In the Lower Green Bay & Fox River Area of Concern, partners have worked together on a multi-step process for over a decade to develop fish and wildlife metrics, select habitat restoration sites and generate project concepts, and implement projects anticipated to meet goals for priority fish and wildlife habitats and population groups. Our presentation will summarize how this process has laid a foundation for the development of restoration designs across 12 large-scale projects. We'll also focus on how monitoring efforts being implemented at different scales, such as the Great Lakes Coastal Wetland Monitoring Program, Wisconsin DNR Fisheries Monitoring, and Citizen-Based Monitoring, are being leveraged to help guide the development of multi-faceted restoration criteria at Cat Island, Longtail Point, and the Duck Creek Delta restoration projects in Green Bay. Lastly, we'll provide examples of how these monitoring efforts will continue to be leveraged to verify that this science-based decision-making process has resulted in accomplishing fish and wildlife goals across projects in the Area of Concern.
Hillman Marsh is a designated Provincially Significant Wetland on the east side of the Pelee Peninsula, on Lake Erie. The formerly barrier-protected marsh covers a total area of nearly 1,000 acres providing ecosystem services to the region and critical habitat to endangered species and migratory bird populations. Due to the combined effects of human-induced disruption of coastal processes and increasing climate-related impacts, the barrier beach that once protected Hillman Marsh now features an irreversible breach approximately 500 meters wide. This has resulted in the destruction of habitat, loss of wetland species, impairment of ecosystem services, and has exposed the perimeter dikes surrounding the marsh to waves generated on Lake Erie. These dikes protect more than 2,000 hectares of low-lying agricultural and residential lands from catastrophic coastal flooding. With funding from the Canada Water Agency, the Essex Region Conservation Authority supported by a multi-discipline consulting team have developed an ambitious strategy to restore the Hillman Marsh barrier beach and wetland through a combination of traditional engineering and nature-based approaches. Construction is slated to begin in the second half of 2026. The presentation will explore the history of the site and the development of innovative concepts for the largest barrier beach and coastal wetland restoration project ever initiated on the Canadian side of the Great Lakes.
This presentation will convey lessons learned from successful coastal wetland restoration work in the open waters of excessively turbid Sandusky Bay without the use of anthropogenic water level manipulations. This talk will include a brief overview of Lake Erie coastal wetland status and restoration strategies over the past 150 years, with discussion on the ecological winners and losers associated with coastal Lake Erie’s ubiquitous water management infrastructure. To achieve the aspirational goals of restoring coastal wetlands throughout Sandusky Bay and other coastal estuaries (sans costly water management infrastructure), alternative restoration strategies and mindsets are needed. These turbid, eutrophic, high wave energy dynamics pose numerous challenges to restoring coastal wetlands, but they also offer fantastic opportunities for passive sediment capture. Lessons learned from recent and ongoing restoration projects within Sandusky Bay will be shared, including: quantifiable sediment and nutrient load reductions, native wetland plant selection/installation/predation, along with strategies to mitigate invasive species impacts (including carp and plants like Phragmites australis). Lastly, discussion on future large-scale restoration opportunities, economies of scale, and recommendations for reducing the “cost per acre” of wetland restoration.
The presentation will showcase two very different project sites where the City of Lorain used ecological solutions to address environmental challenges stemming from urbanization and heavy industry. The Martin’s Run Ecological Restoration Project will highlight how Lorain decreased localized flooding through the conversion of low-yield agricultural land into a high-quality stream and wetland complex that provides nearly 20 acres of publicly accessible space and 19 acre-feet of stormwater retention. The Reclamation Site Restoration Project marks a major milestone—the final Management Action in more than a decade of coordinated work to remediate legacy environmental impacts along the Black River and its riparian corridor stemming from historic steelmaking operations. Attendees will gain insight into how the City of Lorain completed over 20 projects and implemented large-scale solutions over 15 years that contributed to habitat restoration, the recovery of the Black River, and its eventual delisting as an Area of Concern.
