SOLEC 2004 Proceedings
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State of the Lakes Ecosystem Conference 2004 Conference Proceedings State of the Lakes Ecosystem Conference 2004 Conference Proceedings Proceedings Prepared By Stacey Cherwaty, Environment Canada Nancy Stadler-Salt, Environment Canada Susan Arndt, Environment Canada February 2005 Table of Contents 1. INTRODUCTION........................................................................................... 1 What is SOLEC? .......................................................................................... 1 2. SOLEC 2004 HIGHLIGHTS.......................................................................... 3 3. OPENING THANKSGIVING ADDRESS....................................................... 4 4. SOLEC 2004 CONFERENCE OPENING SUMMARY.................................. 8 5. SOLEC 2004 PLENARY PRESENTATION SUMMARIES........................... 9 Plenary Presentations Summary ............................................................... 9 Indicator Bundling and Assessment – SOLEC 2004 – Day 1................... 9 Ecological Footprint and Human Drivers.................................................... 9 Human Oriented Issues ............................................................................. 9 Natural Resources and Biological Integrity .............................................. 10 Coastal Wetlands..................................................................................... 11 Ecosystem Status Reports – SOLEC 2004 – Day 2 ................................ 12 Lake Superior .......................................................................................... 12 Lake Michigan.......................................................................................... 12 Lake Huron .............................................................................................. 13 St. Clair River – Detroit River Ecosystem ................................................ 13 Lake Erie.................................................................................................. 14 Lake Erie Fishery..................................................................................... 14 Lake Ontario ............................................................................................ 15 Lake Ontario Fishery................................................................................ 15 St. Lawrence River .................................................................................. 16 6. SOLEC 2004 BREAKOUT SESSION SUMMARIES – DAY 1 ................... 17 Ecological Footprint Question and Answer Session ................................ 17 Introduction to Indicators Information Session ......................................... 17 Contaminants Bundle of Indicators .......................................................... 19 Biotic Communities and Non-Native Species Bundles of Indicators ........ 22 Habitats Bundle of Indicators ................................................................... 25 Human Health Bundle of Indicators ......................................................... 28 Land Use - Land Cover Bundle of Indicators ........................................... 30 Resource Utilization Bundle of Indicators ................................................ 34 Great Lakes Coastal Wetlands Bundle of Indicators................................ 35 Groundwater Bundle of Indicators ........................................................... 39 7. SOLEC 2004 BREAKOUT SESSION SUMMARIES – DAY 2 ................... 43 Lake Superior .......................................................................................... 43 Lake Michigan.......................................................................................... 44 Lake Huron .............................................................................................. 47 i SOLEC 2004 Proceedings Lake Erie.................................................................................................. 48 Lake Ontario ............................................................................................ 50 8. SOLEC 2004 WORKSHOP SUMMARIES – DAY 3 ................................... 56 Chemical Integrity .................................................................................... 56 Climate Change ....................................................................................... 59 Great Lakes Beaches .............................................................................. 62 Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement Review ....................................... 63 Human Health in the Great Lakes............................................................ 66 Monitoring Coordination and Information Management ........................... 68 Recent Advances in Monitoring Science and Index Development........... 72 Reporting Indicators at a Watershed Level .............................................. 75 Status of Great Lakes Islands Conservation and Development of Indicators ................................................................................................. 80 Stormwater Management: New and Emerging Approaches ................... 82 Urbanization Effects on Great Lakes Water Quality................................. 83 9. CONFERENCE KEYNOTE ADDRESS ...................................................... 87 Mayor David Miller, City of Toronto ......................................................... 87 10. SOLEC SUCCESS STORY RECIPIENTS .............................................. 92 APPENDIX A – CONFERENCE PROGRAM..................................................A - 1 APPENDIX B – PARTICIPANT FEEDBACK SUMMARY ..............................B - 1 APPENDIX C – PARTICIPANT PROFILE......................................................C - 1 APPENDIX D – PARTICIPANT LIST..............................................................D - 1 ii SOLEC 2004 Proceedings State of the Lakes Ecosystem Conference 2004 Conference Proceedings 1. Introduction What is SOLEC? The State of the Lakes Ecosystem Conferences (SOLEC) are hosted by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and Environment Canada on behalf of the two countries. These conferences are held every two years in response to a reporting requirement of the binational Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement (GLWQA). The goal of SOLEC is to achieve the overall purpose of the GLWQA “to restore and maintain the physical, chemical and biological integrity of the Great Lakes Basin”. The conferences are intended to report on the state of the Great Lakes ecosystem and the major factors impacting it, and to provide a forum for exchange of this information amongst Great Lakes decision-makers. These conferences are not intended to discuss the status of programs needed for protection and restoration of the Great Lakes basin, but to evaluate the effectiveness of these programs through analysis of the state of the ecosystem. Another goal of the conference is to provide information to people in all levels of government, corporate, and not-for-profit sectors that make decisions that affect the Great Lakes. These conferences are a culmination of information gathered from a wide variety of sources and engage a variety of organizations. In the year following each conference, the Governments prepare a report on the state of the Great Lakes based in large part upon the conference process. The first conference, held in 1994, addressed the entire system with particular emphasis on aquatic community health, human health, aquatic habitat, toxic contaminants and nutrients in the water, and the changing Great Lakes economy. This conference and SOLEC 1996 were based on a series of ad hoc indicators that were suggested by scientific experts. The 1996 conference focused on the nearshore lands and waters of the system where biological productivity is greatest and where humans have had maximum impact. Emphasis was placed on nearshore waters, coastal wetlands, land by the Lakes, impacts of changing land use, and information availability and management. Following SOLEC 96, those involved identified a need to develop a comprehensive, basin wide set of indicators that would allow the Parties to report on the progress under the Agreement in a consistent and standard format. For SOLEC 98, the indicator development process became more regimented with the development of a comprehensive suite of easily understood indicators that objectively represented the condition of the Great Lakes ecosystem components (as called for in Annex 11 of the GLWQA). The goal is to use these indicators every two years to inform the public and report progress in achieving the purpose of the GLWQA, thus initiating a regular and comprehensive reporting system. This indicator suite would draw upon and compliment indicators used for more specific purposes such as Lakewide Management Plans (LaMPs) or Remedial Action Plans (RAPs) for Areas of Concern (AOCs). During SOLEC 98 and afterward, the suite was thoroughly reviewed and a general consensus was obtained that the suite of 80 indicators was necessary and sufficient. Following the general acceptance of the Great Lakes suite of indicators, was the movement to begin implementing them. At SOLEC 2000, the challenge was to see how many of the 80 indicators could be reported on. In some cases this was a fairly “easy” task – data were already available for use in reporting on an indicator (by various agencies). In other cases, this task became more difficult as new data were required before they could be reported, or further research and development was required before implementing