A Great Lakes Area of Concern, the Buffalo River in New York has undergone a cleanup through the Great Lakes Legacy Act. As a result, the city of Buffalo has seen environmental, economic, and quality of life benefits.

Sources

• Great Lakes Commission: Assessing the Investment—The Economic Impact of the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative: A Case Study of Buffalo, New York
• International Association of Great Lakes Research: Great Lakes Revival: How Restoring Polluted Waters Leads to Rebirth of Great Lakes Communities (pp. 3-10)
• Buffalo Niagara Waterkeeper [Conversation]
• New York State: Buffalo Billion—Buffalo Blueway
• Buffalo Rising: Completion of $2 Million Buffalo Blueway Public Access Project at DEC Ohio Street Site
• Buffalo Rising: The Newly Renovated Red Jacket Riverfront Natural Habitat Park/li>
• Buffalo News: When the Buffalo River Caught Fire
• Buffalo News: ‘Census Data Shows Buffalo Growing for the First Time in 70 Years
• U.S. Census Bureau: New York 2020/Age and Sex
• U.S. Census Bureau: Buffalo, New York 2010/Age and Sex
• U.S. Census Bureau: Buffalo, New York 2020/Age and Sex

A Great Lakes Area of Concern, the St. Louis River bordering Minnesota and Wisconsin has undergone a cleanup through the Great Lakes Legacy Act. As a result, the city of Duluth has seen environmental, economic, and quality of life benefits.

Sources

• Great Lakes Commission: Assessing the Investment—The Economic Impact of the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative: A Case Study of Duluth, Minnesota
• International Association of Great Lakes Research: Great Lakes Revival: How Restoring Polluted Waters Leads to Rebirth of Great Lakes Communities (pp. 61-66)
• St. Louis River Alliance St. Louis River National Water Trail
• St. Louis River Alliance: St. Louis River Area of Concern Update: Kingsbury Bay/Grassy Point project completed!
• MPR News: Minnesota moves closer to completing St. Louis River restoration
• Duluth Star Tribune: Duluth rakes in record $12.4M in tourism revenue
• Duluth Star Tribune: Despite bump in tourism dollars, Duluth sees room for growth
• Duluth Star Tribune: Duluth’s tourism tax collection rebounds to pre-pandemic levels
• U.S. Census Bureau: Duluth, Minnesota 2010/Age and Sex
• U.S. Census Bureau: Duluth, Minnesota 2020/Age and Sex

A Great Lakes Area of Concern, Ashtabula River in Ohio has undergone a cleanup through the Great Lakes Legacy Act. As a result, the city of Ashtabula has seen environmental, economic, and quality of life benefits.

Citations:

1. Great Lakes Commission. Assessing the Investment—The Economic Impact of the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative: A Case Study of Ashtabula, Ohio. September 2018.
2. Ibid.

Other Resources

• Great Lakes Commission: Assessing the Investment—The Economic Impact of the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative: Project Summary Report
• City of Ashtabula :The Ashtabula River Remedial Action Plan
• Ohio Department of Natural Resources: Plan a Visit/Find a Property—Ashtabula Scenic River
• Lift Bridge Community Association: Historic Ashtabula Harbor
• Ashtabula Star Beacon: Joyce tours Harbor Yak in anticipation of federal funds to rebuild Ferry Drive
• Ashtabula Star Beacon:Tourism numbers beating 2021
• Cleveland.com: From industrial powerhouse to tourist draw: 24 hours in Ashtabula’s fun, funky Bridge Street district
• Cleveland.com: Ashtabula’s Riverbend Hotel project back on track, with expected opening in spring 2023

A Great Lakes Area of Concern, the Sheboygan River in Wisconsin has undergone a cleanup through the Great Lakes Legacy Act. As a result, the city of Sheboygan has seen environmental, economic, and quality of life benefits.

