Great
Lakes
National
Program
On the Web at:
www.epa.gov/greatlakes
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
Great Lakes National Program Office (GLNPO)
Significant Activities Report
December 2005
IN THIS ISSUE:
• Great Lakes Restoration Strategy
• New Wetlands Partnership
• Toxics Strategy Update
• Areas of Concern Progress
• Tracking Changes in Lake Huron
Food Web
• Conservation and
Native Landscaping Awards
Great Lakes Restoration Strategy
The final Great Lakes Regional Collabora-
tion Strategy to Restore and Protect the
Great Lakes was released at "Summit II" on
Monday, December 12th at the John G. Shedd
Aquarium in Chicago, Illinois. The Strategy
was the result of a year-long process involv-
ing 1,500 participants representing the entire
spectrum of interested stakeholders within
and outside government. Representatives of
the Great Lakes Regional Collaboration also
took the opportunity to sign a Great Lakes
Regional Collaboration Resolution pledging
their continued support for the Great Lakes
Collaboration effort and actions to restore
and protect the Great Lakes. The Strategy
and Resolution can be viewed on the Web at:
http ://www. glrc .us/strategy. html
Background
A Great Lakes Interagency Task Force was
established by President Bush through an Ex-
ecutive Order on May 18th, 2004 to undertake
two major activities: Form a "Great Lakes
Interagency Task Force" (IATF), and Pro-
mote a "Regional Collaboration of National
USEPA Administrator Steve Johnson, speaking on
behalf of the federal members of the Great Lakes
Regional Collaboration, addresses the participants
at the GLRC Summit II meeting in Chicago, IL
Significance" for the Great Lakes.
On December 3rd, 2004, a Great Lakes Re-
gional Collaboration Conveners Meeting was
held in Chicago, Illinois, where the Conven-
ers signed the "Great Lakes Declaration" and
"Framework" documents affirming their
commitment to the Great Lakes Regional
Collaboration process and the development
of a comprehensive strategy to restore and
protect the Great Lakes. The "Framework"
document established eight Issue Area Strat-
egy Teams, comprised of representatives
from all sectors of the Great Lakes commu-
nity, as the working bodies responsible for
drafting action plans for their issue areas to
be incorporated into a comprehensive Great
Lakes Strategy. Additional information on
the Executive Order and Great Lakes Re-
gional Collaboration is available on the Web
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December 2005
Significant Activities Report
Great Lakes Regional Collaboration Strategy to Re-
store and Protect the Great Lakes cover page
at: http://www.epa.gov/glnpo/collaboration/
taskforce/index.html
The Strategy Teams completed their draft
documents in late June, and a draft strategy
document was released for public review and
comment at "Summit I" on July 7th, 2005, in
Duluth, Minnesota. The 60-day public com-
ment on the draft strategy ended on Septem-
ber 8th, 2005. In addition, six public meetings
were held in locations throughout the Great
Lakes basin in order to obtain further public
input. The Executive Committee and Issue
Area Strategy Teams met on October 6th and
7th, 2005 in Rochester, New York to review
public comments and begin finalizing the
strategy. The document released on Decem-
ber 12th was the culmination of the year-long
effort.
(Contacts: Vicki Thomas, 312-886-6942,
thomas.vicki@epa.gov or Nancy Gulden,
312-353-5006, guiden.nancy@epa.gov)
New Wetlands Partnership
On December 12th, USEPA's Assistant Ad-
ministrator for Water, Ben Grumbles and
USEPA Great Lakes National Program Man-
ager/Region 5 Regional Administrator Tho-
mas V. Skinner joined a meeting of the Na-
tional Association of Manufacturers (NAM)
to launch its new wetlands restoration initia-
tive in the Midwest. The Chicago meeting
was also attended by numerous local busi-
ness leaders, who discussed a range of topics
including federal tax incentives to foster pri-
vate efforts to improve the Nation's water re-
sources and habitats. Since the year 2000,
NAM has served as the national program
sponsor of Corporate Wetlands Restoration
Partnership (CWRP), which was formed in
1999. CWRP matches every private dollar
spent by corporations for wetlands restora-
tion with about $4 in federal funds and joins
America's corporate leaders with federal,
state, and local governments; non-
governmental organizations; and academia in
restoring and protecting the nation's wet-
lands and aquatic habitats. So far, the pro-
gram has resulted in the restoration of more
than 6,000 acres and stream miles, mostly in
the Northeast. NAM President John Engler,
who once served as governor of Michigan,
recently sent some 400 letters encouraging
corporate involvement in the program. More
than 200 companies now participate in the
CWRP voluntary effort, many of which are
also NAM members.