Great Lakes communities are experiencing escalated threats from extreme flooding and erosion due to fluctuating lake levels, increased severity of storms, and other climate impacts.This presentation will provide an overview of two programs that provide technical support and capacity building to such municipalities: the Initiative for Resilient Great Lakes Coasts, funded through the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative and implemented by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the Great Lakes & St.Lawrence Cities Initiative, and the Resilient Coastal Projects Initiative, funded largely by the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation and administered by the Great Lakes & St. Lawrence Cities Initiative. Both programs engage communities across the region to advance coastal resilience projects and build local capacity to incorporate nature-based solutions. Program leads will share program models and municipal engagement approaches, and program partners will present nature-based designs and their co-benefits within the context of select projects. As many of these projects begin to conclude and/or move onto future phases, presenters will be able to share some of these communities’ most prominent challenges and opportunities. In the event the symposium allows for multiple sessions on this topic, another 15-30 minutes would be dedicated to detailed project examples across the Great Lakes coast.
The presentation highlights two climate and coastal resiliency projects completed by BNW in collaboration with landowners and stakeholders. The first features a coastal resiliency effort along the Niagara River on Grand Island; the second details a stream relocation project on Cayuga Creek in the Town of Niagara. Both projects employ innovative, nature-based techniques that strengthen community resilience while restoring essential fish and wildlife habitat. The session will also examine key challenges encountered and share best practices and lessons learned from each project.
The amplitude, frequency, and direction of Great Lakes water-level changes over the coming decades is uncertain, with the potential for dramatic impacts on coastal ecosystems and the rare species that depend upon them. Whether the trend will be lake-level rise and ecosystem inundation or lake-level recession and potential ecosystem expansion is unclear. Identifying which species and coastal regions are most likely to be impacted by lake-level fluctuations will help focus resources on the most sensitive species and places. We developed a GIS model to predict lake-level changes using outputs from two regionally downscaled climate models and evaluated how those changes affected the total area of coastal ecosystems in Michigan and increased or decreased habitat for thirteen rare plant and animal species. These species represented a wide range of taxanomic groups and habitat requirements. Regions and ecosystems predicted to have significant responses to modeled lake levels, unsurprisingly, tended to be those with shallow near-shore topography or bathymetry such as Saginaw Bay. Our model predicted both habitat loss and gain for most species, depending largely on the climate model. Our results are an initial step toward proactively prioritizing Great Lakes coastal conservation. Future models that explicitly incorporate species demography, invasive species responses, and other ecological complexities will improve the realism of predictions and therefore conservation outcomes.
Along the eastern coast of Lake Michigan, bluff failures are influenced by lake water levels, bluff groundwater saturation, and lithology. The bluffs are composed of unconsolidated glacial tills interbedded with/overlain by glaciodeltaic sand and lacustrine silt and clay, and experience toe erosion, creeping, and slumping. Lake Michigan water levels peaked at record levels in 2019-2021 following a prolonged below-average period ( -2013), accelerating toe erosion and prompting widespread public concern. This study examines three sites in Michigan: Lakeshore Dr. in St. Joseph (SJo), subdivisions at Miami Park (MP), and a natural area near Ludington (LU), all exhibiting active groundwater seepage at clay layer contacts in the bluffs. Surface point clouds derived from UAS (drone) nadir and oblique imagery (2016-2022) and 2012 LiDAR datasets document erosion, landslides, and bluff top retreat at all sites. The unmanaged LU site experienced 177,000 ± 2,300 m³ of erosion at high water levels from 2019-2021, roughly three times the 2012-2019 rate. At MP, an area with several distinct management strategies applied, significant retreat occurred adjacent to locations armored with large boulders, with slumps causing losses of as much as 5-10m, where nearby densely vegetated slopes with active surface water management near the bluff showed minimal erosion. These observations highlight the complex interaction of management decisions and natural drivers to shape bluff failure outcomes.
