GLFT Grant Library

Since the early 2000s, Lake Whitefish (LWF) populations in Lake Michigan have declined whereas Cisco populations have increased. Changes in food resources coupled with differential vulnerability to predators may have negatively affected LWF recruitment and positively influenced Cisco. We will examine the spatio-temporal variability in nearshore zooplankton resources and the dietary preferences and growth of larval fish in situ. Laboratory experiments will highlight reactions of each species to food availability and vulnerability to nearshore predators.

Northview Public School District designed a new teaching curriculum for grades 4–6 that provides an integrated, multidisciplinary learning experience that places Great Lakes stewardship and outdoor learning at the center of the student’s experience. Every student who progresses through Northview Public Schools will have outdoor learning and environmental education experiences as part of their developmental pathway into being active and informed citizens.

Audubon Great Lakes’ Wild Indigo Nature Explorations program fostered community appreciation of wetland ecology and restoration along the Detroit River. This project conducted a series of events that, via community science, recreation, and stewardship, developed a deeper connection to wildlife along the upper Detroit River. With the help of community partners, a local Detroit Wild Indigo coordinator led a cohort of ten teen interns and two young-adult fellows to advocate for healthy watersheds in the region through community stewardship.

The Michigan Department of Natural Resources (DNR), in partnership with the Southeast Michigan Stewardship Coalition (SEMIS Coalition), implemented an integrated education program in Detroit serving middle and high-school students, focusing on fish and fisheries management in the Detroit River and Great Lakes region. The program consisted of the SEMIS Coalition Summer Institute, an outreach visit to schools by DNR staff, a field trip to the DNR Outdoor Adventure Center, and an outdoor-experience field trip. More information can be found at: https://www.michigan.gov/oac/0,5736,7-329-68732_95081---,00.html

Huron Pines provided programming for people of all ages to get them outside and experiencing nature, engaging in habitat management, and contributing to data collection. Huron Pines conducted two program areas for this effort, Experiencing Nature and Habitat Monitoring.

Experiencing Nature consisted of connecting people to nature through events such as snowshoeing, cross-country skiing, nature observation, and water quality sampling.

Habitat Monitoring included trainings about invasive-species removal and monitoring, data-collection protocols, forest habitat monitoring, and rare native plant protection.

• Experiencing Nature events
  
  
  
  • Eighteen events were held (nine in person and nine virtual) that reached 359 people.
  
  
  
  


• Habitat Monitoring events
  
  
  
  • Seven habitat monitoring events were held (three in person, three virtual, one hybrid) that reached 92 people.
  
  
  
  

Tip of the Mitt Watershed Council will continue to foster millennial stewards in Northern Michigan using the successes of the middle school Water Resources Education Program to provide local students with comprehensive water resources education and experiences. The program will increase student knowledge and provide them with opportunities to improve local water resources through place-based projects and monitoring.

The National Wildlife Federation and our partners will expand our successful Asian carp communications campaign to broaden our base of support and convert this into implementation of the Brandon Road plan (Plan). To do so, we will: 1) Ramp up communications as critical deadlines approach; 2) Develop and deploy solution-oriented messaging in addition to building awareness; and 3) Expand our geographic focus to constituencies in the Ohio and Mississippi River Basins that are currently impacted by Asian carp by supporting control and eradication strategies. We are seeking a major increased investment from the GLFT to double down our efforts to ensure that the Brandon Road plan is finalized.

The GLFT supported the Superior Watershed Partnership as one of the nine Great Lakes Stewardship Initiative (GLSI) hubs throughout the state. In partnership with the Seaborg Center at Northern Michigan University, the Superior Watershed Partnership and the Upper GLSI offered professional development for educators and supported place-based stewardship projects for K-12 students in Alger, Delta, Marquette, and Schoolcraft Counties. The Upper GLSI worked to promote school-community partnerships that engaged communities in project efforts and strengthened stewardship impacts among students. GLFT funding during the project period directly supported 53 total hours of professional development for 28 educators and provided project support for 550 students.

