# Project Organization Contact Status Amount
2072 Advancing Great Lakes Science and Management via Research Vessel Modernization

Board Decision Year: 2024
Michigan Department of Natural Resources (Lansing) Hanchin, Patrick ([email protected]) Active $500,000.00
2067 Crystal River Fish Passage and Restoration Project

The grantee will construct three bridges and install habitat structures on the Crystal River in Leelanau County opening 6.65 miles of tributary habitat to Lake Michigan and restoring habitat along 2,000 linear feet of the Crystal River within the Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore. They claim a diverse fishery consisting of Crystal River-based and Lake Michigan migratory smallmouth bass and northern pike, as well as strong seasonal runs of salmon and steelhead, will benefit from restored habitat and connectivity.

Board Decision Year: 2024
Conservation Resource Alliance - Grandview Plaza Building (Traverse City) Shook, DJ ([email protected]) Active $200,000.00
2066 Mitchell Creek Railroad Crossing Replacement Project

The grantee claims that, this project will replace an undersized culvert restricting hydrologic flow on Mitchell Creek where it crosses a railroad grade, restoring natural stream function and improving fish passage in this section of creek. Their efforts will focus on replacing the culvert to maintain proper stream dimensions and sediment transport mechanisms, thus improving natural stream function and in-stream habitat. They claim this work will benefit brook/brown/rainbow trout and white/longnose sucker populations, as well as desirable forage fish and macroinvertebrate species.

Board Decision Year: 2024
The Watershed Center Grand Traverse Bay (Traverse City) U'Ren, Sarah ([email protected]) Active $200,000.00
2065 Baldwin Dam Removal Final Design and Permitting Phase

The grantee states, the Baldwin River is a significant tributary to the Pere Marquette River, and hosts steelhead, salmon, and brown trout. Through this project CRA and partners will work with an engineering team on design and permits to remove the infrastructure of a deteriorating dam and former fish farm on the Baldwin River, restore a healthy stream channel, incorporate the parallel effort of reconstructing the nearby state-owned railroad trail bridge and install a seasonal sea lamprey barrier.

Board Decision Year: 2024
Conservation Resource Alliance - Grandview Plaza Building (Traverse City) Balke, Kimberly ([email protected]) Active $115,000.00
2064 Mill Creek and Small Dam Habitat Inventory

HRWC will conduct a stream-road crossing inventory of the Mill Creek, a highly agricultural cool-water trout stream, using the Great Lakes Road Stream Crossing Inventory Protocol.Simultaneously, HRWC will inventory small dam/road/stream crossings found throughout the fullHuron watershed.  HRWC will work with Washtenaw County drain and road commissions to collaboratively develop future restoration targets. HRWC will also reach out to dam owners to gauge interest in future small dam removals.

Board Decision Year: 2024
Huron River Watershed Council (Ann Arbor) Steen, Paul ([email protected]) Active $43,723.40
2063 Restoring Fish Passage on Claybank Creek

Trout Unlimited and its partners seek to replace an undersized and failing culvert on Claybank Creek and Pine Creek Road in Manistee County, Michigan. The current culvert is undersized relative to the natural stream channel dimensions, inhibits aquatic organism passage (AOP), and disrupts natural ecological processes. Trout Unlimited and its funding partners, the USDA Forest Service, US FWS, NOAA, and the Manistee County Road Commission have joined an effort to replace this crossing.

Board Decision Year: 2024
Trout Unlimited, Inc (Rockford) Bonzo, Matthias ([email protected]) Active $200,000.00
2050 Inferring source-specific production of adult Coho salmon to the Lake Michigan fishery using otolith chemistry

We will evaluate the source-specific production of Coho salmon to the Lake Michigan fishery.We have demonstrated that chemical signatures of juvenile Coho salmon otoliths are sufficientlydifferent among Lake Michigan tributaries to assign accurate natal origin. Here, otoliths of adultCoho salmon will be collected and analyzed to quantitatively assess the mixing of stocks in theLake Michigan sport fishery and identify specific sources most supportive of wild and hatcheryCoho salmon production.

