Evaluating Great Lakes Area of Concern Restoration

What have we achieved and learned after more than 30 years of Remedial Action Plans to restore Great Lakes Areas of Concern?

In 1985, the eight Great Lakes states, Ontario, and the U.S. and Canadian federal governments committed to developing and implementing comprehensive remedial action plans (RAPs) to restore impaired beneficial uses in Great Lakes Areas of Concern (AOCs). In 1987, this commitment was codified in a Protocol to the Canada-U.S. Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement.

In 2017, a symposium titled “Restoring Great Lakes Areas of Concern” was convened at IAGLR's Conference on Great Lakes Research in Detroit. Twenty-seven papers and five posters were presented at the symposium, which was sponsored by the Aquatic Ecosystem Health & Management Society, IAGLR, the International Joint Commission, the Great Lakes Commission, and the Detroit River International Wildlife Refuge.

In 2018, the Fred A. and Barbara M. Erb Family Foundation provided a two-year grant to IAGLR to help review and evaluate what has been achieved and learned in more than 30 years of AOC cleanup efforts. Specific deliverables include:

Publish selected papers from the AOC Symposium in a special issue of AEHMS
Prepare a science transfer report that helps sustain cleanup efforts in AOCs
Publish an edited book based on the symposium in the Ecovision World Monograph Series of AEHMS
Prepare a review article for the Journal of Great Lakes Research
Undertake education and outreach

Billions of dollars have been spent in the last 30 years on restoring Great Lakes AOCs. IAGLR’s and AEHMS’s long-term commitment to science and science-transfer make them uniquely qualified to perform this 30-year evaluation and share what has been learned world-wide.