Lake Superior Lakewide Management Plan (LaMP) 2006

Executive Summary

BACKGROUND

One of the most significant environmental agreements in the history of the Great Lakes was put in place with the signing of the Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement of 1978 (GLWQA), between the United States and Canada. This historic Agreement commits the U.S. and Canada (the Parties) to address the water quality issues of the Great Lakes in a coordinated, joint fashion. The purpose of the Agreement is to “restore and maintain the chemical, physical, and biological integrity of the waters of the Great Lakes Basin Ecosystem” (IJC 1993). The 1987 amendment to the GLWQA requires the development of Lakewide Management Plans (LaMPs) which “shall embody a systematic and comprehensive ecosystem approach to restoring and protecting beneficial uses...they are to serve as an important step toward virtual elimination of persistent toxic substances...”. This document represents the current LaMP for Lake Superior.

The Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement specifies that the LaMPs are to be completed in four stages. However, under a streamlined LaMP review and approval process, the LaMPs now treat problem identification, selection of remedial and regulatory measures, and implementation as a concurrent, integrated process rather than a sequential or staged one. In the Lake Superior LaMP, Stages 1 and 2 for critical chemicals were completed before the decision was made to integrate. Stage 3 was merged into LaMP 2000 as the critical chemicals chapter. To date, no other LaMP has a load reduction schedule for critical pollutants as required by the Agreement. The LaMPs go beyond the GLWQA requirement to address critical pollutants by using an ecosystem approach to integrate habitat, terrestrial wildlife and aquatic ecosystem components. This integration allows for the development of both environmental protection and natural resource management strategies.

The Lake Superior LaMP is unique because of an additional agreement between the federal governments, states and province surrounding Lake Superior. Announced in 1991, the agreement, called the “Binational Program to Restore and Protect the Lake Superior Basin,” established a Zero Discharge Demonstration Program for critical pollutants and a broader ecosystem approach.

LaMP progress is now reported on every two years. Adaptive management is used to allow the process to change as needed by building upon successes, accepting new information and drawing from public involvement and input. The LaMP therefore, can be adjusted over time to respond to the most pertinent issues facing the lake ecosystem. Additional details on the process can be found in Chapter 1.

The LaMP/Lake Superior Binational Program contains funded and proposed (non-funded) actions for restoration and protection to bring about improvement in the ecosystem. Actions include commitments by the government partners as well as suggested voluntary actions that could be taken by non-governmental partners. LaMP 2000 identified these actions in six ecosystem themes: critical pollutants, aquatic communities, terrestrial wildlife communities, habitat, human health and developing sustainability. The 2002 LaMP update reported on the success of those actions, and identified challenges remaining to achieve established goals and ecosystem objectives. LaMP 2004 reported accomplishments from 2002-2004, challenges to achieving goals and objectives, and next steps.

LaMP 2006

LaMP 2006 builds on the previous LaMP documents. Many of the original LaMP 2000 chapters have been revised, replaced and updated, although the Human Health and Critical Pollutants chapters remain the same as in the LaMP 2000. The Critical Pollutants chapter will be replaced in LaMP 2008 by a “Chemical Milestones” report scheduled for release in Summer 2006. The LaMP 2006 chapters contain a 2004-2006 progress report, presenting an accomplishment summary of the 1) actions completed or underway to improve the lake, 2) challenges, and 3) next steps or changes to ongoing management actions.

Highlights of LaMP 2006 include: an integrated and consolidated ecosystem chapter combining terrestrial wildlife, habitat and aquatic communities activities (Chapter 6); an expanded description of ecosystem goals, objectives and indicators (Chapter 3); community sustainability projects (Chapter 7); public outreach and education brochures and newspaper inserts (Chapter 2); and actions and projects targeted at critical pollutants reduction (Chapter 4). A chapter on coordination with other Great Lakes programs (Chapter 8), including the Great Lakes Regional Collaboration, is also presented. Updates on progress to restore Areas of Concern are contained in Appendix A, and a description of a successful Lake Superior Legacy Act Project (Hog Island) is highlighted in Chapter 1. A holistic, comprehensive look at the “state of lake superior” (the highlights report from the 2004 State of the Lakes Ecosystem Conference) can be found in Addendum A of the Executive Summary. LaMP 2006 also identifies data gaps and next steps for LaMP 2008.

LaMP 2006 is available on a CD-ROM, and is designed to be printed in a loose-leaf format that can be inserted into a three-ringed binder. This format allows for easy updates, additions of new material and removal of outdated information. A description of how to update the LaMP 2004 binder with the 2006 material is presented in the Preface. The LaMP 2006 will also be available on the web at www.epa.gov/glnpo.

This Lakewide Management Plan Report 2006 is not intended to be circulated extensively to the public; the agencies plan to produce a separate document to inform the public on Binational Program activities. Citizens of the basin, as partners and stakeholders in the Binational Program, are strongly encouraged to become actively involved. The Lake Superior Binational Forum can be reached at 1-888-301-LAKE (1-888-301-5253).

LakeWide Management Plans

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