Board Decision Year: 2024
Central Michigan University - Department of Biology and Institute for Great Lakes Research (Mt. Pleasant) Pangle, Kevin ([email protected]) Active $172,340.00
2049 100% Great Lakes Fish—Developing New Value Chains for the Great Lakes Fisheries

GSGP’s 100% Great Lakes Fish initiative has identified ways to capture the potential value ofcommercially caught Great Lakes fish more fully by more completely using fish carcasses.  In thisnext stage, the project team will inventory raw material availability; assess demand for newproducts; create a value chain analysis; assess economic and environmental benefits; and,outline recommendations to drive more value through the fisheries, attract new talent andinvestment, and support rural economies.

Board Decision Year: 2024
Great Lakes St. Lawrence Governors & Premiers - Great Lakes St. Lawrence Governors & Premiers (Arlington Heights) Naftzger, David ([email protected]) Active $183,098.00
2048 USING OTOLITH GEOCHEMISTRY TO DISCRIMINATE SPAWNING SITES AND LIFE HISTORY DIVERSITY IN LAKE WHITEFISH IN SOUTHERN GREEN BAY

Board Decision Year: 2024
University of Wisconsin - Green Bay - Department of Natural and Applied Sciences (Green Bay) Forsythe, Patrick ([email protected]) Declined -
2047 Provisioning Fisheries: Understanding the Multi-Dimensional Values of Angling for Food in the Lake Michigan Basin

Carleton University - Biology Nguyen, Vivian ([email protected]) Active -
2043 Evaluation of thiamine deficiency in lake whitefish as a potential cause of their recruitment failure

The Research Foundation for SUNY at Brockport - Scholarship, Research & Sponsored Programs (Brockport) Merkl, Laura ([email protected]) Active -
2028 St. Joseph River Watershed Road Stream Crossing Inventory

The Great Lakes Fishery Trust will be supporting the St. Joseph County Conservation District under the 2023 Habitat Protection and Restoration Program in their efforts to assemble a detailed inventory of road-stream crossings across the St. Joseph River Watershed. Data collected over the two-year survey period will go on to play an essential role in future projects targeting watershed resiliency, habitat restoration, and fishery enhancement throughout the greater Lake Michigan basin.

Board Decision Year: 2023
St. Joseph County Conservation District (Centreville) Grace, Carolyn ([email protected]) Active $84,934.00
2027 Upper Thunder Bay River Restoration

Huron Pines and partners will reconnect 20 miles of coldwater habitat, restore natural river processes in the Thunder Bay River, and address road safety and stormwater runoff issues through the replacement of two problematic road/stream crossings with new, channel-spanning timber bridges. The proposed project sites are Lutz Road/Thunder Bay River and Hossler Road/Thunder Bay River, located in Montmorency County, Michigan. These sites were prioritized based on road/stream crossing inventory data collected throughout the watershed.

Board Decision Year: 2023
Huron Pines (Grayling) Leisen, Josh ([email protected]) Active $196,996.42
2026 Mona Lake Watershed Road/Stream Crossing Inventory

The Muskegon Conservation District will conduct a comprehensive road stream crossing inventory in the Mona Lake Watershed in Muskegon County, Michigan. This inventory will be an update to the 2006 inventory and new data will be used to update the 2004 Mona Lake Watershed Management Plan. Past sites will be inventoried as well as any new sites in order to identify future restoration projects and implement new best management practices (BMP’s).

Board Decision Year: 2023
Muskegon Conservation District (Twin Lake) Lawton, Chelsey ([email protected]) Active $31,613.96
2025 Summer Science Explorers of Muskegon


Project Summary

West Michigan Environmental Action Council (WMEAC) is partnering with the Boys and Girls Club of Muskegon Lakeshore (BGCML) to expand watershed education programming to their members. Members will engage with hands-on models and field studies at the Muskegon Lake Nature Preserve to learn how to measure water quality and stop local threats of pollution. We will conduct several community clean ups to expand members’ knowledge and community connections to protect our watersheds.

