• Collaboration: Involvement of leaders across government scales
• Complexity: Recognition of an interconnected ecological environment
• Integration/Balance: Development of a consensus-based strategy with public comment

Mission

The mission of the Great Lakes Regional Collaboration (GLRC) is to restore, protect and encourage the sustainable use of the Great Lakes. In December 2005, the GLRC issued the Great Lakes Regional Collaboration Strategy to Restore and Protect the Great Lakes, and its members signed a commitment to work together to implement strategies to achieve the following eight objectives:

Objectives

• Aquatic invasive species. Immediately halt the introduction of aquatic invasive species through restrictions on the trade of living organisms, passage of federal invasive species legislation and restrictions on ballast water.
• Habitat conservation and species management. Conduct greater conservation and management activities, focusing on native fish communities, wetlands, streams and tributaries, and coastal shore and upland habitats.
• Coastal health. Protect sources of drinking water by making improvements to sanitary sewers, identify and control releases from indirect sources of contamination, and implement a “risk-based approach” to manage recreational waters.
• Areas of concern. Accelerate cleanup of the 31 designated “areas of concern” that had been identified 15 years ago by amending the Great Lakes Legacy Act to increase funding, improve governmental capacity to manage cleanups, and establish a federal-state committee to work with local and tribal interests to speed cleanups.
• Nonpoint source pollution. Increase wetland restoration, improve management of cropland soil and livestock operations, and improve hydrology in watersheds.
• Toxic pollutants. Reduce and virtually eliminate discharges of mercury, PCBs, dioxins, pesticides and other toxic substances into the Great Lakes.
• Information. Improve the coordination and collection of critical data, double the funding for Great Lakes research, and create a Great Lakes communications workgroup to manage scientific and technical information.
• Sustainability. Promote sustainability across all sectors and build outreach that brands the Great Lakes as exceptional places.

Some of the objectives can be accomplished through better coordination of existing resources, some require the substantial appropriation of additional funding, and some require legislative action.

Initiator

Government Entities

• Council of Great Lakes Governors
• Great Lakes and St. Lawrence Cities Initiative
• Great Lakes Congressional Task Force
• Great Lakes Indian Fish and Wildlife Commission
• U.S. Environmental Protection Agency

Local Stakeholders

• Great Lakes Tribal Leaders

Executive Committee

Ongoing activities of the Great Lakes Regional Collaboration (GLRC) are overseen by its Executive Committee, which includes a representative of the key members of the collaboration:

• The chairperson of the Federal Interagency Task Force
• Chairperson of the Great Lakes Governors
• Designated mayor of the Great Lakes and St. Lawrence Cities Initiative
• Spokesperson of the Great Lakes Tribal Leaders
• Representative of the Great Lakes Congressional Delegation

Federal Interagency Task Force

The GLRC operates in tandem with the Federal Interagency Task Force. Implementation of the GLRC’s action plans falls to both the members of the GLRC and the interagency task force, which includes:

• U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
• National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

In the early 2000s, federal and state government officials and concerned citizens agreed that previous attempts to restore and protect the Great Lakes were too localized or ineffectual and a broader, ecosystem-based outlook was needed.

For instance, in 1987, government and citizen stakeholders identified 31 polluted locations as “Areas of Concern.” By the early 2000s, not one of these locations had been fully restored, threatening drinking water supplies for many in the region. Previous efforts by government entities, working with Native American tribes, advocacy groups and citizens, had developed consensus-based recommendations for actions to restore each of the five Great Lakes, but funding never materialized.

In 2003, the U.S. General Accounting Office released a report that found an overall strategy and indicators for measuring progress were needed to achieve restoration goals. It found the 141 federal and 51 state programs funding environmental restoration would be more effective with greater coordination and a unifying direction.  The governors of the Great Lakes also held a meeting at the urging of the region’s Congressional delegation to agree on nine priorities for restoring and protecting the health of the Great Lakes.

In 2004, President George Bush issued an executive order recognizing the Great Lakes as a “national treasure” and establishing a Great Lakes Interagency Task Force of Cabinet members and leaders of federal agencies to coordinate federal efforts to restore the Great Lakes. The executive order required U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, to create the Great Lakes Regional Collaboration (GLRC), a regional effort involving leaders of the Great Lakes communities.

In 2005, the GLRC released its “Strategy to Restore and Protect the Great Lakes,” which provided detailed action plans to address eight of the governors’ priorities.

Soon after its publication, however, differences emerged between the GLRC and the federal government. The task force, in a report on the implementation of the executive order, criticized the GLRC for writing action plans that would require billions of dollars of additional federal money to achieve. The task force maintained that the GLRC should prioritize and coordinate the use of existing funding.

Since then, however, President Barack Obama included nearly $500 million in his fiscal year 2010 budget for the EPA to embark on a Great Lakes Restoration Initiative that would address several core areas identified by the GLRC.

The Great Lakes Regional Collaboration’s 2005 report, “Strategy to Restore and Protect the Great Lakes,” recognized that monitoring and evaluation programs are critical elements to improving the understanding of the ecosystem and evaluating the implementation of any initiatives. The report recommended a series of alternatives, from improving the coordination of existing monitoring efforts requiring no additional funding to the development of new monitoring programs requiring significant funding.

Initiatives underway through the GLRC include low-cost assessment components, such as the agreement on uniform definitions of accomplishments used to track the success of its Habitat/Wetlands Initiative.

Speaking With a Unified Voice

Through the Great Lakes Regional Collaboration (GLRC), the Great Lakes states can present a unified, bipartisan front to their federal partners to seek greater funding for environmental initiatives, coordinate their own environmental efforts and raise public awareness. More than 1,500 individuals working on teams developed the strategies recommended by the GLRC and sought public comment. Regional leaders signed an agreement to work together to implement the strategies.

Renewed Governmental Initiative

The GLRC has focused federal attention on pressing needs in the Great Lakes and achieved measurable results. Additional acres of wetlands received federal protection. Fifty-two restoration projects have been started since 2005 through the combined funding of $7.5 million in federal and non-federal funds.  In 2008, experts were assembled to identify management actions to address Type E botulism, which threatens fish and birds.

Great Lakes Regional Collaboration: http://www.glrc.us

Great Lakes Interagency Task Force: http://www.epa.gov/greatlakes/iatf/index.html

Great Lakes Restoration Initiative: http://www.greatlakesrestoration.us