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REMINDER
NEMWI Briefing/Webinar:
Invasive Species Success
Stories - They Exist!
April 16
On Thursday, April 16, 2015, the NEMWI will host a Capitol Hill briefing on efforts to control invasive species (Longworth 1310). Although the discourse regarding invasive species has been doom and gloom, through coordination, research, and federal support, the Great Lakes are leading the way with solutions to manage and remove invasive species. Speakers from the Great Lakes Fishery Commission and the U.S. Geological Survey will discuss their efforts, partnerships, and achievements in finding ways to control, though not eradicate, invasive species. They will provide staff background on invasive species efforts regarding sea lamprey, which at one point devastated the lake trout fisheries in the Great Lakes. Speakers will also discuss efforts targeted at the zebra and quagga mussels, which after entering the US through the Great Lakes have spread throughout the country, down the Mississippi River and out west. Though prevention and early detection are still the most cost-effective methods to invasive species management, the region's scientists and managers have made strides to further combat these two species. A webinar option is available by registering here.
Honorary cosponsors of this briefing are Senate Great Lakes Task Force Co-Chairs Senator Mark Kirk and Senator Debbie Stabenow, Senate Vice-Chairs Senator Rob Portman and Senator Amy Klobuchar, House Great Lakes Task Force Co-Chairs Congresswoman Miller, Congresswoman Kaptur, Congressman Duffy, and Congresswoman Slaughter.
For more information, contact Danielle Chesky, Director of the Great Lakes Washington Program at the Northeast-Midwest Institute.
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NEMWI Briefing/Webinar:
Nutrient Trading - Can it Help Make the Lake Less Green? April 27
On Monday, April 27, 2015, at 4:00 pm in Rayburn 2103, the NEMWI will host a Capitol Hill briefing, discussing the potential for nutrient trading to help address nutrient management challenges. Nutrient trading is a potential solution to conservation efforts to partner non-point and point-source nutrient inputs in order to reduce the overall levels of nutrients entering the waters. Speakers for the event will include: Elin Betanzo, NEMWI Sr. Policy Analyst, who will discuss her collaborative work with the U.S. Geological Survey on water monitoring infrastructure; Bruce Knight, former chief of the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Natural Resource Conservation Service; Brent Fewell, head of the National Water Quality Trading Alliance; Alex Echols, NEMWI Board Member; and Victoria Pebbles with the Great Lakes Commission. Speakers will provide staff background on nutrient trading; benefits of the approach; challenges, both legal and practical; an overview of the infrastructure necessary to implement nutrient trading in hot spots, including the Ohio River, the Fox River, and the Mississippi River; specific example of these challenges and starting up a nutrient trading program for the Fox River in Wisconsin; and the federal role throughout the many steps. A webinar option is available by registering here.
Honorary cosponsors of this briefing are Senate Great Lakes Task Force Co-Chairs Senator Mark Kirk and Senator Debbie Stabenow, Senate Vice-Chairs Senator Rob Portman and Senator Amy Klobuchar, House Great Lakes Task Force Co-Chairs Congresswoman Miller, Congresswoman Kaptur, Congressman Duffy, and Congresswoman Slaughter. For more information, contact Danielle Chesky, Director of the Great Lakes Washington Program at the Northeast-Midwest Institute.
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USDA Funding to Address Mississippi River Basin Nutrient Pollution 
On April 7, the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) announced that it would commit $100 million over the next four years to address Mississippi River Basin nutrient pollution under the agency's Mississippi River Basin Healthy Watersheds Initiative (also known as "MRBI"). NRCS announced that $10 million will be targeted this year toward 27 new projects and 13 existing projects located in "high-priority watersheds," to mitigate nutrient-containing farm runoff into River Basin waters. The states where funding will be directed for new and existing projects include Arkansas, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, Louisiana, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Ohio, South Dakota, Tennessee and Wisconsin. The funding press announcement can be found here, and the full list of existing and new MRBI projects here. NRCS created the MRBI in 2010 to improve water quality and enhance wildlife habitat within selected watersheds of a 13-state area in the Mississippi River Basin. In February, 2015, NRCS launched a second phase of the MRBI. For more information, please contact Mark Gorman, Policy Analyst at the Northeast-Midwest Institute.
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USDA Makes $10 Million in Grants Available for Rural and Agricultural Watershed Research
The U.S. Department of Agriculture's (USDA) National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) announced last Tuesday that fourteen universities will receive about $10 million in competitive grants to address what NIFA calls "critical water problems in rural and agricultural watersheds across the United States." The grants are from proposals submitted during fiscal year 2014. Grant recipients in the Northeast-Midwest region include Purdue University, the Ohio State University, Michigan State University, State University of New York's College of Environmental Science and Forestry, and the University of Wisconsin. You can find a complete list of the 2014 project descriptions here. On February 18, the USDA opened the application process for fiscal year 2015.
The application deadline for those grants is July 16.
For more information contact Mark Gorman, Policy Analyst at the Northeast-Midwest Institute.
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NEMWI: Strengthening the Region that Sustains the Nation
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