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SOLEC 2011 Success Story Recipients

Since 1996, the State of the Lakes Ecosystem Conference Steering Committee has recognized various organizations and agencies with a SOLEC Success Story award. Each project must exemplify a strong commitment to improving the environment within the Great Lakes basin by demonstrating all of the following criteria:

  • show improvement in the “integrity” of the Great Lakes or local ecosystem
  • forge linkages among environment, community, and/or economy
  • create a “win-win” situation where all involved parties benefited
  • form strong partnerships
  • demonstrate adequate monitoring of effectiveness and/or influenced decision-making
  • develop and distributed educational information that promotes positive activities and attitudes regarding the environment

Binational projects were given special consideration during the 2011 evaluation process.

Recipients of this award received special recognition from the Canadian and American Consuls General at SOLEC 2011.  

Twenty-nine (29) projects were received during the 2011 nomination process. All projects are congratulated for their hard work and dedication to improving conditions in the Great Lakes.

The SOLEC 2011 Success Story Recipients are:

Citizen Scientists

Citizen Scientists is a non-profit organization that is entirely volunteer-driven. It pairs local citizens with experts in aquatic ecosystems, with the goal of promoting stewardship of aquatic resources. Citizen volunteers complete training and orientation where they learn about Great Lakes aquatic ecosystems and surveying techniques. Volunteers then collect valuable data which is used by their partners to:

  • improve management of aquatic ecosystems;
  • develop recovery actions, and;
  • improve academic research.

Citizen Scientists helps foster important local partnerships by linking community members with fisheries managers, planners and academia.

Conesus Lake Watershed Research Team

The Conesus Lake Watershed Project (located in the Finger Lakes region) was a large multidisciplinary study evaluating agricultural management practices in the Great Lakes basin. The study considered the effects of Best Management Practices (BMPs) designed to control non-point sources on water chemistry, metaphyton, macrophytes, and microbial populations in the coastal zone of a lake.

Ultimately, this study expands the basic understanding of the ability of BMPs to control non-point source pollution while contributing toward the goal of improving water quality of downstream systems.

This project highlights the importance of integrating research, education and outreach in solving watershed problems.

Healing Our Waters

The Healing Our Waters-Great Lakes Coalition consists of over 100 environmental, conservation, and outdoor recreation organizations, who share a common goal of restoring and protecting the Great Lakes. Coalition efforts to develop a Great Lakes restoration strategy and secure federal funding for the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative (GLRI) have resulted in Federal programs that are benefitting the environment, people, communities and businesses. Coalition partners are:

  • stopping sewage contamination that closes beaches and harms recreation;
  • cleaning up toxic sediments that threaten the health of people and wildlife;
  • preventing polluted runoff from cities and farms that harm water quality;
  • restoring and protecting high quality wetlands and wildlife habitat, and;
  • preventing the introduction of invasive species, such as Asian carp.

Lake Erie Watersnake Recovery Project

A collaborative representing government, academia, non-profit organizations, and local landowners has developed over the past 15 years to address recovery actions for the Lake Erie Watersnake, a federal threatened species that occurs only on the western Lake Erie Islands. Due to the successful partnerships, the watersnake population has recovered and will be removed from the federal list of endangered and threatened species in 2011. Additionally, native island plants and wildlife, landowners, and visitors to the islands will benefit from the many shoreline areas that have been voluntarily set aside to protect the watersnake.

Sarnia-Lambton Environmental Association

The Sarnia-Lambton Environmental Association (SLEA) is a voluntary industrial cooperative of 22 operating facilities in Sarnia-Lambton, Ontario which through third party experts has been monitoring the water in the St. Clair River and the local air shed for close to 60 years. The network tracks long-term environmental change in the local area. In more recent years, this program has been expanded to include an active pollution prevention and sustainability focus and includes a multi-stakeholder collaboration and public outreach - cooperative component.

Through this effort, the SLEA has created new opportunities for local industry to study best practices for combining their economic, environmental and social interests in a manner that would improve performance.

Township of Huron-Kinloss

Working with local beach associations to address issues surrounding nuisance algal blooms, nearshore water quality, and nutrients loads in local water courses, the Township of Huron-Kinloss has implemented a successful, mandatory septic inspection program. Initiated in 2004, the Huron-Kinloss Community Septic Inspection program is in its fifth year of septic inspections. The majority of properties in Huron-Kinloss are serviced by private, on-site septic systems, with an estimated 2,800 septic systems in the Township. The program has inspected 1,530 septic systems as of June of 2011. During these inspections, systems deficiencies are identified and then work begins with property owners to solve problems which may pose a hazard to human health and the environment.

The Huron-Kinloss Community Septic Inspection Program, in conjunction with the ongoing water quality monitoring program, represents the commitment of the Township to improve the integrity of the local ecosystem and the Lake Huron shore.

