| Photo: Brenner |
Integrated Assessment Research Projects Receive Federal Funding Michigan Sea Grant has selected three Great Lakes research projects to receive $274,209 in federal funding from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s National Sea Grant Program. The projects leverage an additional $156,071 in non-federal match over a two-year period. The three Integrated Assessment (IA) projects will address the issues of fish contamination in the Detroit River, alternative storm water management practices in Spring Lake, Michigan, and a decision support system for coastal brownfield redevelopment in Michigan. "We are pleased that these three topics rose to the top during our review process,” notes Michigan Sea Grant Director Don Scavia. “Each one represents a different challenge for managers and a different way that IA can help." IA is a formal approach to synthesizing and delivering relevant, independent scientific input to decision making. IA researchers conduct a comprehensive analysis of existing natural and social scientific information in the context of a policy or management question. Michigan Sea Grant currently supports an integrated assessment that addresses coastal access and regional economic development issues in Northeast Michigan. Since it began in 2005, the project has brought together 32 local and regional stakeholder organizations. “The involvement of our project working group, which is comprised of local, state and federal stakeholders, has been fundamental to the assessment’s success,” says Jennifer Read, Sea Grant Research Coordinator. “They really shaped the process – refining our guiding assessment question, working with the technical teams to ensure the assessments were correct and helping the integration team identify the most important and implementable policy options.” District Sea Grant Extension Educator, Brandon Schroeder, was key in coordinating working group input to the northeast Michigan integrated assessment. In September, Sea Grant will bring Schroeder’s and the technical teams’ experience together in a “lessons learned workshop” for the new IA teams to kick off the new integrated assessment projects. New research projects include the following:
An additional four ongoing research projects funded by Michigan Sea Grant continue through 2007. Projects investigate contaminants in beach sand, the effects of boating on critical fish habitat, population dynamics of yellow perch, and a seasonal Lake Michigan “doughnut effect.” |