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Detroit River-Western Lake Erie Basin Indicator Project
Great Lakes Monitoring
On this page:
- Current Indicator Reports
- What is an Indicator?
- Purpose of the Indicator Project
- Benefits of the Indicator Project
- Current Indicator Project Partners
- Join the Indicator Project Team
- Links to more information
Also:
Pressure indicators describe direct and indirect pressures, including human activities, that impact the environment. They are driving forces of environmental change such as increased resource use, transportation patterns, pollutant emissions, sprawl, population growth, or the rate at which contaminants and invasive species are being introduced. Pressure indicators measure the factors that cause changes in the ecosystem.
- Human Population in Southeastern Michigan
- Land Use Change in Southeast Michigan
- Michigan's Carbon Emissions
- Oil Pollution of the Detroit and Rouge Rivers
- Phosphorus Loads and Concentrations from the Maumee River
- Transportation in Southeastern Michigan
State indicators describe the physical, chemical, and biological conditions of the natural world, and human health and welfare. Through monitoring of state indicators we can measure how ecosystem conditions change. State indicators may be levels of air or water quality, contaminants in fish, wildlife population levels, or diseases in animals or humans. State indicators also give a measure of current ecosystem status to use as a reference when assessing the impact of future activities. State indicators measure impacts of pressure indicators.
- Abundance of Burrowing Mayflies
- Algal Blooms in Western Lake Erie
- Analysis of Phosphorus Concentrations in the Western Basin of Lake Erie
- Asthma Hospitalization Rates in Wayne County, Michigan
- Bald Eagle Reproductive Success
- Canvasback Population
- Chironomid Abundance and Deformities
- Chloride in Western Lake Erie water
- Common Tern Reproduction
- Contaminants in Herring Gull Eggs
- Contaminants in Western Lake Erie Fish
- Contaminants in Western Lake Erie Sediments
- Criteria Air Pollutants in Southeast Michigan
- Detroit River Christmas Bird Count
- Detroit River Coastal Wetlands
- Dissolved Oxygen Levels in the Rouge River
- Double-crested Cormorant Population Changes
- Hawk Migration over Holiday Beach, Canada
- Hawk Migration over Lake Erie Metro Park
- Hexagenia Density and Distribution in the Detroit River
- Invasion of the Erie Marsh Preserve by Common Reed (Phragmites australis)
- Lake Erie Ice Cover
- Lake Erie Water Levels
- Lake Sturgeon Population
- Lake Whitefish Spawning
- Lead Poisoning in Detroit, Michigan
- Mercury in Lake St. Clair Walleye
- Oligochaete Densities and Distribution
- Peregrine Falcon Reproduction in S.E. Michigan
- Plankton Communities in Western Lake Erie
- Walleye Population of Lake Erie
- Water Clarity in Western Lake Erie
- West Nile Virus in Michigan
- Wildcelery recovery
- Yellow Perch population
Response indicators describe societal actions in policy or behavior undertaken to improve and protect the ecosystem. These actions can originate from groups, individuals, corporations, or government policies that ultimately improve ecosystem conditions. Response indicators may be pollution regulations and control measures, habitat rehabilitation and restoration, use of clean technologies, and other activities that improve the health of the ecosystem. Others specifically reverse the negative driving forces of pressure indicators like resource use, transportation, pollution, land use, or population.
- Combined Sewer Overflow Controls in Southeast Michigan
- Contaminated Sediment Remediation
- Detroit Phosphorus Loadings
- Detroit River International Wildlife Refuge growth
- Greenway Trails in Southeast Michigan
Introduction
Restored wetlands in the Grosse Ile Nature Area
- compile and analyze available, U.S. and Canadian data on various indicators of ecosystem status, quality, and trends, and the factors that affect them;
- translate and communicate indicator trends clearly for policy-makers and managers; and
- identify data gaps and future indicators to be able to comprehensively assess the state of this ecosystem.
An indicator is a measurable feature that provides useful information on ecosystem status, quality or trends and the factors that affect them. Examples of indicators used in this report include contaminants in fish, coastal wetland loss, reproductive success of threatened and endangered species, urban sprawl, land use changes, pollutant emissions, and many others. Indicator reporting clearly communicates ecosystem trends to policy makers and managers to aid in decision-making.
