Overview (click for the entire Work Plan)
For this project, we hypothesize that "growing water" opportunities in the Great Lakes Basin will drive transactions that are market-based creating both economic and ecological values. These transactions will ultimately provide a reliable, biologically appropriate supply of water to streams and lakes in the Great Lakes Basin.
We take a case-study approach to identify market-like conditions that stimulate growing water transactions in the context of existing regulations, and that create a demand to invest in ecological restoration. Four on-the-ground case studies have been identified by the project team that involve three Great Lakes watersheds and span across four Great Lakes states. Growing water opportunities examined in these cases include public works/infrastructure, low impact development, offset opportunities for water withdrawals, public water supply protection, and Ecosystem Service District concepts. The projects seek to generate a range of improvements to water and water dependent resources in terms of the restoration of flow regimes, increase of habitat, improved delivery of water in biologically appropriate rates and amounts, improvement of water quality, removal of contaminants from storm runoff, reduction in flooding, and control of pollutants. The case studies are located in the following four watersheds:
Case 1. Upper/Middle Cuyahoga River (OH): Groundwater
recharge augmentation and creative financing of conservation development and
greenways
Case 2. St. Joseph River (IN, OH, MI): Floodplain and
wetland restoration, accounting systems linking improvements in management
practices to ecological and economic benefits, and model transactions with
buyers paying for improvement practices on agricultural land
Case 3. Menomonee River Valley (WI): Model
transactions derived with a system-wide analysis identifying available
financial and legal resources and creating transactions to promote urban water
resources restoration and brownfield re-development
Case 4. Miami Conservancy District (MCD; Ohio River
Basin): Large scale point source/non-point source nutrient trading program and
the potential development of an Ecosystem Service District
The individual projects are directed at a diversity of ecological settings. These diverse settings include a dense urban environment with impervious surfaces, brownfields and failing sewage infrastructure (Case 3), impaired rural agricultural land and wetlands (Case 2), as well as several river areas distinctly impacted by industry, floodplain loss, sprawl, channelization and waste disposal uses (Cases 1, 2, and 4). Many of the key issues the Great Lakes communities are trying to address are found in these diverse settings. The case studies will generate and help effect real transactions that specifically address these common Basin issues. The settings also engage diverse economic and regulatory conditions. These distinct "natural" and "political" settings are intended to provide concrete experience and comparative data to enable better analysis and understanding of how to successfully transact business and induce investments that generate ecological improvements within the Basin.
The MCD case (Case 4) is a unique project where the Ecosystem Service District concept will be examined based on the structure and functions of the Miami Conservancy District and the water quality trading program the District is currently leading. How to institutionalize ecosystem management is the focus of this particular setting. While other case projects work to achieve a defined set of ecological goals, the MCD case explores the possibility of developing a government authority to manage an extended ecosystem in a systematic manner to generate improvements to water and water dependent resources.
Project
Partners:
Applied Ecological Services
Environmental Banc and Exchange
Kieser & Associates
King and Associates
Policy Solutions
The Shaw Group
Sixteenth Street Community Health Center
Great Lakes Water Management Initiative
Great
Lakes Charter Annex 2001 Implementing Agreements
- Summary
of the Agreements (by Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources: water use
decision-making framework; comparison of the June
30, 2005 revised draft and the July 19, 2004 draft
(Summary Table of All Case Studies)
Case 1. Upper/Middle Cuyahoga River, Ohio
Progress Updates and Summaries
Transactions and Tools
Case 2. St. Joseph River, Michigan, Indiana, and Ohio
Progress Updates and Summaries
- K&A presentation
on the St. Joseph River Wateshed Initiative Board Meeting of June 6, 2005
- St Joe River Watershed field visit (5/11/05)
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St. Joe River |
Bank erosion |
Oxbow area |
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Garrett Ditch west |
Garrett Ditch east |
Transactions and Tools
Case 3. Menomonee River Valley, Wisconsin
Progress Updates and Summaries
Transactions and Tools
Case 4. The Miami Consevancy District, Ohio
Progress Updates and Summaries
Transactions and Tools
Quarterly Report to GLPF
- First Quarter:
April, 2005
- Second
Quarter: July, 2005
- Third
Quarter: October, 2005
Final Report
White Paper
Work by Team Members Related to the Project
- Wetland
Mitigation Ratio Calculator (Dennis King, King & Associates)
- Presentation at the 8th National Mitigation Banking Conference
(Mark Kieser, Kieser &
Associates)
Project Team Conference Calls and Meetings
Project Kick-off Meeting: Feb 28, 2005, Chicago
Project Conference Calls
