Fish raised at the Allegheny hatchery will bolster efforts to create self-sustaining fish populations in Lakes Erie and Ontario. Photo: U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
An interactive map showcases successful federal restoration projects in the Great Lakes states, including projects from the $475 million Great Lakes Restoration Initiative.
The map is produced by the Healing Our Waters-Great Lakes Coalition, an association of more than 120 environmental and conservation groups.
Here’s a quick look at what the coalition views as success stories in Pennsylvania:
The cleanup at Presque Isle Bay has been successful enough to take the bay off a list of Great Lakes toxic hotpots, or “Areas of Concern.”
The $97 million project in Erie, Pa. removed polluted sediments from the bay and led to cleaner water, fewer fish tumors and the replacement of paved areas with permeable surfaces that trap polluted runoff.
The work reduced the sediment washing into the bay by 334 tons annually, according to the coalition. Polluted wastewater had transported excessive nutrients, organic compounds and heavy metals into the bay before anglers discovered fish tumors in the 1980s. The Erie Sewer Authority has since upgraded the sewer system to reduce overflows into the bay.
The bay is one of only two Areas of Concern that have been delisted.
Other successes include the $1.7 million Allegheny National Fish Hatchery renovation in Warren.
After being closed for seven years, the hatchery can now provide a reliable supply of native lake trout for Lakes Erie and Ontario, according to the coalition. The hatchery produced as many as 13 million lake trout from 1974 until 2005, when it was closed after fish tested positive for a highly contagious and incurable virus. All fish were destroyed.
Lake trout from hatcheries in other states had to be trucked in to Lakes Erie and Ontario. The facility has since been decontaminated and is now helping to maintain lake trout in the lower Great Lakes, which has no self-sustaining population.
The project supported about 25 jobs, including construction workers, engineers, plumbers, biologists and general laborers.
An aerial view of Gull Point at Presque Isle State Park. Photo Robert K. Grubbs, Wikimedia Commons.
But there is still plenty of work underway in Pennsylvania, including the restoration of the southern Lake Erie watershed.
This project aims to restore nearly 400 acres of habitat in four areas: the wetlands, sand plains and shoreline at Presque Isle State Park; the oak savanna and forest at Erie Bluffs State Park; the emerging wetlands at the Roderick Wildlife Reserve; and the vegetation at Little Elk Creek Forest.
The major goal is to slow and manage invasive species, particularly at Presque Isle State Park, said Nick Biaisini the project manager for Ducks Unlimited, a non-profit group created to restore fowl habitat.
Restoring native habitat at Presque Isle State Park would be huge, said Biasini. The park has large problems with phragmites and cattails invading its shorelines. These species have replaced native vegetation that serves as a sanctuary for a diverse and healthy native wildlife.
The Cerulean Warbler is a rare species found in the park. Photo: Mdf, Wikimedia Commons.
Conservation will mostly be achieved by spring burning and aerial- and ground-based herbicide, according to a Ducks Unlimited report. An amphibious vehicle and other equipment provided through the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative will improve herbicide delivery to previously inaccessible regions.
Other work in progress includes projects like the $ 125,000 Girard Township fish and stream restoration.
The Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission and other partners are set to restore seven miles of fish passage in Crooked Creek and improve the habitat and water quality of an unnamed tributary to Lake Erie. The project will build a rock ramp to allow fish to pass at a road culvert that currently acts as a barrier.
Studies have shown that stream-road crossings destroy habitat, according to an article on the project by Anna McCartney, an education specialist at the Pennsylvania Sea Grant. Culverts keep fish from moving upstream .Dams and road crossings eliminate or reduce the access fish have to the stream.
The benefits of these and other restoration projects help Pennsylvania’s economy, according to a report by the Great Lakes Commission, an interstate public conservation agency.
Pennsylvania’s Lake Erie coastal region is home to nearly a quarter of the state’s population and provides nearly a million jobs, according to the commission. The Presque Isle State Park alone attracts an estimated 4 million annual visitors and nearly $67 million in tourism. The growing steelhead fishery attracts 200,000 anglers and $10 million to the region each year with $6 million in value-added activity in Erie County.