The United States Environmental Protection Agency this Thursday announced it will providing additional funding that will be used to help Lake Michigan restoration efforts in addition to creating more jobs for Americans. Here are the details of the EPA's announcement:
* The EPA will be awarding over $1.1 million in funding for the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative in the Northern Michigan area.
* Both the restoration projects at the Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore and the Grand Traverse Band watersheds will benefit from the EPA's grant dollars.
* The National Park Service will receive $891,225 to expand wetland restoration efforts at the Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore.
* National Park Service Midwest Regional Director Michael T. Reynolds said, "Our participation in the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative has given us a terrific opportunity to do restoration work in all of our Great Lakes national parks that might never have been accomplished otherwise, and on a scale that can really make a difference. This project at Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore will not only provide jobs in an area with a high rate of unemployment, but will also accomplish much needed work to restore impacted sites throughout the 71,000 acre park."
* The Bureau of Indian Affairs will also receive $255,365 to restore watersheds with the Grand Traverse Band of Ottawa and Chippewa Indians.
* Job creation is also a major goal of the restoration projects. In order to qualify for funding, each project must provide at least 20 jobs for unemployed people.
* Susan Hedman, EPA Great Lakes National Program Manager, commented, "The tremendous response to EPA's challenge underscores the large backlog of Great Lakes restoration projects that are ready to be implemented and the strong support that exists for using a conservation corps model to get the job done."
* On Oct. 3, the EPA announced nearly $2.4 million in funding for three Toledo-area restoration projects to help improve the habitat and clean up the shorelines of Lake Erie.
* Throughout this week the EPA will be announcing $6.6 million in funding for a total of eight Great Lakes Restoration Initiatives projects.
* According to Yahoo! News, the EPA announced the $6 million challenge this past August, which looked for proposals that would address areas of ecological concern in the Great Lakes region and create jobs for unemployed Americans.
* The EPA looked for projects that proposed to clean up toxics, combat invasive species, protect watersheds from polluted run-off, restore wetlands and other shoreline habitats, and track the progress of their efforts.
Rachel Bogart provides an in-depth look at current environmental issues and local Chicago news stories. As a college student from the Chicago suburbs pursuing two science degrees, she applies her knowledge and passion to both topics to garner further public awareness.
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