Conservancy Partnerships Receive Restoration Funding
Several Heart of the Lakes member conservancies and their partners will receive major funding for habitat restoration and removal of invasive species in grant awards recently announced by the “Sustain Our Great Lakes” program.
April 28, 2010
By Heart of the Lakes
Several Heart of the Lakes member conservancies and their partners will receive major funding for habitat restoration and removal of invasive species in grant awards recently announced by the “Sustain Our Great Lakes” program, a public-private partnership administered by the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation. Sustain Our Great Lakes is funded in part by the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative.
The Nature Conservancy, working with its Michigan Dune Alliance partners (Southwest Michigan Land Conservancy, Land Conservancy of West Michigan, Leelanau Conservancy, and Grand Traverse Regional Land Conservancy), was awarded $748,000 to be used to combat invasive plants throughout the eastern Lake Michigan coastal systems. Surveys, control, and monitoring of seven invasive plants that threaten dunes, coastal wetlands, and forests will be undertaken along the 505-mile shoreline.
In another award, Ducks Unlimited and its seven partners, including Heart of the Lakes member Grand Traverse Regional Land Conservancy, will receive $783,823 to restore and protect the ecology of lower Bowens Creek and Arcadia marsh by restoring one mile of Bowen’s Creek within the marsh, 10 miles of fish passage, and 75 acres of coastal marsh in Manistee County.
In all, the Sustain Our Great Lakes Program announced $7.6 million for restoration throughout the Great Lakes states. “These grants are a testament to the work of these organizations, who have tirelessly dedicated themselves to protecting the environment of Michigan and the entire Great Lakes region,” said Senator Debbie Stabenow at a press conference announcing the grants. “The Great Lakes are not only a part of our Michigan way of life, but they are a critical economic asset that makes our region unique. The preservation of these resources is critical to our economic recovery and jobs, and ensuring that future generations can enjoy the natural beauty of the world’s largest freshwater system.”
Other Michigan conservation organizations that will receive Sustain Our Great Lakes funding include the Huron Pines Resource Conservation & Development Council, Lake Superior State University, Michigan Natural Features Inventory, Upper Peninsula Resource Conservation & Development Council, Schrems West Michigan Chapter of Trout Unlimited, The Stewardship Network, City of Frankenmuth, and Conservation the Resource Alliance.
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