The role of the Cooperative Science and Monitoring Initiative (CSMI) is to provide enhanced monitoring and research activities that provide relevant information to address the science priorities of the Lake Partnerships (established under the Lakewide Management Annex of the 2012 Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement) across the Laurentian Great Lakes. The Lake Michigan Partnership, a collaborative team of natural resource managers led by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency with participation from federal, state, tribal, and local governments or agencies, uses the information collected through CSMI to help develop long term ecosystem-based management strategies for protecting and restoring Lake Michigan’s water quality. On a practical level, CSMI is an intensive effort to collect information on the health of each lake, rotating to one Great Lake each year. In 2015, it was Lake Michigan’s turn. This is an executive summary of the 2015 research results and the associated white paper containing more specific information.

On October 16 and 17, 2018, nearly 60 scientists and managers met at a workshop in Milwaukee, WI to discuss research needs for Lake Michigan. The workshop, sponsored by the International Joint Commission through its Science Advisory Board Research Coordination Committee and organized by Illinois-Indiana Sea Grant, was part of the Cooperative Science Monitoring Initiative (CSMI). The main purpose of the meeting was to kick off discussions about research priorities to be considered during the 2020 CSMI intensive field year on Lake Michigan. This document summarizes the meeting proceedings.

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

A summary of marketing and production barriers to walleye aquaculture production in Illinois and Indiana as determined during the first Walleye Aquaculture Working Group workshop.

Summary report for IISG’s virtual workshop that was held in October 2020 and focused on improving communication about changing lake levels and water level variability in southwestern Lake Michigan and the impacts to the Chicago metropolitan area.

The Lake Michigan Partnership Working Group, which comprises representatives from federal, state, and tribal agencies in Michigan, Indiana, Illinois, and Wisconsin, identified 14 research priorities for the 2020 Cooperative Science and Monitoring Initiative (CSMI) Field Year on Lake Michigan. The worldwide COVID‐19 pandemic delayed most sampling plans in 2020; however, CSMI‐related sampling plans have been generated for Lakes Michigan and Superior in 2021. This document describes planned activities for Lake Michigan, to be completed by scientists from the NOAA Great Lakes Environmental Research Lab (NOAA‐GLERL), the US Geological Survey Great Lakes Science Center (USGS‐GLSC), the US Environmental Protection Agency’s Great Lakes National Program Office and Office of Research and Development (EPA‐ GLNPO and EPA‐ORD, respectively), and university partners.