Great
Lakes
National
Program
&EPA
On the Web at:
www.epa.gov/greatlakes
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
Great Lakes National Program Office (GLNPO)
Significant Activities Report
June 2006
IN THIS ISSUE:
• Long-Awaited Ashtabula River
Cleanup Begins
• Ashtabula River Baseline Studies
• Wildlife-Friendly Wind Power
• Lake Erie Floating Classroom
. Lake Erie D.O. Tested
• Air Monitoring Results Shared
• LAKEWIDE PLANNING:
o Developing a Lake Ontario Bio-
diversity Conservation Strategy
o Lake Superior Work Group
o Lake Michigan Forum
Long-Awaited Ashtabula River
Cleanup Begins
On June 5th, USEPA Administrator Steve
Johnson joined Ohio Governor Bob Taft,
U.S. Rep. Steven C. LaTourette, other gov-
ernment officials and local partners in Ashta-
bula, Ohio, to celebrate the beginning of a
$50 million project to clean up contaminated
sediment from the Ashtabula River, a tribu-
tary to Lake Erie and an Area of Concern.
The federal-state-local cleanup project will
be carried out under the Great Lakes Legacy
Act of 2002, a special initiative aimed at
cleaning up 31 toxic hot spots known as Ar-
eas of Concern around the Great Lakes. The
Ashtabula River cleanup is Ohio's first Leg-
acy Act project. While three earlier Legacy
Act cleanups have addressed smaller hot
Ohio Governor Bob Taft listens to USEPA Adminis-
trator Steve Johnson's remarks at kick-off of Great
Lakes Legacy Act Cleanup of the Ashtabula River
spots, the Ashtabula project will comprehen-
sively address an entire Area of Concern.
USEPA in cooperation with the Ashtabula
City Port Authority (the non-federal sponsor)
will clean up 500,000 cubic yards of PCB-
contaminated sediment from a one-mile
stretch of the river. Costs are being split
evenly by USEPA and the Ashtabula City
Port Authority and its partners. Speaking at
the event, Ohio Governor Bob Taft said "The
Ashtabula River dredging is an outstanding
example of what can be accomplished when
federal, state and local government come to-
gether with business to achieve one goal. The
State of Ohio is proud to invest $7 million to
help match the federal investment and ad-
vance the cleanup and restoration of the
Great Lakes."
The work is being done in close cooperation
with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and
is scheduled for completion in 2008. The
Corps will also conduct navigation dredging
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June 2006
Significant Activities Report
downstream of the project area and will com-
plete its work in 2009.
According to USEPA Administrator Steve
Johnson, "Thanks to President Bush's Great
Lakes Legacy Act, instead of posted warning
signs, Ashtabula's banks will once again be
covered with fishing poles. Just like a father
handing down the skills of tying a fishing
lure, EPA and our partners are determined to
hand down a cleaner, healthier river to the
next generation of Ashtabula anglers."
Additional information about the Ashtabula
River cleanup is available online at:
http://www.epa.gov/greatlakes/sediment/
legacy/ashtabula/index.html
(Contact: Scott Cieniawski,
cieniawski.scott@epa.gov, 312-353-9184)
Ashtabula River Baseline Studies
USEPA GLNPO, in collaboration with the
USEPA Office of Research and Development
(ORD), kicked off a unique assessment pro-
ject on the Ashtabula River. From June 7th to
14th, GLNPO collected 35 surficial sediment
samples in the section of the Ashtabula River
slated for remediation under the Great Lakes
Legacy Act. GLNPO's Dave Wethington is
the project and site lead for the sampling and
analysis, supported by staff from Battelle and
the R/VMudpuppy crew. The surface sedi-
ment samples will be analyzed for sediment
chemistry, toxicity, and bioaccumulation po-
tential. Additionally, caged fish were de-
ployed on June 14th to begin a 28-day expo-
sure period, after which they will be col-
lected and analyzed for contaminant uptake.
The GLNPO component of the assessment
focuses on evaluating baseline conditions by
which the future success of the remediation
project can be measured.