Wetland ecosystems are negatively impacted by invasive species proliferation, often driven by disturbance and nutrient pollution. Prior research has shown that invasive clonal plant harvesting [e.g. hybrid cattail (Typha × glauca)] effectively reduces invasion pressures to improve biodiversity across trophic levels. This practice, however, accumulates metric tons of low-value biomass rich in viable propagules leading to biomass movement and cost impracticality. Biochar production from invasive biomass shows potential for storing long-term carbon and sorbing available soil solution nutrients while concurrently reducing biomass volume. Biochar is produced when organic material is pyrolyzed in a low-oxygen kiln to produce stable carbon with high cation-ion exchange capacity. This presentation summarizes our current successes and challenges in biochar production / wetland reapplication following hybrid cattail harvesting. Furthermore, this session will share current research results from our team’s multi-year large-scale experiment[total = 56 plots; plot size = 1.1 acres] at Shiawassee National Wildlife Refuge near Saginaw, MI. This research investigates peak biomass cattail harvesting [control, annual, biennial] and annual cattail biochar production/reapplication [0 metric tons (T) / hectare(ha), 10T/ha, 50T/ha] at a land management scale to serving as a launching point to scale–up ecological restoration while closing logistic loops in invaded wetlands.
Phragmites australis is among Ontario’s most problematic invasive plants, degrading wetlands and coastal habitats, and reducing biodiversity. Located on a constructed landform on Toronto’s waterfront, Tommy Thompson Park is highly vulnerable to invasive plant species. Phragmites rapidly outcompeted native vegetation across more than 8 hectares within emergent aquatic zones, sheltered embayments, and terrestrial habitats. Toronto and Region Conservation Authority initiated the Tommy Thompson Park Phragmites Management Strategy in 2018. The program was designed to follow a 5 year adaptive management framework, integrating chemical control (glyphosate), mechanical removal (mowing and spading), annual monitoring (site specific and PAMF), and targeted restoration. Management is implemented annually across all impacted areas and outcomes are strong, with overall phragmites decline by 90% (notwithstanding annual variability). Native aquatic vegetation is recovering through natural regeneration and planting. A secondary invasion of Flowering Rush is being managed in the Triangle Pond wetland coinciding with meadow marsh and upland meadow restoration. Although planned as a 5-year strategy, the inter annual fluctuations in abundance highlight the necessity of sustained monitoring and maintenance to preserve biodiversity. In 2025, a biocontrol nursery was established to introduce moth control agents as part of the management approach; monitoring results are expected in a few years.
This workshop will be an active, hands-on training for attendees of the Great Lakes Coastal Assembly. The goal for the workshop is to describe and use a decision-support framework, the Adaptation Workbook, designed for practitioners to use in ecological and nature-based project planning within the Great Lakes watershed. The decision-support framework supports practitioners to document the potential vulnerability to disturbances and the intensification of seasonal weather patterns; and to clearly articulate how adaptation tactics can increase the adaptive capacity of the system to better cope with changes over time.
Participants will:
Learn about current and anticipated effects of a changing climate in the Great Lakes Region.
Scale climate impacts down to the local level by considering how site-level characteristics will be affected by changes in climate at a regional scale.
Select climate adaptation strategies applicable to project specific goals.
Identify adaptation tactics that enhance the ability of ecosystems to adapt to, or cope with changing conditions in the context of sustainable ecological management.
Learn about resources and tools available to support managers adapting systems to climate change.
