[ Contents ]
The governments of Canada and the United States recognized that their boundary waters cannot be restored and enhanced independently without the use of an ecosystem approach. The actions needed to prevent ecosystem perturbation and to restore, protect, and conserve ecosystem integrity in the Great Lakes basin are the result, primarily, of response to the Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement as amended in 1987, the Great Lakes Fisheries Convention and agreements and memoranda of intent among governments. The array of techniques to restore, rehabilitate, and enhance ecosystems must be assembled as an early step in developing action plans to respond to law, policies, and programs.
This compilation of 47 methods of modifying habitat to benefit the Great Lakes ecosystem provides a foundation for selecting and evaluating habitat rehabilitation and conservation actions. These methods reflect the diversity in habitat modification and conservation techniques in use in the Great Lakes basin; however, not all projects underway in the basin are included. A process framework is provided to help select methods of modifying habitat. All descriptions made available to us 1 February, 1995, are included and are presented in no particular order.
Fifty-five percent of the projects describing habitat modification have not been completed, implemented or assessed. Consequently, it is important to monitor the process of selecting methods for restoring and enhancing ecosystems, and to assess the progress toward goals and quantitative end points on an ongoing basis. Seventy-seven percent of the methods described in this manual are the result of initiatives at Great Lakes Areas of Concern. However, ecosystem based objectives for the Great Lakes also are provided by the Joint Strategic Plan for Management of Great Lakes Fisheries and lakewide management plans (LAMPS). These 47 methods demonstrate binational progress toward ecosystem objectives and provide prototypes of actions for further progress.