ORD will be commencing field work in late
July to begin the first of three phases of an
An aerial view of the Ashtabula River, Ohio
intensive study examining sediment re-
suspension and dredging residuals. Research-
ers from ORD will also be performing bio-
logical studies to evaluate the immediate im-
pacts of contaminant removal on ecosystem
measures of health, and evaluating the long-
term ecosystem changes in response to
dredging. The initial phases of both GLNPO
and ORD assessments are scheduled for
completion before the scheduled initiation of
dredging activities in early September 2006.
(Contact: Dave Wethington, 312-886-1437,
wethington.david@epa.gov)
Wildlife-Friendly Wind Power
The "Toward Wildlife-Friendly Wind Power:
A Focus on the Great Lakes Basin Confer-
ence," funded by GLNPO, took place June
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June 2006
Offshore wind turbines
(Photo courtesy of Sandia National Laboratories)
27th to 29th at the Hilton Toledo and Dana
Conference Center in Toledo, Ohio.
GLNPO's sponsorship of the conference was
conducted on behalf of the Habitat team and
the Lake Erie LaMP under the auspices of
the Great Lakes Collaboration's charge that
EPA coordinate and facilitate Great Lakes
efforts when multiple Federal agencies are
involved. Co-sponsored with the U.S. Fish
and Wildlife Service, U.S. Geological Sur-
vey, and Illinois Natural History Survey, the
conference provided state and local regula-
tory agencies with information on the poten-
tial wildlife impacts from wind power. Ap-
proximately 150 people, including wind en-
ergy and wildlife experts from the United
Kingdom, Canada and from across the U.S.,
attended the three-day plenary session that
included potential impacts of wind energy to
birds, bats, and offshore habitats, assessment
of tools to protect wildlife, and frameworks
for permitting of wind energy projects. The
Marcy Kaptur, U.S. Congresswoman from
the Ohio 9th District, opened the conference
with a videotaped presentation. Great Lakes
states, Tribes, industry and not-for-profit or-
ganization representatives participated in
panel discussions about agency preparedness
for wind energy siting and non-governmental
perspectives. Priority research needs were
identified. A group of conference participants
will carry on the discussions. One highlight
of the three-day event was a report-out on the
status of a GLNPO-funded Interagency
Agreement with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife
Service to improve radar-imaging of bats in
Neda mine, Wisconsin in order to demon-
strate that the technology can better inform
wind-tower develops and regulators as they
seek sites that cause minimal impact to wild-
life. Conference PowerPoint presentations,
meeting notes, and other wind power infor-
mation will be posted to the following web-
site soon: http://www.fws.gov/midwest/
greatlakes/windpowerpresentations.htm.
(Contacts: Karen Rodriguez, 312-353-2690,
rodriguez.karen@epa.gov; Rich Greenwood,
312-886-3853, greenwood.richard@epa.gov;
Dan O'Riordan, 312-886-7981,
oriordan.daniel@epa.gov; or Marcia Damato,
312-886-0266, damato.marcia@epa.gov)
Lake Erie Floating Classroom
Sixteen teachers from around the Great
Lakes Basin representing grades 4 through
10 set sail from Cleveland, Ohio on June 18th
as participants in the first annual Center for
Ocean Sciences Education Excellence
(COSEE) Great Lakes Shipboard and Shore-
line Science workshop. The teachers will
travel to ports throughout Ohio's Lake Erie
coastline while learning about the Great
Lakes through classroom instruction and
hands-on experiences on shore and aboard
GLNPO's 180-foot research ship, R/VLake
Guardian.
Also offered as an Ohio State University
Stone Laboratory course, the workshop gave
U.S. EPA Great Lakes National Program Office
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Significant Activities Report
COSEE instructor Helen Domske (New York Sea
Grant) lectures on invasive species aboard the Lake
Guardian Lake Erie course for teachers
the teachers from four Great Lake states a
chance to work with scientists to collect and
analyze data about water quality and organ-
isms in Lake Erie as they traveled from the
shallowest to the deepest parts of the lake.
