This is the largest freshwater body on earth. It has sustained generations of indigenous land stewards, settlers, migrants and refugees, visitors and tourists.
Each lake has something unique to offer in terms of culture, community, and the dynamics of the land-lake interface. Like the rest of the US coastline, the ecosystems and culture of the people, plant, and animal relatives are also shifting with changes in climate and with the impacts of systemic social injustices.
At CSO, we are honored to have the opportunity to work in close relationship with the peoples and the ecosystems of the Great Lakes, through our support of the Great Lakes coastal programs in their amazing work in healing, connecting, and restoring the mosaic of this beautiful blue watershed.
Map of Great Lakes watershed by The Nature Conservancy and Erb Family Foundation. Learn more about their work here.
To restore coastal and nearshore habitats in the Great Lakes through the lens of climate hazard resilience, ecological diversity, community benefits and cultural cohesion.
This initiative takes habitat restoration projects into the schematic and conceptual design phase.
We contract with design teams who provide state and local partners with data, modelling, engineering expertise, and consensus-based facilitation services to decide on what approach would work best for a site.
This design initiative allows our state coastal management programs and their partners to have design blueprints ready in hand to seek funding for permitting and construction.
We designed the project to provide additional capacity to Great Lakes state coastal management programs. Through their network, this project benefits their local partners and ultimately the Great Lakes coastal ecosystem.
Starting from 2020, we worked with partners each year, to develop engineering and designs for 3-4 habitat restoration projects in the Great Lakes with an eye towards nature-based solutions that center equitable co-benefits.
This project has been ongoing since 2019 and continues to be cyclical, iterative, and adaptively managed. We believe that projects should mirror the habitats that we work in – being dynamic and honoring the cycles of change.
Map of Prioritized Projects from all Eight Great Lakes State Workshops. Developed by LimnoTech
Typically, we develop 60-80% engineering and design plans for each project site accompanied by a report that outlines considerations for taking these designs to full completion.
Depending on the site, some design packages come with renderings to help visualize the nature-based solution in the context of the larger landscape.
Other design packages include data and models that help inform further decision making about each project site.
Image on the left: Example of a data product developed as part of engineering and design for a biostabilization project along the Peshtigo River in Wisconsin.
Photo Credit: SmithGroup
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With the help of LimnoTech and RESPEC, we convened partners from across the Great Lakes states at regional workshops.
Together, we identified a list of 31 prioritized coastal and nearshore habitat restoration projects across the eight Great Lakes states – Illinois, Indiana, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania, New York.
You can read the workshop proceedings here: Workshop Report
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The designs focused on culvert replacement within the Tischer Creek watershed to improve fish habitat and connectivity in river systems.
Engineering plans led to geomorphic re-sizing of in-channel and floodplain openings at road/river intersections in Minnesota.
The project focused on restoring habitat connectivity to cold-water refuges for brook trout populations while supporting existing coordinated efforts for long-term watershed restoration.
Non-Technical Project Summary
Full report
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The designs focused on culvert replacement within the Sawmill Creek watershed to improve fish habitat and connectivity in river systems.
Engineering plans led to geomorphic re-sizing of in-channel and floodplain openings at road/river intersections in Minnesota.
The project focused on restoring habitat connectivity to cold-water refuges for brook trout populations while supporting existing coordinated efforts for long-term watershed restoration.
Non-Technical Project Summary
Full report
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This project is designed to restore and enhance habitat quality within a 42-acre wetland in the Shaker Tract unit of the Lake Shore Marshes Wildlife Management Area (WMA) in Sodus Bay (south of Sawmill Cove Bay).
Designs focused on four potholes to create muskrat habitat and diversify the plant community within the project area (3.47 acres total); and the development of an invasive species management plan for buckthorn within a designated invasive species management zone (0.38 acres total).
The project is expected to improve plant diversity within the wetland, improve wildlife habitat for muskrat, a keystone species, and promote native plants over invasive species within the wetland.
Technical Project Summary
Non-Technical Project Summary
Full report
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Tifft Nature Preserve is a 264-acre natural area in Buffalo, NY that is owned by the City of Buffalo and managed by the Buffalo Society of Natural Sciences.
It includes a 75-acre remnant cattail marsh, one of the largest in the Lake Erie coastal region.
Designs focused on cattail management and habitat diversification, shoreline softening, and invasive species management.
The project was aimed at restoring and enhancing wetland habitat quality within the Preserve and enhance habitat for a wide variety of marsh birds, migratory songbirds, and fish.
Technical Project Summary
Non-Technical Project Summary
Full report
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Many thanks to LimnoTech and SEH for being our lead contractors for these projects in 2021.
