GLFT Grant Library

The Keystone Center conducted a Youth Policy Summit on Great Lakes Water Resources at Aquinas College in July 2012. The Keystone Center developed a cadre of youth leaders across the state with in-depth knowledge surrounding the multiple demands on Great Lakes water resources. These future leaders were equipped with negotiation and communication skills, and the capacity to develop projects that consider the common interests of multiple stakeholders, while balancing social, environmental, and economic concerns.

The Charter Township of Oscoda built an 8' wide, 100' long boardwalk leading to a 12' to 14' wide, 300' long observation and fishing pier with handrails and lighting at the Oscoda Beach Park on Lake Huron. Park patrons are now able to hear and see the natural environment in a very similar manner to being in a watercraft without making a substantial investment.

For more than a decade, residents of Greilickville sought a fishing pier. The township’s  Marina Committee voted to design one to be located between the township Marina and its waterfront park. This grant  funded the development of preliminary engineering and design specifications, as well as cost estimates  to construct the pier. To help inform the design and ensure community input, three public meetings were held to solicit community suggestions about pier design.

The City of Manistee, in partnership with the Alliance for Economic Success, constructed a Fish Cleaning Center adjacent to the City of Manistee’s First Street Beach boat launch facility near Lake Michigan that replaced a deteriorating facility with limited access for people with special needs. It will support fish cleaning by thousands of anglers and professional guides who use the site to clean their harvest of a high percentage of the 35,000 migrating salmon and trout species that are landed in the Manistee area each year. The Fish Cleaning Center is part of the Explore the Shores program.

The Michigan Environmental Literacy Plan (MI ELP) has been developed to provide those involved in the environmental education of children with common goals and action strategies that can maximize education efforts and results. The implementation of the MI ELP may also address the secondary goals of improving the physical, social, and intellectual health of children by connecting them with the outdoors, nature, and their local community. The MI ELP is designed to meet the eligibility requirements for funding under the federal No Child Left Inside Act of 2013, should it be passed. For more information on the MI ELP and its implementation, go to www.MIELP.org.

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.

This program was designed to develop a generation of knowledgeable and actively engaged stewards of the Great Lakes Watershed.

This program facilitates school-community partnerships to develop students as citizen-stewards of healthy ecological-social systems

This project developed a vibrant regional network of school-community partners actively engaged in PBE

To prepare students to be knowledgeable citizens, concerned about the Great Lakes, and actively engaged in stewardship activities that will contribute to the health, restoration, and future conservation of the Great Lakes and their watersheds.

This program promotes a watershed approach to freshwater stewardship, helping students understand their connection to water in the region, and the need to preserve and protect our natural resources.

This program was designed to create and maintain a strong coalition of community partners to work with students and teachers grades 6-12 to inspire lifelong environmental stewardship, with a focus on the Grand River Watershed 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 developed a Great Lakes aquatic habitat database and classification framework that integrates key habitat components to address loca, lake-wide, and basin-wide restoration and management needs. It covers the entire Great Lakes basin, but focuses on coastal and nearshore systems. The tool provides managers with an essential capability to link, map, and prioritize restoration projects in the Great Lakes system and deliver the first consistent geographic framework to integrate and track monitoring, assessment, indicator development, ecological forecasting, and restoration activities across the Great Lakes.

The goal of the Healing Our Waters-Great Lakes Coalition (HOW)  was to improve the health of the Great Lakes by addressing historic stresses and preparing new challenges. This project used the GLFT funds to award grants ranging from $8-15,000. It gave local and state non-profit organizations in four priority areas across the Great Lakes regions seed money and capacity building grants to help them successfully implement the components of the Great Lakes

This project funded the construction of an all-metal removable boat ramp that has enhanced tribal and recreational fishing opportunities in the northern tip of Michigan’s Lower Peninsula. The ramp portion is 16’ wide and 50’ long. It is constructed of a metal grid over a rigid frame. It is mounted on tires for easier installation and extraction. There are skid piers on each side that are 5’ wide and 32’ long. The ramp is in use and provides easier access to Lake Michigan for as many as five different fishing boats. A vault toilet also installed on site to improve usability. The project achieved its primary goal of providing a superior boat ramp.

A 3-day regional conference in Detroit, Kalamazoo, and Midland, each involving 40-50 students and focusing on Great Lakes Water resources. Students will examine water use from various perspectives and identify policies and programs that protect water resources. Forty of these students will be selected to attend a 4-day Youth Policy Summit, where they will interact with experts, learn about conflict resolution, and develop consensus-based recommendations for policies and projects.

This grant provided support and expertise to organizations in Michigan to assist with the development of Michigan's Environmental Literacy Plan.

