Restoring the Great Lakes: Success Stories from a Decade of the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative

The sheer scale of the world’s largest chain of freshwater lakes often startles first-time visitors of the Great Lakes. When standing on the shores of Lake Superior, Lake Huron, Lake Michigan, Lake Ontario or Lake Erie it quickly becomes evident how this tremendous resource earned its mighty title. Together the Great Lakes comprise more than 10,000 miles of coastline and 30,000 islands. They help us transport commercial goods, they provide jobs and help us generate power to heat our homes. They are a financial engine, injecting roughly $62 billion in American wages into the region.

The Great Lakes also nurture our spirits. They give us outstanding recreational opportunities to fish, boat, hunt, camp and so much more. We at the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service work with partners across state, tribal and international boundaries to restore the Great Lakes for the fish, wildlife, plants and people that call this region home. We are also dedicated to collaborating with our partners in industry and non-profit organizations to find innovative solutions to recover threatened and endangered species, and even better, keep them off the endangered species list in the first place.

Please join us as we mark a decade of the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative with this retrospective collection of successes. We are proud of the passion that the women and men of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service bring every day to restoring the Great Lakes, especially over the past decade. We would like to thank all of our partners who have been vitally important in this huge undertaking. Throughout the last decade, more than a dozen federal agencies have implemented the Great Lakes
Restoration Initiative. Generous support from countless academic institutions, state, tribal and nonprofit project partners furthered our actions.

Our projects in the Great Lakes reflect the passion and the hard work of our staff. We invite you to come witness that dedication for yourself. Come visit our national wildlife refuges and national fish hatcheries to learn more about the work we do and the people who make it happen.