 Muskegon Lake (photo credit: NOAA) |
Federal stimulus dollars totaling $10 million have been awarded by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) to the Great Lakes Commission (GLC) for a major wetland and wildlife habitat restoration project on Muskegon Lake, Michigan, along the east shoreline of Lake Michigan.
Partnering with the West Michigan Shoreline Regional Development Commission (WMSRDC), the GLC will coordinate the restoration of some 10,000 feet of shoreline “hardened” over several decades by broken concrete, foundry slag, sheet metal and other materials. The project will also remove more than 180,000 tons of degraded lake bottom sediment to improve aquatic habitat for fish and other species.
As with all programs receiving stimulus funds through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA), the project also includes a job creation commitment: it is projected to generate almost 40,000 labor hours to support 125 jobs, largely in engineering and construction. More than $20 million will be contributed by local sources through in-kind services, donations of land, and conservation easements.
Muskegon Lake is part of the Great Lakes coastal wetlands ecosystem and provides more food and habitat for wildlife than just about any other Great Lakes ecosystem. Due to filling, development and pollution, Great Lakes wetlands are one of two ecosystems listed by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s Midwest Region as “Imperiled Ecosystems.” The restoration project, to be supported by ARRA funds, builds on more than a decade of research, assessments, planning and design work, as well as large-scale remediation and pollution control efforts on Muskegon Lake
See the Great Lakes Commission news release and project fact sheet
These links are checked on the date of the article. As the article ages, some links may become invalid
Go To www.getoffthecouchnews.blogspot.com for all the news
See Get Off The Couch
No comments:
Post a Comment