Noaa's Regional Initiative to Remediate and Restore Habitat within the Manistique River Great Lakes Area of Concern

An overview of a regional initiative under NOAA’s Habitat Blueprint framework to improve habitat within the Manistique River in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan will be presented to the fisheries community. The Manistique River and its harbor have been identified in the 1987 amendments to the Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement as a Great Lakes Area of Concern, an environmentally degraded area of the basin. Under CERCLA and Marine Debris authorities, NOAA will direct habitat restoration, remediation, and marine debris removal through NOAA Fisheries Restoration Center’s Great Lakes Region and the Marine Debris Program. These programs have the technical expertise to address the contaminated sediments, debris removal and additional restoration work necessary to improve habitat condition and function resulting in benefits to the coastal communities of Lake Michigan. In addition, the Restoration Center will collaborate with appropriate scientists within the region to address various modeling and surveys required to complete the remediation and restoration work.