Board Decision Year: 2023
West Michigan Environmental Action Council (Grand Rapids) Hart, Kyle ([email protected]) Active $43,584.00
2024 HRWC Youth Education Programming

HRWC’s youth education program consists of four main branches, all of which emphasize science learning and environmental protection for K-12 and college-aged students: aquatic field internships, streamside education, summer learning experiences, and intergenerational monitoring events. At each experience, young people experience grade level appropriate, hands-on, place-based, real life watershed ecology.

Board Decision Year: 2023
Huron River Watershed Council (Ann Arbor) Frenzel, Jason ([email protected]) Active $50,000.00
2022 Advancing Great Lakes Stewardship: A Year-long Teacher Professional Development with Inland Seas

Inland Seas Education Association will support a year-long classroom stewardship experience with 30 educators from across the Great Lakes following an immersive, four-day field experience that combines watershed learning with authentic science inquiry and place-based education pedagogy. Educators will implement stewardship action projects with their students over the following school year. A culminating event will bring educators back together to share their work and provide additional support as they integrate this experience into future years.

Board Decision Year: 2023
Inland Seas Education Association (Suttons Bay) Sitkins, Fred ([email protected]) Active $77,353.07
2021 Watershed Academy Expansion

TOMWC will expand the Watershed Academy to further watershed stewardship among area youth. High schoolers will experience place-based, hands-on education through stream monitoring within their watersheds and projects addressing concerns identified in the community’s watershed management plan. Elementary students will learn about their watershed through an after-school program with hands-on activities. A new “Educators Watershed Academy” will provide teachers tools, experience, and a network to help engage students, parents, and community leaders in watershed education.

Board Decision Year: 2023
Tip of the Mitt Watershed Council (Petoskey) Baker, Elijah ([email protected]) Active $127,270.00
2019 Marine Debris Stewards

Marine Debris Stewards will foster student learning and leadership through hands-on marine debris investigations and stewardship in northeast Michigan. Using place-based stewardship education, students will explore their local Great Lakes watersheds alongside natural resource community partners, analyze their findings and take action by proposing and implementing system- or community-level changes that help prevent marine debris from entering the Great Lakes. This project will engage 1500+ students and 20+ teachers across 8 northeast Michigan counties.

Board Decision Year: 2023
Community Foundation for Northeast Michigan - Northeast Michigan (Alpena) Heraghty, Patrick ([email protected]) Active $161,578.20
2017 Watershed Relations: Community Stewardship and Service for Healthy Fish Habitat

Communities in the Western Upper Peninsula on Lake Superior are increasingly impacted by environmental issues related to coastal storms, shoreline erosion, fluctuations in lake level, and impacts to water quality. Through place-based professional learning, watershed assessments, and student-led stewardship projects, teachers, students, and community partners will explore how these events have implications for fish habitat and fish health thereby reflecting the health of our communities.

Board Decision Year: 2023
The Western Upper Peninsula Center for Science, Math and Environmental Education - Copper Country Intermediate School District (Hancock) STROME, CARLA ([email protected]) Active $21,180.00
2016 Connecting Grand Traverse Regional Youth with the Great Lakes through Recreation and Education

Discovery Center & Pier has partnered with Michigan United Conservation Clubs, Inland Seas Education Association, and the Northwest Michigan Fishing Club to develop the Grand Traverse Youth Fishing Program. Utilizing the newly renovated Discovery Pier on West Grand Traverse Bay, this program will introduce northwestern Michigan youth to the Great Lakes fishery through hands-on workshops which will include Great Lakes food web exploration, basic fishing skills, fish identification, and stewardship.

Board Decision Year: 2023
Discovery Center Great Lakes (Traverse City) McDonough, Matt ([email protected]) Active $30,278.02
2013 Project Quantifying environmental drivers of fish community dynamics across the Great Lakes

Board Decision Year: 2023
University of Wyoming - Zoology and Physiology (Laramie) Fetzer, William ([email protected]) Active $150,000.00
2012 Behavioral investigations of olfactory imprinting to natal odors in cisco Coregonus artedi