The Laurentian Great Lakes host the largest collection of freshwater islands in the world with approximately 32,000 islands. Many of these islands hold significant ecological, economic, cultural, and historic significance and serve as an ecological refuge under various stressors. Despite the importance of these features, islands are often understudied and overlooked. The Great Lakes Coastal Assembly’s Island Workgroup is developing a series of reference guides, one for each Great Lake, to help direct conservation and restoration actions on Great Lakes islands. This presentation will provide a brief overview of the guide development process and share preliminary results for Lake Erie, including the upstream St. Clair/Detroit River system. Review and input from partners and the general public is welcome. Ultimately, the guide will assist priority-setting by agencies and organizations, support grant applications, and bring attention to the conservation needs of Great Lakes islands.
Northeast Michigan contains many miles of Lake Huron shoreline and a wide array of islands that support rare species and natural communities. The disruption of natural processes from pollution, development, climate change and invasive species has caused the extirpation and decline of many species in the region. While many of the Lake Huron islands have been spared the pressure of disturbance, they are especially vulnerable to the impacts of climate change and invasive species. Through funding from the US Fish and Wildlife Coastal Program, Huron Pines is working closely with partners to monitor and restore habitat across eleven islands in Lake Huron. In this presentation, we will provide an overview of the on-the-ground efforts to collect and update island inventory data, manage invasive species, and monitor habitat for Great Lakes piping plover and other threatened and endangered species. Additionally, we will share our perspective on the unique partnerships and opportunities that were forged through this island conservation project.
Michigan is home to more than 1,700 islands, many of which are remote and difficult to access. While their isolation can be helpful to protect biodiversity and reduce invasive species introductions, Great Lakes islands often have sporadic, incomplete, and outdated biological inventories. This lack of data was apparent across several islands in Lake Huron, underscoring the need for collaborative data collection to better inform local conservation and management efforts. Through funding from the USFWS Coastal Program, Huron Pines has been working with state, federal, and NGO partners to monitor populations of threatened and endangered species on eleven Lake Huron islands. In this presentation, we will share a glimpse of how we monitor everything from Pitcher's thistle to piping plovers, as well as a highlight reel of some of our interesting finds.
Due to their high biodiversity and unique habitats, the Nature Conservancy of Canada has identified islands and coastlines as priorities for conservation in all the Canadian Great Lakes. In many cases, we have worked to protect these islands from development through direct securement and working with partners, along with restoration projects on NCC lands intended to bring back natural habitat and support biodiversity. This presentation will provide an overview of NCC’s work on the Canadian Great Lakes islands and highlight some examples from each of the lakes, including Pelee Island, Wolfe Island and Cockburn Island.
For many Great Lakes Islands, protection is just the first step in ensuring these biological gems provide the best habitat for the many species they support. Following securement, the Nature Conservancy of Canada works to restore habitat that has been degraded by human impacts, from creating wetlands and planting former agricultural fields to removing old buildings and invasive species control. Visitor management is also an important component of ongoing stewardship to ensure humans can enjoy the properties safely and without negative impacts to the environment. This includes trail maintenance, appropriate signage, access agreements and hunting management. Stewardship and restoration projects will be highlighted, including a large wetland restoration on Pelee Island.
Great Lakes islands provide critical habitat for native biodiversity & support rare & endemic natural communities. A diverse assemblage of over 32,000 islands occurs across the Great Lakes, constituting the world’s largest collection of freshwater islands. The crown jewel is Isle Royale. In this presentation, we will provide an overview of our ecological surveys of Isle Royale National Park, which is managed by the National Park Service, a key partner for this endeavor. This research was funded by the EPA through Michigan’s EGLE. We will describe our methods for prioritizing natural community targets & share stories of some of the most difficult but rewarding field work of my career. The presentation will showcase the ecological splendor of Isle Royale including the rugged volcanic shoreline replete with arctic-alpine disjuncts, the ominously named “Swamp of Sadness”, expanses of majestic old-growth forest, & the rarest natural community in Michigan, sandstone bedrock glade. With over 40 days of ecological adventure under our belts & the fruit of the elusive lingonberry in our bellies, we will conclude our presentation of ecological & botanical discovery with lessons learned from our intensive island experience.