The participants also learned about naviga-
tion and shipping on the lakes, music and
literature of the inland seas, curricula for
teaching, and shoreline activities that affect
lake conditions.
Days were spent on the water cruising be-
tween sampling stations, while evenings
were opportunities to visit special habitats
and informal learning sites on shore near
ports of call on the Lake.
To share the workshop experience with oth-
ers, the participants created blogs online
while the course was underway. To read the
blogs and to see photos from the workshop,
go to: http://coseegreatlakes.blogspot.com.
Each summer for the next four years, the
COSEE Great Lakes program and GLNPO
will support another Shipboard and Shoreline
Science workshop. In 2007 the voyage will
be on Lake Ontario, and following summers
will include Lakes Superior, Huron and
Michigan. A Great Lakes Education Summit
in 2010 will bring these and other COSEE
Great Lakes efforts into focus for their im-
pact on science literacy in the Great Lakes
region.
COSEE Great Lakes, formed by a grant from
the National Science Foundation and NOAA-
National Sea Grant, is the tenth center in a
nationwide network. COSEE Great Lakes is
expected to create dynamic connections be-
tween Great Lakes and ocean research and
education with the goal of enhancing scien-
tific literacy and environmental stewardship.
(Contacts: Beth Hinchey Malloy, 312 -
886 3451, hinchey.elizabeth@epa.gov;
Jackie Adams, 312-353 7203, ad-
ams.jacqueline@epa.gov;
orPaulHorvatin, 312 353 3612,
horvatin.paul@epa.gov)
Lake Erie D. O. Tested
The first two of five surveys to measure dis-
solved oxygen in Lake Erie's Central Basin
took place on June 7th - 8th and June 27th -
28th. These surveys looked at the beginning
conditions in the lake, as the waters warm,
and stratification (layering of warm water
atop a colder layer) is beginning. The amount
of oxygen held in the cold bottom layer is all
that will be available for the rest of the Sum-
mer for fish, plankton, bottom dwelling in-
vertebrates and microorganisms that live
there. Surveys later in the year will document
the decrease in oxygen as it is used by these
Lake Erie bathymetry showing Central Basin
(graphic courtesy of NOAA)
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creatures, and particularly by the bacterial
decay of material raining down from the
warm, upper layer where algal growth con-
tinues throughout the summer. These meas-
urements made by GLNPO have documented
the continuing problem of oxygen depletion
in this large, important part of Lake Erie.
(Contact: Paul Bertram, 312 353 0153,
bertram.paul@epa.gov)
Air Monitoring Results Shared
On June 12th, Dr. Ron Kites of Indiana Uni-
versity, the current Integrated Atmospheric
Deposition Network grantee, presented re-
sults from the IADN network. IADN data
shows that most legacy pollutants are de-
creasing with half lives of 10 years (for
PAHs and PCBs) to 3 years (for a-HCH).
PAHs, PCBs, dioxins, and PBDEs are much
higher in cities than in remote areas; some
pesticide concentrations are higher in remote
(agricultural) areas. The Lakes are close to
air-water equilibrium for many legacy com-
pounds (though there may be areas of net in-
put near urban or other source areas). IADN
works well for tracking atmospheric concen-
trations and finding new problems. For ex-
ample, Dechlorane Plus, a chlorinated flame
retardant, and TBE, a brominated flame re-
tardant that is a likely replacement for octa-
BDE, were both discovered by investigating
unidentified chromatogram peaks from
IADN air samples. Dr. Kites also met with
GLNPO to discuss his future plenary presen-
tation at the SOLEC meeting in November
and IADN operations.
