2026 Great Lakes Coastal Symposium

Coastal restoration efforts across the Great Lakes have expanded over recent decades, supported by increased federal and state investment in hydrologic reconnection, invasive species control, nutrient reduction, and habitat improvement. Because these projects often pursue multiple objectives, evaluating their effectiveness depends on which ecological or management goals are prioritized and monitored. This session will focus on biological responses, particularly those tied to fisheries, to assess how restoration actions translate into meaningful improvements for target species and communities. Despite numerous project level successes, basin wide evaluation of restoration effectiveness remains challenging without consistent monitoring approaches and coordinated data integration. We will open the session by outlining how monitoring can scale from the nuances of a single site to coordinated regional efforts and how those choices shape the conclusions we can draw at each scale. We will also highlight the Fish Community Objectives (FCOs) developed through the Great Lakes Fishery Commission and the Lake Committees, which provide lake specific strategic guidance on desired fish community structure and often serve as reference points for restoration planning. Together, these elements will form a shared foundation for the presentations and discussions that follow, ensuring that diverse case studies can be interpreted within a coherent framework for evaluating restoration effectiveness.

The Brandenburg Park Shoreline Restoration Project was identified as a priority project by the St. Clair-Detroit River System (SCDRS) Initiative to address failing shoreline infrastructure and impaired fish and wildlife habitat in Lake St. Clair's Anchor Bay. The project utilized a combination of offshore habitat shoals, shoreline softening, and native plantings to increase shoreline protection and improve nearshore fish habitat. Following restoration, the Michigan Department of Natural Resources has collected annual data to monitor the response by target fish communities as one indicator of the project’s success. This presentation will provide an update to ongoing monitoring and will explore how the results of this effort have informed project development in nearby communities.

Fish such as Northern Pike spawn in interior wet meadows; however, access to this habitat has been greatly reduced by the spread of invasive hybrid cattail, particularly in Lake Ontario coastal wetlands. Channels have been excavated through cattail marshes to restore connectivity, but monitoring is needed to determine whether restored habitats are accessible and functioning for fish. Braddock Bay, a large drowned river-mouth wetland on Lake Ontario, underwent marsh channel restoration to increase habitat availability and connectivity. From 2018–2022, we evaluated fish use of restored channels and adjacent wetlands through wetland fish community surveys and targeted young-of-year (YOY) fish monitoring. Across monitoring efforts, 17 fish species were documented, including recreationally important Northern Pike (Esox lucius), Largemouth Bass (Micropterus salmoides), Yellow Perch (Perca flavescens), and Bluegill (Lepomis macrochirus). YOY surveys captured 15 species and more than 3,600 individuals, with most collected from restored habitats. YOY Northern Pike were detected in four consecutive years following restoration, providing evidence that restored channels support spawning and nursery functions. This case study highlights how we can use post-restoration fish monitoring, including the use of an existing monitoring program, to assess connectivity and evaluate ecological performance criteria.

Manoomin (wild rice; Zizania spp.) restoration is both an ecological and cultural imperative throughout the Great Lakes. Wild rice beds provide essential habitat for fish, waterfowl, and invertebrates while stabilizing sediments, improving water quality, and strengthening economic and food sovereignty for Indigenous peoples. However, Manoomin populations in the Georgian Bay region of Lake Huron declined precipitously over the past century due to water level fluctuations, increased wave action, development pressures, pollution, and climate change impacts. Successful restoration requires understanding the complex interplay of ecological and biogeochemical factors that underlie Manoomin viability, but little is known about such factors as they relate to successful restoration outcomes, particularly in Georgian Bay. This talk will provide an overview of a collaborative project currently underway that is laying the groundwork for a comprehensive environmental monitoring network in partnership between the University of Michigan, Loyola University Chicago and First Nation communities to support their potential Manoomin (wild rice) restoration efforts in Georgian Bay. As its initial field season comes to an end, the project’s highlights will include the results of preliminary survey efforts and its focus on the co-development of scientific and conservation objectives done collaboratively across social and geographic boundaries.

Diked wetlands can be found in the coastal zone throughout the Great Lakes. These productive wetlands often were hydrologically connected to the lakes before construction of earthen berms that limited water exchange and fish access. This makes them priority targets for coastal wetland rehabilitation through installation of fish-passage structures. Work starting in the mid-1990s at places like Metzger Marsh (Lake Erie) and Oshawa Second Marsh (Lake Ontario) tested early rehabilitation strategies including dike redesign and carp-exclusion systems in structures. Site-scale monitoring after those projects characterized a positive ecosystem response, but intense monitoring of subsequent reconnections in the Crane Creek wetland complex (Lake Erie), and later the Maankiki wetland complex (Lake Huron), revealed much more about when and how fish use the rehabilitated sites. These findings informed the reconnection of over 50 other diked wetlands to rehabilitate coastal wetland habitats throughout the basin, setting the stage for ongoing monitoring of project impacts at multiple sites across the landscape and aggregation of data to explore how the site-scale projects are impacting lake productivity, fisheries objectives, and other landscape-scale priorities. Supported by Great Lakes Coastal Wetland Restoration Assessment data, reconnection of diked wetlands and low elevation agricultural fields continues as a rehabilitation strategy within the basin.

