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Significant Activities Report:
February 2002
International Activities
 Outline of Lake Huron |
Group Tackles Environmental Indicators for Lake Huron
James Schardt, Vicki Thomas, and Duane Heaton of the USEPA Great Lakes
National Program Office (GLNPO) participated in the Lake Huron
Workshop in Port Huron, Michigan on January 24, 2002. This binational workshop was organized by Michigan Department of
Environmental Quality's Office of the Great Lakes, GLNPO, and
Environment Canada. The focus of the meeting was on developing
environmental indicators for Lake Huron. During the morning plenary
session, James Schardt gave a presentation on Lake Huron Indicators:
An Overview. Duane Heaton's plenary presentation on Biodiversity
Investment Areas (BIAs) emphasized those BIAs around Lake Huron, and
was based on the binational paper integrating nearshore terrestrial,
coastal wetlands, and aquatic BIAs presented by Ron Reid and Karen
Rodriguez at the 2000 State of the Lakes Ecosystem Conference. Duane
Heaton also gave a presentation on the Great Lakes Coastal Wetland
Consortium in one of the breakout sessions. The conference was very
successful, with about 140 enthusiastic participants. A meeting
summary will be available. In April 2002, a progress report on the
Lake Huron Initiative will be released along with the LaMP Updates. On
the next day, GLNPO, the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality,
Environment Canada, and the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources
initiated discussions on the possible scope of a formal, binational
effort on Lake Huron. Follow-up discussions are planned for later this
Winter.
Contact: Duane
Heaton, USEPA - GLNPO (312) 886-6399
James Schardt, USEPA -
GLNPO (312) 353-5085
Vicki Thomas, USEPA - GLNPO
(312) 886-6942
 Great Lakes Logo |
Planning for 2002 State of the Lakes Ecosystem Conference in
High Gear
The Steering Committee for the State of the Lakes Ecosystem Conference
(SOLEC) met on February 6th and 7th at the Cleveland Convention
Center, which will be the site of SOLEC 2002 on October 16th and 18th.
Approximately 30 committee members from the United States and Canada
attended, coming to agreement on the agenda and structure of the 2-day
conference. At SOLEC 2002, morning plenary sessions will utilize over
40 of the SOLEC indicators to provide an update on the overall state
of the Great Lakes, management implications, the biological integrity
of the Lakes, and the status of each of the Lakes and connecting
channels. There will be afternoon breakout sessions on the first 2
days, which will include short presentations followed by facilitated
discussions on the various components of the Great Lakes ecosystem and
other relevant issues.
Contact: Paul
Bertram, USEPA - GLNPO (312) 353-0153
Duane Heaton, USEPA - GLNPO (312) 886-6399
Paul Horvatin, USEPA -
GLNPO (312) 353-3612
Karen Thompson, USEPA - Region 5 (312) 353-8547
Amy Zavallo, USEPA - Region 5 Cleveland Office (440) 250-1707
Sediment Work
 An aerial view of the Milwaukee River |
Milwaukee River and
Harbor Cleanup Projects Are Center of Attention
On January 31, 2002 GLNPO's Scott Cieniawski attended a meeting
in Milwaukee, Wisconsin to discuss a variety of sediment assessment,
remediation, and beneficial reuse projects recently completed, or
scheduled for the Milwaukee Area of Concern. The main purpose of the
meeting was to coordinate activities between the state, local, and
federal agencies for addressing sediment issues within the Area of
Concern. Participants provided updates on the status of several
projects co-funded by USEPA's Great Lakes National Program Office,
including the "Topsoil Creation Project," "Remedial
Alternatives at the Milwaukee CDF," and "Laser-Induced
Fluorescence for Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbon Analysis."
Additionally, the group discussed a potential sediment remediation
project on the Kinnickinnic River that would involve cleaning up
approximately 30,000 cubic yards of sediments contaminated with up to
800 mg/kg of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons. The Corps of Engineers,
GLNPO, and the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources discussed
potential sources for technical and financial support for the
project.
Contact: Scott
Cieniawski, USEPA - GLNPO (312) 353-9184
 Eighteenmile Creek Remedial Action Plan Logo |
Eighteenmile Creek Sediments Probed
Under a grant from USEPA's Great Lakes National Program Office,
the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (NYSDEC)
completed a sediment sampling survey on Eighteenmile Creek as a follow
up to a 1994 sampling survey. Sampling results indicated that high
levels of trace metals (cadmium, 20.1 ppm; chromium, 1,490 ppm;
copper, 2,450 ppm; lead, 4,490 ppm; nickel, 997 ppm; silver, 8 ppm and
zinc, 15,100 ppm), Mirex (380 ppb), PCBs (25.85 ppm) and dioxins and
furans were found in the sediment. This confirmed that contaminated
sediments were the primary source of contamination responsible for
inclusion of a segment of the Erie Canal and Eighteenmile Creek on the
NYSDEC Priorities Waterbodies List, which indicates waterbodies with
impaired usage. This report will be forwarded to the NYSDEC's Division
of Environmental Remediation for their evaluation of remedial needs.
The findings have been published in a report entitled "Eighteenmile
Creek Sediment Study - December 2001" and the report is available
from the NYSDEC.