(Contact: Judy Beck, 312-353-3849, beck.
judy@epa.gov)
Toxics Strategy Update
A Great Lakes Binational Toxics Strategy
Stakeholder Forum was held on December
6th and 7th in USEPA's Chicago Valdas
Adamkus Conference Center. The Featured
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Significant Activities Report
December 2005
Keynote speaker was Clive Davies, who dis-
cussed USEPA's "Design for the Environ-
ment Program."
The Minnesota Pollution Control Agency's
Carrie Lohse Hanson, who serves as the
United States co-chair of the Lake Superior
Chemical Committee, gave a presentation
about Minnesota's PCB transformer project
on December 6th. The presentation was very
well received, and some members of the PCB
workgroup immediately followed up with re-
quests for assistance with their PCB trans-
former inventories. Some ideas that resulted
from the presentation and discussions that
followed include: that the Great Lakes Bina-
tional Toxics Strategy's Utility Solid Waste
Activity Group will combine the data with
some other utility data to try to better predict
the GE transformer suspects. Representatives
from the Council of Great Lakes Industries
emphasized the importance of financial in-
centives for successful PCB transformer
phase-outs. USEPA Region 5's Tony Martig
will work with the Lake Superior group to
further get the word out using the Minnesota
project as a pilot. The Utility Solid Waste
Activity Group distributed it's excellent flyer
called "Promoting the Voluntary Phase-down
of PCB-containing Equipment."
The speakers' PowerPoint presentations can
be viewed at http://www.epa.gov/glnpo/bns/
reports/stakesdec2005/index.html.
(Contacts: Ted Smith, 312-353-6571, smith.
edwin@epa.gov or Elizabeth LaPlante,
312-353-2694, laplante.elizabeth@epa.gov)
Areas of Concern Progress
Ashtabula Cleanup Moves Closer
On December 9th, USEPA GLNPO signed a
Project Agreement with the Ashtabula City
Port Authority to undertake the remediation
of a 1-mile stretch of the Ashtabula River in
Pleasure boats on the Ashtabula River
Ashtabula, Ohio. The $50 million project in-
volves the dredging and disposal of approxi-
mately 600,000 cubic yards of PCB-
contaminated sediments upstream of the 5th
Street Bridge. Construction of the disposal
facility is expected to commence in early
2006, with dredging scheduled to begin in
Fall 2006. The cleanup will be conducted un-
der GLNPO's Legacy Act authority and
funding. For more information about the
Ashtabula cleanup, see: http://www.epa.gov/
glnpo/sediment/legacy/ashtabula/index.html.
(Contact: Scott Cieniawski, 312-353-9184,
cieniawski.scott@epa.gov)
Oswego River, New York
The updated Oswego River Area of Concern
Stage 3 Deli sting Document was posted on
December 14th on the New York Department
of Environmental Conservation Web Site at:
http://www.dec.state.ny.us/website/dow/
oswdlist.html. This posting started a 45-day
public-comment period, which was an-
nounced also on December 14th at http://
www.dec. state.ny.us/website/enb/index.html.
The comment period closes January 30th,
2006, with finalization of the document ex-
pected March 2006.
