AN ECOSYSTEM APPROACH TO GREAT-LAKES MANAGEMENT - PRACTICAL STEPS

Limited success of past approaches to managing the Great Lakes, and mi tigating anthropogenically induced stress, necessitates the adoption o f a broader, ecosystem approach. This report is apr outgrowth of a 199 4 binational workshop which was convened by the U.S. Environmental Pro tection Agency and Environment Canada to identify practical steps that could be taken to implement an ecosystem approach to natural resource management and development in the Great Lakes. An ecosystem approach incorporates the interrelationships among land air, wafer, and all liv ing things, including humans, and involves all user groups in comprehe nsive management. Recent attempts to establish national and internatio nal ecosystem-based public policy and management schemes have met with considerable opposition. This opposition is based, in part; on a lack of clarity of terms, theory, and intent in the proposal to apply ''ec osystem management. '' Despite these uncertainties and lack of detaile d understanding, there are several, practical steps that can be implem ented immediately. This report presents selected examples of these pra ctical steps for implementing an ecosystem approach in eight sectors, which correspond to the breakout sessions used in the workshop. Select ed examples include: providing ecological assessments to landowners fo r protection and enhancement of unique ecological features; incorporat ing life cycle assessments into all regulatory and incentive-based ini tiatives to control point sources; and ensuring that all construction and maintenance projects for structures (e.g., breakwalls, piers) addr ess secondary benefits of incidental habitat. Additional practical ste ps need to be identified and shared at the working level of watershed and environmental management.