Citations:

1. Great Lakes Commission. Assessing the Investment—The Economic Impact of the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative: A Case Study of Sheboygan, Wisconsin. September 2018.

Other Resources

• U.S. Environmental Protection Agency: Sheboygan River AOC
• U.S. Environmental Protection Agency: Remediation and Restoration Projects for Sheboygan River AOC
• City of Sheboygan, Department of Planning and Development[Conversation]
• Healing our Waters/Great Lakes Coalition: Sheboygan River cleanup nears completion

A Great Lakes Area of Concern, Muskegon Lake in Michigan has undergone a cleanup through the Great Lakes Legacy Act. As a result, the city of Muskegon has seen environmental, economic, and quality of life benefits.

Citations:

1. Paul Isely Erik Nordman Kendra Robbins Julie Cowie. Muskegon Lake Area of Concern Habitat Restoration Project: Socio-Economic Assessment Revisited. July 2020.
2. Ibid.
3. Ibid.

Other Resources

• Great Lakes Commission: Assessing the Investment—The Economic Impact of the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative: A Case Study of Muskegon, Michigan
• International Association of Great Lakes Research: Great Lakes Revival: How Restoring Polluted Waters Leads to Rebirth of Great Lakes Communities (pp. 39-46)
• Livability: Transforming Waterfronts Along the Muskegon Lakeshore
• Western Michigan Regional Shoreline Commission: Muskegon River Habitat Restoration at Veteran’s Memorial Park
• NOAA Fisheries: Muskegon Lake Nears Recovery After Years of Restoration
• MiBiz: Arts playing ‘huge role’ in shaping downtown Muskegon through pandemic
• WZZM Channel 13: A successful Muskegon festival season by the numbers
• WOOD Channel 8: ‘Hidden gem’ discovered: Muskegon Lake ripe for development
• FOX Channel 17: Great Lakes cruises bring passengers, revenue to Muskegon
• MLIVE: Marquette to Muskegon: Cruise ships bring big tourism dollars to the Great Lakes 
• Detroit Free Press: Cruise ships to visit Muskegon again after 2 years of COVID-19 cancelations

Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), a suite of manufactured chemicals with wide applications in consumer products ranging including clothing, cookware, cosmetics, and firefighting foams, are threatening the Great Lakes and Lake Champlaign region. These chemicals and their related precursor compounds have very strong bonds that make them waterproof, oil repellent, and high temperature and stain resistant. Their chemical structure also makes them very persistent in the environment, for which they are called “forever chemicals”. To explore the socioeconomic impacts of PFAS, Illinois-Indiana Sea Grant (IISG) is leading a Great Lakes and Lake Champlain regional research effort that is expected to support research to further advance the knowledge of social or economic issues related to PFAS risk, exposure, and remediation in these regions. The project advisory committee recommended a regional scoping effort to guide this effort; the purpose which was identifying and subsequentially prioritizing the knowledge gaps and potential socioeconomic barriers to PFAS efforts in the Great Lakes and Lake Champlain regions. Details of these scoping sessions are discussed in this report.

Illinois-Indiana Sea Grant’s annual magazine.

This issue highlights:

• Green infrastructure helps communities—large and small—be ready for the future
• With a Hydrolab, students study their own environment
• Study finds PFAS in all tested Lake Michigan sportfish and their prey
• Aquaponics offers high schoolers a hands-on way to learn science, math, and more

The role of the Cooperative Science and Monitoring Initiative (CSMI) is to direct enhanced monitoring and research activities across each of the Laurentian Great Lakes to provide relevant information to address the science priorities of each Lake Partnership (established under the Lakewide Management Annex of the 2012 Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement). CSMI is an intensive effort to collect information on the health of one Great Lake each year, cycling through the lakes on a five-year period. In 2020/2021, it was Lake Michigan’s turn (over a two-year period due to COVID). This is an executive summary of the 2020/2021 research results and the associated white paper containing more specific information.