Great Lakes islands provide critical habitat for native biodiversity & support rare & endemic natural communities. A diverse assemblage of over 32,000 islands occurs across the Great Lakes, constituting the world’s largest collection of freshwater islands. The crown jewel is Isle Royale. In this presentation, we will provide an overview of our ecological surveys of Isle Royale National Park, which is managed by the National Park Service, a key partner for this endeavor. This research was funded by the EPA through Michigan’s EGLE. We will describe our methods for prioritizing natural community targets & share stories of some of the most difficult but rewarding field work of my career. The presentation will showcase the ecological splendor of Isle Royale including the rugged volcanic shoreline replete with arctic-alpine disjuncts, the ominously named “Swamp of Sadness”, expanses of majestic old-growth forest, & the rarest natural community in Michigan, sandstone bedrock glade. With over 40 days of ecological adventure under our belts & the fruit of the elusive lingonberry in our bellies, we will conclude our presentation of ecological & botanical discovery with lessons learned from our intensive island experience.
An innovative cobble tracer study is advancing our understanding of coarse beach sediment transport while engaging students in hands-on learning along the Lake Ontario shoreline. The southeastern shoreline of Lake Ontario is dynamic and continually shaped by wave conditions, precipitation patterns, fluctuations in lake levels, and interactions with shoreline infrastructure. These factors influence the transport of sediment that sustains Lake Ontario’s beaches and barrier bars; however, these processes remain poorly understood. To address this data need, the Lake Ontario Sediment Tracer Study was launched to better understand sediment transport along McIntyre’s and Whistlewood Bluffs. Beaches at these sites consist of sand, pebbles, and cobbles. The study deployed two types of tracers: painted pebbles (0.5–1.5 inches) and pebbles/small cobbles (1.5–5 inches) equipped with embedded passive integrated transponders (“smart rocks”). These tracers were used to track coarse sediment transport rates, directions, and potential movement barriers from fall 2025 through 2026. This presentation will share findings from the tracer study and highlight a collaborative partnership among state agencies, private consultants, New York Sea Grant, and the Sterling Nature Center. Together, these partners developed the three-part “Track-the-Tracers” Shoreline Adventure, which engaged rural home-school students in designing, deploying, and tracking their own cobble tracers along the shoreline.
Understanding Community Perceptions of Dredged Material Management Abstract This study examines community perceptions of dredged material management and the beneficial use of dredged material in the western Lake Superior region. Dredging is essential for maintaining navigation channels in Great Lakes ports, yet long-term beneficial use of dredged material often faces social, institutional, and informational barriers. To better understand these challenges and opportunities, this project employs a qualitative research design using five (5) in-person focus groups, and one (1) virtual focus group, conducted at the University of Minnesota Duluth. Participants will represent four key stakeholder segments: potential dredged material users, local community members, environmental program managers, and maritime industry professionals. Guided, semi-structured discussions will explore perceived environmental, economic, and community impacts of dredging, as well as barriers to and opportunities for sustained beneficial use planning. Focus group data will be analyzed at the group level to identify shared values, priorities, and areas of divergence among stakeholder groups. Findings will inform future dredged material management strategies, support community-engaged decision-making, and contribute to applied workforce development through undergraduate student involvement.
To set the stage for this session, the Great Lakes Commission will present an introduction its three-year Sediment Management to Support Restoration and Resilience project. The goal of this project is to explore pressing issues related to Great Lakes sediment management, including its role in restoration, coastal resilience, and maritime transportation efforts, with a focus on the Eastern Lake Erie Basin, Lake Ontario, and the upper St. Lawrence River. As part of the introductory presentation, audience members will be asked to participate in a short survey to gauge stakeholder perspectives on sediment and their familiarity with various sediment management topics.
