High Marks for Michigan Sea Grant

Michigan Sea Grant’s four-year Program Assessment Team (PAT) review took place October 24-28, 2004, with sessions held in Detroit, East Lansing and Ann Arbor.

Two observers and a six-member review team from National Sea Grant spent an intensive four days examining all aspects of the Michigan Sea Grant program. These reviews, while they put the program through its paces every four to five years, are valuable ways to highlight program initiatives and accomplishments as well as areas for improvement. In the end, the result is a program better prepared to serve Michigan and the Great Lakes.

The review team focused on how well Michigan Sea Grant met evaluation criteria and performance benchmarks in the following four areas:

• organizing and managing the program;
• connecting Sea Grant with users;
• effective and aggressive long-range planning; and
• producing significant results.

Each of these four main areas contain several sub-categories, totaling 14. Overall, Michigan Sea Grant received 10 ratings of Highest Performance and 4 ratings of Exceeds Benchmark.

“I am very pleased with the results of our review,” said Michigan Sea Grant Director Don Scavia. “As the new Director, I was most pleased to see that my predecessors have built such a strong program focused on bringing the best science and technology to Michigan and the Great Lakes. I anticipate a bigger and even better program in the future.”

Partner Participation
Michigan Sea Grant’s program review was divided into five sessions covering research, outreach, and education initiatives impacting Michigan’s coastal communities and economies, Great Lakes literacy, aquatic invasive species, coastal wetlands, and Great Lakes fisheries, which included a panel discussion involving industry representatives. Sessions featured a total of 37 presentations by partners, collaborators, and researchers in addition to Sea Grant staff. See below for a list of speakers and topics.

As part of its review, the assessment team highlighted several program initiatives as Best Management Practices that might be useful to other Sea Grant programs. These include the CoastWatch Web site, a collaborative effort with the Great Lakes Environmental Research Laboratory, the Purple Loosestrife Project, a collaboration with Michigan State University, and the Great Lakes Education Program.

Many program initiatives addressed during the review are covered on the following pages of Michigan Sea Grant’s 2004 annual report. Highlights are presented in Great Lakes Education, Sustainable Coastal Communities, Great Lakes Fisheries, Aquatic Invasive Species, and Great Lakes Wetlands.

Contact: Don Scavia, (734) 615-4084. See: www.miseagrant.umich.edu/PAT2004.html

Speakers
Individuals from around the State participated in Michigan Sea Grant’s program assessment review.

Coastal Communities and Economies
David Sanders
Metropolitan Affairs Coalition
Program Manager, Greater Detroit AHR Initiative

John Kerr
Detroit/Wayne County Port Authority

Bruce Manny
USGS Great Lakes Science Center

Roberta Urbani
DTE Energy

Henry O. Allen
MSU Extension Southeast Regional Director

Dave Guenther
NOAA National Weather Service, Marquette

Van Snider, Jr.
Michigan Boating Industries Association

Great Lakes Education
Mike Reed
Detroit Zoological Institute

Shari Dann
MSU Dept. of Fisheries & Wildlife

Kathy Bouren
Ritter Elementary

Malin Wagner
Downriver Career Technical Consortium

Gerald Wykes
Huron Clinton Metropolitan Authority

Gary Williams
Extension 4H Natural Resources Educator, Southeast Region

Aquatic Invasive Species
Doug Landis
MSU Dept. of Entomology

Gary Larsen
St. Johns High School

Orlando Sarnelle
MSU Dept. of Fisheries & Wildlife

Mohammed Faisal
MSU Dept. of Fisheries & Wildlife

Michael Parsons
UM Dept. of Naval Architecture
and Marine Engineering

Emily Finnell
Office of the Great Lakes
Dept. of Environmental Quality

Great Lakes Coastal Wetlands
Ray Rustem
Heritage Program
Michigan Dept. of Natural Resources

Kevin Kuehn
EMU Dept. of Biology

Mary Ellen Cromwell
Land and Water Management Division
Michigan Dept. of Environmental Quality

Walter Gauthier
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers—
Detroit District

Cathie Ballard
Coastal Zone Management Program
Michigan Dept. of Environmental Quality

Oscar Arreola
MSU Dept. of Resource Development

Melissa Savard
MSU Dept. of Agricultural Economics

Fisheries and Trophic Change
Nathaniel Ostrom
MSU Dept. of Geological Science

James Bence
MSU Dept. of Fisheries & Wildlife

Mike Jones
MSU Dept. of Fisheries & Wildlife

Jim Thannum
Great Lakes Indian Fish & Wildlife Commission

Denny Grinold
Michigan Charter Boat Association

Ken Merckel
Michigan Steelhead & Salmon
Fishermen’s Association

Paul Jensen
Michigan Fish Producers Association

Ted Batterson
North Central Regional Aquaculture Center

Paul Seelbach
Fisheries Division
Michigan Dept. of Natural Resources

Jill Bentgen
Mackinac Fish Company

Jim Fenner
CoastWatch Steering Committee
Ludington Area Charter Boat Association

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