GLFT Grant Library

The GLFT granted the DNR $500,000 dollars to replace the R/V Chinook that operates on Lake Huron. A new vessel will ensure continuation of long-term monitoring efforts, increase vessel efficiency, and improve surveys for inter-lake comparisons. The vessel will collaborate with other state, federal, tribal, and provincial partner agencies on predator and prey fish stock assessments. GLFT partnership with the DNR in this venture will help to ensure the continued health of a muti-species fishery worth an estimated $74 million annually. 

The final report for this project will become available after grant is officially completed in 2017.

The GLFT has granted funding for a pilot project to support the development of next generation teachers and schools to advance PBE through scholarship, cross-curricular connections, and exploration of best practices for PBE in teacher training (hereby referred to as “the Next Generation strategy”). Through development of instructional techniques and support for handson learning of PBE pedagogy with pre-service teachers, this Innovation grant will support scholarship and research to advance the understanding of what is required to effectively teach students seeking to enter the teaching profession how to enact practices that are consistent with the principles of PBE. In addition, the project will advance the Hub’s goal of deepening teacher engagement and expanding teacher participation in PBE projects within school buildings currently participating in the Discovering Place (DP) hub. Finally, because the outcome is to encourage the next generation of teachers to value PBE and to develop the skills and dispositions requisite for PBE, the project will align with the 2017 GLSI goals of making PBE a central instructional strategy that is rigorous and developing, and would support long-term sustainability of PBE pedagogy. 

The Michigan Place-Based Leadership Network (MPBLN) project will support educational leaders who value the principles of Place-Based Education (PBE). Current policy and practice environments make it challenging for leaders, especially those that serve students in poverty, to create and sustain educational environments that support PBE. Leaders face significant time constraints for the planning and reflection needed to implement PBE projects. Additionally they are often isolated and have limited opportunities to share knowledge and resources with each other. The proposed leadership network (MPBLN) supports a real need of leaders that are committed to helping their students become stewards of their environment.

As part of the largest dam removal effort in Michigan’s history, the second of three dams was removed on the Boardman River, a state-designated Natural River and Blue Ribbon trout stream in northern Michigan. The Boardman Dam Removal Project is a signature effort that will ultimately reconnect 160 miles of prime fishery habitat, removing three dams and modifying a fourth to block invasives and provide fish passage to and from the Great Lakes.

The goal of the 125 member Healing Our Waters-Great Lakes (HOW) Coalition is to improve the health of the Great Lakes by addressing historic threats and preparing for new challenges. HOW’s “Restoring the Great Lakes: One Project at a Time” project will provide capacity building grants to local and state non-profit organizations in eight priority areas across the Great Lakes region to help them successfully implement restoration projects through the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative (GLRI).

The Classroom with a Current Project engaged and supported a team of local high school students to design concepts for a new experiential watershed education exhibit or facility at the Grand Rapids Public Museum. The students’ concepts will inform a major museum redesign of existing natural history and interpretive exhibits to provide more comprehensive watershed and fisheries education opportunities for the West Michigan community to increase awareness, understanding and advocacy of the Great Lakes.

The project will determine the optimal environmental temperatures for juvenile lake sturgeon to be reared at, as well as the growth rate of these fish at 5 different water temperatures, including 3 replicates per water temperature regime. This will allow managers to construct growth models to model production programs, project size at stocking and project feed rates for the overall program and feed rates to feed at varying water temperatures.

This grant funded the Muskegon Environmental Research & Education Society to develop a business plan for the organization and improvements at the Muskegon Lake Nature Preserve, including describing the organization's mission, values, history, and current programming; the community need for the organization and improvements at the preserve; a market and competition analysis; and a strategic, financial, governance, personnel, and development plan for the organization and future programing and improvements.

The Parks and Recreation Division of the Michigan Department of Natural Resources, in partnership with the Marketing and Outreach Division and the Michigan Historic Center will construct interactive interpretive exhibits at the newly restored Ludington Beach House for the purposes of inspiring and engaging visitors to get involved with Great Lakes fish conservation and Great Lakes fishing recreation.

This grant award will help fund the construction cost of two fishing platforms to be integrated into a new marina complex at Peshawbestown, Leelanau County Michigan. This directly supports GLFT’s goal of increasing tribal and public access to fishing on the Great Lakes (Lake Michigan) and will include the advantages of sufficient parking, walkways and restrooms. This is an active fishing area, with a longtime fishing heritage, and the platforms allow anglers to reach viable deep waters via casts

This project improved angler access at Holland State Park by removing physical barriers and paving a walkway along the channel between Lake Macatawa and Lake Michigan.

The grant was used to complete the design, preliminary engineering, studies and construction drawings and details to build an approx. 550 foot, universally accessible fishing pier at the mouth of the Boardman River on Grand Traverse Bay. The pier will provide unique, outstanding access for people of all ages, needs and abilities to fish for migratory and other species, and to learn about the Great Lakes, the importance of stewardship and the value, challenges and opportunities involving the fishery.