Buchinger: Characterization of olfactory imprinting to inform restoration of lake sturgeon in the Great Lakes. # 1785. Publications: Behavioral evidence of olfactory imprinting during embryonic and larval stages in lake sturgeon. Submitted to Conservation Physiology (revision requested 1/12/23) Buchinger & Johnson: Identity and Function of Lake Trout Pheromones. #1631. Publications: 1) Behavioural responses of female lake trout Salvelinus namaycush to male chemical stimuli and prostaglandin F2α. Journal of Fish Biology, 2) The evolution of (non) species‑specific pheromones. Evolutionary Ecology, 3) Discovery and characterization of natural products that act as pheromones in fish. Natural Product Reports, 4) Male lake char release taurocholic acid as part of a mimetic pheromone. In preparation. Honsey: Spatial, temporal, and diel relations between zooplankton and age-0 lake whitefish in the Upper Great Lakes. # 1949 Johnson: Optimize pheromone application rate to yield large and consistent catches of adult sea lamprey. # 1645. Publications: 1) Behavioral responses of sea lamprey to varying application rates of a synthesized pheromone in diverse trapping scenarios. Journal of Chemical Ecology, 2) A renewed philosophy about supplemental sea lamprey controls. Journal of Great Lakes Research, 3) Where you trap matters: implications for integrated sea lamprey management. Journal of Great Lakes Research.

Board Decision Year: 2023
Michigan State University - Department of Fisheries and Wildlife (East Lansing) Buchinger, Tyler ([email protected]) Active $249,712.00
2009 Estimation of lake whitefish spawning stock abundance using close-kin mark-recapture

Lake Michigan stock assessments for lake whitefish suggest an adult abundance peak in the mid-2000’s, with estimates pointing to a steep decline in recent years due to decreased recruitment. We propose to explore this trend and validate current assessment models for a representative stock over the 2000-2018 period using close-kin mark-recapture, a fishery-independent method of estimating adult dynamics using observed kinship frequencies from archived tissue samples.

Board Decision Year: 2023
University of Wisconsin - Stevens Point - College of Natural Resources (Stevens Point) Homola, Jared ([email protected]) Active $238,242.40
2006 City of Albion Dams Removal Project

Board Decision Year: 2023
City of Albion - City Manager (Albion) Snyder, Haley ([email protected]) Active $150,000.00
2003 Teaching Great Lakes Literacy: Connecting scientists, educators, and youth through research and data explorations

Board Decision Year: 2023
Michigan State University Extension - Michigan Sea Grant Schroeder, Brandon ([email protected]) Active $159,059.37
2002 Upstream-Downstream Connections in the Lake Michigan Basin (UDC)

West Michigan teachers and their students will gain awareness of the value of their local watershed to human and non-human communities within the Lake Michigan Basin through participation in direct experiences with local waterways. Using a place-based approach to examining the upstream and downstream impact of human interactions and interventions on the watershed, students will work with local environmental partners to design and implement projects focused on improving and protecting the watershed for all.

Board Decision Year: 2023
Grand Valley State University - Center For Educational Partnerships (Grand Rapids) Pelon, Clayton ([email protected]) Active $64,051.00
2000 Stony Creek Fishing Access Structure Project

A universally accessible fishing access structure will be constructed on this highly productive and locally treasured cold-water stream with robust populations of brook, brown, and rainbow trout, and strong runs of Lake Michigan steelhead and salmon. Located an hour northwest of Grand Rapids and one-half-hour north of Muskegon, the site offers an easy escape for city residents to access one of the cold-water tributaries that Lake Michigan has to offer.

Board Decision Year: 2022
Conservation Resource Alliance - Grandview Plaza Building (Traverse City) Shook, DJ ([email protected]) Active $115,000.00
1996 Carronde Park Fishing Platforms

The project will significantly increase access to shoreline fishing at Carronde Park in St. Joseph Charter Township through construction of two ADA fishing platforms located on the St. Joseph River, sidewalks from the roadway to the fishing platforms, ADA parking spaces that connect to the sidewalks, benches, picnic tables and educational signage.

Board Decision Year: 2022
St. Joseph Charter Township - Township Manager (St. Joseph) Cook, Denise ([email protected]) Completed $200,000.00
1995 Grand Rapids Public Museum Riverfront Access

The Grand Rapids Public Museum is reimagining the role of a public museum. Located on the banks of the Grand River, the Museum will construct a welcoming and universally accessible outdoor space that provides educational and recreational opportunities to interact with the river. Anglers will have safe and well marked access to the fishery from created terraces and pathways.

