$1.76 million awarded for fish and wildlife restoration in the Great Lakes Basin

We at the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service are pleased to announce that $1.76 million in 2020 federal funding has been awarded under the Great Lakes Fish and Wildlife Restoration Act grant program to restore sustainable populations of fish and wildlife resources, and their habitats, in the Great Lakes Basin. Three regional and six research and restoration grant projects alone will provide more than $673,933 in non-federal partner match contributions. Additionally, these projects are partially supported with $922,000 from Great Lakes Restoration Initiative and $50,000 from the Upper Mississippi/Great Lakes Joint Venture Program funding.

Since 1998, the Great Lakes Fish and Wildlife Restoration Act has provided approximately $30.9 million in federal funds to 185 research and restoration and regional projects. Combined with the required matching monies from more than 132 non-federal partners, funding to benefit Great Lakes fish, wildlife and habitats tops $45.1 million.

Projects funded in fiscal year 2020 include:

Regional projects

• Great Lakes mallard movements, habitat selection, survival and productivity, Michigan Department of Natural Resources, $241,593.
• Resolution of nutritional deficiencies in captive bloater (Coregonus hoyi) brood stock gametes to advance coregonine restoration in the Great Lakes, Great Lakes Fishery Commission, $306,020.
• Development of a basis for allocation of fish production between management needs and double-crested cormorant predation within their nesting range, Michigan Department of Natural Resources, $72,996.

Research and restoration grant projects

• Spatial variation in lake whitefish recruitment in Lake Michigan: the potential roles of zooplankton prey and the relative fitness of Age-0 fish, University of Wisconsin – Stevens Point, $133,273.
• Lake Butte des Morts Wetland and common tern habitat restoration project, Fox-Wolf Watershed Alliance, $185,000.
• Spawning site selection by lake whitefish at two spawning grounds in northeast Lake Michigan, United States Geological Survey, $209,194.
• Collaborative partnership to demonstrate restoration of early successional wet meadow in northeast Ohio, The Nature Conservancy, $165,400.
• Development and application of eDNA biodiversity survey tools to identify critical habitat for wetland herpetological communities in the Great Lakes, Michigan State University, $278,185.
• Enhancing management of the threatened wood turtle (Glyptemys insculpta) in the Great Lakes region, Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources, $168,463.

Learn more about the Great Lakes Fish and Wildlife Restoration Act and how to apply for funding.