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The Government of Canada and the Government of the United States of America recognized that restoration and enhancement of their boundary waters can not be achieved independent of other parts of the Great Lakes Basin Ecosystem. To achieve a healthy basin ecosystem, the Great Lakes Fishery Commission (GLFC) set "achievement of net gains in the quality of aquatic habitats" as one of five major milestones for the ecosystem. Similarly, United States and Canadian aquatic resource agencies identified degradation and loss of habitat as impairing the integrity of the Great Lakes Basin Ecosystem and called for improvements in habitat rehabilitation and conservation.
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 methods. A workshop on the science and management for habitat conservation and restoration strategies in the Great Lakes basin (HabCARES 1994) provided contacts and the framework for describing methods of beneficially modifying habitat. The workshop was jointly sponsored by Canada's Great Lakes 2000 Cleanup Fund, the Habitat Advisory Board of the GLFC, the U.S. Environmental Portection Agency, the Canadian Department of Fisheries and Oceans, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment Canada. The Habitat Advisory Board views this document as a first edition, looks forward to future editions, and seeks to apply the experiences from these reported initiatives in its role of addressing protection, rehabilitation, and enhancement of fish habitat.
All descriptions of habitat modification initiatives made available to us 1 February 1995, are included and presented in no particular order. The 47 descriptions reasonably reflect the diversity in habitat modification and conservation in the Great Lakes basin; however, not all projects underway in the basin are described in this manual. No project descriptions were excluded so that all might benefit from the experience of the proponents.