(Contacts: Barbara Belasco, 212-637-3848,
belasco.barbara@epa.gov or Mark Elster,
312-886-3857, elster.mark@epa.gov)
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December 2005
Significant Activities Report
Presque Isle Bay, Pennsylvania
Work is underway under a GLNPO grant to
establish fish-tumor reference sites in order
to develop a supportable delisting target for
this Beneficial Use Impairment. To learn
more about the Presque Isle Bay Area of
Concern, goto: http://www.epa.gov/glnpo/
aoc/presque.html
(Contact: Scott Ireland, 312-886-8121, ire-
land.scott@epa.gov)
Torch Lake, Michigan
The Michigan Department of Environmental
Quality, with support from USEPA, collected
samples to determine PCBs in the water col-
umn. The sampling is being done to deter-
mine whether the sources of PCBs found in
Torch lake fish are inside the AOC or outside
the AOC. This work will allow the State and
local citizens group to determine if the fish-
consumption advisory Beneficial Use Impair-
ment can be delisted. Results are expected in
April 2006. More information about the
Torch Lake Area of Concern is available on
the Internet at: http://www.epa.gov/glnpo/
aoc/trchlke.html.
(Contact: Brenda Jones, 312-886-7188,
jones.brenda@epa.gov)
Waukegan Harbor Preliminary Design
Document Finalized
On December 16th, USEPA in cooperation
with their contractor, CH2M Hill, finalized
the "Preliminary Design Document, Wauke-
gan Harbor Area of Concern, Waukegan, Illi-
nois." The document provides preliminary
cost estimates for the dredging and disposal
of 290,000 cubic yards of PCB-contaminated
sediments in the harbor. Three disposal op-
tions are evaluated, with cost estimates rang-
ing from $45 to $75 million. USEPA, the U.
S. Army Corps of Engineers, the National
Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration,
Map of the Torch Lake Area of Concern
Illinois EPA, and the City of Waukegan are
coordinating efforts with other stakeholders
to select a final remedy for site and identify
source of funding for implementation. The
parties are also discussing whether there is a
need for additional data prior to the selection
of a final cleanup plan. See http://www.epa.
gov/glnpo/aoc/waukegan.html to learn more
about the Waukegan Harbor Area of Con-
cern.
(Contact: Scott Cieniawski, 312-353-9184,
cieniawski.scott@epa.gov)
Tracking Changes in Lake Huron
Food Web
GLNPO grantee Dr. Mary Balcer and con-
tract scientist Dr. Rick Barbiero presented
recent data on Lake Huron phytoplankton
and zooplankton at the 2005 Midwest Fish
and Wildlife Conference held in Grand Rap-
ids, Michigan from December 11th to 14th. As
a part of a robust two-day discussion be-
tween lower food web and fishery research-
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Significant Activities Report
December 2005
Great Lakes Food Web
Commercial Fish
Sport
(Trout, Salmon, and
Walleye)
(Alawile, Bloater, DJDOreia
Smell, Seulpin)
How Diporeia fits into the Great Lakes food web
(Graphic courtesy of NOAA)
ers, GLNPO's monitoring data helped shed
light on recent disruptions in the Lake Huron
food web. Lake Huron suffered a huge de-
cline of forage fish (primarily non-native ale-
wife) in 2003, likely due to declines in in Di-
poreia populations and high levels of preda-
tion. Diporeia, an amphipod that looks like a
miniature freshwater version of shrimp, are
an important food item for both native and
non-native fish species. As a result, fish in
upper trophic levels now face a sharply re-
duced food supply. GLNPO's data suggest
that availability of zooplankton is likely a
limiting factor for forage fish populations.
Lake Huron continues to support a healthy
level of phytoplankton and nutrients, so over-
all water quality conditions should be able to
support a healthy fishery. However, the cur-
rent species composition and size of zoo-
plankton is indicative of very high levels of
predation, which indicates that forage fish
now face a limited food supply. The Lake
Huron fisheries management community is
using the GLNPO data to assess the pros-
pects for recovery of prey fish, particularly
the native lake herring, which is believed to
have been suppressed by previously high
numbers of alewives and smelt.
These lower food web findings, which re-
sulted from collaboration between GLNPO,
contracting laboratories, and a cooperative
grant with University of Wisconsin at Supe-
rior, made good use of GLNPO's unparal-
leled zooplankton and benthos datasets to ex-
plain how the lower trophic levels
(zooplankton and amphipods) might be af-
fecting - and be affected by - the recent
changes in the fish community.
