GLFT Grant Library

Trout Unlimited, Inc. is looking to restore aquatic organism passage and stream function at three road/stream crossings as the first phase of an effort to restore complete connectivity throughout the Bigelow Creek watershed, a critically important coldwater tributary to the Muskegon River. The replacement of these crossings will enhance and provide long-term protection for fish passage and habitat for salmonids and other coldwater species of the Lake Michigan Basin.

Tip of the Mitt Watershed Council Water Resources Education Program will build on the success of our experiential learning-based Watershed Academy program by: 1) extending opportunities for 20 Watershed Academy alumni to support their interests in local water resources monitoring and protection programs, and 2) engaging 300 middle school students in a foundation-laying program of watershed experiences focused on local issues and stewardship of water resources.

Grand Rapids Public Museum (GRPM) is looking to expand and enhance their programming, which will allow a large audience to experience hands-on watershed education. The GRPM Classroom with a Current will continue to develop as a hub of information related to watershed ecology. In addition, new laboratory-based programming as well as summer camp adventures will explore watershed concepts. By incorporating artifacts and object-based discovery into watershed education the GRPM will provide a local context to Great Lakes watershed themes.

GLFT has provided funding to build a comprehensive Great Lakes Fisheries Heritage exhibit unparalleled in Michigan. The exhibit represents NE Michigan’s fishery heritage spanning from pre-Columbian to present; a heritage largely shared by all regions of Michigan. Great Lakes stewardship will be evident in the integration of subsistence, commercial and recreational fisheries with scientific research, ecosystem changes wrought by invasive species, water quality, habitat degradation, and effects of fishery management. Two early fishing/survey vessels will anchor the display.

The overall goal of this grant is to work with university centers and agencies to develop a long-term business plan for Great Lakes Aquatic Habitiat Framework that cultivates partnerships with state, federal and provincial agencies and universities and creates a long-term funding and maintenance strategy with the following goals:

• Building greater capacity within resource management agencies and the university

• Developing, maintaining, and serving spatial data needed for management and research in the Great Lakes Region

• Assisting agencies in the use of spatial approaches in research and decision making • Developing a better understanding of the spatial ecology of the Great Lakes Basin.

The Healing Our Waters - Great Lakes (HOW) Coalition is improving the health of the Great Lakes through our Priority Area implementation Program which addresses historic threats to the Great Lakes through on the ground restoration work. The project provides capacity building grants to local and state non-profit organizations, with priority given to Lake Michigan basin sites, to help applicants successfully implement restoration projects through the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative.

National Wildlife Federation is looking to develop and launch a strategic education and communications campaign to inform the public about the serious threat Asian carp pose to the Great Lakes and about advancing solutions that lead to the most effective actions to prevent carp from entering the Great Lakes. This is a collaborative effort with the Michigan Department of Natural Resources, Michigan United Conservation Clubs, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Little Traverse Bay Band of Odawa Indians, and other tribal leaders.

Hayes Township in Charlevoix County is going to construct a 170' public fishing pier in order to create shoreline fishing access to Lake Charlevoix. The pier will be located in the Hayes Township Park/Camp Sea-Gull which is situated on the north shore of Lake Charlevoix and is centrally located between Boyne City and the City of Charlevoix.

The shore-fishing access project at Lake St. Clair Metropark in Macomb County, Michigan will help create additional public shore-fishing opportunities on Black Creek including a universally accessible fishing/observation platform, a cement pathway to the platform, and handicap parking next to the pathway. The project provides access by means of an existing parking lot adjacent to Black Creek. The creek empties into Lake St. Clair and is a popular shore-fishing area for anglers visiting the park.

The City of Boyne City will install an ADA accessible, public fishing pier in Lake Charlevoix through a public/private partnership. The pier will be approximately 190' in length and located immediately southwest of the mouth of the Boyne River and complimented by existing public restrooms, parks and parking, and a direct connection to the City's downtown. The pier will allow anglers of all experience levels and physical abilities to fish safely and conveniently.

Huron Pines will conduct a comprehensive inventory of road/stream crossings in the Thunder Bay River Watershed. Road/stream crossing inventory data, along with streambank erosion and invasive species inventory data that will be collected using matching funds, will be uploaded to publicly accessible websites including www.northernmichiganstreams.org and the Midwest Invasive Species Information Network (MISIN), http://www.misin.msu.edu/. This information will greatly help resource managers identify future cost-effective and high-impact restoration projects to implement in the watershed.

Huron Pines and partners will reconnect the upper East Branch Au Gres River, a state-designated Blue Ribbon Trout Stream, with several of its tributary streams. Five undersized road/stream crossings will be replaced with appropriately sized structures and one small dam will be removed in order to restore natural river functions and allow brook trout and other aquatic wildlife to access 15 miles of high quality spawning, rearing, foraging and refuge habitat that is currently inaccessible.

This project will optimize application rates of synthesized pheromone to yield large and consistent catches of invasive sea lamprey in Lake Michigan tributaries. The results will enable widespread use of this environmentally benign and innovative sea lamprey control tool in Lake Michigan and throughout the Great Lakes, thereby reducing dependence on lampricides and sea lamprey barriers.