Board Decision Year: 2022
Grand Rapids Public Museum Foundation - Collections & Education (Grand Rapids) VanDoeselaar, Katie ([email protected]) Active $250,000.00
1994 PM River Community Access

The Pere Marquette River Community Access site will provide boating and shore-based access to the mouth of the PM River adjacent to PM Highway in the Ludington area. The project addresses long standing safety hazards with people parking along PM Hwy to access this popular salmon, steelhead and resident species fishery. This grant is specifically targeted at funding the shore-based boardwalk and fishing pier structure, which is the major remaining unfunded portion of the project.

Board Decision Year: 2022
Pere Marquette Charter Township - Parks Commission (Ludington) Enbody, Rachelle ([email protected]) Completed $317,400.00
1992 Sucker River, Alger County, H-58 road crossing replacement and seasonal sea lamprey barrier construction project

This project will replace undersized, perched culverts at the H-58 road crossing over the Sucker River with a free span bridge to improve fish movement, stream health and connectivity while also continuing to control invasive sea lampreys with construction of a new seasonal sea lamprey barrier upstream in the watershed. This project will restore 20 miles of in-stream habitat year-round and an additional 115 miles of habitat seasonally

Board Decision Year: 2022
Great Lakes Fishery Commission (Ann Arbor) Hrodey, Peter ([email protected]) Active $200,000.00
1991 Beavertail Creek Restoration

This project will benefit brook trout and other aquatic species by reconnecting approximately 17

upstream miles of critical coldwater habitat in the Les Cheneaux Watershed by replacing three

undersized road/stream crossing structures on Beavertail Creek. These project locations were

identified as top priorities based on the comprehensive inventory of road/stream crossings


2022 GLFT Habitat Protection and Restoration: Targeted Lands and Capital Improvements Application 2

2022.1991,
Beavertail Creek Restoration completed in 2021 with Great Lakes Fishery Trust support. This work will restore a suite of natural river processes while improving local road infrastructure.

Board Decision Year: 2022
Huron Pines (Grayling) Nowakowski, Amy ([email protected]) Active $100,012.19
1990 Spanning the Headwaters of the Jordan River

With designs completed, state permits secured, and federal permitting underway, the “Spanning the Headwaters of the Jordan River Project” entails restoration of two severe culvert road/stream crossings, #WA-3 and #WA-5, on the Jordan River by constructing bankfull spanning bridges that provide full aquatic passage from 7 miles upstream to 16 miles downstream, halt the annual input 2022 GLFT Habitat Protection and Restoration: Targeted Lands and Capital Improvements Application 2 2022.1990, Spanning the Headwaters of the Jordan River of 10 tons of sediment from runoff, restore floodplain connectivity, and return natural stream morphology, water temperatures and velocities.

Board Decision Year: 2022
Conservation Resource Alliance - Grandview Plaza Building (Traverse City) Balke, Kimberly ([email protected]) Active $200,000.00
1987 In situ evaluation of spawning lake whitefish eDNA detection in Lake Michigan’s Green Bay

Lake whitefish assessments and critical habitat protection are inhibited by an inability to locate open water spawning locations. We propose a pilot project that would assess the potential for using environmental DNA to identify lake whitefish spawning sites in southern Green Bay. Information gained would be operationalized in a subsequent project to parameterize a hydrologic model to identify eDNA points of origin and locate lake whitefish spawning aggregates in open waters of Green Bay.

Board Decision Year: 2022
University of Wisconsin - Stevens Point - College of Natural Resources (Stevens Point) Homola, Jared ([email protected]) Active $28,613.00
1985 More than Water Under the Bridge: Inventory and Viability Assessment of Fish Spawning and Nursery Habitats in the Straits of Mackinac

Board Decision Year: 2023
Lake Superior State University (Sault Ste. Marie) Moerke, Ashley ([email protected]) Active $259,047.80
1983 Protecting and Increasing the Value of the Great Lakes St. Lawrence Commercial Fishery

Current uses for commercially caught whitefish only capture a small fraction of the full potential value of each fish. Overall, the Great Lakes commercial fishery is a tremendously undervalued and underutilized asset. This project will research the opportunities to utilize 100% of the fish carcass that is harvested. By increasing the value of each individual fish, the fishery can be better sustained while critical research and management actions are ongoing to address the population decline.