(Contact: Melissa Hulting, 312 886 2265,
hulting.melissa@epa.gov)
East Bay Marshes, Lake Ontario
LAKEWIDE PLANNING
Developing a Lake Ontario Biodi-
versity Conservation Strategy
GLNPO and USEPA Region 2 staff attended
the June 20th to 23rd, 2006, "A LaMP-based
Biodiversity Conservation Strategy for Lake
Ontario Workshop" with Canadian and U.S.
partners. Attended by approximately 50 peo-
ple from U.S. and Canadian federal, state/
provincial, and not-for profit organizations,
and the Great Lakes Fishery Commission,,
the focus of this first of four workshops was
to identify the natural resource targets for the
Lake Ontario basin. These key species, natu-
ral communities, ecological systems and
abiotic processes will serve as focal targets
for planning and conservation actions. Maps
of Lake Ontario basin coastal wetlands, land
use/habitat classification, shoreline geomor-
phology, and plant/animal targets were pro-
vided by The Nature Conservancy's Great
Lakes Office. The group concluded that mi-
gratory fish, coastal wetlands, fluvial sys-
tems, benthic offshore habitats, island de-
pendent species, offshore pelagic, and near-
shore and littoral habitats are major targets
for conservation. Subsequent workshops will
focus on identifying threats to these targets,
strategies to abate the threats, and measuring
success of conservation strategies to be un-
dertaken. The workshops are funded by
U.S. EPA Great Lakes National Program Office
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USEPA through the GLNPO grant servicing
intermediary, the National Fish and Wildlife
Foundation.
(Contact: Karen Rodriguez, 312-353-2690,
rodriguez.karen@epa.gov)
Lake Superior Work Group
The Lake Superior Work Group met in Du-
luth, Minnesota on May 30th and June 1st.
About 50 members from state, federal, tribal
and provincial agencies attended including
representatives from Michigan Department
of Environmental Quality, Wisconsin De-
partment of Natural Resources (WDNR),
Minnesota Pollution Control Agency
(MPCA), Great Lakes Indian Fish and Wild-
life Commission, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Ser-
vice (USFWS), U.S. Forest Service, USEPA,
Environment Canada, Ministry of the Envi-
ronment, Ministry of Natural Resources,
USEPA-Duluth Lab, Chippewa-Ottawa Re-
source Authority, Fond Du Lac Tribe, Bad
River Tribe, National Park Service-Apostle
Islands, Minnesota Sea Grant and UW-
Extension. Topics included the following:
• Presentation of a GLNPO-funded proj ect
"Invasives Free Zone" by the U.S. Fish
and Wildlife Service. The goal of this
project is to create an invasive-free zone
by eliminating non-native invasive terres-
trial and emergent aquatic plants on the
Whittlesey Creek National Wildlife Ref-
uge, associated private lands and adjacent
U.S. Forest Service property (720 acres
in total). 21 invasive species have been
identified to date; each will be mapped
and monitored and treatment and man-
agement plans developed.
• Presentation by USEPA Duluth Lab
(Jack Kelly) on an "Early Detection"
Monitoring pilot project in Duluth-
Superior Harbor. The target objective is
to "detect rare before it becomes com-
Sun sets over Chequamegon Bay on Lake Superior
mon". A "model" approach for vulner-
able embayments will ultimately be de-
veloped. The three components of the
pilot include sampling, taxonomic and
lab methods and GIS-based information
(vectors, habitats). Through this pilot, 4
species new to Lake Superior were de-
tected (faucet snail, Lumholtz's water
flea, Henslow's pea clam and hump-
backed pea clam) and two species new to
Duluth-Superior Harbor were detected
(Ischium sideswimmer and the New Zea-
land mud snail). (For further information:
Jack Kelly, USEPA-Duluth Lab, 218-
529-5119, kelly.johnr@epa.gov)
» Presentation on the status of all the Lake
Superior Areas of Concern (AOCs). Of
particular interest was the St. Louis River
AOC plan, being drafted by MPCA with
help from WDNR, the St. Louis River
Citizen's Action Committee and a con-
sultant hired by the WDNR. For the first
time, a long-term, complete, remediation
plan has been formulated by the key
agencies and Remedial Action Plan
groups involved in the St. Louis River
AOC. The remediation plan envisions
spending about $100m over 20 years to
complete cleanup by 2026. The draft
workplan has been submitted to USEPA
for approval and funding.
