IC3 Director among award receipients for Great Lakes research

Responding to water-level change of the Great Lakes and its impacts

The University of Michigan's Graham Sustainability Institute has awarded 7 grants, totaling $70,000, to 16 American and Canadian researchers. Among the research recipients is IC³'s Director, Dr. Daniel Scott, who will be helping communities adapt to current and future variability in Great Lakes water levels.

The goal of this research collaboration is to identify policy options and management actions for addressing water-level changes in the Great Lakes and for protecting the ecological integrity, economic susceptibility and cultural values of the region. 

Specifically, the 7 grants will be used for initiating the following projects:

• Building a Great Lakes lake-level policy for agency-owned and managed lands in northwestern Lower Michigan. Researchers from Oregon State University and the University of Michigan Biological Station will focus on Emmet County, at the northwestern tip of Michigan's Lower Peninsula. The study area contains several communities, including Petoskey, Harbor Springs and Mackinaw City.
• Huron County shoreline planning proposal for an integrated assessment of water-level fluctuations. Researchers from the University of Toronto at Scarborough and Environment Canada will focus on the Huron County, Ontario, town of Goderich.
• Transformative scenario planning in Collingwood, Ontario, using enhanced visualization techniques. Researchers from the University of Prince Edward Island, the University of Waterloo and the Ontario Water Center will focus on the town of Collingwood, on Lake Huron's Georgian Bay.
• Planning for an integrated assessment on water-level variability and coastal bluffs in northern Milwaukee County and southern Ozaukee County, Wisconsin. Researchers from Wisconsin Sea Grant, Concordia University, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee and University of Wisconsin-Madison will examine the impacts of changing water levels on an area of high coastal bluffs covering about 26 miles of Lake Michigan coastline in Wisconsin.
• Implementing adaptation: Developing land-use regulation and infrastructure policy to implement Great Lakes shoreland area management plans. Researchers from University of Michigan and Michigan Technological University have been working with the Lake Michigan communities of Ludington, Grand Haven and St. Joseph. They hope to expand their work to other Lake Michigan communities in the state and to Lake St. Clair in Macomb County.
• Inclusion of climate-change effects on lake levels in management plans of tribal fisheries. University of Michigan and Michigan State University researchers will seek to engage federally recognized indigenous tribes in the Great Lakes region to gain a better understanding of the potential impacts of climate-related variability on Great Lakes water levels and on the vulnerabilities of tribal communities, fisheries and governance.
• Regional partnerships to assess adaptive responses to Grand Traverse Bay Corridor water-level variations. Northwestern Michigan College researchers will focus on a project area that includes more than 150 miles of Lake Michigan shoreline near Traverse City in Michigan, from the town of Elk Rapids to Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore.

Congratulations Daniel!