 

Board Decision Year: 2022
Great Lakes St. Lawrence Governors & Premiers - Great Lakes St. Lawrence Governors & Premiers (Arlington Heights) Naftzger, David ([email protected]) Completed $157,558.00
1980 Trophic and tissue distribution of PFAS in native Lake Michigan fishes

PFAS are the defining aquatic pollutant of the current decade. The myriad sources and types of PFAS entering the Great Lakes demand immediate quantification in native fishes that become part of the human food chain. We will quantify the distribution of PFAS in Lake Michigan fishes occupying different trophic levels and in different tissues. Overall, our research will generate critical results that will assist decision-makers in managing fisheries and emerging contaminants in the Great Lakes.

Board Decision Year: 2022
University of Notre Dame - Department of Biological Sciences (Notre Dame) Miranda, Daniele ([email protected]) Active $313,108.00
1977 Fresh Coast Initiative

Freshwater is Michigan’s lifeblood – its greatest resource. The need for meaningful engagement and public awareness surrounding the protection and enjoyment of freshwater is not a new development. MUCC sees a pressing need to improve public awareness surrounding the benefits and threats to the resource and its fisheries.

Through hands-on stewardship projects and learn to fish events, MUCC will directly educate youth and their families about the importance of the Great Lakes and its fisheries.

Board Decision Year: 2021
Michigan United Conservation Clubs (Lansing) McKeon, Shaun ([email protected]) Completed $19,998.00
1976 Reconnecting the North Branch Boardman River at Broomhead Road

A channel spanning timber bridge has been installed at the Broomhead Road crossing of the North Branch Boardman River replacing a severely undersized stream crossing culvert that created a fish passage barrier and induced excessive streambank erosion. As a result, 30 miles of habitat upstream has been reconnected to 20 miles of habitat downstream benefitting a diverse fishery of brook trout, brown trout, and other nonsalmonid predatory species that now have access to spring fed habitat types in the North Branch that are not found lower in the Boardman River Watershed.

Board Decision Year: 2021
Conservation Resource Alliance - Grandview Plaza Building (Traverse City) Shook, DJ ([email protected]) Completed $85,000.00
1972 Dowagiac River Riffle Restoration Project

This project on the Dowagiac River restores natural river processes and significantly benefits fisheries in the Great Lakes Basin. In the southeastern Lake Michigan Basin, there is no comparable cold water river system of this size with its rare high gradient habitat. The riffle and habitat boulders will provide grade control and long-term stability of the river profile, provide spawning material for fish, habitat for macroinvertebrates and slow water pockets for migrating fish to rest.

Board Decision Year: 2021
Niles City (Niles) Hamilton, Marcy ([email protected]) Completed $100,000.00
1971 Restoration of Hydrological Function to the Dowagiac River

The Pokagon Band of Potawatomi Indians (“Pokagon Band”) seeks to restore historic

meanders to the Dowagiac River, which was dredged, straightened, and disconnected from its

floodplain in the early 1900’s. Meanders restoration will increase the system’s resiliency, reduce

turbidity, increase wetland acreage, and create more functional in-stream habitat. The restoration

will benefit multiple species, including potamodromous fish, turtles, and waterfowl, and allow

tribal citizens to fish from tribal properties for salmonid and non-salmonid migratory fish.

 

Board Decision Year: 2021
Pokagon Band of Potawatomi Indians (Dowagiac) Dueweke, Anne ([email protected]) Completed $150,000.00
1970 Marshville Dam Removal

Stony Creek, a third order coldwater stream located in Oceana County, Michigan, is a tributary connected directly (with the exception of Marshville Dam) to Lake Michigan at the lake’s midpoint. The project goal is intended to ameliorate the negative effects of excess sediment bedload, an undersized road/stream crossing, and the presence of a small dam.