Project addressed threats to the health of the Great Lakes, including Asian carp and other aquatic invasive species from the Mississippi River watershed via the Chicago Area Waterway System (CAWS). The project team worked with stakeholders to develop separation alternatives that stop the open flow of water between Lake Michigan and the Mississippi River watershed via the CAWS and maintain or enhance the system’s benefits through investments in flood management, water quality, and transportation.

Traverse City, in partnership with Grant Traverse County and other community stakeholders, received grant funding to remove the Brown Bridge Dam on the Boardman River in Michigan’s northern Lower Peninsula.

Pier Michigan is a collaborative project between MUCC and the GLFT to create a web-based initiative designed to increase public awareness and use of pier fishing opportunities. Shore-based fishing access in Michigan is plentiful, but until now, no clearinghouse has been available with all the information an angler needs to be successful, including fish species present and site amenities.  Through Pier Michigan, the Great Lakes Fishery Trust will continue to increase the impact it has on recreational fishing in Michigan by exposing an increasing number of people to the recreational opportunities provided by our Great Lakes fishery assets.

This project improved Great Lakes health by setting up a small grants program in order to implement restoration strategies with the help of local organizations.

The Institute for Journalism & Natural Resources (IJNR) offered a "refresher training" program, that expanded the issue-based knowledge of experienced journalists about major ecological and natural resource challenges facing Lake Michigan and the four other Great Lakes.

GLLA prepares diverse groups of leaders to become active, effective stewards of Michigan's natural resources and advocates for strategies that support sustainability.

This project funded the engineering of a biocide treatment system developed specifically for Great Lakes shipping needs on a specific ship with the largest pumping capacities in a timely manner to inform the USCG rulemaking process.

Explore the Shores is the implementation of a vital component of Manistee County's visioning process: providing more recreational access to the Great Lakes fishery for people of all ages and abilities. The project was built on four themes: 1) water stewardship; 2) the life cycles of native and non-native migratory fish species; 3) "teach a person to fish;" and 4) the importance of universal access to citizens’ quality of life and economic well-being.

Explore the Shores is the implementation of a vital component of Manistee County's visioning process--providing increased recreational access to the Great Lakes fishery for people of all ages and abilities. The project was built on four themes: 1) water stewardship; 2) the life cycles of native and non-native migratory fish species; 3) "teach a person to fish;" and 4) the importance of universal access to our quality of life and economic well-being.

LSSU’s Aquatic Research Lab (ARL) has experienced tremendous growth in fisheries research and education over the past decade. However, the facility can no longer meet current demands. This proposal seeks funding to help enhance the ARL’s facilities to address demands for timely fish disease information and fisheries research in the upper Great Lakes. The requested funding is part of a larger project to expand classroom space, outreach, and enhance rearing and analytical testing facilities.

This Implementation Plan describes the proposed activities for the new Grand Traverse Regional Hub for Place-Based Education as part of the Great Lakes Fishery Trust's Great Lakes Stewardship Initiative. The Implementation Plan incorporates the needs and capacities of a variety of academic and community partners in the region that are eager to incorporate sustained professional development for teachers, school-community partnerships and place-based education into their work…with an ultimate goal of Great Lakes stewardsh

The GLFT partially funded the construction of a 740-foot-long dock that connects to a 200-foot fishing pier. The project provides accessible shore-based fishing opportunities on the Detroit river and is located at the gateway to the Detroit River International Wildlife Refuge. In addition to fishing access, there was need of a new dock for the Michigan Sea Grant’s Great Lakes school ship on the Detroit River and western Lake Erie. The school ship will dock at the refuge gateway to make use of the river and refuge as a living laboratory for children. School children from all Detroit Metropolitan Area communities will come regularly to the refuge gateway for day-long field trips aboard the school ship. The SEMCOG/Metropolitan Affairs Coalition estimates at least 9,000 individual fishing trips to the dock each year. 

Explore the Shores is the implementation of a vital component of Manistee County's visioning process: providing increased recreational access to the Great Lakes fishery for people of all ages and abilities. The project is built on four themes: 1) water stewardship; 2) the life cycles of native and non-native migratory fish species; 3) "teach a person to fish;" and 4) the importance of universal access to our quality of life and economic well-being.

This project developed a plan to expand an environmental news service operated by the Knight Center for Environmental Journalism at Michigan State University. Through this effort, the project team  developed and evaluated strategies to garner greater support from Great Lakes funders, and enhance partnerships with news organizations to distribute content. The project team also examined  funding models and structures of other nonprofit news services.

MUCC’s Institute for Conservation Education (ICE) increased awareness and understanding of the biological, economic, and social science supporting natural resources management decisions to ultimately motivate citizens of all ages to move from education to active and dedicated stewardship of Michigan’s natural resources.

The Flint Area Great Lakes Stewardship Initiative helped students learn about local community issues. Place-based education was used as the tool to help teachers and students feel more empowered to enact local changes.