Indicators are frequently placed into three different categories to illustrate causal relationships: pressure, state, and response.
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Pressure indicators describe the direct and indirect pressures, including human activities that impact the environment.
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State indicators describe the physical, chemical, and biological condition of the natural world and human health and welfare.
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Response indicators describe societal actions in policy or behavior undertaken to improve and protect the environment.
Policy-makers and decision-makers at all levels need timely, reliable, and relevant information on indicators for management purposes. Indicators measure progress toward management goals and objectives. From a management perspective, particular emphasis needs to be placed on quantifying targets and endpoints for management programs.
Purpose of the Indicator Project - The purpose of this project is to:
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Compile and interpret long-term data bases for ecosystem indicators from the Detroit River-Western Lake Erie basin;
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Translate the information into understandable terms for policy-makers and managers; and
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Make these indicator data and trends readily available.
In order to narrow the scope of this project and keep it manageable, particular emphasis will be given to ecosystem indicators from the Detroit River-Western Lake Erie basin, however, it is recognized that some indicators will be larger in scope and include the entire Huron- Erie corridor (St. Clair River, Lake St. Clair, Detroit River and Western Lake Erie).
Benefits of the Indicator Project - This indicator project will help:
- Educate policy-makers and decision-makers on status and trends of indicators;
- Improve accessibility of data and information;
- Measure and celebrate success;
- Foster adaptive management;
- Fabricate watershed level ecological health assessment;
- Build support for additional remedial and preventive management actions; and
- Promote stewardship through broad-based education.
Current Indicator Project Partners:
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
Detroit Wastewater Treatment Plant
Environment Canada
Metropolitan Affairs Coalition
U of M -School of Natural Resources
Canada Department of Fisheries and Oceans
Ontario Ministry of Environment
Southeast Michigan Raptor Research
U.S. Geological Survey
Michigan Department of Natural Resources
Heidelberg College
U.S. Coast Guard
Detroit Audubon Society
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
University of Michigan - Dearborn
University of Windsor
DTE Energy
International Joint Commission
Michigan Sea Grant
Monroe Water Intake
The Nature Conservancy
Essex Region Conservation Authority
Canadian Consulate
Wayne State University
Southeast Michigan Council of Governments
Ohio Department of Natural Resources - Division of Geological Survey
International Association for Great Lakes Research
Community Foundation for Southeast Michigan
Join the Indicator Project Team:
To become a partner in this Indicator Project please contact:
U.S. Co-Chair
John H. Hartig, Refuge Manager, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
Detroit River International Wildlife Refuge
Phone: 734-692-7608
E-mail: john_hartig@fws.gov
Canadian Co-Chair
Michael Zarull, Project Chief, Sediment Remediation
National Water Research Institute
Environment Canada
Phone: 905-336-4783
E-mail: Michael.Zarull@ec.gc.ca
Greg Norwood, Biological Science Technician
Detroit River International Wildlife Refuge
Phone: 734-692-7611
E-mail: greg_norwood@fws.gov
Ashlee Vincent, Environment Canada Science Horizons Intern
University of Windsor
Phone: 519-253-3000 x 4764
E-mail: ashlee@uwindsor.ca
Emily Wilke
Southwest Michigan Land Conservancy
E-mail: ewilke@swmlc.org
Environmental Indicators Initiative (www.epa.gov/indicators/)
State of the Lakes Ecosystem Conference ( www.epa.gov/glnpo/solec/)
Great Lakes National Program Office, Environmental Indicators (www.epa.gov/glnpo/glindicators/)
Great Lakes Ecosystem Report 2000 (www.epa.gov/grtlakes/rptcong/2001/)
Detroit River Area of Concern (www.epa.gov/glnpo/aoc/detroit.html)
Sustainable Development Indicators, Interagency Working Group (www.sdi.gov/) 
1999 Report of Leading Environmental Indicators (requires Adobe Acrobat Reader)
(www.pacificresearch.org/pub/sab/enviro/99_enviroindex/1999envindex.pdf)