A total of $567,008 in grants from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service will fund several restoration projects in the Great Lakes basin.

Project funds will go toward Michigan State University, Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources, Northern Illinois University, the University of Michigan, and the Great Lakes Fishery Commission for products involving primarily rehabilitation of sustainable populations of fish and other aquatic species. It also includes funding for studying projects of wildlife reproduction, distribution, movement, diet and habitat use within the Great Lakes ecosystem.

One project, for example, will investigate the responses of lake trout and Chinook salmon to unprecedented declines in major prey fish abundance in Lake Huron. Another project will use stream-side rearing facilities to restore lake sturgeon in the Manitowoc River, a tributary of Lake Michigan.

Project proposals are developed and sponsored each year by tribes and states in the Great Lakes in response to a request for proposals from the Great Lakes Fishery Commission and Fish and Wildlife Service.

According to the US Fish and Wildlife Service, state-of-the-art geographic information systems (GIS) will eventually cover the entire Great Lakes basin and allow agencies to better prioritize and focus restoration activities.

Project and funds recipients for 2005 are as follows:

• Responses of lake trout and Chinook salmon to unprecedented declines in major prey fish abundance in Lake Huron –– Michigan State University

• Lake sturgeon rehabilitation using stream-side rearing facilities in Manitowoc River –– Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources

• Models of lake herring population dynamics in Lake Superior: implications for restoration in the lower Great Lakes –– Michigan State University

• Lake Erie watersnake recovery plan implementation: demographic responses to invasive round gobies –– Northern Illinois University

• Development of a GIS for Great Lakes aquatic habitat: Lake Superior and Lake Ontario –– University of Michigan

• Identification of potential pheromones important for lake trout reproduction –– Michigan State University

• Quality assurance of proposal development and peer review process –– Great Lakes Fishery Commission