Information Resources About the Great Lakes

WEBSITES

State of the Lakes Ecosystem Conference (SOLEC)
http://www.binational.net
http://www.on.ec.gc.ca/solec/intro.html
http://www.epa.gov/glnpo/solec/index.html

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
The Great Lakes of North America (Great Lakes National Program Office)
http://www.epa.gov/glnpo/
Great Lakes Areas of Concern
http://www.epa.gov/grtlakes/aoc

Environment Canada
Our Great Lakes (Great Lakes Program)
http://www.on.ec.gc.ca/water/greatlakes/intro-e.html
Canadian Remedial Action Plans
http://www.on.ec.gc.ca/water/raps

Great Lakes Fishery Commission
http://www.glfc.org

Human Health and the Great Lakes
http://www.great-lakes.net/humanhealth/index.html

Fish consumption in the Great Lakes
http://www.great-lakes.net/humanhealth/fish/index.html

Fish consumption advisories for the Great Lakes (state- and province-specific advice)
http://www.great-lakes.net/humanhealth/fish/advisories.html

Great Lakes Directory
http://www.greatlakesdirectory.org

Great Lakes Information Network
http://www.great-lakes.net

The Great Lakes: An Environmental Atlas and Resource Book
http://www.epa.gov/glnpo/atlas

International Joint Commission (a binational body on boundary waters, particularly the Great Lakes)
http://www.ijc.org

Zebra Mussels in the Great Lakes
http://nas.er.usgs.gov/zebra.mussel/

PRINTED REPORTS
Governments of the United States of America and Canada. State of the Great Lakes, report published biennially.
Government of Canada and United States Environmental Protection Agency. The Great Lakes: An Environmental Atlas and Resource Book, third edition, Toronto and Chicago, 1995.

SOURCES
The information contained in Our Great Lakes comes mainly from the State of the Great Lakes 2003 report, which is jointly produced by the governments of the United States and Canada. This report draws from the latest biennial SOLEC, where experts review information from hundreds of individuals, ranging from government scientists to representatives of non-governmental organizations to hunters and fishers. From their expertise comes a set of indicators for measuring the health of the lakes and our progress in restoring them.

You can obtain a copy of the State of the Great Lakes 2003 report at
http://www.binational.net

Information on SOLEC is available at the following websites:
http://www.on.ec.gc.ca/solec/intro.html
http://www.epa.gov/glnpo/solec/index.html

Our Great Lakes was jointly produced by the following government agencies, from which copies can be obtained:

Great Lakes and Corporate Affairs Branch
Environment Canada
4905 Dufferin Street
Toronto, Ontario M3H 5T4
Tel: 416-739-4826
Fax: 416-739-4776

Great Lakes National Program Office
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
77 W. Jackson Boulevard (G-17J)
Chicago, Illinois 60604-3511
Tel: 312-353-2117
Fax: 312-353-2018

English copy
ISBN 0-662-36264-0
Catalogue Number En164-2/2004E

French copy
ISBN 0-662-76045-X
Catalogue Number En164-2/2004F

CREDITS
Author: Michael Keating, Toronto, Ontario
Editor: Sarah Weber, Toronto, Ontario
Design and layout: Agensky and Company Limited, Toronto, Ontario

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
This report was made possible by the valuable contributions of many people and organizations involved in monitoring ecosystem indicators in the Great Lakes basin. Thank you to the following individuals who provided comments and advice on this text.

Robert Allen, United States Coast Guard
Doug Barnes, Ontario Ministry of the Environment
Alex Basiji, Environment Canada
Kate Beardsley, United States Environmental Protection Agency
Paul Bertram, United States Environmental Protection Agency
Lori Boughton, State of Pennsylvania, Department of Environmental Protection
Erin Clark, Environment Canada
John Cooper, Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources
Elizabeth Crawford, Environment Canada
Ken DeBeaussaert, Michigan Department of Environmental Quality
Margaret Dochoda, Great Lakes Fishery Commission
Christine Forst, United States Environmental Protection Agency Paige Gilmore, Environment Canada
Michael Goffin, Environment Canada
Gary Gulezian, United States Environmental Protection Agency
Paul Horvatin, United States Environmental Protection Agency John Jackson, Great Lakes United
Anthony Kizlauskas, United States Environmental Protection Agency
Robert Kent, Environment Canada
Roger Knight, Ohio Department of Natural Resources
George Kuper, Council of Great Lakes Industries
Fred Luckey, United States Environmental Protection Agency Maureen Martinuk, Environment Canada
John Mills, Environment Canada
Per Nilsen, Parks Canada
Patty O’Donnell, Great Lakes United
Dale Phenicie, Council of Great Lakes Industries
Harvey Shear, Environment Canada
Nancy Stadler-Salt, Environment Canada
Evelyn Strader, Council of Great Lakes Industries
Vicki Thomas, United States Environmental Protection Agency
David Ullrich, Great Lakes Cities Initiative
Joel Weiner, Health Canada
Margaret Wooster, Great Lakes United

LIST OF FIGURES
Note – page numbers will have to be adjusted to correspond to text as laid out

Figure 1: Results of tests of treated drinking water from sources around the Great Lakes 1999 – 2001. Pg. 7
Adapted from data in State of the Great Lakes Report 2003

Figure 2: Locations of public water systems in the Great Lakes and the source from which the water is drawn. Pg. 9
State of the Great Lakes Report 2003 Figure 82 and Mike Makdisi, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency intern

Figure 3: Proportion of U.S. and Canadian Great Lakes beaches open all of the bathing season. Pg. 11
Adapted from data in State of the Great Lakes Report 2003 Figure 80

Figure 4: Trends of PCBs in Great Lakes Coho salmon. Pg. 12
State of the Great Lakes Report 2003 Figure 67 and Sandy Hellman, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency-Great Lakes National Program Office

Figure 5: Contaminants that cause fish consumption advisories in each of the Great Lakes. Pg. 15
State of the Great Lakes 2003 fact sheet

Figure 6: Trends in abundance of lake trout in Lake Superior. Pg. 15
Adapted from State of the Great Lakes Report 2003 Figure 43 and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service

Figure 7: Trends in abundance of Lake Erie walleye. Pg. 17
Report of the Lake Erie Walleye Task Group March 2000 Figure 11

Figure 8: Average number of bald eagle nesting areas per year by lake. Pg. 19
State of the Great Lakes Report 2003 Figure 72 and Dave Best, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service; Pamela Martin, Canadian Wildlife Service; and Michael Meyer, Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources

Figure 9: Bald eagle shoreline nesting areas along the Great Lakes shorelines, 2000. Pg. 19
State of the Great Lakes Report 2003 Figure 71 and W. Bowerman, Clemson University, Lake Superior LaMPs, and for Lake Ontario, Peter Nye, and N.Y. Department of Environmental Conservation

Figure 10: Increase of non-native species in the Great Lakes through the 20th century. Pg. 20
Adapted from International Joint Commission 11th Biennial Report, Ricciardi 2001 and MacIsaac 2000

Figure 11: Spread of zebra mussels in North America from 1988 to 2003. Pg. 21
U.S. Geological Survey, Florida Integrated Science Center—Gainesville