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The West River Shoreline Trail/Niagara River Shoreline & Aquatic Habitat Restoration project focuses on three sites on the west shoreline of Grand Island, within the west channel of the Niagara River.
The project goal for all three sites was to restore shoreline function and habitat by reducing bank erosion and sediment wash into the river.
Ancillary benefits of the project will introduce native plants to benefit migratory birds and structures for spawning fish in the river.
Technical Project Summary
Non-Technical Project Summary
Full report and renderings
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This project is an opportunity to enhance and improve ecosystem benefits by reducing sediment loading through stabilization of rapidly eroding streambanks, and improving spawning and rearing habitat for game and nongame fish species, including sensitive and threatened species.
The design, engineering, and installation of bioengineered solutions will serve to highlight the benefits of this approach to a local, state, and federal stakeholder audience comprised of agencies, public entities, NGOs, and other interest groups.
Technical Project Summary
Non-Technical Project Summary
Full report and renderings
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The Lake Erie nearshore zone east of Pennsylvania’s Presque Isle peninsula attracts lake trout and is a prime spawning ground.
The goal of this project is to collaborate with project partners to develop designs for spawning habitat improvements of about 10 acres.
In additional to the target species, lake trout, additional benefits are anticipated for walleye, perch, and other native species that use shoals, reefs, and other nearshore habitats in the project area.
Technical Project Summary
Non-Technical Project Summary
Full report and renderings
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The project at Big Sandy Bend will provide riverbank stabilization and protection from the negative impacts of downstream sedimentation within the coastal wetlands and floodplain habitat of the Pentwater Marsh.
Measures used to protect the slope will also allow for improvement in riverine habitat.
This included soft engineering solutions along Big Sandy Bend that provided bank stabilization and ancillary benefits to fish and wildlife, enhanced native vegetative cover and diversity, and improved Pentwater Marsh health as sedimentation from the Big Sandy Bend site decreases.
Technical Project Summary
Non-Technical Project Summary
Full report and renderings
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Many thanks to LimnoTech, Smith Group, GZA and Drummond-Carpenter for being our lead contractors for this project.
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The Little Calumet River Project seeks the restoration of degraded hemi-marsh wetland, nearshore, and riverine floodplain habitat in a heavily developed/impacted wetland near the south shore of Lake Michigan, improving nursery habitat, cover, and forage for fish, herps, waterfowl, secretive marsh birds and invertebrates.
The development of engineering and design plans focued on improving and enhancing a 1.5 mile segment of the Little Calumet River with improved fish passage, re-meandering and re-alignment with the historic river channel, provide a reduction in sedimentation, improved channel design and instream/riparian, and emergent hemi-marsh habitat reestablishment/enhancement.
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This project seeks to minimize erosion at culverts, prevent sediment from being added into wetland systems including Kimballs Bay and the St. Louis River Estuary, improve water quality, ensure connectivity, and protect wetland and upland habitat at, and near, culverts.
Three culverts will be targeted in the Dwight’s Point and Pokegama Wetlands State Natural Area at the Billings Drive crossing where the stream enters Kimballs Bay and the St. Louis River.
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The goal of the Slaughterhouse Creek project is to restore streambank and to reconnect brook trout habitat in Slaughterhouse Creek.
The project developed engineering and design plans to replace undersized culverts to enable the reconnection of streams and tributaries to benefit aquatic life, improve water quality, and accommodate the changing floodplain.
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The Hay Creek Project developed engineering and design plans to replace undersized culverts to enable the reconnection of streams and tributaries to benefit aquatic life, improve water quality, and accommodate the changing floodplain.
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Many thanks to Environmental Consulting & Technologies, Inc., Climate Resilience Consulting, and Short Elliott Hendrickson Inc for being our lead contractors for this project.
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Many thanks to Environmental Consulting & Technologies, Inc., Climate Resilience Consulting, and Short Elliott Hendrickson Inc for being our lead contractors for this project.
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NOAA Office for Coastal Management (Great Lakes Region), Great Lakes Coastal Zone Management programs, and a variety of federal, state, local and tribal partners who are interested in developing designs for habitat restoration in the Great Lakes.
Check out NOAA OCM’s Great Lakes Projects
Great Lakes Restoration Initiative Action Plan III, Focus Area IV.
Learn more about the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative’s Projects
This work was funded by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Office for Coastal Management in partnership with the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative.
Learn more about NOAA’s work in Great Lakes restoration
Do you have a project in the Great Lakes for which you are looking for engineering and design assistance? We will be conducting workshops where we will connect you with your state coastal zone management programs to develop and scope project ideas in 2024.
Please note that projects need to be on public property (or properties accessible to the public).
Want to learn more? E-mail Vidya Balasubramanyam at vbalasubramanyam@coastalstates.org