The Sault Tribe will develop a tribal fishing access and mooring facility on the north shore of Lake Michigan, near Epoufette, MI. The project will expand and improve a long-existing commercial fishing access and dock facility that is in now in disrepair and unusable for commercial fishing vessels. The project will provide: mooring for large commercial boats; launch capabilities for commercial, enforcement, biological, and recreational vessels; and parking.

The GLFT has awarded funding to The Superior Watershed Partnership (SWP) to establish a GLSI Base  Hub.  Becoming a Hub will build on and expand SWP’s successful youth conservation and innovative  environmental  education  programs, thus facilitating establishment of sustainable place-based education  (PBE) in its primary service regions and allowing expansion into the greater SWP mission area

Muskegon Area ISD Continuation Grant through K-12 Place-Based Education to foster stewardship of Great Lakes, Implement communications plan, and institutionalize place-based education as key research-based instructional method.

The GLFT provided funding to develop students as citizen stewards able to understand and promote healthy ecological and social systems affecting the Great Lakes basin and their communities through community-based learning projects. This is accomplished by bringing schools and community partners together.

This grant was funded under the GLFT's Great Lakes Stewardship Initiative (GLSI). It builds on a capacity-building grant provided earlier by the GLFT. The grant funded a planning process for a GLSI hub to serve six counties in northeastern lower Michigan. The process resulted in an implementation plan for the hub, which was successfully submitted to the GLFT for funding.

The goal of this project was to promote a watershed approach to freshwater stewardship and help students understand their connection to water in the region and the need to preserve and protect our natural resources.

The Western Upper Peninsula Center for Science, Mathematics and Environmental Education focused its Great Lakes stewardship efforts in the five western counties of Michigan's Upper Peninsula: Houghton, Baraga, Keweenaw, Gogebic, and Ontonagon. The Center worked closely with the other five math/science centers in the Upper Peninsula to share strategies, resources, and professional development opportunities in order to facilitate their future engagement in this effort.

This proposal sought to increase environmental stewardship of the Grand River Watershed in Kent County through education within school settings and community-school partnerships. It utilized place-based education, academic service learning, and the strengths of Kent County's community organizations in creating a systemic, comprehensive and transparent Hub aimed at promoting and addressing community engagement in the Grand River Watershed and developing environmental stewardship in Kent County.

GRAND learning Network is a network team from MSU that works with teacher leaders who take part in advanced professional development in PBE, Great Lakes content, and school change. They coach other teachers involved in Summer Institutes, foundational PD, and school-community stewardship.

This project focused on two themes: 1) Interconnectedness of community, land, and water, and 2) community, water and land can all be recovered and transformed.

Funding support from the GLFT improved fish habitat and water quality on an impaired tributary to Kids Creek in the Grand Traverse Bay watershed. The Watershed Center worked with the Munson Medical Center to daylight a section of creek on the hospital's new Cancer Center campus by replacing underground culverts and channelized ditches with a natural meandering channel, replacing two street culverts with open bottom bridge structures, installing in-stream habitat and establishing a riparian buffer and floodplain.

This project remediated a failing dam and a four-barrel culvert crossing in Mineral Springs Creek. The stream is heavily manipulated and multiple fish passage projects are underway downstream of the dam site. Project activities reconnected 1.02 stream miles and 25.3 acres of high-quality wetland habitat to Lake Michigan, directly benefiting seasonal spawning runs of northern pike, suckers and red horse, Chinook salmon, Coho salmon, and steelhead.

The GLFT provided funding support to Oceana County to replace two perched, collapsing culverts on Cleveland Road at its crossing of Brayton Creek. The culverts prevented passage for resident and migratory species in the White River watershed. The failing culverts were replaced with timber bridge spanning the bankfull width.

The goal of the project was to complete a large scale fish passage and stream habitat improvement and restoration project on the Monomonee River within the Milwaukee Estuary Area of Concern. The project removed five manmade barriers to fish in Milwaukee county, WI. The five channel locations were modified through bioengineering to restore natural hydraulic function and to improve habitat by mimicking the pool and riffle sequences of the natural river system.

The project restored fish passage to Haynes Creek, as well as another nearby unnamed tributary to the Black River in Alcona County by replacing the perched culverts at the Beaton and Quick Road crossings on Haynes Creek and the crossing on Poor Farm Road.

The project provided capacity-building grants to organizations in eight priority areas across the Great Lakes to help them obtain funds for and successfully implement restoration projects through the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative

Gourmet Gone Wild is a program that connects with urban and suburban constituencies and enhances their interest in and support for hunting and angling by building on their interests in gourmet and local foods. This grant enabled the program to to host events focused on eating locally-sourced fish and game through hands-on fishing and cooking lessons for 1,700 young urban professionals.While reaching out to these young professionals, Gormet Gone Wild was able to raise awareness of the connections between the fish on their plate and where it came from, the Great Lakes.

