The Great Lakes Basin Ecosystem Team will host a meeting on September 15-16, 2008, at the Brookfield Zoo, near Chicago.  The purposes of the meeting are to: Learn about significant current issues that may be relevant to team members; Meet team members and network with partners working in the Great Lakes ecosystem; Identify appropriate roles for the team in addressing key issues and identify next steps to move forward on these issues. 

Topics for discussion include: The Zoo and Aquarium Partnership of the Great Lakes; Great Lakes Fisheries; Great Lakes Migratory Birds; Aquatic Nuisance Species; Great Lakes Regional Collaboration; and Climate Change in the Great Lakes Region.  Significant time will be spent developing methods for team members to address important and emerging issues affecting natural resources within the Great Lakes ecosystem.  

The USFWS Great Lakes Basin Ecosystem Team is comprised of participation by the 43 field stations in the Great Lakes ecosystem and represents a range of Service programs that work to restore and protect the Nation's trust resources, including migratory birds, threatened and endangered species, and interjurisdictional fisheries. Through the team and its partners in the ecosystem, the Service addresses landscape-scale resource objectives using an ecosystem approach.