Bridging conservation gaps: ecosystem-based management actions at coastal industrial facilities

Session: Ecosystem-Based Management: Challenges and Opportunities on the Great Lakes Coasts

Rhiannon Ulatowski, Wildlife Habitat Council, [email protected]
Daniel Goldfarb, Wildlife Habitat Council, [email protected]

Abstract

Active industrial lands and facilities cover a large percentage of Lake Michigan shorelines, fragmenting natural areas such as forest preserves, state parks, and the Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore. The Wildlife Habitat Council works with industrial landowners on Coastal Lake Michigan in Illinois and Indiana to implement ecosystem-based management programs to increase employee and community engagement in conservation science, reduce industrial stormwater runoff, increase sequestration of air pollutants, and increase coastal biodiversity. Our USFS-GLRI funded projects promote ecosystem-based management by engage employees, state and federal agencies, conservation groups and communities in expanding coastal conservation and habitat restoration opportunities. We organize monthly industrial cooperative workdays consisting of: invasive species education and management, urban forestry actions for reduction of stormwater runoff and fugitive dust collection, rain garden and swale creations for watershed health, and BioBlitz’s to inventory the ecosystems present. Data collection platforms such as: iTree, iNaturalist, and EDMAPS are used to track and share data, allowing for adaptive management practices. However, there are still gaps in scientific data, such as: industrial facilities not participating in conservation actions, and the inability to access/share data with other scientist’s in the Great Lakes region working on similar projects.

Twitter handle of presenter
@wildlifehc