Board Decision Year: 2021
Conservation Resource Alliance - Grandview Plaza Building (Traverse City) Shook, DJ ([email protected]) Completed $50,000.00
1965 Year Round Stewardship Education Programs at Inland Seas

Inland Seas Education Association (ISEA) will implement year-round stewardship education programs utilizing a newly renovated dorm facility, expanding the organization’s engagement potential beyond what has been limited to a six-month sailing season. Funding is already in place for developing the structure and content of programs, and grant funding from GLFT will allow ISEA to execute pilot programs over the course of 2022-23 and evaluate for long-term success.

Board Decision Year: 2021
Inland Seas Education Association (Suttons Bay) Sitkins, Fred ([email protected]) Completed $55,750.00
1962 Tip of the Mitt Watershed Academy: Fostering the Next Generation of Great Lakes Stewards

Tip of the Mitt Watershed Council will continue to foster millennial stewards in Northern Michigan by providing high school students with place-based, hands-on water resources education experiences through the Watershed Academy program. The proposed grant will allow the Watershed Council to continue to offer this program to students in our service area. It will also allow Watershed Council staff to update the program to make the program available to students and teachers during COVID-19.

Board Decision Year: 2021
Tip of the Mitt Watershed Council (Petoskey) Baker, Elijah ([email protected]) Completed $53,023.56
1960 From Wetlands to Deep Waters: The Importance of the Great Lakes Ecosystems and Fisheries

This project seeks to increase awareness and understanding of the ecology of the Great Lakes in two ways. First, through hands-on experiences that teach youth stewardship and leadership skills; and Second, by installing a permanent watershed exhibit at the SEEDS Eco-Learning Center in Traverse City. These opportunities will support long-term sustainability of the Great Lakes through increased understanding of the general public, and by encouraging action and community engagement.

Board Decision Year: 2021
SEEDS (Traverse City) Team, Grants ([email protected]) Completed $33,988.00
1957 Comparing habitat use, survival, and movement patterns of stream-side and traditionally-reared Lake Sturgeon stocked into the Saginaw River System

Board Decision Year: 2021
Michigan State University - Department of Fisheries and Wildlife (East Lansing) Vandergoot, Christopher ([email protected]) Active $253,992.55
1952 Contribution of resident and migrant yellow perch to angler harvest in drowned river mouth lakes

Yellow perch is an ecologically and economically important native species in Lake Michigan that is well below peak abundance. We propose to identify the proportion of yellow perch harvest in drowned river mouth lakes (lake-like habitats connecting a tributary to a large lake) that consists of migrants from Lake Michigan using a combination of isotopic and genetic analyses. This research will allow mangers to estimate stock contributions to harvest, which is critical for successful management.

Board Decision Year: 2021
Grand Valley State University - Annis Water Resources Institute (Muskegon) Ruetz, Carl ([email protected]) Active $156,304.00
1949 Spatial, temporal, and diel relations between zooplankton and age-0 lake whitefish in the Upper Great Lakes

One hypothesis for recent lake whitefish (LAW) population declines in Lakes Michigan and Huron is because of decreased food (zooplankton) for larval fish. However, relations between zooplankton and larval lake whitefish are poorly understood at large spatial, temporal, and diel scales. Our proposed work combines comprehensive, and standardized sampling, field campaigns with mesocosm experiments to better understand within-and across-lake relations between larval LAW density, condition, and growth, zooplankton populations, and other environmental variables.

Board Decision Year: 2022
Lake Superior State University - Center for Freshwater Research and Education (Sault Ste. Marie) Doubek, Jonathan ([email protected]) Active $194,738.63
1943 Fostering Great Lakes Stewards through Watershed Education, Fly Fishing, and Restoration

Trout Unlimited will inspire the next generation of Great Lakes stewards by engaging Kentwood and Grandville Public School students through watershed education, fly fishing, and stewardship. Students will explore their local trout stream, learn to cast a fly rod and tie flies, and plan and implement stewardship projects, thus granting students the knowledge, tools, and community to become thoughtful recreators and impactful stewards of the Great Lakes.

Board Decision Year: 2021
Trout Unlimited, Inc. (Arlington) Vaughan, Jamie ([email protected]) Completed $65,000.00