Our North Coast: An insight into Intergovernmental stewardship to improve Lake Erie from Ontario to Ohio

Join this EPN event and dive into concerns and the planning and numerous efforts in place to protect and restore Lake Erie with the International Joint Commission (Canada-U.S. federal partnership), the Great Lakes Commission/Des Grans Lacs (two Canadian provinces and eight U.S. states), and agency leaders at the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency and the Ohio Department of Natural Resources. These agencies play a significant role in Lake Erie-specific Total Maximum Daily Load development and setting the Ohio Domestic Action Plan. These state strategies seek to integrate the role of watershed planning at the local level to reduce nutrients efficiently, including a distribution of the load reductions into Lake Erie through its diverse and varied tributary systems. This distinguished panel of experts will highlight how federal and state agencies work collaboratively to manage Lake Erie. Additionally, it will highlight how agencies work with regional academic institutions and the private sector.

The EPN, WMAO and OWRC are grateful for the Ohio Sea Grant program and Stone Laboratory for their support of this program. For more than 40 years, Ohio Sea Grant has worked to protect the environment of Lake Erie and the Great Lakes. With a strong combination of research, education, and outreach efforts, as well as partnerships with academia, governmental agencies and the private sector, Ohio Sea Grant works with the Lake Erie community to solve the region’s most important environmental and economic issues. Ohio Sea Grant is supported by The Ohio State University College of Food, Agricultural, and Environmental Sciences (CFAES) School of Environment and Natural Resources, Ohio State University Extension, and NOAA Sea Grant, a network of 34 Sea Grant programs nation-wide dedicated to the protection and sustainable use of marine and Great Lakes resources. Stone Laboratory is Ohio State’s island campus on Lake Erie and is the research, education, and outreach facility of Ohio Sea Grant and part of CFAES School of Environment and Natural Resources.

A two-hour extended (in-person only) session on managing Ohio’s North Coast through intergovernmental stewardship will be provided at the conclusion of this breakfast program. The extended session of the program (9:45 a.m. to 11:45 a.m.) will be worth 2 CEU and PDH hours. For more details on earning CEU and PDH hours, please contact Sarah Saylor, WMAO Administrator, at wmaohio@gmail.com or 614-935-8471.