The Great Lakes Program

The Great Lakes are the largest collection of fresh surface water on earth, and more than 40 million Americans and Canadians live in their basin. Will we divert water from the Great Lakes, causing them to end up like Central Asia's Aral Sea, which has lost 90 percent of its surface area and 75 percent of its volume since 1960? Or will we come to see that unregulated water withdrawals are ultimately catastrophic? Peter Annin writes a fast-paced account of the people and stories behind these upcoming battles. Destined to be the definitive story for the general public as well as policymakers, The Great Lakes Water Wars is a balanced, comprehensive look behind the scenes at the conflicts and compromises that are the past-and future-of this unique resource.

New York Times Bestseller Winner of the Los Angeles Times Book Prize Winner of the J. Anthony Lukas Award "Nimbly splices together history, science, reporting and personal experiences into a taut and cautiously hopeful narrative.… Egan’s book is bursting with life (and yes, death)." —Robert Moor, New York Times Book Review The Great Lakes—Erie, Huron, Michigan, Ontario, and Superior—hold 20 percent of the world’s supply of surface fresh water and provide sustenance, work, and recreation for tens of millions of Americans. But they are under threat as never before, and their problems are spreading across the continent. The Death and Life of the Great Lakes is prize-winning reporter Dan Egan’s compulsively readable portrait of an ecological catastrophe happening right before our eyes, blending the epic story of the lakes with an examination of the perils they face and the ways we can restore and preserve them for generations to come.

This paper serves to begin a dialogue on how these special biodiversity resources should be identified and protected in the Great Lakes basin. In this paper, signifiant biodiversity elements of the basin are identified. Threats to those resources are described and, in general terms, evaluated. Based on this information, recommandations are provided for the protection of biological diversity in the Great Lakes ecosystem. These are strategic in nature, designed to suggest broad direction, stimulate discussion and solicit advice for the progection of biological diversity in the basin. Finally, a range of tools available for biodiversity protection is outlined.

Directory of Great Lakes contacts -- Great Lakes environmental research laboratory -- National Weather Service -- Sea Grant -- Coastal Zone management -- Environmental data and information service -- National environmental satellite service -- National marine fisheries service -- National ocean survey.