State of the Strait Conference Steering Committee - FWS photo by Steve Dushane

There is a long history of U.S.-Canada cooperation on investigating, monitoring, and managing the Great Lakes, including the Detroit River and Western Lake Erie.  The Detroit River-Western Lake Erie ecosystem has many long-term (30 or more years) data sets because of its manufacturing history that contributed to many long-standing environmental and natural resource problems.

On December 5, 2006 over 300 U.S. and Canadian stakesholders attended the State of the Strait Conference at the Flat Rock Community Center in Flat Rock, Michigan.  The theme of this conference was status and trends of key ecosystem indicators.  For the past two years over 100 people representing over 40 organizations have been working on the Detroit River-Western Lake Erie Indicator Project.  The purpose of the project is to:

·         Compile and interpret long-term data bases for ecosystem indicators from the Detroit River-Western Lake Erie basin;

·         Translate the information into understandable terms for policy-makers and managers; and

·         Make these indicator data and trends readily available.

The State of the Strait Conference featured a opening address by Canadian Consul General William Noble and both scientific presentations and panel discussions to answer questions, provide additional input to the project, and identify other indicators. 

One of the highlights of the conference was that over 100 university and high school students from both Canada and United States participated.  The State of the Strait Conference Steering Committee will be completing all indicators by April 2007 and then prepare a comprehensive and integrated assessment of State of the Strait by December 2007.  In total, at least 46 indicators will be used to assess State of the Strait. 

More information on the project can be found at: http://www.epa.gov/med/grosseile_site/indicators/index.html