In alignment with the goals of GLFT’s Great Lakes Stewardship category, the Great Lakes Leadership Academy (GLLA) will prepare a diverse group of leaders to become active, effective stewards of Michigan’s natural resources and advocates for strategies that support sustainability of Great Lakes communities. Participants will learn in non-traditional settings including outdoor experiences and engagement with resource professionals. The GLFT has granted funding to contribute to the GLLA endowment to ensure these leadership development programs continue for future generations.

The purpose of the project was to advance physical separation in the Chicago Area Waterway System (CAWS) to prevent the movement of Asian carp and other aquatic invasive species (AIS) between the Great Lakes and Mississippi River basins. Specific technical analysis was conducted in two key areas:

1. Defining interim protection measures that can be implemented quickly, using existing infrastructure in the CAWS, to reduce the risk of AIS transfer into the Great Lakes from the Mississippi River basin; and

2. Evaluating technical issues associated with the Mid-System Alternative identified in the 2012 report, Restoring the Natural Divide.

Michigan Radio will produce and air public radio news reports; develop multimedia and online resources; hold public forums/discussions; and distribute copies of the media work as teacher resources. With an audience of 495,000 weekly Michigan listeners and approximately 107,000 monthly website users, the project will help to bolster the reach and impact of GLFTs Great Lakes Stewardship program.

The GLFT provided funding to Saint James Township for engineering services to produce feasibility and design studies to develop a shore-based angling site on Paradise Bay on Beaver Island.

The purpose of the project was to construct a modern fish cleaning station and restrooms at the City Boat Launch. In addition important improvements were made to the ADA parking and picnic areas at the facility. The new fish cleaning facility is the only one of its kind available to the public in the City of St. Joseph.

The south pier site has existing infrastucture in place and new fish habitat will be created later this year to enhance the fishing in this area (GLRI funded). The approach to the pier from the parking lot, however, does not meet ADA requirements and the pier itself is too high to provide adequate fishing access. To improve access to fishing and the newly created habitat, a lowered deck is proposed to be constructed and a new access approach will be built to connect the parking lot to the pier. Railings will be modified to enhance accessibility for fishing and safety to anglers. An interpretive sign is also part of the project and will include information on the history of fishing in the Detroit River.

The goal of the 9-mile Point Project was to significantly increase access for Tribal commercial fishermen in northern Lake Michigan by designing and constructing a boat launch adjacent to the Little Traverse Bay Bands of Odawa Indians commercial fishing zone, on the southwestern shore of Little Traverse Bay. The launch provides safe access and parking for Tribal commercial fishermen and will strengthen the provisions of the 2000 Consent Decree by enhancing harvest, management, and study of commercial fishery resources.

The GLFT provided funding to upgrade an existing fishing pier, previously funded in part by the GLFT in 2000, to include the development of a fully accessible restroom facility, walkways to connect the pier, restroom, parking and picnic areas as well as education/interpretive signage with a focus on teaching children how to fish. The project also includes a universally accessible kayak/canoe launch that was funded from project matching dollars. All facilities exceed ADA requirements and is consistent with the mission of Manistee County’s Explore the Shores program to provide superior access to water for people of all ages, needs and abilities.

The Custer Barrier Free Fishing Access project is the first handicap accessible fishing site on the Pere Marquette River and includes two fishing platforms, a restroom, paved driveway and parking area, boardwalk, sidewalk, bench, educational signage, stone steps with stone platform to the river, runoff control, and streambank stabilization efforts. The project was completed by partners of the Pere Marquette River Restoration Committee, in combination with the removal of a defunct sea lamprey barrier on township property. The site is adjacent to Custer Road, a well-traveled road located off of US-10.

Through funding support provided by the GLFT, Huron pines replaced twin 5’ perched culverts with a single-span structure over the Black River that reconnected nearly 18 river miles for aquatic organism passage.

The Black River, located in Alcona County, drains directly to Lake Huron and supports one of the last populations of migratory brook trout in Michigan’s Lower Peninsula. In 2007 Huron Pines staff and volunteers from the Alcona-Black River Watershed Coalition inventoried road/stream crossings within the watershed and identified 39 sites. Of those the Sucker Creek Road/Black River site was ranked as the highest property site for restoration because of the severely perched and undersized culverts and high sediment load from the sandy approaches.

This project reconnected 12 miles of aquatic habitat and siginficantly reduced sediment loading in the Rifle River watershed through the restoration of four road/stream crossings. Undersized culverts were replaced with appropriately sized and aligned structures at three sites; a timber bridge was used at the forth.

The Oceana County Road Commission replaced a perched corrugated metal pipe (CMP) culvert under Arthur Road where it crosses Carlton Creek, in Grant Township, Oceana County. The project team also restored the adjacent stream bank to decrease erosion as part of the effort. The restoration of this waterway restored a fish passage from the North Branch of the White River, upstream to its headwaters in New Era, roughly nine stream miles.