Transforming programmatic environmental monitoring into regional policy change requires an unbroken chain of resource-intensive actions: i) the generation of clear objectives and research questions, ii) the creation of study designs that can actually answer those questions, iii) the comprehensive QA/QC and analysis of data, iv) the ethical sharing and housing of datasets, and v) the communication between and among researchers, stakeholders, and policy makers. In this talk, we will draw on specific, actionable examples of solutions from the H2Ohio Wetland Monitoring Program (WMP), a group that spans six research institutes and engages with partners from over 50 organizations to assess and promote nutrient reduction by restored and constructed wetlands in Ohio. We will briefly review common critiques of large-scale environmental monitoring programs, as discussed in recent literature. We will then explain the WMP’s data management and communication policies before focusing on the infrastructure the WMP has built to support flexibility in dynamic funding landscapes. We will end with short examples of successful interventions that were informed by WMP work. With forethought and adaptability, we can build environmental monitoring programs that are impactful, scalable, and resilient.

The Sustain Our Great Lakes (SOGL) Program, administered by the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation, has invested in Great Lakes restoration for nearly two decades. In 2021, Audubon Great Lakes began evaluating SOGL effectiveness by monitoring migratory shorebirds, waterfowl, and breeding marsh birds at restoration sites. Using a Before-After-Control-Impact framework, we analyzed data from 2021–2025 to compare restored and control sites. While statistically significant restoration-specific gains were not detected, consistent positive trends across bird groups suggest emerging benefits. Shorebirds responded positively at sites with improved hydrology and topography, and waterfowl use increased within restored landscapes in line with regional patterns. Marsh bird communities, measured with the Bird-Friendliness Index, showed modest but encouraging improvements in condition. Overall, restored wetlands appear to be functioning as increasingly suitable habitat, though outcomes remain influenced by environmental variability and ecological lag times. These findings indicate SOGL investments are improving wetland condition and bird habitat, with stronger and more detectable benefits likely as sites mature and long-term monitoring continues.

Long-term and multi-site monitoring programs are essential for understanding coastal wetland condition, identifying ecological change, and informing restoration priorities across the Great Lakes. The Durham Region Coastal Wetland Monitoring Program (DRCWMP) has monitored coastal wetlands along the north shore of Lake Ontario for nearly two decades using standardized protocols aligned with regional and binational monitoring approaches. The program evaluates wetland condition through indicators including fish communities, vegetation, water quality, birds, macroinvertebrates, and water levels to support fisheries and habitat objectives. This presentation will highlight how DRCWMP data are used to identify ecological trends and establish reference conditions across a network of wetlands. Integration of datasets collected through the Bay of Quinte Remedial Action Plan has strengthened the ability to evaluate regional patterns and restoration outcomes across years with highly variable water levels and climatic conditions. The presentation will also discuss how monitoring results support conservation planning and restoration prioritization through a structured conservation standards approach. Examples from the Lynde Shores Restoration and Resilience Project will demonstrate how long-term datasets are being used to identify ecological stressors, guide restoration actions, support adaptive management, and evaluate restoration effectiveness over time.

Since 2007, NOAA Fisheries’ Office of Habitat Conservation has funded more than 130 habitat restoration projects in the Great Lakes region, primarily through the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative. These projects have collectively restored more than 5,700 acres of habitat and opened more than 860 miles of streams for Great Lakes fish species to access their habitat. We provide funding and technical guidance to local partners, who implement restoration projects throughout the Great Lakes basin. These projects help support our nation's fisheries and address a subset of habitat restoration projects identified by the Lake Committees as Environmental Priorities to meet fish community objectives for Great Lakes fish species.

Coastal restoration efforts across the Great Lakes have expanded over recent decades, supported by increased federal and state investment in hydrologic reconnection, invasive species control, nutrient reduction, and habitat improvement. Because these projects often pursue multiple objectives, evaluating their effectiveness depends on which ecological or management goals are prioritized and monitored. This session will focus on biological responses, particularly those tied to fisheries, to assess how restoration actions translate into meaningful improvements for target species and communities. We will wrap up this session by convening speakers in a panel discussion on the parallels among the goals of single site and coordinated regional monitoring. To further enrich the dialogue, we will engage panelists about strategies for building monitoring programs that are explicitly focused on effectiveness, and how to leverage the monitoring data collected to refine and improve restoration techniques. Additionally, we will explore approaches for interpreting the impacts of site-level outcomes on broader regional responses, especially related to Great Lake’s Fish Community Objectives, aiming to bridge the gap between localized project results and regional ecosystem management.