On the 40th anniversary of Michigan state government’s Office of the Great Lakes, its new State of the Great Lakes report provides an important narrative about the many outstanding efforts to protect and restore these world-class waters. But, as has been true with the previous 39 reports, it makes little effort to gauge the health of the Lakes themselves.
The Department of Environment, Great Lakes and Energy (EGLE), which houses the Office of the Great Lakes (OGL), says the report “explores major accomplishments, issues, initiatives, and challenges in 15 magazine-style articles by members of academia; advocacy organizations; and state, federal, tribal, and local agencies.”
Features include monitoring Great Lakes health, restoring the Detroit River, fighting to keep invasive Asian carp out of the Lakes, attempting to restore the legendary Arctic grayling to the Au Sable River, combating Lake Erie algae blooms, and more.
Readers can put down the report knowing that individuals, agencies, and institutions are making considerable effort to protect and heal the Lakes. But what does it all add up to? Are the Great Lakes overall better off than last year or years before?
The law creating the OGL requires an “annual report, submitted by December 31 of each year, on the state of the Great Lakes.” Instead, for four decades, the report has described the state of Great Lakes programs. It’s an important difference.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and Environment and Climate Change Canada do analyze the lakes. Their joint 2022 report describes the state of the lakes as fair and unchanging, using nine science-based indicators and 40 sub-indicators.
Michigan’s perspective on these or its own indicators should appear as part of future OGL State of the Great Lakes reports. This would stimulate important discussions about policy and practice.
