Our Great Lakes

THE CANADA-ONTARIO AGREEMENT RESPECTING THE GREAT LAKES BASIN ECOSYSTEM

2002–2003 BIENNIAL PROGRESS REPORT

Annex 4 - Monitoring and Information Sharing

Introduction

Annex 4 is driven by the information sharing and monitoring requirements of the other three annexes as well as the need to manage the information required to help meet the projected results listed in this annex. Annex 4 includes two goals, two projected results and 11 commitments.

The 2002 COA has a vision of a healthy, prosperous, and sustainable Great Lakes Basin. To turn that vision into reality, the Agreement commits its partners to gathering the data needed to track environmental change and progress within the Great Lakes Basin.

The 2002 COA recognizes the important role that monitoring plays in detecting emerging issues and in characterizing historic issues that require action. Monitoring is also the key to tracking the progress made in reaching the environmental goals and results listed in the COA. Monitoring also helps define the actions required to remediate problem areas and then to protect them from further environmental harm.

Many agencies and individuals are involved in collecting, analyzing and reporting the data gathered through the monitoring systems in the Great Lakes Basin under this COA.

The Agreement commits its partners to sharing the data collected through the monitoring networks with all levels of government as well as with organizations and individuals in the Basin. To this end, the COA partners publish information about trends in environmental quality on the Internet and in written reports.

The focus of the work plans under this annex has been on sharing information and setting up a comprehensive management system.

A multi-agency task force has been established to examine strategies for integrating existing systems for managing information and for facilitating the sharing of information.

Progress Report 2002–2003

Annex 4 looks at the monitoring and reporting necessary to ensure that governments, organizations and residents have access to accurate information regarding the trends in environmental quality in the Great Lakes Basin.

This annex has two goals and two projected results.

Goals and Progress Made

Goal 1 Coordinated and efficient federal/provincial scientific monitoring.

• COA signatories and local communities monitored the quality of water, air and sediments in the Great Lakes Basin, on a lakewide basis and in specific AOCs.
• Monitoring programs tracked wildlife and fish populations, measured tissue concentrations of contaminants, monitored industrial emissions and sewage discharge, mapped the impacts of land use on water quality, assessed changes in habitat, and assessed impacts of restoration activities.
• A combination of general (ambient) environmental monitoring and investigative monitoring programs determined long-term changes in environmental quality, and ecosystem composition and function. These programs also tracked the effectiveness of remediation and protection actions, and identified new issues to be addressed.

Goal 2 An information management system for tracking environmental change and progress.

• Established a task force to examine strategies for integrating the existing information management systems of all the COA partners. A framework for an information management system is in the early planning stages.

The Expected Results and Progress Made

Result 1 Responsive and comprehensive monitoring program.

• Developed and maintained an inventory of ongoing monitoring programs and activities to achieve the goal of coordinated and efficient federal/provincial scientific monitoring that provides accurate and timely information regarding trends in environmental quality. This inventory of monitoring programs will be linked to other inventories that describe programs conducted by other partners in Great Lakes monitoring – such as U.S. federal and state agencies collaborating with Canada and Ontario on specific LaMPs.
• Initiated reviews of monitoring needs for individual technical committees (for Annexes 1–3) for the development and implementation of LaMPs, the tracking of harmful pollutant loadings and reductions, and the assessment of progress in restoring impaired uses in AOCs. Federal and provincial COA partners continued to compile and review monitoring needs, as identified by these committees in order to formulate a multi-year monitoring plan that meets the needs of COA.
• Analyzed the COA work planning database. This will identify any gaps in agency programs, as well as any outstanding initiatives.
• Began the task of identifying existing monitoring databases and requirements.
• Collected monitoring data specific to evaluating the restoration of Beneficial Use Impairments (BUIs) and delisting criteria.

Result 2 Scientific data and information shared among government, organizations and Basin residents.

Initiated the development of Lakeviews – a geospatial data and information access system – to provide easy access to federal and provincial Great Lakes information databases. Initially, Lakeviews will serve the COA community, but will be expanded to serve the general public. Engaged Land Information Ontario (LIO) and the Water Resources Information Project (WRIP) in the development of Lakeviews to ensure compatibility with current provincial informationmanagement systems. Great Lakes data being prepared for inclusion includes near-shorewater quality, sediment and tissue monitoring results, digital elevation models, watershedboundaries, land cover, soil types, roads, streams, etc.

