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Great Lakes Regional Water Program
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Monthly Newsletter May 2012
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Dear Great Lakes Regional Water Program Friends and Colleagues,
Welcome to the May edition of the Great Lakes Regional Water Program newsletter. This time of year is always exciting because it allows us to reflect on our accomplishments while planning for the future. Our team has spent the past few months pulling together our annual report, a summary of the 11 initiatives funded by GLRWP. These project summaries are a testament to the hard work and dedication of our partners throughout the region and offer insight on the leveraged impact of the dollars invested by our program. The report will be finalized this month and made available to the general public during the National Water Conference in Portland, OR. Look for a link to the full report in next month's newsletter.
The GLRWP will be represented at the National Water Conference by a group of our initiative leaders and our program co-directors. This year's conference will be an opportunity to network with our peers across the country and look for new partnerships and opportunities that will benefit the entire Great Lakes Region. We will be sharing our new annual report, initiative summary sheets, and a poster highlighting our recent accomplishments. Each of these products communicates the impact that our Program and partners have had over the past year. In addition, you will find information about tools and resources that may be useful to you in your own work.
As you may have noticed, our newsletter has been evolving in recent weeks. While the layout of the newsletter may be the most obvious change, an effort has also been made to update the content to reflect the accomplishments of our program and the accomplishments of our friends and colleagues in the land and sea grants in our region. Keeping with this trend, a new Featured Initiative section will be added on a monthly basis to highlight one of the initiatives from our annual report. This section will include summaries of the initiatives as well as links to published articles or online content related to the projects. We hope this new section offers some insight on the diversity of the initiatives organized and managed by GLRWP project teams.
I hope you are all enjoying the spring. Have a great rest of the month!
Rebecca Power, Co-Director, Great Lakes Regional Water Program
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People, Climate Change and Lake Erie
| | | New Ohio State Research Project
A new initiative funded by the National Science Foundation and managed by a partnership between The Ohio State University and Case Western Reserve University will shed new light on the intersection between the social and natural sciences in water conservation. The four-year project will examine how practices along the Maumee River watershed impact the water quality in Lake Erie. This information will then be used to develop decision making models to help policy makers and watershed managers make informed decisions for the betterment of the entire watershed. Goals of the project include determining the link between perceptions of Lake Erie, how those perceptions impact the health of the lake and how the health of the lake in turn influences perceptions of the entire ecosystem. Research will include assessments of the present day as well as predictions for how climate change may impact future decision making.
Primary researchers:
Jay Martin (Lead PI), Ohio State, Robyn Wilson, Ohio State, Stu Ludsin, Ohio State, Eric Toman, Ohio State, Brian Roe, Ohio State, Elena Irwin, Ohio State
Carlo Demarchi, Case Western Reserve University
Click here for website. Download article. |
| Two-Stage Ditch Symposium Videos | | |
Presented by Great Lakes Regional Water Program
Videos from last year's Two-Stage Ditch Symposium, held on September 16, 2011 in Columbus, OH, have been posted on the Ohio State watershed website. The videos feature presentations by Jon Witter, OSU Extension, Dan Mecklenburg, Ohio Dept. of Natural Resources, Sarah Roley, University of Notre Dame and Geoffrie Kramer, University of Minnesota. Topics include drainage best management practices, self-forming streams, nitrogen removal, sediment transport, habitat development and economic considerations.
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| Bioreactor Fact Sheet | | Presented by the University of Illinois
Richard Cooke and his team at the University of Illinois recently developed and released a bioreactor fact sheet. The sheet offers general background information on why bioreactors are critical to the health and well being of watersheds due to their ability to filter out harmful nitrates. The sheet also provides general instructions on the proper planning and construction of bioreactors in relation to agricultural tile drainage systems. The sheet can be downloaded using the link below.
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| In the News #1 | | |
AOCs, BUIs, PACs, RAPs and GLRI: The alphabet soup of Great Lakes Restoration
The Great Lakes are a vital component of Michigan's economy and are fundamental to our state's history and identity. Indeed, they form the very shape of our state! They contain 20% of the world's supply of fresh surface water and support a growing tourism industry, including recreational fishing, wildlife viewing and boating. However, portions of the lakes are threatened by toxic contaminants, failing sewage infrastructure, invasive species and a lack of coordinated conservation efforts. In 2009,Michigan Sea Grant convened a panel of scientists who identified and quantified the economic benefits of restoring the Great Lakes. The subsequent report estimates the economic benefit to Michigan could be $7-13 billion.
Click here for full article.
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| In the News #2 | | |
The Need for Great Lakes Literacy:
An article series shared by Michigan State University Extension
In recent years, there have been a number of efforts to define ocean and Great Lakes literacy. The Ocean Literacy Network, which includes the Great Lakes, has been working to identify and describe the science content and processes related to the ocean and Great Lakes. This will help define what should be included in all future science education at the local, state and national levels. An important breakthrough in this process was coming to a consensus about what it means for an adult to be ocean or Great Lakes literate. This led to identifying the essential principles that people need to know about the ocean in order to be ocean literate. Two documents -Ocean Literacy and Great Lakes Literacy Essential Principles and Fundamental Concepts - are being shared nationally as the basis for the essential principles for ocean and Great Lakes literacy. The following articles are adapted from Great Lakes Literacy: Essential Principles and Fundamental Concepts for Great Lakes Learning (Ohio Sea Grant, 2010).
Intro Article Article 1 Article 2 Article 3
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| Future Newsletters | | |
Tell Us About Your Projects
Your contributions have placed the Great Lakes region at the forefront of national and international water research, outreach and conservation. We would love to know about any new projects, grants or multi-state efforts you are leading or participating in. If you have ideas for e-newsletter content, please share with the GLRWP marketing specialist, John Kriva. You can contact him at john.kriva@uwex.edu.
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About Us
The Great Lakes Regional Water Program (GLRWP) is a partnership among the Land Grant universities in Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Ohio, and Wisconsin, and the NIFA National Water Program. The overarching goal of the GLRWP is to maintain and protect natural environmental systems for agriculture, human health, recreation, and economic benefit through regional leadership and coordination of research, education, and extension/outreach efforts within Great Lakes and North Central Region states.
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