Development of Indicators for the Detroit River-Western Lake Erie Basin
Summary
Decision-makers at all levels need timely, reliable, and relevant information on indicators for management purposes. The Detroit River-Western Lake Erie Basin Indicator Project, run by the US-Canada collaboration, State of the Strait, is intended to compile and interpret long-term databases for ecosystem indicators from the Detroit River-Western Lake Erie basin, translate the information into understandable terms for policymakers and managers, and make these indicator data and trends readily available. Previous indicators for the sustained project include algal blooms, sediment contaminants, fish and bird populations, water clarity, and air pollution. State of the Strait hosts a one-day conference every two years that brings together government managers, researchers, students, environmental and conservation organizations, and concerned citizens from the United States and Canada to assess ecosystem status and provide advice to improve research, monitoring, and management. The State of the Strait hosted its biannual meeting in the fall of 2019 to understand and reassess historic and current ecosystem status in the Detroit River and Western Lake Erie. GLISA contributed several indicators, such as temperature, precipitation, ice cover, and lake levels.
Project Accomplishments
- Narratives on lake levels, lake ice, basin air temperature, and precipitation for Lake Erie
- Contribution to the State of the Strait Lake Erie Indicators project webpage and Indicators Report
GLISA’s Contribution
GLISA contributed narrative summaries on four variables for the indicators report on lake levels, lake ice, basin air temperatures, and precipitation for Lake Erie.
Partners
Great Lakes Institute for Environmental Research, University of Windsor, University of Michigan School for Environment and Sustainability
Partner Testimonial
“The Canada-U.S. State of the Strait Conference is a biennial forum that brings stakeholders together to assess ecosystem status and provide advice to improve research, monitoring, and management programs for the Detroit River and western Lake Erie. It now has a 22-year history of transboundary cooperation to better inform ecosystem-based management. The 2019 conference performed an updated comprehensive assessment of ecosystem health based on 61 indicators. GLISA prepared four indicator reports on temperature, precipitation, ice cover, and lake levels. For each indicator, long-term trends were evaluated and management next steps and research needs identified. GLISA’s work helped make the case that climate change is the most pressing environmental challenge of our time. Further, climate change has been called a “threat multiplier” where warmer, wetter, and wilder climatic conditions amplify other threats like harmful algal blooms, combined sewer overflow events, species changes, poor air quality effects on vulnerable residents, and more. Without GLISA’s assistance our comprehensive assessment of ecosystem health would not have been possible.
—John H. Hartig, Visiting Scholar, Great Lakes Institute for Environmental Research, University of Windsor
GLISA Contact
Kim Channell, Climatologist, [email protected]