The Manistee River, below Tippy Dam (Wellston, MI), is a federally designated Wild And Scenic River and supports robust fish populations and critical habitat for wild and native species such as Lake Sturgeon. Due to the abundant angler opportunities the site provides, excessive bank erosion has occurred, leading to bank instability, sedimentation and hazardous access. The project team seeks to restore the stream bank and improve angler access at the south bank of the river.

To facilitate the design and engineering of seven accessible fishing piers along the Cheboygan River in downtown Cheboygan, Michigan, the Tip of the Mitt Watershed Council formed a workgroup and engaged the public. The piers will provide accessible, safe access along an area that is hazardous to get to, difficult to fish, and eroding from foot traffic.

The City of South Haven constructed a no-fee, modern, ADA-compliant fish cleaning station in Black River Park to support shore-based angling along the Black River and Lake Michigan. The facility contains a washing station, commercial sprayers, draining racks, and cutting boards for anglers. The station is supported by other amenities at the park, including a restroom, boat launch, and fishing platform, making the station a convenient, high-utility feature.

Elmwood Charter Township has completed the first phase of its land-based redevelopment of the Elmwood Township Marina on West Grand Traverse Bay. The project, phase one of the redevelopment project, included the construction of a fish cleaning station featuring four cleaning tables and a restroom underneath a pavilion near the marina’s boat launch. The station is open to the public at no cost with nearby parking available.

Lake whitefish declines in the four lower Great Lakes (GL) have alarmed GL fishery managers, commercial/tribal fisherman, and the public alike. This research seeks to clarify the role that infectious fish diseases play in decreasing the survival of young lake whitefish and determine routes by which such infections spread from parents to offspring. If funded, study results will help identify viable management solutions and guide future research to improve the health of GL lake whitefish.

The Pigeon River is a coldwater stream located in Ottawa County, Michigan. This river has a history of fluctuating water quality due to sedimentation, nutrient loading, and hydrologic instability from drainage conditions. The Ottawa Conservation District inventoried 93 road-stream crossings and conducted stream habitat assessments and macroinvertebrate sampling on ten locations throughout the Pigeon River.

Conservation Resource Alliance expanded both its holistic approach to watershed management and its service area by completing a road-stream crossing inventory on the Lincoln River watershed. CRA also worked with project partners at the Mason-Lake Conservation District to stabilize the single largest streambank erosion site in the entire Pere Marquette watershed. CRA also restored complete connectivity to a Pere Marquette tributary, Blood Creek, an intact headwaters and wetland complex valued for its pristine aquatic habitat.

The Nature Conservancy requests GLFT funding for fee acquisition of 1,384 acres on the North Point Peninsula near Alpena, including over four miles of Lake Huron coastline. In providing a unique opportunity to preserve and protect a rare mixture of ecological, economic, recreational and educational values in one project, this acquisition achieves the GLFT priorities of preserving essential habitat, particularly important fish habitats, with a possible opportunity to increase their availability to the public.

Reconnecting the North Branch of the Platte River is a comprehensive effort to replace outdated crossings at the prioritized sites of #PLT-P3, P5, P10 on the largest, high quality tributary to the Platte mainstem. Partners have completed site surveys and are well underway with design, proposing to build a timber bridge, bottomless arch and recessed culvert to ensure natural channel conditions and provide passage for all aquatic species at all life stages and stream flows.

This project will improve natural stream function and in-stream habitat on a 5,400-foot section of Kids Creek with the overall goal of removing it from the State of Michigan's Impaired Waters List. Project will install woody debris and riffle-pool enhancements, connect the stream to its floodplain, replace a culvert restricting hydrologic flow, and narrow the stream channel using natural, bioengineering techniques, all of which will benefit desirable macroinvertebrate species as well as Brook Trout populations.

