Land use planners in the Great Lakes region make recommendations that can affect the quality and quantity of ground and surface water resources. Challenges include a lack of up-to-date data, and insufficient political and financial support. In this publication, university researchers in the Great Lakes region show how collaboration led to development and maintenance of an online decision support system.

Document is available from the Purdue Extension Education Store at, https://mdc.itap.purdue.edu/item.asp?Item_Number=FNR-601-W.

Through the decision support system, Tipping Point Planner (tippingpointplanner.org), communities in Great Lakes states can plan for a sustainable future by directly linking data to the local decision-making process. With help from trained facilitators, Tipping Point Planner enables professional as well as citizen participation in the land use planning and management process, including maintaining projects using a HUC 12 watershed scale. The program provides information, tools, and resources to help communities work with diverse stakeholders to:

• Examine past and predicted land-use changes
• Identify environmental threats
• Define natural resource assets in need of protection or restoration
• Explore land-use strategies and policies that enhance local values
• Gain the framework to define a community’s priorities through interactive community visioning exercises

The curriculum contains education materials and resources to support community planning for land use and natural resource management. The following curriculum chapters are available for download:

• Tipping Point Planner Introduction
• Planning Tools for Land Use and Natural Resource Management
• Tipping Point Planner Modules

To learn more about facilitated community action planning program offerings, please visit www.purdue.edu/fnr/extension/scep/programs/tipping-point-planner

To download this resource visit the Purdue Extension EdStore at https://mdc.itap.purdue.edu/item.asp?Item_Number=ID-514-TPP.

Ecosystem Services Valuation in the Indiana Coastal Zone introduces this concept to coastal zone managers, policymakers, and valuation practitioners. Ecosystem services valuation allows decision makers to better address resource management challenges and communicate how actions can negatively or positively affect the public.

This story map relays key findings from the 2015 Lake Michigan field year of the Cooperative Science and Monitoring Initiative. This digital, multi-media outreach tool is intended to convey research results to broad audiences including anglers, boaters, conservation groups, and other Lake Michigan stakeholders.

For more detailed information, visit Lake Michigan Health: A Deeper Dive

The CSMI Visual Asset Library is a catalog of 56 graphic elements that can be downloaded and used to create scientific visuals and illustrations. These graphics were originally created to illustrate the changing Lake Michigan food web as part of the outreach efforts for the 2015 Cooperative Science and Monitoring Initiative. Illinois-Indiana Sea Grant is making these available to the public as a resource of scientifically accurate, professionally-designed food web assets that may be used to enhance reports, presentations, and any other activities intended to communicate Lake Michigan food web characteristics.

There are 2 parts to this product entry: a .pdf overview which shows examples of all the design elements available in the set, and a .zip file of the actual visual assets.

Download Visual Assets Library Collection Guide

This publication discusses the benefits of several agricultural best management practices for protecting or improving water quality. These BMPs are used in the Long-Term Hydrologic Impact Assessment model in the Tipping Point Planner decision support system.

It is available through the Purdue Extension Education Store at https://mdc.itap.purdue.edu/item.asp?Item_Number=FNR-581-W.

Report on Illinois Nutrient Loss Reduction Strategy implementation for the years 2017-18. Includes an update to the Science Assessment.

Report available through the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency’s website: Illinois Nutrient Loss Reduction Strategy Implementation

This publication brings together program impacts from the 2018-2019 Sea Grant year.

This product is a guide to selecting low-input turfgrass in the northeastern Illinois region.

The original brochure is available from the Chicago Metropolitan Agency for Planning (https://www.cmap.illinois.gov/documents/10180/296668/FY19-0072_BEYOND_BLUEGRASS_BROCHURE.pdf/80239944-7a22-0b71-8e62-2aff006aef41).