Coastal communities and harbor managers across the Great Lakes face persistent challenges with sediment accumulation. The traditional response—dredging and hauling sediment away—treats sediment as waste rather than a resource essential for healthy shorelines. Beaches, dunes, barrier bars, and wetlands depend on coarse sediment moving through longshore transport. When harbors interrupt this flow and dredged material is removed, downdrift shorelines lose sediment supply, leading to erosion, habitat loss, and increased coastal vulnerability. A growing number of Great Lakes communities are rethinking dredging outcomes by placing sediment where it can re-enter the system. At Sandy Pond on Lake Ontario, dredged material was strategically placed to restore barrier bar dunes protecting a bayfront community. Around Point Pelee on Lake Erie, coordinated sediment placement maintains the dynamic spit system that defines this internationally significant coastal habitat. These examples show that with intentional planning, dredging can support rather than undermine coastal resilience. This presentation shares insights from the Sediment Positive Actions project on the governance structures, economic frameworks, and institutional coordination that enable communities to use dredged sediment as a coastal resource.
Maintaining Ohio's Lake Erie federal navigation channels for commerce is vital to local and regional economies. To maintain these navigation channels, regular dredging of accumulated sediment is necessary. Managing the beneficial use of the sediment removed from the navigation channels is a priority for Ohio to protect the long-term health of Lake Erie. Ohio is working closely with local public and private partners and USACE on sustainable, innovative beneficial uses of dredge sediment. Partners are turning sediment into a true commodity that recognizes sediment as a valuable resource for marketable soils, agriculture, wetlands and habitat creation, and other innovative uses. Ohio EPA and the Toledo-Lucas County Port Authority will provide an overview of the Ohio Dredge Material Program and will share about projects underway in each of Ohio's harbors, sediment management needs, and ongoing efforts to beneficially use dredge sediment.
Sandusky Bay is a 64 sq mi shallow embayment that supports the region’s ecotourism economy. Historically, the Bay supported a complex matrix of wetlands, however, regional land use has negatively altered the Bay’s water quality and its ability to regulate as a healthy system. Wetlands, habitat, and wildlife populations are diminished, shorelines are largely armored, and the Bay is plagued by high levels of turbidity and persistent harmful algal blooms. Therefore, the Ohio Department of Natural Resources’ Office of Coastal Management launched the Sandusky Bay Initiative, a landscape-scale intervention to restore ecosystem functionality. The Nature Conservancy is leading the implementation of 13 integrated projects designed to reduce sediment resuspension, enhance nutrient assimilation, and restore habitat. Several projects repurpose excavated material within their footprint and serve as an example of the innovative use of dredge material for nature-based shoreline restoration. The largest project, the Inner Bay Wetlands, involves the creation of three barrier wetland features spanning 600 acres. Approximately 5.33 million cy of fill material is needed for the project, so The Nature Conservancy is exploring fill material source options including a nearby borrow area and the Sandusky Federal Navigation channel and the associated technical, financial, operational, maintenance, environmental, and regulatory tradeoffs.
Tommy Thompson Park, a wilderness area on a constructed landform along Toronto’s central waterfront in Lake Ontario, includes three confined disposal facilities (CDFs). Two CDFs reached capacity by the late 1990s and were subsequently capped to physically and biologically isolate contaminated material, with coastal wetlands established on the cap surfaces. The Cell 2 CDF was capped and restored to a wetland between 2015 and 2016, using beneficially reused clean dredged material to enhance soil quality and plant survival. Restoration incorporated diverse habitat features, including rocky substrates and spawning shoals, as well as the reuse of logs and root wads to create aquatic and terrestrial habitat. Native vegetation—emergent aquatics, wet meadow forbs, shrubs, and trees—was extensively planted. A decade post-construction, the Cell 2 wetland supports high biodiversity and provides essential wildlife habitat. Ongoing challenges include invasive species management, addressed through an integrated approach. Annual monitoring tracks physical and ecological conditions, while continued planting supports the gradual establishment of a hemi-marsh community.