• Engaged the federal Canadian Information Systems for the Environment (CISE) through its regional arm, the Ontario Regional Information Systems for the Environment (ORISE) in the development of Lakeviews using federal Great Lakes databases.
• Adopted CISE best practices and the principles of free exchange of information. Data will be collected in the most efficient manner possible, and will then be shared with the broader environmental management community.
• Continued development of the ORISE website to provide monitoring information on environmental quality and trends. A provincial site will offer similar information, with the two sites complementing one another.
• Continued the development of the content and structure of a unified website (federal/provincial).

Information sharing supports better decisions: The Lakeviews story

In recent years, the federal and provincial governments, conservation authorities and other investigators have made heavy investments in Great Lakes research. They have been collecting data, monitoring environmental conditions, tracking trends, and analyzing ecosystem events throughout the Basin. All that activity is generating an enormous amount of environmental data, but the problem has been how to coordinate the myriad of detail in a meaningful and useful format.

Buffer Strips: How-to guide helps shoreline protection efforts

Life is richest along the shoreline in the transition zone – the buffer strips – between land and water. That’s where wildlife scavenges, water birds nest and search for food, frogs find shelter, and many species of fish come to spawn. A thick, permanent strip of aquatic and terrestrial vegetation along the waterfront or a stream’s banks also acts as a stabilizing influence. It helps prevent erosion, can restrict livestock from wetlands and streams, provides shade to keep the water cool, and filters out many of the nutrients and other contaminants in the runoff that eventually could make its way to the lake.

The importance of restoring and protecting the buffer strips

“Restoring and protecting these vital buffer strips adjacent to farming operations, feeder streams and the open water is a key element in many Great Lakes environmental projects,” says Mike Hicknell of Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada.

To support this important work, a multi-disciplinary team of government and non-government stakeholders coordinated by the Ontario Cattlemen’s Association has produced a booklet, Buffer Strips. This full-colour, 141-page guide shows landowners how to establish, enhance and retain these protective barriers as part of the natural environment. The booklet was produced under the auspices of the Ontario Best Management Practices (BMP) program, a partnership of Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, the Ontario Federation of Agriculture, and the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture and Food.

Planning and implementing shoreline protection projects

The publication is helping farmers and rural landowners plan and implement a variety of shoreline protection projects. It shows how to plan, establish, and maintain an effective and hardy buffer strip around wetlands and ponds, and alongside streams and lakes using locally available trees, shrubs and grasses.

Buffer Strips also illustrates how to expand and manage existing buffers by restricting livestock access, rethinking mowing patterns, using conservation-based tillage systems, and limiting the use of pesticides and fertilizers. The publication shows how to calculate the optimum width of a buffer zone, and whether or not fencing is recommended.

Positive results

The results being achieved by better-designed buffers in hundreds of sites in many Ontario watersheds will help reduce contaminant and nutrient loadings. By providing more shade, cleaner and cooler water, and greater plant diversity, the work is also improving and creating fish and wildlife habitat.

In addition, a well-designed buffer strip will protect the adjoining farmlands from wind damage while harbouring birds, insects, and other wildlife that have the potential to eliminate many crop pests. The establishment of buffer strips on farms also fulfills a shared COA responsibility for providing suitable conditions for rehabilitated, conserved, and protected fish and wildlife habitats and protected areas.

“Buffer Strips demonstrates best management practices and shows what can be achieved when 25 representatives from a wide range of organizations and disciplines – each with their own perspectives and expertise – collaborate with a common goal in mind,” says Ted Taylor of the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture and Food.

These best management practices present affordable and practical options that allow farmers and rural landowners to protect soil and water resources on the farm.

“They are designed to support individual farm planning and decision-making over the short and long-term,” says Hicknell of Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada. “Publications like Buffer Strips show farmers and rural landowners how they can harmonize productivity, business objectives, and environmental concerns.”

Winning publications

Buffer Strips is just one of a growing catalogue of award-winning publications, videos, CD-ROMs and slide shows produced under the BMP program. Each of the practices and publications is designed and reviewed by a team of farmers, researchers, natural resource managers, regulatory agency staff, and agribusiness professionals.

Five of the BMP books have won Blue Ribbon Awards from the American Society of Agricultural Engineers for excellence in extension materials. And they are making an impact out in the field where it really counts. Market research suggests that most Ontario farmers are aware of the publications and approximately two-thirds of the farmers who have read them have undertaken some action to make environmental improvements on their farms.