07.26.11

Durbin Announces Funding for Public-Private Partnership Aimed at Protecting the Great Lakes

[WASHINGTON, D.C.] – U.S. Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL) today announced that the Sustain Our Great Lakes (SOGL) program has awarded a total of $706,350 in grants to three organizations in Illinois. The Sustain Our Great Lakes program works to protect, maintain, and restore the integrity of the Great Lakes ecosystem by supporting habitat restoration, protection and enhancement projects, invasive species control, water quality improvements, and watershed planning and management.

 

“We must ensure the national treasure that is the Lake Michigan is around for generations, providing drinking water, recreation and commerce for Illinois and other Great Lakes states,” said Durbin. “The Sustain Our Great Lakes program provides the vital conservation funding for the world’s largest freshwater ecosystem.”

 

The Sustain Our Great Lakes program is a public–private partnership between the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the U.S. Forest Service, the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, and Chicago-based ArcelorMittal.

 

The following recipients will receive funding under this announcement:

 

  • Alliance for the Great Lakes – $150,000 in funding to improve 28 acres of terrestrial and aquatic habitat associated with unique ravine systems along the length of Lake Michigan in northeastern Illinois through invasive species control and native vegetation planting.

 

  • The Field Museum of Natural History – $56,350 in funding to enhance 85 acres of marsh and dune and swale habitat at Eggers Grove along the southern rim of Lake Michigan through prescribed burning, invasive species control, and native seeding.

 

  • Friends of the Forest Preserves – $500,000 in funding to restore 605 wetland acres and 100 associated upland acres of lakeplain habitat at nine sites in the Calumet region of Illinois and Indiana by conducting prescribed burns and invasive species control.