(Contact: James Schardt, 312-353-5085,
schardt.james@epa.gov)
Conservation and
Native Landscaping Awards
The 2005 Conservation and Native Land-
scaping Awards were presented at the Mor-
ton Arboretum on December 6th. Working in
partnership with Chicago Wilderness organi-
zation, USEPA provided awards to 14 or-
ganizations in the Chicagoland area repre-
senting park districts, municipalities, home-
owner associations, institutions, and corpora-
tions. Winning projects included native plant
gardens, prairie communities, wetland /
shoreline restoration projects, two conserva-
tion development sites, and an infill site with
excellent storm water management features.
USEPA sent out a news release to Chicago
area media outlets and the Daily Herald -
Lisle/Naperville edition ran a front-page
story on the awards. Lawn & Landscape
Magazine contacted the USEPA Office of
Public Affairs to express interest in writing
and article on the awards for their magazine.
USEPA showcased slides about the awards
program and the winning sites on December
9th, during the Illinois American Society of
Landscape Architects annual awards dinner
held in Chicago.
The 2005 Conservation and Native Land-
scaping Award winners in the various cate-
gories were:
U.S. EPA Great Lakes National Program Office
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December 2005
Significant Activities Report
Conservation Development:
Subdivisions and Infill Sites
• Sanctuary of Bull Valley, McHenry
County, a 300-acre development with ap-
proximately 47% of the land set aside as
dedicated open space, including prairie,
savanna, and forested areas.
• Alps Development - Tuscan Hills Green
Garden Township, Will County, Illinois,
for a 95-acre development with approxi-
mately 54% open space. Native plants
will cover much of the open space.
• Villa Park Police Station, Villa Park Mu-
nicipal building, Villa Park, Illinois for
developing an area with 3 major compo-
nents utilized to prevent runoff from the
site: a "Green Roof," bio-retention
swales, and permeable paving in the
parking lot.
Native Landscaping Sites:
Corporations (for profit)
• ComEd, for restoring and maintaining a
high quality Buffalo Grove, Illinois prai-
rie community on their right-of-way.
• Motorola Schaumburg, Illinois for native
landscaping around a pond area with
path.
• Abbott Labs, Abbott Park, Illinois for the
Abbott Park North Prairie restoration, in-
cluding managing for a population of rare
white fringed orchids.
Native Landscaping Sites:
Local Governments
• St. Charles Park District, St. Charles, Illi-
nois for the St. Charles Native plant gar-
den at its community center.
• Gary Park District, Gary, Illinois, for its
native landscaping around the pond area
of Jaycee Park.
• 63rd St. Beach, Chicago, Illinois by the
Chicago Park District, Chicago Depart-
ment of Transportation, and Illinois De-
partment of Transportation (Terry Guen
Award-winning native landscaping project around the
pond area of Jaycee Park in Gary, Illinois
Design Associates) for a 3-acre native
grassland (dunes-type ecosystem).
• Oakbrook Terrace Park District, Oak-
brook Terrace, Illinois for its Lake View
Nature Center which includes 3 native
plant gardens: butterfly, sensory, and-
teaching.
Native Landscaping Sites:
Public Institutions
• Chicago Botanic Garden, Glencoe, Illi-
nois for its lakeshore restoration, restor-
ing 2.5 miles of shoreline.
• Morton Arboretum, Lisle, Illinois for its
lakeshore /wetlands restoration.
Homeowner Associations
• The Madison Club, Burr Ridge, Illinois
(Pizzo & Associates) for restoration of an
oak-hickory savanna and open water wet-
land in a subdivision setting affecting 13
acres.
• Harbor Springs, Aurora, Illinois (Pizzo &
Associates) for an open water wetland
restoration affecting 6 acres.
(Contacts: Danielle Green, 312-886-7594,
green.danielle@epa.gov or Bob Newport,
312-886-1513, newport.bob@epa.gov)
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Significant Activities Report
December 2005
Upcoming Events
November 1-3
2006
State of the Lakes Ecosys-
tem Conference
(SOLEC) 2006
Milwaukee, Wisconsin
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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