CMU awarded $100,000 Great Lakes conservation grant
The Michigan Department of Environmental Quality awarded a $100,000 grant to Central Michigan University for Great Lakes conservation efforts.
The grant will be used to fund projects to boost water quality and reduce pollution in Great Lakes coastal areas.
Director of the Institute for Great Lakes Research, Don Uzarski, said that the money will be used to develop a decision support tool to determine where to use resources to restore Great Lakes coastal wetlands.
“Over 50 percent of all Great Lakes coastal wetlands have been lost to development at this point and we are now understanding just how important these systems are to the overall Great Lakes ecosystem and our economy,” Uzarski said. “We will use this most recent grant along with a couple others to develop the tools that decision makers need to maximize benefit relative to the cost of restoration.”
Other institutions to received $700,000 in grant money, including East Bay Charter Township, Ottawa County Parks, the Northwest Michigan Council of Governments, Spring Lake Township and the city of Sault Ste. Marie.