Rouge River National Wet Weather Demonstration Project

The Rouge Project was initiated in 1992 by the Department of the Environment, Wayne County, Michigan. This cooperative effort between federal, state and local agencies, public institutions, environmental non-profit organizations, and concerned citizens is a working example of how a systematic watershed approach to pollution management can result in cost-effective and ecological improvements.

For example, 89 of the 127 miles (143 of 204 kilometres) of larger streams and tributaries in the watershed are now free from public health threats associated with uncontrolled Combined Sewer Overflow discharges. All eight dissolved oxygen water monitoring stations have reported meeting water quality standards 99% of the time for the past seven years as compared to 30% of the time at the inception of the Rouge Project.

Numerous educational programs and materials have been developed, implemented and distributed to promote positive attitudes and actions in the Rouge River watershed.

Western Reserve Land Conservancy

Western Reserve Land Conservancy is a nonprofit conservation organization dedicated to preserving the natural resources of northern Ohio. The project works with landowners, communities, government agencies, park systems and other nonprofit organizations to permanently protect natural areas and farmland. This preservation of land protects water quality, ecology and scenic character of one of the most picturesque streams in the Lake Erie basin.

Together, the Land Conservancy and its conservation partners have preserved important riparian and wetland habitat along the Grand River totaling more than 25,000 acres. The Grand River is home to 87 species of fish, 115 bird species and 60 rare plants and drains the most biologically diverse watershed flowing into Lake Erie in the United States or Canada.

Past SOLEC Success Story Recipients

SOLEC 2008

  • Buffalo Niagara Riverkeeper (Buffalo, NY)
  • Chicago Conservation Corps (Chicago, IL)
  • Manitoulin Streams Improvement Association (Manitoulin Island, ON)
  • United States Steel Corporation - Gary Works (Gary, IN)
  • Zero Waste Action Team of Thunder Bay (Thunder Bay, ON)

SOLEC 2006

  • Earth Keepers (Upper Peninsula, MI)
  • EcoSuperior (Lake Superior Basin)
  • Menomonee Valley Partners, Inc. (Milwaukee, WI)
  • Michigan Pulp & Paper Environment Council – Pulp, Paper & Product Pollution
    Prevention Program (State of Michigan)
  • Northern Wood Preservers Alternative Remediation Concept (NOWPARC)
    (Thunder Bay, ON)
  • Oswego River Area of Concern Remedial Action Committee (RAC) and the City of Oswego, New York (Oswego, NY)
  • Ruddiman Creek Great Lakes Legacy Act Sediment Remediation Project (Muskegon,MI)

SOLEC 2004

  • DTE Energy Monroe Power Plan Lake Sturgeon Habitat and Education Project (Detroit, MI)
  • The Junction Creek Stewardship Committee (Sudbury, ON)
  • The Michigan Dunes Alliance (Sawyer, MI)
  • The Lake Huron Centre for Coastal Conservation of Ontario (Blyth, ON)
  • Mercury Pollution Prevention Initiative: International Steel Group Burns Harbor, LLC, Ispat Inland Inc., Indiana Harbor Works, United States Steel Gary Works (Indiana)

SOLEC 2002

  • Chicago Wilderness (Chicago, IL)
  • Humber Bay Shores Project(s) (Toronto, ON)
  • Lachine Rapids Coordinating Committee (Montreal, QC)
  • National Council for Air and Stream Improvement, Inc - Eastern Wildlife Program (MI and Great Lakes region)
  • Nicolet Hardwood Corporation (Laona, WI)
  • Springfield Township (Oakland County, MI)
  • Special award to Cleveland RAP (Cleveland, OH)

SOLEC 2000

  • Ontario’s Environmental Farm Plan (Ontario)
  • Saginaw Bay Watershed Initiative Network (Saginaw Bay, MI)
  • Rural Water Quality Program (Waterloo, ON)
  • Ontario Power Generation - Carbon Sequestration and Biodiversity Management Program (Ontario)
  • Tip of the Mitt Watershed Council (Michigan)
  • Xerox (Great Lakes region)
  • Hamilton Harbour RAP (Hamilton, ON)

SOLEC 1998

  • Brantford Division of Union Gas Limited (Brantford, ON)
  • The City of Buffalo (Buffalo, NY)
  • Buffalo River Habitat Restoration Sites (Erie County, NY)
  • Rondeau Bay Rehabilitation Program (Chatham, ON)
  • The Waukegan Harbor Citizens Advisory Group (Waukegon Harbor, IL)

SOLEC 1996

  • Grand Traverse Bay Watershed Initiative (Grand Traverse Bay, MI)
  • Ojibway Park and Nature Centre (Windsor, ON)
  • Northern Indiana Public Service Company (NIPSCO) (Merrillville, IN)
  • The Friends of Second Marsh (Oshawa, ON)
  • Cleveland: The city, the county and the RAP (Cleveland, OH)
  • Task Force to Bring Back the Don (Toronto, ON)
  • The Ontario Dune Coalition (Eastern Lake Ontario, NY)