Contact: Demaree Collier, USEPA - GLNPO (312) 886-0214
Ecosystems
Winners of the 2001 Conservation and Native Landscaping Awards
Announced
On Saturday, January 26, 2002, USEPA GLNPO's Danielle Green
represented USEPA at the Illinois Association of Park Districts
meeting and presented the 2001 Conservation and Native Landscaping
Awards to eight park districts and municipalities within the Chicago
Wilderness region. The winners were:
Contact: Danielle
Green, USEPA - GLNPO (312) 886-7594
 Great Lakes Indian Fish and Wildlife Commission Logo |
Historic Spawning and Nursery Areas of Lake Superior Fish Mapped
Working under a grant from USEPA's Great Lakes National Program
Office, the Great Lakes Indian Fish and Wildlife Commission (GLIFWC)
has utilized a Geographic Information System (GIS) to identify
historic spawning and nursery areas of Lake Superior fish. The GIS
data has been used to create maps of 1,566 Lake Superior spawning
sites for various species of interest. The maps generated have been
produced at a Lake-wide scale, along with 41 detailed maps giving more
precise locations. The Lake Superior spawning and nursery locations
will be made available through GLIFWC's internet map server, allowing
public viewing of information for any of the 46 fish species in
combination with other information on navigation routes, lake
bathymetry, and the lake and rivers in the Lake Superior
watershed.
Contact: Sandra
Hellman, USEPA - GLNPO (312) 353-5006
Duane Heaton, USEPA - GLNPO
(312) 886-6399
Invasive Species
 Ocean-going ship being tied up at the dock |
Ballast Water Treatment Technologies Considered
A workshop on Ballast Water Treatment Technologies was held in
Silver Springs, Maryland on January 29-30, 2002. The purpose
of the workshop, which was hosted by NOAA, was to improve planning,
coordination, and information-sharing among federal agencies
supporting ballast water treatment, technology development, and
testing and demonstration. Presentations were made by representatives
of the federal agencies as well as the various Principal Investigators
working on specific ballast water projects. USEPA GLNPO's Marc Tuchman
gave a presentation describing some of the Great Lake-specific issues
related to ballast water, and provided details on the GLNPO Invasive
Species Program. Technologies discussed at the workshop included:
Ozonation; UV light; filtration; the use of resistant biofilm coatings
of ballast tanks; ultrasound and chemical treatment. Of particular
interest was a discussion related to the need for the development of
standardized protocols and criteria to determine the efficacy of
promising technologies.
Contact: Marc
Tuchman, USEPA - GLNPO (312) 353-1369
 Barges going past site of dispersed barrier on Chicago Ship and Sanitary Canal |
Aquatic Nuisance Species Dispersal Barrier Launch Readied
On January 10, 2002, Marc Tuchman attended the Chicago Ship and
Sanitary Canal Aquatic Nuisance Species Dispersal Barrier Advisory
Panel meeting. This demonstration project as proposed in the National
Invasive Species Act, authorized the U.S. Corps of Engineers to
identify methods for preventing and reducing the dispersal of aquatic
nuisance species between the Great Lakes basin and the Mississippi
River system. An electrical barrier was selected as the best option
for such a barrier and construction of the barrier was completed in
December 2001. The operation of the barrier is imminent, awaiting the
final negotiation by the Corps of Engineers of a long-term Operation
and Maintenance agreement with the Contractor. Once all the contracts
are in place the effectiveness of the barrier will be monitored for
two years.
Contact: Marc
Tuchman, USEPA - GLNPO (312) 353-1369
 Ocean-going vessel being guided by tugboats |
Ballast Water Panel Studies Invasive Species Risks
On January 10, 2002, the No Ballast on Board (NOBOB) Advisory
Panel met via conference call to update the status of the NOBOB
Project. This project is jointly funded by USEPA's Great Lakes
National Program Office, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric
Administration and the U.S. Coast Guard. The focus of the project is
on examining the risk from foreign organisms from those ships entering
the Great Lakes system that are exempt from the ballast water exchange
requirements. Ships that come in from foreign ports with a full load
of cargo on board may have their ballast tanks "empty," with
no ballast on board according to the regulations. However, these
"empty" tanks can still contain sediments, sludges, and can
thus harbor live biological organisms. Under this project, a total of
22 vessels have been sampled so far and analysis is currently underway
to examine the phytoplankton, zooplankton, bacterial and viral
communities that reside in the bottom sediments of these NOBOB
vessels. Preliminary results confirmed the presence of large numbers
of live organisms, as well as many resting stages and cysts. Sampling
will continue through 2002.
Contact: Marc Tuchman, USEPA - GLNPO (312) 353-1369
Monitoring and Research Activities
Quality Input Means Quality Output
USEPA GLNPO's Quality Assurance Team Leader, Lou Blume, is a
co-presenter of two papers accepted for presentation at USEPA's 21st
Annual Conference on Managing Environmental Systems. The Conference
will be held in Phoenix Arizona from April 8-11, 2002. The
papers are:
-
"Quantifying Uncertainty: Are We There Yet?", which Lou co-authored with Judy Schofield and Ken Miller, of DynCorp I&ET, Inc. This presentation will focus on techniques used for quantifying uncertainty utilized in the Lake Michigan Mass Balance Project.
-
"A Menu of Quality Systems: From TV Dinners to Filet Mignon," which Lou co-authored with William Telliard and Marion Kelly, of the Engineering and Analysis Division of USEPA's Office of Science & Technology, Office of Water; and Harry B. McCarty and Judy Schofield, DynCorp, Science & Engineering Group. This presentation will compare graded approaches for quality systems of projects that deal with projects of various scope from national rule-making; to sampling methodologies such as mercury, to support national regulations; to grant and demonstration projects at localized areas.
Contact: Lou Blume, USEPA - GLNPO (312) 353-2317