
ful to environmental managers and decision
makers.
(Contact: Paul Bertram, 312-353-0153, ber-
tram.paul@epa.gov; or Paul Horvatin, 312-
353-3612, horvatin.paul@epa.gov)
Lake Michigan Conference
The State of Lake Michigan Conference
was held on October 21st and 22nd in Mus-
kegon, Michigan. The meeting was co-
sponsored by the Lake Michigan Lakewide
Management Plant (LaMP), the Lake
Michigan Forum, and Grand Valley State
University. The sessions drew 200 atten-
dees. The opening session of the conference
provided an overview of the restoration ef-
forts underway. U.S. Representative Peter
Hoekstra (R-MI-2nd) presented a major dis-
cussion of restoration activities on the sec-
ond day.
Concurrent sessions were held during the
two days on a variety of subjects including
watersheds, lake and wetlands biology, and
invertebrate information in relation to
drowned river mouth wetlands, invasive
species, Web-based decision tools for envi-
ronmental management, contaminants, hy-
drology and geology, and data and informa-
tion management. The Great Lakes Beach
Sleeping Bear Dunes in northern Lake Michigan
U.S. EPA Great Lakes National Program Office
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October 2003
Significant Activities Report
Association also held their 3rd Annual Meet-
ing at the conference, discussing beach
monitoring and reporting issues.
During the conference, several exciting pro-
jects were presented, including the Muske-
gon Lake and Estuary Emergent Vegetation
Restoration Demonstration Project. The
project is a feasibility demonstration of re-
introducing wild rice and native emergent
plants to degraded bottomlands. Well over
100 volunteers, including local Native
Americans, other minority students and the
local community are involved in the stew-
ardship of the demonstration. Within the
eleven acre project area, five areas have
been planted and will be re-planted as
needed over the next two years with wild
rice and emergent vegetation. Each site will
be a demonstration area on private or State
bottom lands in Muskegon Lake, which has
lost over 75 percent of its historic aquatic
habitat due to development and industrial
fill.
After months of planning and preparation,
the Muskegon River Watershed Assembly
held a unique "kickoff' ceremony last No-
vember that included a blessing by the Little
River Band of Odawa Indian Nation and
viewing of Peace Art by Bunker Jr. High
Students before local volunteers casted over
500 pounds of seed and planted over 5,000
native aquatic plants in the chilly waters
over two days. By this Spring, four of the
five sites had sprouted wild rice, some
reaching the "floating leaf stage, and all
five areas eventually came up. Great hopes
for seed heads and wild rice stands remain
for the remainder of the demonstration. This
project received the 2003 Muskegon Area
Environmental Excellence Award. Lessons
learned from the project will be highly
transferable to similar areas of the Lake
Michigan basin and the Great Lakes.
Purple Loosestrife, an aquatic
invasive plant found in the Lake
Calumet area
(Contact: Judy Beck, 312-353-3849, beck.
judy@epa.gov)
Calumet Bioblitz 2002
The Chicago
Department of
Environment
conducted a
Biodiversity
Blitz (a 24-hour
inventory of
species) in the
Calumet area
near the Illi-
nois-Indiana
border on Au-
gust 23rd and
24th, 2002. A
Bioblitz is a 24-
hour inventory
of species, with
the goal of identifying as many species as
possible during this period. The effort in
Calumet involved more than 130 scientists
and also provided environmental educa-
tional activities for the general public. A to-
tal of 2,257 species were found in the Wolf
Lake/Powderhorn Marsh/Eggers Woods
sites during the Bioblitz. The Field Museum
of Natural History is compiling the list and
making it available on their website at
www.fieldmuseum.org/bioblitz.
This was a kickoff event for the Calumet
Stewardship Initiative. GLNPO funding
helped to promote the event to the general
public, community groups, and school
groups. Full-color fliers announced the
event, data sheets and species list sheets
were provided to the scientists, and banners
and posters advertised the event.
(Contact: Karen Rodriguez, 312-353-2690,
rodriguez.karen@epa.gov)
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U.S. EPA Great Lakes National Program Office
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October 2003
Reducing Global Mercury
GLNPO's Frank Anscombe (left) with other participants
of international chlor-alkali conference in Sao Paulo
In September, GLNPO's Frank Anscombe
addressed a meeting of ChloroSur, the Latin
American Association of Chlor-alkali Com-
panies. Held in Sao Paulo, Brazil, the meet-
ing included a trip to a nearby factory that is
world-class in terms of ultra-low consump-
tion of mercury. The session was attended
by 100 people from academia, government,
and the chemical industry, including mem-
bers of the Chlorine Institute, EuroChlor,
and the Indian Chlor-alkali Association.
Anscombe spoke about opportunities for
communicating mercury management les-
sons among factories and across borders.
During the past six years, U.S. factories
have reduced their consumption of mercury
by 75 percent (on a capacity-adjusted basis).
They have achieved this by pooling factory
management ideas, allowing individual fac-
tories the flexibility to choose solutions best
tailored to the unique business circumstance
and equipment of each. This voluntary pro-
gram is equivalent to a cap-and-trade reduc-
tion scheme, under which factories each
choose the most economical ways to tighten
their production process and prevent mer-
cury losses. Increasingly, professional asso-
ciations of chlor-alkali firms around the
world are collaborating through the World
Chlorine Council to promote the spread of
best management practices within the indus-
try on a global basis. Mercury is a global
issue since it can be carried great distances
by air and deposited far from the original
source.
(Contact: Frank Anscombe, 312-353-0201,
anscombe.frank@epa.gov)
New Great Lakes CD
Version 3 of the very popular Great Lakes
Watershed CD is now available. The Wa-
tershed CD is an all-purpose outreach tool
for virtually anything one wants to know
about the Great Lakes.
New content in Version 3 includes:
• all the State of the Great Lakes Reports
and SOLEC 2002,
• the Great Lakes Binational Toxics Strat-
egy and all Annual Progress Reports,
and
• all the Lakewide Management Plans up-
dates.
Continuing content includes:
• U.S. Areas of Concern Status,
The Great Lakes Watershed
Great Lakes Watershed CD table of contents
U.S. EPA Great Lakes National Program Office
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October 2003
Significant Activities Report
• Great Lakes Strategy 2002,
• Great Lakes Atlas,
• Great Lakes Photo Collection,
• Great Lakes Past/Future Slide Shows,
• Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement,
and
• Great Lakes Watershed Facts and Links.
Copies of the CD are available by leaving a
message on our Web Site at: http://www.
epa.gov/glnpo/feedpp.html or by emailing
Larry Brail at: brail.lawrence@epa.gov.
(Contact: Tony Kizlauskas, 312-353-8773,
kizlauskas.anthony@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.
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