Lake whitefish in Lake Michigan have experienced substantial fluctuations in recruitment and abundance over the last decade and much of this variation appears to be asynchronous across stocks. Genetics represents a powerful tool for stock identification that could facilitate investigation of recruitment dynamics and stock-specific harvest. However, currently available genetic markers are not powerful enough to accurately delineate stocks. Our goal is to use genomic techniques to improve resolution of stock structure in lake whitefish.

We postulate that juvenile lake sturgeon (Acipenser fulvescens) learn stream-specific odors that may guide homing in spawning adults. By defining how and when olfactory imprinting occurs, we expect to inform existing and future restoration strategies that promote recruitment and genetic diversity for populations of lake sturgeon in the Great Lakes.

Pelagic prey abundances in lakes Michigan and Huron are declining. Models used to quantify predator-prey balance and inform predator stocking decisions use diet data that are outdated or limited in spatiotemporal scope. We propose to conduct a comprehensive diet and stable isotope study on lakes Huron and Michigan to update and expand the application and scope of diet data. Results from this study will inform fisheries management decisions and stocking policies in both lakes.

The Huron River Watershed Council’s (HRWC) Youth Education and Stewardship involved completing ecology and monitoring activities; applying science, engineering, and math subject matter; and developing life-long stewardship values for Great Lakes water resources.” Students participated in hands-on, placed-based science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) education in water quality education programs. Students were introduced to scientific principles, the application of classroom learning to real-life scenarios, and stewardship knowledge. 

Building Capacity of Great Lakes Champions used place-based stewardship education to develop, implement, and improve new and existing efforts with K–12 schools in the northeast Lower Peninsula. Reaching over 300 students and 26 educators, this project resulted in the development of long-term management plans for school forests and the implementation of stewardship actions related to forest health, marine debris, and green-infrastructure projects.

The project included strong ties to community and conservation needs, met school learning objectives, and resulted in stronger relationships with school administrators that will ensure similar efforts continue in the future. The project took place across four school districts located in Otsego, Alcona, and Arenac Counties.

Michigan State University developed the Lake Sturgeon Community Science course that was used by 19 classrooms in four Great Lakes states, focusing on lake sturgeon and Great Lakes tributary ecosystems. Participants learned about Great Lakes tributary communities, interspecies interactions, and human disturbances that affect the sustainability of ecosystem processes and species viability. The project produced underwater video recordings of fish passage into the Black River, educational videos for students, and a graphical interface that allowed students to visualize results. More information can be found on their website: https://www.glsturgeon.com/

The Great Lakes Fishery Trust (GLFT) provided funding to the Grand Valley State University (GVSU) Center for Educational Partnerships in support of the River Revitalization Education (RRES) project, which developed scalable and replicable tools aligned with the Michigan Science Standards/Next Generation Science Standards that will continue to support educators teaching about the Grand River and the associated restoration effort. Groundswell, a hub of the Great Lakes Stewardship Initiative housed at the GVSU College of Education, lead the initiative with support from project partners. The RRES grant partners— the Grand Valley Metropolitan Council, Kent Innovation High School, WGVU Public Media, and the GVSU College of Education—subsidized K–12 stewardship projects and outdoor experiences for students, hosted teacher professional development sessions that supported Grand River revitalization efforts, and created multimedia place-based curriculum materials, which are hosted at https://wgvu.pbslearningmedia.org/collection/river-re-wilding-evaluating-impacts-on-ecosystems-and-communities/ and https://www.gvsu.edu/groundswell/lesson-plans-54.htm. The teacher professional development sessions are available on Groundswell’s website and YouTube channel so that educators can continue to benefit from the products of the grant. The RRES grant has created resources that will involve educators and schools in the effort to revitalize the Grand River and create a deeper connection to the river in the broader community.

