Public Input Wanted

Gina McCarthy

The federal Great Lakes Interagency Task Force has released a draft Great Lakes Restoration Initiative Action Plan for public input.

“Protecting communities around the Great Lakes and restoring this important ecosystem is a national and bi-national imperative,” said Task Force Chair and U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Gina McCarthy. “Today we’re asking for input on our draft plan so it can be as effective as possible.”

The federal agencies provided extensive public input opportunities throughout 2013 to inform the development of the draft. The new plan recognizes that states, tribes, municipalities, public interest organizations, businesses, academia and other interests have a strong role to play in protecting the Great Lakes. The new plan covers FY 2015-2019. The document will guide actions to:

*Clean up Areas of Concern and reduce toxic contamination.

* Prevent and control invasive species.

*Reduce polluted runoff that impacts near-shore health._

*Restore habitat and native species._

*Address cross-cutting issues such as science-based adaptive management and climate change.

The draft Action Plan is available at glri.us/public.html. Input on the draft can be provided through the same web page or by email at [email protected]. So the agencies can release the final Action Plan before fiscal year 2015 (starting Oct. 1), input should be submitted by June 30. Input may be submitted, however, throughout the summer.

The Task Force will host two public webinars to discuss the draft: June 9 at 1 pm at www1.gotomeeting.com/register/789861232 and June 10 at 10 am at www1.gotomeeting.com/register/841679520.