National Wildlife Federation Report: Restoring the Great Lakes’ Coastal Future

The Great Lakes region is home to 20 percent of the world’s freshwater reserves, a rich array of species and habitats, and tens of millions of people. One of the most significant challenges to the well-being of the region is climate change. We are already feeling the effects of climate change, and those effects will only intensify in the future. As a result the past alone is no longer a sufficient guide for conservation decisions. To effectively protect, manage, and restore freshwater coastal ecosystems in the Great Lakes we must integrate the reality of current and future climatic changes into our work. Making our projects “climate-smart” in this way will enhance their value and durability over the long term.

Restoring the Great Lakes’ Coastal Future: Technical Guidance for the Design and Implementation of Climate-Smart Restoration Projects describes a practiced suite of tools and methods to assist in the planning and implementation of climate-smart coastal restoration by NOAA, its partners, and others. The guide highlights seven case studies of climate-smart restoration projects in the Great Lakes region, including the goals, approaches, and implementation of each project.

Some ways that habitat restoration efforts funded under NOAA and partner programs in the Great Lakes region could be vulnerable to climate change impacts include:

Changes in water temperatures and flow regimes may result in reduced use by target species or degradation of restored in-stream habitats.
Warmer water may also facilitate the establishment of southern fish species such as smallmouth bass in the Great Lakes or the contraction northward of cold-water dependent species.
Climate-related changes such as increasing temperatures, changing lake levels, reduced ice cover, and altered runoff patterns and lake chemistry will interact with a range of existing stressors, including increased input and toxicity of contaminants in freshwater systems.

This guide presents a project-based approach to adjusting restoration activities to address the realities of climate change.The steps are as follows:

Identify Restoration Goals and Targets (e.g., restoring critical habitat for a particular endangered species or setting maximum allowable pollutant levels).
Identify Restoration Project Approaches (e.g., dam removal, revegetation, or recreating channels).
Assess Vulnerability of Targets/ Project Approaches to Change (e.g., the influence of temperature on species’ health and reproduction or the toxicity of pollutants).
Identify Climate-Smart Management Options. (e.g., restore critical habitat in both current and possible future ranges of target species).
Select and Implement Management Options.
Monitor, Review, Revise.

The guidance highlights case studies of seven climate-smart Great Lakes Restoration Initiative (GLRI)-supported projects, chosen because of their likely susceptibility to climate change. Although developed specifically for climate-smart restoration in the Great Lakes, the general procedures should have broader applicability in other regions. The case studies are specific to the Great Lakes and can inform other coastal restoration projects in the Great Lakes region.