The grantee offered professional development for educators and supported place-base stewardship projects for K-12 students in Alger, Delta, Marquette, and Schoolcraft Counties. Using GLFT funding, the Superior Watershed Partnership directly supported 51 hours of professional development for 32 educators and provided project support for 750 students. Upper GLSI staff hosted a variety of PD activities throughout the grant, including four days of introduction to place-based education allowing educators to voice their needs or suggestions for future professional development opportunities. Examples of other place-based education opportunities supported throughout the grant include Northern Michigan University’s Fall professional development session in partnership with the Michigan State University Extension Office and a virtual day of professional development which included a grant writing workshop and online discussion focused on culture in the classroom. Student projects supported include planting trees to improve the nearshore water quality of Lake Superior, releasing Salmon into the Dead River, and growing herbs in a hydroponic setting.

Trout Unlimited and partners restored aquatic organism passage and stream function at three road-stream crossings. The replacement crossings enhance and provide long-term protection for fish passage and habitat for salmonids and other coldwater species of the Lake Michigan basin. The completion of the 40th Street and Main Branch Bigelow Creek road-stream crossing, which utilized Great Lakes Fishery Trust funds, has reconnected over five miles of high-quality coldwater habitat in Bigelow Creek.

We will evaluate the source-specific production of steelhead to the Lake Michigan fishery. We have demonstrated that chemical signatures of juvenile steelhead otoliths are sufficiently differentiable among different Lake Michigan tributaries and hatcheries to support accurate natal origin assignment. Here, otoliths of adult steelhead will be collected and analyzed to quantitatively assess the mixing of stocks in the Lake Michigan fishery and identify specific sources most supportive of steelhead production.

We will improve assessment of trends for lake trout populations and estimates of vital rates in Lake Michigan by fitting age-structured assessment models in southern and western areas of the lake where such assessments are lacking. We will combine results with those from other areas of the lake to provide a lake-wide assessment. Results will be used to develop or improve forecasting models to evaluate consequences of stocking decisions on rehabilitation status and predator-prey balance.

The Water Resources Education Program engaged over 300 students from Northern Michigan middle schools in a foundation-laying program of watershed experiences that focused on local issues and stewardship of community water resources. Students were provided with water resources knowledge over the course of five in-class sessions, the majority of which also included community field trip sessions. This knowledge allowed students to plan and implement an action project that was designed to improve or solve a water resource issue in their community. Over the course of the program, teachers received training, resources, and tools to continue water-resources education in the future.

The Grand Rapids Public Museum (GRPM) Classroom with a Current program provided an opportunity for thousands of students to experience inquiry-based learning with a focus on Great Lakes Watersheds. Programs were designed to provide information that assisted students in becoming (1) active and effective stewards of the Great Lakes and (2) advocates for strategies that support the long-term sustainability of the Great Lakes fisheries. Programming included Museum based field trip programs, extension of a traveling exhibit and summer camp experiences. 

With the support of the Great Lakes Fishery Trust (GLFT), the Besser Museum for Northeast Michigan developed a conceptual plan and narrative for how the museum will display elements of the Besser Fishery Heritage Project. This story includes a summary of the early 20th century Great Lakes fisheries, effects of overfishing and invasive species on the Great Lakes, the eventual collapse of the Great Lakes fisheries, how Sea Lamprey impact the modern ecosystem, and the stewardship efforts by resource agencies to begin the recovery of the Great Lakes fisheries. Once complete, the display will engage both students and general visitors as stewards of the great lakes. Specifically, the grant provided funding to assist Besser Museum in defining and communicating their vision for the Fishery Heritage display. Grant products included conceptual drawings, display renderings, and a comprehensive narrative for the exhibit. 

The Healing Our Waters - Great Lakes (HOW) Coalition is improving the health of the Great Lakes through our Priority Area implementation Program which addresses historic threats to the Great Lakes through on the ground restoration work. The project provides capacity building grants to local and state non-profit organizations, with priority given to Lake Michigan basin sites, to help applicants successfully implement restoration projects through the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative.