Welcome
to the
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's
Great Lakes Basin Ecosystem Team Web Site
The Great Lakes Basin Ecosystem contains the largest body of fresh water in the world, holding 18 percent of the world's fresh surface water. It drains 288,000 square miles and covers 95,000 square miles with 9,000 miles of shoreline, 5,000 tributaries, and 30,000 islands.
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) Great Lakes Basin Ecosystem Team is focused on restoring an protecting Great Lakes fish and wildlife resources. The Team is comprised of participation by the 43 field stations in the Great Lakes ecosystem and represent a range of Service programs that work to restore and protect the Nation's trust resources, including migratory birds, threatened and endangered species, and interjurisdictional fisheries. Through the Team and its partners in the ecosystem, the Service addresses landscape-scale resource objectives using an ecosystem approach.
The Great Lakes Basin Ecosystem Team is focusing much of its efforts on the basin-wide issues of lake sturgeon, invasive species, and coastal habitat restoration and the conservation of migratory birds, endangered species, and island environments. Although there are a myriad of critical issues in the Great Lakes basin, the Team decided on these issues in order to make strides in these areas over and above the work that the Service was already doing in the basin. Specific objectives of the team in these areas may be found in the team's strategic action plans.
Link to the Team's priorities: Invasive Species, GIS Decision Support, Great Lakes Islands, Lake Sturgeon, Migratory Birds, Endangered Species, Education and Outreach, and Coastal Habitat Restoration.
The USFWS Great Lakes Basin Ecosystem Team works closely with others to carry out our mission and mandates, and strives to contribute to the effective conservation of natural biological diversity through perpetuation of a dynamic and healthy Great Lakes ecosystem.
Team Links: Search this site, Team Accomplishments, Fact Sheets and Resources, Map and Station Locations, Executive Committee, Meetings, 2005 Strategic Action Plans, Send your Feedback, Home
Great Lakes Links: Great Lakes Regional Collaboration, Great Lakes Interagency Task Force, GAO Great Lakes Reports, Great Lakes Strategy, Great Lakes Information Network, More Links
US Fish and Wildlife Service Links: Ecosystem Conservation, USFWS Region 3, USFWS Region 5, USFWS Home, Disclaimer
News Links: Great Lakes Related News Releases, USFWS Virtual Newsroom
Of Interest in the Great Lakes: The NEW Great Lakes Lake Sturgeon Tributary Database and Geographic Information System (GIS) is an interactive GIS application that allows you to search for sturgeon information by tributary. Funded by the Great Lakes Fishery Trust.
New Government Accountability Office (GAO) Report on the Great Lakes - Environmental Indicators: Better Coordination is Needed to Develop Environmental Indicator Sets That Inform Decisions - November 17, 2004 (GAO-05-52)
Wind Power and Wildlife Conference Information updated August 1, 2006
Updated August 1, 2006
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