» Presentation by Jesse Schomberg of Min-
nesota Sea Grant on the proposed Lake
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Superior Conference in 2007. The confer-
ence, to be held at the end of October
2007 in Duluth, Minnesota, will focus on
researchers, educators, local land use of-
ficials, interested citizens, scientists, pub-
lic policy experts, students of all ages and
municipalities to report on progress and
to help set a research, outreach and edu-
cation agenda for Lake Superior. The
conference will closely follow the 8 sub-
ject areas of the Great Lakes Regional
Collaboration, as well as other critical
areas of high interest of stakeholders, i.e.,
mining, hydro dams, climate change and
better outreach to youth. In addition, the
Lakewide Management Plan will be used
as the framework for highlighting, priori-
tizing and implementing recommenda-
tions.
Other presentations/topic areas including:
• A demonstration by Clancy, the mercury
sniffing dog;
• Demonstration of a lumex, (mercury de-
tection instrument);
• Discussion of a pilot "aquatics invasives"
complete control project in Lake Supe-
rior;
• A status report on the Lake Superior
Chemical Milestones Report; and
• Development of tangible, quantifiable
ecosystem goals for Lake Superior Habi-
tat, Terrestrial Wildlife and Aquatics
Committees.
(Contact: Elizabeth LaPlante, 312 353 -
2694, laplante.elizabeth@epa.gov)
Lake Michigan Forum
The Lake Michigan Forum met in Merrill-
ville, Indiana on June 20th and 21st. Attending
from GLNPO were Lake Michigan Team
Manager Judy Beck, Laura Evans and intern
Melissa Simon. Sue Brauer of USEPA Re-
gion 5 Waste Pesticides and Toxic
Sleeping Bear Dunes on Lake Michigan
stances Division was also in attendance. The
Forum business portion of the meeting in-
cluded a review of the first three chapters of
LaMP 2006 and discussions of adoption of
some of some of the next steps outlined in
LaMP 2006. High priority was given to
Green Marina and Ports in conjunction with
mercury issues. An overview of the Great
Lakes Water Quality Agreement review was
presented and followed by a two-hour field
trip to view restoration projects in the Area
of Concern area led by Alex DaSilva, Indiana
Department of Environmental Management
Remedial Action Plan Coordinator and fea-
tured the Ivanhoe School (GLNPO-funded)
restoration as one of the sites. Guides in-
cluded Daniel Goldfarb, of the Wildlife
Habitat Council, David Behrens of USX
Gary Works, and Rodney Littleton of
Groundworks Gary.
The second day's agenda included an Envi-
ronmental Management Systems roundtable
discussion with participation from Jim
Flannery from Indiana Harbor Mittal Steel
USA, Inc.; Rob Maciel from Burns Harbor
Mittal Steel; Brad Stewart from BP; and
Gregory Costakis from EH&S - Generation
NiSource. The second discussion was a pres-
entation by Peter Wise of the Delta Institute
on the background of the Great Lakes and the
pending Annex 2001 Charter regulating wa-
ter withdrawals from the Lakes. The atten-
U.S. EPA Great Lakes National Program Office
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June 2006
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dance was close to 60 participants including
members of the Indiana House and Senate.
(Contact: Judy Beck, 312-353-3849,
beck.judy @ epa.gov)
Upcoming Events
September 19
October 11-13
November 1-3
December 6-7
2006
Great Lakes Binational
Toxics Strategy Integration
Workgroup Meeting, Chi-
cago, Illinois
Second International Sym-
posium on the Lake Huron
Ecosystem, Honey Harbor,
Ontario Canada
State of the Lakes Ecosys-
tem Conference
(SOLEC) 2006
Milwaukee, Wisconsin
Great Lakes Binational
Toxics Strategy Stake-
holder Forum and Integra-
tion Workgroup Meeting,
Chicago, Illinois
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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U.S. EPA Great Lakes National Program Office
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